Is 8gb vram enough?

[mojothehut]

Hey all.
So I'm considering upgrading my 980ti to the 2080.
I game at 1440p on a gysnc monitor. One game in particular I'm worried about, Far Cry 5.
I've read that with the new HD texture pack for it, the game can use 9-10gb of vram.
So this makes me reconsider my purchase and check out the 2080ti since it has 11gb.

This is bit of a noob question, would gameplay suffer if all 8gb of ram ended up being used and
the game still wanted more? Should I spend the extra money and invest in the Ti model for the extra memory?

Rest of my system if it matters.
8700k @ 5.1
16gb 3200 14-14-14-32
Asus Maximus Hero X
Evga 750w psu
Samsung 960 Pro 1tb

 

[UsandThem]

This is bit of a noob question, would gameplay suffer if all 8gb of ram ended up being used and
the game still wanted more? Should I spend the extra money and invest in the Ti model for the extra memory?

It would if a game used all the VRAM, but to my knowledge, there isn't a game out yet that uses 8GB plus of VRAM.

The only thing I could find concerning a new texture pack for the game you mentioned, is here:
https://www.techpowerup.com/248009/...on-textures-rollout-different-for-steam-users

And it states requirements are video cards with more than 4GB of VRAM. You should be a-OK for some time with a card like the 2080.

 

[mojothehut]

https://youtu.be/63dVCMQelAI?t=65 Here's a video of it using over 9gb of vram. I mean yeah it's at 4k. But still.. Unless you think there's no chance of the engine using that much memory at 1440?

 

[bystander36]

When it comes to mods, the modder could choose to go as crazy as they want. I would not worry about 1 mod in your decision to upgrade. If it needs more than 8Gb, the mod probably was designed by an amateur. Developers are not going to require more VRAM than almost every gaming GPU has.

 

[UsandThem]

https://youtu.be/63dVCMQelAI?t=65 Here's a video of it using over 9gb of vram. I mean yeah it's at 4k. But still.. Unless you think there's no chance of the engine using that much memory at 1440?

No way at 1440p. You should be into your next GPU by the time that happens. You could go with the 2080ti for peace of mind, but that thing is prohibitively expensive IMO.

 

[Guru]

Mods are usually uncompressed and unoptimized messes, so its probably not a good measure to make your purchase on.

 

[Hans Gruber]

1440P sucks. If you are going to spend the kind of money for a 2080. You need to be running 4k.

 

[whm1974]

When it comes to mods, the modder could choose to go as crazy as they want. I would not worry about 1 mod in your decision to upgrade. If it needs more than 8Gb, the mod probably was designed by an amateur. Developers are not going to require more VRAM than almost every gaming GPU has.

It would be a very dumb to do if developers did do that. Hell I'm not sure if 4GB of VRAM is even average amoung PC gamers.

 

[Jaskalas]

After the 970 fiasco I consider 4GB the "minimum" that I need want.
Next purchase I'll want to step up to 8GB just to future proof it.

Your question seems silly, but then I game on 1080p and I'm fine not turning on Super Ultra Deluxe UHD Texture Pack.

 

[happy medium]

You should buy a used 1080ti 11gb for about $500.
Problem solved, and a nice upgrade.

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

You should buy a used 1080ti 11gb for about $500.
Problem solved, and a nice upgrade.

Exactly what I did; I bought one for $450 and don't regret it at all. Final Fantasy XV @ 2160p uses more than 8GiB with the max texture setting.

 

[torlen11cc]

Basically it should be more than enough, but it depends on the game. Recently I was playing Hitman 2016 game on 1080p, and I have noticed that the VRAM usage is about 5900MB-6000MB. It uses all of my GPU VRAM which causes to FPS drops from time to time. Therefore, maybe on 1440p it could reach to 7000MB+. This is an example for when a game is not optimally developed, and an accusing finger should be pointed toward the game developers.

 

[bystander36]

Basically it should be more than enough, but it depends on the game. Recently I was playing Hitman 2016 game on 1080p, and I have noticed that the VRAM usage is about 5900MB-6000MB. It uses all of my GPU VRAM which causes to FPS drops from time to time. Therefore, maybe on 1440p it could reach to 7000MB+. This is an example for when a game is not optimally developed, and an accusing finger should be pointed toward the game developers.

Just because it takes that much VRAM if available, doesn't usually mean it needs that much to perform normally. Sometimes a game will keep more VRAM available simply because it's there.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

I'd wager that 8 is enough. Many open world games will simply keep consuming more vRAM until they max out and then they'll engaging in swapping textures, so high vRAM usage is normal. It's also higher for 4k, the larger the screen resolution, the larger the screen buffer and the more memory effects will take, so all the shaders and AA methods will be using up more vRAM.

