Effects of VRAM and memory interface with on gaming?

[Technicallycorrect]

Hey, I am going to get a new GPU and I have a few questions.

1. What's the relation between memory bandwidth and video memory and how do they affect each other?

2. Is the 2GB GDDR5 memory useless because of my card's 64bit width?

3. Is there any way at all that my card benefits from the extra VRAM? Maybe when playing games with bigger textures.. or something?

4. How is overclocking affected by these two factors?


Thank you

 

[hang-the-9]

Hey, I am going to get a new GPU and I have a few questions.

1. What's the relation between memory bandwidth and video memory and how do they affect each other?

2. Is the 2GB GDDR5 memory useless because of my card's 64bit width?

3. Is there any way at all that my card benefits from the extra VRAM? Maybe when playing games with bigger textures.. or something?

4. How is overclocking affected by these two factors?


Thank you

You are not asking the right question.
If you want a new video card, you need to list full system specs (including power supply brand and model and case brand/size), budget and what games this is for and at what settings.

Memory bandwidth is how much data the video memory can handle at once, it's like asking what is the relation between displacement and an engine.

64 bit or whatever memory bus does not matter at all about the amount of memory.

Having more video memory would have benefits in cards, providing it's a good card and you are going to be using it for games and resolutions that can use the memory. Having a 4 GB video card and running Freddy Fish will not make it run any faster than a 515 MB video card, while running GTA V at 1440 resolution would want as much video RAM as you can get.

Overclocking increases overall speed of the card, memory included.

But you can ignore all that and go back up to the question you should have asked and fill in the missing details in your post.

 

[dontlistentome]

1. Bandwidth is used to transfer data from here to there, memory is where the data is held. So if you don't have enough bandwidth to transfer that much data, having extra memory doesn't help.
2. DDR5 is fast memory which helps counter the 64bit width. I don't know if I'd say 2gb is useless, it's just that if you are playing a game that requires 2gb vram, you are playing a game that really requires a card with 128bit or higher bus width. 64 bit gaming cards were low budget cards useful for resolutions and settings where 1gb DDR5 or less is enough.
3. I suppose depending on how the game is designed, or if you use high resolution texture mods or something, the extra memory might 'help'. For example, a game may not allow you to choose high settings unless you have a certain amount of vram. Having 2gb might allow you to choose those settings. Whether your card would perform well in that game is another matter.
4. Overclocking will cause processing to be done faster and/or memory to run faster, but ultimately that 64bit bus will be a choke point. If you have a road with two lanes, only so many cars can pass through that road every hour. Even if you raise the speed limit, that two lane road can only have so many cars on it at any one time.