Will I need more than 3.5/4GB V-Ram?

[FishPolice]

I currently have an HD6950 but I've got the upgrade itch & Black Friday is here....

I game at 1920 x 1080 and I'm pretty unlikely to upgrade from this resolution.

Basically I'm torn between a GTX970 or an R9 390.

Is the extra v-ram on the AMD cards ever likely to be useful/necessary to me at this resolution within the next 2 - 3 years or would the less-power hungry Nvidia do the job?

Looking to play Witcher 3, Fallout 4 etc

Thanks in advance

 

[MooMoo444]

You wont need more than 4gb for 1080p for a while yet.

 

[humbug]

Not for 1080P, for 1440P i would.

 

[Simon Belmont]

Not for 1080P, for 1440P i would.

I'm on 4gb 970 at 1440p g-sync and it runs just fine here.

 

[Amatsubu]

You won't. I'm on a GTX 970 at 1440p without any vram problems and still have quite hefty amounts of memory to spare in most titles.

What you'll need though is more grunt than either of those cards can offer, especially if you want to play games close to maxed. You can crush both pretty easily and make them drop significantly below 60fps at 1440p (and even at 1080p in not so rare scenarios). Both will run out of power before you even get to use all the memory.

Technically, 8gb of vram is useless at this resolution with cards that really aren't that powerful. Having said that, both are similar price so it doesn't hurt to grab the 390 and have more memory (might come in handy if you ever decide to crossfire, I wouldn't, though).


Other than that, it all boils down to drivers, brand preference or brand-specific features. Also, some games tend to perform better on Nvidia/AMD hardware.


I'd buy a used 290x and ride it out till new cards arrive. IMO, neither the 970 nor the 390 are really worth it new.

EDIT: Regarding power usage, the difference between the two is not big enough to be an important deciding factor.

 

[~>Dg<~]

what many forget is nvidia put enough vram on for what you need.

only games that will give you any trouble even in next 2 years will be poorly coded games.

at 1080 you fine for few years yet.

 

[tommybhoy]

Is the extra v-ram on the AMD cards ever likely to be useful/necessary to me at this resolution within the next 2 - 3 years

Extra always comes in handy at some point, one thing is 100%, double trumps half.

 

[humbug]

Extra always comes in handy at some point, one thing is 100%, double trumps half.

it will do™ eh Tommy?

 

[tommybhoy]

 

[FishPolice]

Thanks for all the replies -much appreciated as ever