is the extra VRAM really that beneficial?

[Nexus18]

This is getting a little silly. "Is the vram beneficial" has evolved into "I'm clever and did a clever".

Was the £750 worth it if just gaming? No, probably not but it gives additional options, and may be useful for particular scenarios other than gaming. Is spending, say, 2 grand on a gaming PC worth it when a number of games can be played on a £500 console? In all honesty probably not, unless you can justify it with... Other uses for the hardware, not just gaming.

It seems really difficult to actually discuss merits or otherwise of vram without this going on in between. This isn't a value for money question, it's a question of how beneficial the vram actually is. The value question is different, and I know where my money went.

In that case then, I guess we can say the "extra cost" associated with things like dlss, rtx hdr, ray tracing grunt, frame gen ray reconstruction etc. shouldn't be about value either.....

Everything when it's bigger or better is "beneficial" in some shape and form, that's a given otherwise what is the point of having better/bigger things....

As tna said himself, the fact that people after all this time still won't answer if the "extra" £750 has been worth it, says it all, therefore has it really been "beneficial"?

We have all acknowledged that those who do things like:

- use extreme texture packs for games
- do professional workloads
- game at 4k and refuse to use upscaling

Is a worthwhile reason(s) to go with higher vram gpus, if people think that is worth £££ then that is their choice and up to them.

Also, the fact that some people who always raise vram issues/concerns yet still buy gpus with what is "considered" low vram nowadays shows that the more expensive gpus with more vram obviously aren't worth the extra outlay i.e. not that beneficial to justify the extra cost.

 

[Bill Turnip]

What is annoying is not being able to put a counter argument over without some people getting upset and reporting. Not saying you did by the way. But this has happened before and that is why mods end up getting involved. Like if mods post now I will know why

Not me guv. Just trying to keep the question vram, not price focused.

In that case then, I guess we can say the "extra cost" associated with things like dlss, rtx hdr, ray tracing grunt, frame gen ray reconstruction etc. shouldn't be about value either.....

That is a fair point if just discussing whether it is beneficial to a game. If discussing why people want it, then cost does prove a factor, just depends on the question.

Just waiting for this to become an "is x amount of vram enough" thread, which no-one really needs anymore, they never end well.

 

[humbug]

This is getting a little silly. "Is the vram beneficial" has evolved into "I'm clever and did a clever".

Was the £750 worth it if just gaming? No, probably not but it gives additional options, and may be useful for particular scenarios other than gaming. Is spending, say, 2 grand on a gaming PC worth it when a number of games can be played on a £500 console? In all honesty probably not, unless you can justify it with... Other uses for the hardware, not just gaming.

It seems really difficult to actually discuss merits or otherwise of vram without this going on in between. This isn't a value for money question, it's a question of how beneficial the vram actually is. The value question is different, and I know where my money went.

Its quite simple, if you don't have enough of it your games run like crap, those are the merits of VRam.

 

[humbug]

Look at it this way, you wouldn't expect 8 GB of system RAM to run more than 4 Chrome tabs so why would one think that's enough to run a modern AAA video game?

They don't use from a catalogue of 8 512 X 512 textures in games anymore, have you seen the install size of modern games? most of it is textures.

 

[Nexus18]

Stop dodging the question humbug

Why didn't you go for the 2080ti back in the day? You would have been future proofed surely and thus held onto the gpu for longer? After all, 11GB vram.

Again, I'm not saying that people should be buying a 8gb gpu nowadays..... but you have been saying that your 2070s was starved of vram even back then so why did you not buy the gpu with more vram? Why did you also buy a 5700xt when it also only had 8gb vram?

Its quite simple, if you don't have enough of it your games run like crap, those are the merits of VRam.

You make it out like this is happening in every game when this really is not the case as evidenced.

Would you say that having the extra vram in aw 2 (after it had patches) has proved to be "beneficial" and stop the game from running like "crap"? (I'm using this game because it was mentioned earlier back [even though it was taken from launch day therefore not an accurate representation of the game performance etc. now)

 

[humbug]

Stop dodging the question humbug

Again, I'm not saying that people should be buying a 8gb gpu nowadays..... but you have been saying that your 2070s was starved of vram even back then so why did you not buy the gpu with more vram? Why did you also buy a 5700xt when it also only had 8gb vram?

Why do you keep asking me about this? Do you expect a different answer each time?

I bought the 5700 XT to replace a GTX 1070, after about 3 weeks i decided it was crap, bad cooler, so i bought a 2070 Super, which was ok at the time, 8 GB was not always not enough, but it also didn't last long, i didn't want to replace it with another 8GB card, IE the 3070 and now its been so long 12GB isn't viable either.

 

[Nexus18]

Not me guv. Just trying to keep the question vram, not price focused.

That is a fair point if just discussing whether it is beneficial to a game. If discussing why people want it, then cost does prove a factor, just depends on the question.

Just waiting for this to become an "is x amount of vram enough" thread, which no-one really needs anymore, they never end well.

It's all relative though. Like we have said, anything that is bigger/better is of course going to be beneficial in some form or shape depending on said use case, in which case, what's the point of this thread other than to perhaps troll and bring back the same old broken record?

If you're someone who plays heavily modded games with high res texture packs, refuses to use upscaling at 4k, must play well regarded poorly optimised games on launch day as opposed to waiting for a patch or 2 to solve the issues, do professional workloads then yes, of course more vram is more "beneficial", whether it is worth the extra cost is subjective and down to the individual. If you're someone who doesn't do any of the listed items or/and can wait for a couple of patches for newer games or/and don't have a bone to pick with upscaling then it's probably not "beneficial" and whether that saving you made is worthwhile is also subjective and down to the individual.

