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Games Listed by Video Memory Usage

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.
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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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]
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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.
 
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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.
Click to expand...

It's game dependent though. Look at my results on Metro 2033 vs BF3 and the difference with and without MSAA.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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?
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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!
 
sexy-twins19.jpg


These are how I see my twin Titans :p

I need to get a life :(

I guess this is how AMD crossfire owners picture your cards

ugly-men.jpg


:p Sorry guys, just my bad sense of humour
 
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Lol Greg :D

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 :p

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