How important is VRAM?

[Jakus]

forget about gaming, budget and everything else except vram haha, all i wanted to know was is it better to have 2GB on a worse spec card or 1GB on a slightly higher spec card?

Always the better card with less memory, which generally has faster memory than the slower memory heaped on the cheaper card to catch the muppets

Don't know why you got stupid replys ! It's about the most intelligent question I've seen posted around here for a good while

 

[Cleeecooo]

2GB for future proofing even if your current games or res don't require more than 1GB.

That's a stupid blanket statement to make.

A 2gb 5450 is not more futureproof than a 1gb 560Ti

 

[Borsch]

Does 580 3gb run BF3 better than 580 1.5Gb? Does 560ti 2gb run it better than 1gb? Comparing 560ti 2gb to 570 1.2gb would be enlightening as well.
I don know the answer to OP's question, but if he compares benches for the above he will find out.

 

[Cleeecooo]

Having the GPU with more VRAM is better, but only
If you can back it up with enough GPU power.

3gb on a 580 is only really used in tri SLI.

 

[andybird123]

like most things in life, you need to find the right balance... having a 2GB 560ti won't give you a huge improvement over a 1GB card except at settings where the GPU struggles anyway... however 2GB 560ti SLI will be able to play games at settings where 560ti 1GB SLI simply can't

the same with 570 1.2gb and 570 2.5GB and 580 1.5 and 580 3gb

basically the "large" VRAM versions of cards are for SLI, when run as a single card they offer almost no benefit

if you are comparing disimilar cards, like a 7970 3gb to a 680 2gb then you need to look at benches for the games you want to play and at the resolution you play at, but the 680 as a single card isn't being held back by the 2GB... if you were looking at 3 way SLI/crossfire and 3 screen gaming then you'd definitely go with 3 or 4GB cards

equally, if you're looking at SLI, don't get 1GB cards as some of the most recent games can't even run at the highest settings at 1080p in 1GB