Randomgamingguy :
So I have been looking at graphic cards with a 2gb-4gb options. I was deciding between the r9 380 4gb, gtx 960 4gb, or the r9 280x. But people started to say that the 960 and 380 couldn't really use the 4gb to its full potential. I don't know much about the innards of a graphic card but could someone explain why some of these cards cant fully use the 4gb they have and between these three which would you recommend for 1080p gaming+mods?
Purchasing the GTX 960 4GB over the 2GB is mostly a waste of money when it comes to
gaming performance.
Graphics cards use more VRAM when it plays games on higher resolution. This is the basic guideline that applies to all modern games:
720P = modern games will never use more than 2 GB.
900P = modern games will never use more than 2 GB.
1080P = 95%+ of times modern games will never use more than 2 GB.
1440P = 95%+ of times modern games will never use more than 4 GB.
4K = 95%+ of times modern games will never use more than 8 GB.
So the reason why for example a GTX 960 or a R9 380 will never be able to take advantage of the 4 GB of VRAM on 1080P is because by the time the GPU needs more than 2 GB the GTX 960 it self would be too slow which cancels out everything and it makes it basically useless.
For example the GTX 960 2 GB and 4 GB will have identical performance on 1080P since the games do not use more than 2 GB of VRAM. However if you go to 1440P the game may use more than 2 GB of VRAM however the GTX 960 is way too slow for you to have a decent experience on 1440P so it becomes useless.
The only reason why anyone would want to go for the 4 GB version if they are doing graphic work that actually utilizes more than 2 GB of VRAM.