Games Listed by Video Memory Usage

Gregster · 18 Mar 2013 at 22:47

Great potential in this thread and I would love to see the fps as well as the VRAM used. This would show if it is playable or not.

arc@css · 18 Mar 2013 at 22:48

Just saw the memory usage climb to 1200mb at the Clear Sky base, and that was only during a cloudy day.

Rusty0611 · 18 Mar 2013 at 22:52

Gregster said:
Great potential in this thread and I would love to see the fps as well as the VRAM used. This would show if it is playable or not.

Indeed. It is a key point. 1950MB VRAM used (i.e 100MB free) on a 680 tells a story but if you factor in FPS of say.... 20 .... it shows that's the settings which produce the VRAM to become close to the limit are really actually playable with that GPU anyway.

Randomface74 · 18 Mar 2013 at 22:56

I think we need to know more about the strategy that's used when VRAM is full. We can already work out percentage of VRAM used from the information we have - and I'll calculate it all at some point - but if something 90% or more indicates it might be full, and the strategy is always the same, then the outcome will always be the same... only variation being the rest of the system... it's already difficult enough to compare with just the GPU.

I suspect if we think GDDR5 is much faster than DDR3 - graphics guys know that too. So they probably do something like:
- load everything needed right now into vram
- if vram full, use optimisation strategy using ram
- load everything required for optimisation into ram
- if ram full, pagefile will be used
- if pagefile also full, probably game over

... basically trying to use the fastest memory available all the time... but considering contention for that memory.

... so I can kinda make this stuff up... but I don't actually KNOW what happens.

Gregster · 18 Mar 2013 at 23:07

I found out that using DDR3 when VRAM is full, it slows to less than 1fps. This was the case for me when I had SLI 680's and broke the VRAM limit for the first time on FarCry3 at full spec with 8XMSAA.

I had the same previous with my 1GB 560TI and DDR3 just can't cope.

Randomface74 · 18 Mar 2013 at 23:25

In the past, you'd be mostly interested in resolution, because the framebuffer was by far the largest resource. Today the resolution is generally not a very big factor in the total memory consumption. Although with huge resolutions and excessive MSAA it could matter. At 2560x1600 8xMSAA you need 281MB for the back buffer, front buffer and depth buffer. Normal settings will of course only be a fraction of that. Like 1600x1200 4xMSAA is 66MB, which is not much on a 512MB card. The things you should look for when it comes to memory these days is texture settings and geometric detail. [source]

Gets a bit complicated, but I think there's do-able math there. General idea is that the difference between 0xAA and 8xMSAA is calculatable... therefore predictable... being able to say this sort of thing could be useful:

Using 4xMSAA at 1080p always costs x MB.

Randomface74 · 18 Mar 2013 at 23:31

Looks like a good read: http://www.yougamers.com/articles/13801_video_ram_-_how_much_do_you_really_need/
(for tomorrow, it's getting late!)

Rusty0611 · 18 Mar 2013 at 23:32

billysielu said:
Gets a bit complicated, but I think there's do-able math there. General idea is that the difference between 0xAA and 8xMSAA is calculatable... therefore predictable... being able to say this sort of thing could be useful:

Using 4xMSAA at 1080p always costs x MB.

It's game dependent though. Look at my results on Metro 2033 vs BF3 and the difference with and without MSAA.

Randomface74 · 19 Mar 2013 at 20:24

That link was a good read, and kinda funny being out of date. Added that and other bits of info to op.

With the info we have so far, it's reasonable to say that 1GB cards are done. New cards in the store have 2GB or more, so games will take advantage of that and guys like me with 1GB cards will find it ever more difficult to run games at decent quality with 4xAA.

There's choice out there though, 2GB, 3GB, or even 6GB... tomorrow I'll be thinking if there's a smart way to narrow down the options based on the information from this thread.

Rusty0611 · 20 Mar 2013 at 08:14

It's linked to what framerates you can push. It's different if you're running out of VRAM with otherwise decent performance than running out with low FPS as you won't be using the settings which caused you to run out of VRAM anyway.

pgi947 · 20 Mar 2013 at 10:07

Will be 1440p by the weekend so I'll put up more results at that res throughout the weekend.

May also be an idea to state if vsync is used, as I'd imagine if the cards aren't pushing to their max vram would be reduced?

Rusty0611 · 20 Mar 2013 at 10:24

pgi947 said:
May also be an idea to state if vsync is used, as I'd imagine if the cards aren't pushing to their max vram would be reduced?

Shouldn't affect it. Vsync would reduce the load on the GPU but the same textures/effects are still required to be rendered irrespective of what framerate they're running at.

Could be wrong though!

Gregster · 20 Mar 2013 at 10:29

Rusty0611 said:
Shouldn't affect it. Vsync would reduce the load on the GPU but the same textures/effects are still required to be rendered irrespective of what framerate they're running at.

Could be wrong though!

+1

V-Sync will only limit frames but not the amount of detail.

pgi947 · 20 Mar 2013 at 11:09

Fair point, didn't look at it that way!

The way I was looking at it was less frames to render, less textures etc..to render.

LtMatt · 20 Mar 2013 at 11:13

Vsync will actually increase vram usage slightly because the frames are stored in the buffer. I witnessed this myself on battlefield 3.

Gregster · 20 Mar 2013 at 12:03

LtMatt said:
Vsync will actually increase vram usage slightly because the frames are stored in the buffer. I witnessed this myself on battlefield 3.

That, I didn't know but makes sense

panyan · 20 Mar 2013 at 12:06

billysielu said:
Provide
- Name of game
- Resolution played at
- General indication of quality (Ultra, High, Medium, Low) (xAA if you know)
- Name of GPU
- How much Video Memory was used? (max)

Name of GPU? My mind instantly thought: "Trevor"

Bacon? · 20 Mar 2013 at 12:16

panyan said:
Name of GPU? My mind instantly thought: "Trevor"

What about Roger or Geoff?

Gregster · 20 Mar 2013 at 12:25

These are how I see my twin Titans

I need to get a life

I guess this is how AMD crossfire owners picture your cards

Sorry guys, just my bad sense of humour

Bacon? · 20 Mar 2013 at 12:30

Lol Greg

So you got Trevor on the left there and Geoff on the right I see

And yes, you need a life. A life with which you may be called "Titan" I suspect

Edit. Im going to gloat now and say my TWO girls look better than those two anyway, so ha!