4gb on old graphic cards bad?

Randomgamingguy

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Jul 9, 2015
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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?
 
Solution
I play witcher 3 on @ 1080p high w/a 780ti and vram usage is 1.8gb but still challanging my gpu. Min fps is about 60, average of 65-80 so imagine how slower gpus fare.

Witcher 3 is a rare blessing with vram usage though but do not think 4gb will give you high/ultra without some dips.

Other games can go over 2gb I do get it, but at that point how good is the game running even on the 4gb gpu which is still slow, get a faster gpu if you want better textures and performance to match it is all I am saying.


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.
 
Most PC gamers have a standard of 60fps 1080p or more and start to turn stuff down when they're not achieving it.

GPU's like 960/380 (2gb or 4gb) requires some turning down on new/taxing games, by the time you're at 60fps you're under 2gb vram usage.
 


Some games now such as the witcher 3 wild hunt and a few upcoming games I believe should require more than 2gb of VRAM if I wanted to run it at high settings 60fps. I have also recently checked some 1440p benchmarks for the 380 4gb and found that it really isnt that great, in fact the results were pretty much neck and neck with the r9 280. So I think I would go with the r9 280 on this. But could you please evaluate on what you meant that the 960 would be too slow to utilize the 4gb of VRAM?
 
he's saying that at higher resolutions where the 4 gb of vram would be needed, the 960 would be so slow it would not be worth playing. the 960 is great at 1080p but higher than that and the game becomes unbearable. so having the 4 gb of vram to push 1440p on a 960 is kind of counter productive since it is not strong enough to push 1440p anyway.

you can turn down the settings at 1440p so the 960 can handle it but then it won't need the 4 gb of vram since it is not doing as much work. make sense?


however, as noted the game mods can throw this all out of whack. introducing new effects and such into the mix by way of mods shuld certainly use more vram than the vanilla game. so the extra bit of vram would be helpful.
 
I play witcher 3 on @ 1080p high w/a 780ti and vram usage is 1.8gb but still challanging my gpu. Min fps is about 60, average of 65-80 so imagine how slower gpus fare.

Witcher 3 is a rare blessing with vram usage though but do not think 4gb will give you high/ultra without some dips.

Other games can go over 2gb I do get it, but at that point how good is the game running even on the 4gb gpu which is still slow, get a faster gpu if you want better textures and performance to match it is all I am saying.
 
Solution
GTA5 I think is the first to have that handy little VRAM meter based on what settings you are using but Afterburner always has me a little higher than the game says, that being said GTA5 is about average when it comes to VRAM.

I use a little over the 3gb my GPU has for 4k high (GTA5), 1080p can stay under 2gb no prob my buddy has a 770 2gb and he can nearly max the game at 1080p with very few dips.