Like I said earlier, the fact that some of the posters on here who keep making out like vram is the be all yet they still buy gpus with what they themselves consider to be low vram shows that obviously they themselves don't consider higher vram amounts to be "beneficial" or/and worth the extra cost.

 

[humbug]

Also that slide, already commented on the other one, pretty much nothing run's that game so its just a bad joke to me.

 

[Nexus18]

Why do you keep asking me about this? Do you expect a different answer each time?

I bought the 5700 XT to replace a GTX 1070, after about 3 weeks i decided it was crap, bad cooler, so i bought a 2070 Super, which was ok at the time, 8 GB was not always not enough, but it also didn't last long, i didn't want to replace it with another 8GB card, IE the 3070 and now its been so long 12GB isn't viable either.

I'm asking why didn't you get the 2080ti which had 11gb vram....

And yes I agree, I wouldn't have gone from a 2070 to a 3070 either, although not just because of vram but also because the jump in perf. wouldn't have been worthwhile either imo.

Also that slide, already commented on the other one, pretty much nothing run's that game so its just a bad joke to me.

i.e. in the case of this game, the extra vram of higher end gpus is not worth the extra money then or rather should I say "beneficial"? So question is then, is it worth buying the 4080 or 4090 to get a playable experience?

 

[Bill Turnip]

I'd argue vram is not as beneficial as it used to be given the upscaling that is around now, but it will totally depend on use case. For heavier modding, not quite the same rules apply however. I think it's a shame that more isn't provided, given the costs of gpus and seemingly low price of vram.

I'd imagine the vram argument is as old as time, though.

 

[humbug]

I'm asking why didn't you get the 2080ti which had 11gb vram....

Because it was a lot more expensive.

i.e. in the case of this game, the extra vram of higher end gpus is not worth the extra money then or rather should I say "beneficial"? So question is then, is it worth buying the 4080 or 4090 to get a playable experience?

No, put it on your wish list for when you have an RTX 9070.

 

[gpuerrilla]

I would just use the ignore button now bug. Besides we don't need another thread being locked...

 

[Nexus18]

I'd argue vram is not as beneficial as it used to be given the upscaling that is around now, but it will totally depend on use case. For heavier modding, not quite the same rules apply however. I think it's a shame that more isn't provided, given the costs of gpus and seemingly low price of vram.

I'd imagine the vram argument is as old as time, though.

So basically what we have said all along then

I agree with this 100%:

I think it's a shame that more isn't provided, given the costs of gpus and seemingly low price of vram.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case back when ampere and rdna 2 launched though. Also, even with the lower vram, gddr6x helped the 3080 quite a bit in 4k compared to its amd equivalent 6800xt, obviously more vram proved better than the sheer speed of gddr6x in some cases though so it wasn't always a clear cut case of simply having more vram being better.

I'd imagine the vram argument is as old as time, though.

Yup not sure if you were around when we had the fury x vs 980ti threads and vram, that was fun....

Because it was a lot more expensive.

No, put it on your wish list for when you have an RTX 9070.

And there we have it, no matter how "beneficial" it may have been (as is the case with anything that is bigger/better), it wasn't worth the extra cost in your case back then when the only other choices were 8gb gpus.

AW 2 is pretty incredible visually tbf and worthy of the hardware but yes, will be looking forward to a replay with a more powerful rt gpu

 

[tommybhoy]

12GB isn't viable either.

DLSS by default.

Og 70 reviews were good, Ti generally got slaughtered-therefore audience mindset went ooooft.

They brought out the 60 series and said ~'cache, 8Gb's all you need', then released the 16Gb and said ~'well......when you need more than 8Gb'.

Vram exposure has increased awareness(especially on tech YT channels), Nv have even recognised it to the point they absorbed +4Gb 70Ti bom.

 

[LeMson]

Looking forward to 16GB being baseline in next generation

 

[Proto]

The truth is you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

 

[Nexus18]

The truth is you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

Very true but you can try to make an educated guess as best as possible and try to spot a trend as to the way things go e.g. how well optimised are titles these days, what are engines doing with regards to vram optimisation/usage etc. I think so far this year things have improved compared to what we saw last year especially with UE 5 and the newer versions, at least I haven't felt as much of a need for anything more powerful than my 3080 this year when compared to last year. That and waiting for 2-3 patches is always the best thing to do now (and this doesn't just go for vram optimisation but general improvements to the games)

 

[dave28]

Looking forward to 16GB being baseline in next generation

will it though, i dont know any details or rumours but my guess would be nvidia will still use 8GB 12GB until you get to the 5070 range cards.

 

[Proto]

Very true but you can try to make an educated guess as best as possible and try to spot a trend as to the way things go e.g. how well optimised are titles these days, what are engines doing with regards to vram optimisation/usage etc. I think so far this year things have improved compared to what we saw last year especially with UE 5 and the newer versions, at least I haven't felt as much of a need for anything more powerful than my 3080 this year when compared to last year. That and waiting for 2-3 patches is always the best thing to do now (and this doesn't just go for vram optimisation but general improvements to the games)

It’ll always turn into chicken or the egg.

You just have to be practical.

 

[FredFlint]

The benefit of VRAM is mostly down to how the developers use it. PC games tend to use a brute-force approach, consoles are less brute-force and stream data in/out as needed so use much less memory. Developing a game for PC so it’s as efficient as a console game is very difficult.