I've never run into a problem with my 1080's 8Gb has always been more than plenty. It will likely remain that way until the next generation of consoles, most games are designed to work just fine on the consoles, the only exceptions tend to be heavy after market modding.

 

[Stuka87]

At 1080P, 4GB is still plenty. At 1440P, 4GB still works most of the time fine. 8GB is plenty. Although nobody knows what the future holds. With that said, I would not bother with a 2080, unless you really want to spend a lot of money on a GPU. Its price to performance just is not very good.

 

[ZGR]

Far Cry 5 is mainly CPU limited for me unless I go up to 4k. I do not like many of the video options in FC5, so I do not run max.

I would go for 8gb minimum though. You have a great CPU for beyond 144hz, so I hope you are not at 60hz unless you go for cheap 4k.

I game at 4k60hz and 1080p180hz and always have plenty of VRAM. The only thing that makes me want 16Gb or more is running multiple games at once. 11gb isn't enough for that either.

 

[Sonikku]

Where the heck are people finding 1080 ti's for $400-$450? Everywhere I look a used one is $580-600. Maybe $550 for a "blower".

 

[mohit9206]

Just because it takes that much VRAM if available, doesn't usually mean it needs that much to perform normally. Sometimes a game will keep more VRAM available simply because it's there.

True, i played hitman 2016 with 1gb vram so it only used 1gb. So it will use as much as available to it. Although Anandtech review of RX590 noted that even at 1080p games are starting to cause frame drops on 4gb and 6gb vram cards which doesn't happen on 8gb cards so that's also something to consider. So 4gb rx580 and 570 are not something i would consider anyone to buy going forward even if they play at 1080p

 

[aleader]

All of this is dependent on resolution and what games you're playing. It's also going to depend on how much system ram you have and your CPU to a much lesser extent (so long as you have a quad-core). I have a 1070 and it's way overkill for 1080p, but I do plan on getting a 4K TV in the near future and using it for a monitor, and I don't like the high power draw and heat of the AMD cards (and I got a smokin' deal on the 1070). I wanted to be safe and get 8GB Vram. I'll probably end up mainly playing at 1440p with the TV.

I needed more than 3GB to play DCS and Squad, but I'm not really sure how much Vram those games actually 'need.' I have 16GB DDR3 ram and with the 1060 3GB DCS would use about 12GB system ram and all of my Vram, and I'd get stuttering, even with it installed on an SSD (on high settings with low AA or AA off). When I switched to the 1070 it now uses about 9GB system ram and 5-7GB Vram depending on the mission. Squad always uses about 6-8GB Vram, but I think it either isn't optimized as well, or is just 'reserving' the Vram, whatever that means.

Does anyone know if there's actually a way to tell other than if your game is stuttering? I read lots of speculation, but no real proof-based answers, and I can't seem to find any by searching either. From my tests in DCS (the most demanding game I've come across), the game switches from system ram to Vram if you have it, but does it really even need all that Vram or would a 4 - 6GB card suffice? Same for the system ram really. Is it really 'using' all 9GB?

 

[mohit9206]

Yesterday night i was playing The Evil Within 2 game and it was using 3gb vram at 1600 by 900 on Ultra settings on my 1050ti so i imagine at 4K you would probably need atleast 8gb if not more. But yeah again just because it uses that much doesn't mean it needs that much. Remember 2gb cards were still considered ok in 2015 and now 4gb is the baseline and by next year 6gb would probably be the baseline and eventually 8gb by the time PS5 comes out.

 

[bystander36]

Yesterday night i was playing The Evil Within 2 game and it was using 3gb vram at 1600 by 900 on Ultra settings on my 1050ti so i imagine at 4K you would probably need atleast 8gb if not more. But yeah again just because it uses that much doesn't mean it needs that much. Remember 2gb cards were still considered ok in 2015 and now 4gb is the baseline and by next year 6gb would probably be the baseline and eventually 8gb by the time PS5 comes out.

Higher resolutions do not go up exponentially. The actual buffer sizes are still very small. The difference is there and noticeable, but not like you are thinking.

 

[Headfoot]

No game will need 11gb vs 8gb right now or for the foreseeable future. Games will use available VRAM sometimes all the way up to your framebuffer. That doesn't mean that they need it. You will suffer no out of VRAM stutters with an 8GB card.

 

[mohit9206]

No game will need 11gb vs 8gb right now or for the foreseeable future. Games will use available VRAM sometimes all the way up to your framebuffer. That doesn't mean that they need it. You will suffer no out of VRAM stutters with an 8GB card.

Define "forseeable future".

 

[whm1974]

Define "forseeable future".

The next five years.

 

[Headfoot]

Define "forseeable future".

Until the next generation of consoles come out + give or take 12 months