So you thought 6gb VRAM was overkill? Enter Sapphire Vapor-X R9-290x

[whyscotty]

A constant 120fps while running games like bf4 maxxed out will take the vram to around 2.9gb as its been reported. Add some custom Anti aliasing like MSAA+SGSSAA and you can add another 1GB of ram to that.

I wont buy any card that has under 4gb as i game at 120hz on an IPS panel and i use high amounts of custom AA so for me 3GB is crap and the new console games will easily eclispse that once 12 months are out of the way.

Cached or used, that is the question

 

[Boomstick777]

We're gonna see the baseline for vram requirements skyrocket as we head towards 4K. Tiled resources should also help cache the ridiculous texture sizes that will come along.

 

[Gregster]

We're gonna see the baseline for vram requirements skyrocket as we head towards 4K. Tiled resources should also help cache the ridiculous texture sizes that will come along.

Good point on tiled resources. Not only will it lessen VRAM but performance should gain a fair bit as well.

 

[jakspyder]

If you were pushing 7680x1440 this and the titan black make sense. but even then you need 3 of each to push the pixels anyway, the cost of gaming at that rez is obscene. Doable, but crazy when in a couple of years 2 "normal" 980s/490Xs will do it nice.

 

[Boomstick777]

Would like to see the end of the custom 28nm cards and move onto new 20nm cards with new architecture. You probably don't know this about me but I get bored with GPU's very quickly .

Have heard rumors of something exciting happening in the GPU space in March.. I'm really hoping this isn't just the dual cards..

 

[jakspyder]

Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.

 

[Kaapstad]

Have heard rumors of something exciting happening in the GPU space in March..

Yes Dice may have BF4 running properly.

 

[Orangey]

Vesuvius

 

[vsg28]

Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.

lol

 

[Boomstick777]

Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.

Haha.

 

[tommybhoy]

So why can my two GTX 690s manage higher fps @1600p than two of my 290Xs lol.

A 690 is faster than a 290X 9/10.

Canned BM's and 'playing' a game are two different scenario's???

Add another 290X into the equation to even up gpu grunt, then add more IQ.

Cached or used, that is the question

Lower frame times???

 

[chaosophy]

Total overkill for my needs (still haven't justified a non ref 290 for myself yet) but why did it have to be blue!! Would look so nice with the rest of my setup!!

 

[ndaar]

An 8gig 290x just seems like a marketing win, I don't see it been of any real benefit to the average user.

 

[Gripen90]

So next year we will have GFX cards with more VRam than what we usually have of system Ram - now that's a trend I didn't see coming that quick !
16GB Vram and 8GB system ram - that just looks a bit awkward to me

 

[chaosophy]

So next year we will have GFX cards with more VRam than what we usually have of system Ram - now that's a trend I didn't see coming that quick !
16GB Vram and 8GB system ram - that just looks a bit awkward to me

Not too clued up on it but if AMD get their way with HSA won't RAM just become RAM? System, GFX no difference just a unified pool of resource?

Wonder if PCs will go the console route and we'll just get DDR4/GDDR5 type memory plugged straight into the mobo that the GFX card can then just use along with the rest of the system?

Probably a lot of peeps shuddering thinking of onboard gfx eating system memory but if it's all just high speed and usable maybe it will go that way?

 

[Puppetmaster]

I seem to remember a certain group of users slating another card saying 6GB was overkill.

Wonder what they will say now.

I'm fairly sure the only place this is useful is for running 4k with a multi card setup or do you disagree?

Care to answer my question or were you trying to bait?

For the record, I think 6GB and 8GB are pretty useless outside of 4K and at that point you need multi gpu's to have the power to drive 4k at half decent framerates anyway. I would say that 4GB is overkill as 780's 780ti's seem to do fine without 4GB.

 

[Kaapstad]

A 690 is faster than a 290X 9/10.

Canned BM's and 'playing' a game are two different scenario's???

Add another 290X into the equation to even up gpu grunt, then add more IQ.



Lower frame times???

That is in the game running max settings @1600p

The point I was making in my earlier post was two 2gb cards beating two 4gb cards on max settings @1600p.

 

[tommybhoy]

That is in the game running max settings @1600p

The point I was making in my earlier post was two 2gb cards beating two 4gb cards on max settings @1600p.

When vram isn't an issue@1600p, your 4 2GB gpus are going to be faster than 2 4GB cards, that's the point I was making, there are a few titles that can stop your 4 gpus in their tracks though, where they are vram limited with plenty gpu grunt left in the tank.

The easiest scenario to mention(as specific game titles just cause arguments) is Skyrim.

Spoiler

2GB/4GB 680 vram limitations on modded Skyrim

http://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.ph...-geforce-gtx-680-4-gb-jetstream.html?start=16

I've had the the 4770k / single gtx780 system for a month or so now. Quick summary of my testing here for anyone who searches "modded skyrim GTX780"...

At stock GPU levels and ~200 mods, this card sits at around 40-50 FPS in Skyrim.

Overclocked, it sits above 60 FPS. I vsync to 60 anyway so that's good enough.

^
There is another example of many.

Afaik, there is conflicting reports that Skyrim can only use 3.1GB vram, then it crashes(it's a known bug but Bethseda won't fix it as they don't support modding, simply allow it) but others stating they can get it to 5GB vram usage too with Titans/6GB 7970's, whether or not the community fixed the bug idk as my time has passed with Skyrim.

I am not implying in the slightest your 690's are of no use, just stating that it can be breached under certain circumstances.





Before the 'ridiculous' type comments flood in, just as it's Kaps choice to purchase a bat cave full of gpu's, it's an individuals choice whether they mod the **** out of a title too.

 

[triss]

Skyrim has many issues with mods as some conflicting ones, glitch, push vram through the roof, But its always dragged out by both sides to make a point
And yip 100% agreement with you if someone wants to mod the hell out of a game so they enjoy it thats their right to do so and to buy w/e card suits that game its their money and there life

 

[Rusty0611]

Do one/two games out of...? OK.