GTX 960 2GB vs 4GB

[Spaztazcular]

Ok so I've doing some research on this with conflicting results. I guess the simple question is is 4GB worth it on a 960 card. I've read stuff where it isn't because the memory interface (128 bit) limits it and also read stuff where the maxwell architecture still lets it use it. Yes I have already read somewhere that the card only uses 3.5GBs of it while the rest of it is slower (or something like that).

 

[Cons29]

i think the 3.5 applies to 970, not sure if it applies to 960. however, with that said 970 is still a very nice card for its price.

now my opinion, i think if the price diff is too much then 2gb is enough. i still have my old 670 2gb and still serves me well. sure, it may not be able to max out every game but i can just lower the settings a bit. i cannot expect it to max out because of it's age also, same with other card. if it's not high end then there will be some games that it may not be able to max out the settings.
if you plan to use 4k then 2gb is not enough, but then again a 960 is not enough even if they give it 8gb vram

 

[jakegroves]

960, 2gb vram is perfectly fine. You can play medium-high res textures on this
960 4gb vram is perfectly fine You can play medium-high res textures on this.

VRAM has become a marketing ploy to fix your fps issues when really it isn't. Yes the VRAM allows better textures and fps to an extent ... but your whole cards needs the performance aswell which it doesn't compared to the 970.

970 4gb ... only 3.5gb of the vram is the fully speed, and the 0.5gb vram is 1/8 of the power. But realistically you can play almost all games on max graphics 60fps without going pass 3.5gb vram. Regardlesss you can easily knock down some settings to stay a bit below 3.5gb vram.


So if you are getting the 960 get the 2gb version otherwise you are wasting an extra $40-50.
If you want 4gb vram then get the 970. Especially if you are playing at higher res's than 1080p.

 

[Compuser10165]

I agree, the gtx 960 4gb is mostly a marketing trick (even if it has 4gb of vram it will not use all that, but it could use more than 2gb, altough you won't see the difference in the majority of cases). If you want 4gb of vram i recommend the gtx 970 at 1080p or the R9 390 at 1440p (or 1080p with virtual resolution).
Right now, between a gtx 970 and an r9 390 i would pick the r9 390 because it is slightly more powerful in most games and when overclock it can surpass even an overclocked 970.
P.S. The gtx 970 is fine for medium-high settings on current aaa titles on 1080p.

 

[Spaztazcular]

I forgot to mention that I do some 3D modeling on the side as well as some game development (unity mostly right now). If that makes a difference, but it seems that the actual power of the 960 is the limiting factor and not the memory interface itself? No though I don't plan to play games on anything higher then 1080p.

Here's where I seen that about the 960:

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/asus-strix-nvidia-gtx960-4gb-same-4gb-problem-as-gtx-970.211040/

 

[Spaztazcular]

i think the 3.5 applies to 970, not sure if it applies to 960. however, with that said 970 is still a very nice card for its price.

now my opinion, i think if the price diff is too much then 2gb is enough. i still have my old 670 2gb and still serves me well. sure, it may not be able to max out every game but i can just lower the settings a bit. i cannot expect it to max out because of it's age also, same with other card. if it's not high end then there will be some games that it may not be able to max out the settings.
if you plan to use 4k then 2gb is not enough, but then again a 960 is not enough even if they give it 8gb vram

Yeah I'm perfectly fine with lowering my settings if need be, I've been playing games and other stuff on a 560 for around 4 years now lol. Even played The Witcher 3 with it, but now the card died (on cod4 of all games lol) and I need another one.

 

[Compuser10165]

I would suggest an r9 380 4gb over an gtx 960 4gb. It slightly outperforms the gtx 960, but the gtx 960 is a good choice too.

 

[17seconds]

HardOCP covered the 4GB vs 2GB versions of the GTX 960. They found that it did make a difference depending on the game. I would absolutely pay the extra for the 4GB card, just to avoid any possible regrets or unforeseen future games where there might be a benefit.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/08/04/msi_geforce_gtx_960_gaming_4g_video_card_review/10

 

[imrazor]

I too would recommend the 4GB over the 2GB model. Every time I've gone cheap and gotten a model with less RAM, I've always regretted it. 2GB may be adequate for the present, but there's no telling what kind of textures will be in future games.

Don't remind of that time I got an 8800GT with 256MB of RAM instead of 512MB...

 

[Cons29]

well, if you often keep gpu's for a long time then get the 4gb. but if you upgrade like every 2 years, i think 2gb is fine

 

[Karadjgne]

If future sli is even a consideration, get the 4gb.

 

[17seconds]

I just think we're in an era where it's already been well-established that 2GB isn't enough for all games. The issue of "the GPU isn't powerful enough for 4GB" is what I call a forum myth, something that gets repeated as fact, and as a blanket statement without circumstantiation.

Right now on Newegg, the 4GB models are only about $20 more expensive. There's really almost no reason to get the 2GB GTX 960, unless you are truly at the very limit of your budget.

 

[Cons29]

^well, for me it depends, if it's on a good gpu (which the 960 is) then 4gb is ok. but if you say, 4gb on a gt610 then that is just marketing bs most likely. so that statement there is true for that example.

 

[Karadjgne]

It's all really a matter of how ppl define overkill. For what a gtx960 will handle graphically, for normal usage, 2Gb is fine, it'll play any game upto the level of its graphical ability. 4Gb doesn't automatically make the card better, its still a gtx960, so the graphical ability is the same. The only thing 4Gb over 2Gb does is raise potential limitations. For some games/apps, they are optimized to make use of as much ram as is available, so if a game can make use of 3.5Gb of ram, that's not to say it can't make use of 2Gb if ram also, it just gets limited by the 2Gb. If any and all games used only 1.5Gb, then 4Gb would be overkill and not worth the extra $, but since there are games/apps that do use upto 4Gb, and tomorrow there will be more, then there's really no point in you applying limitations. 2 years ago was different, a 4Gb card was overkill, but today is a different matter.

 

[Spaztazcular]

It's all really a matter of how ppl define overkill. For what a gtx960 will handle graphically, for normal usage, 2Gb is fine, it'll play any game upto the level of its graphical ability. 4Gb doesn't automatically make the card better, its still a gtx960, so the graphical ability is the same. The only thing 4Gb over 2Gb does is raise potential limitations. For some games/apps, they are optimized to make use of as much ram as is available, so if a game can make use of 3.5Gb of ram, that's not to say it can't make use of 2Gb if ram also, it just gets limited by the 2Gb. If any and all games used only 1.5Gb, then 4Gb would be overkill and not worth the extra $, but since there are games/apps that do use upto 4Gb, and tomorrow there will be more, then there's really no point in you applying limitations. 2 years ago was different, a 4Gb card was overkill, but today is a different matter.

Yeah I know all that stuff, but I was just getting conflicting information because I've read from multiple locations that 4GBs of ram on a 960 doesn't mean much because the card either does have enough power or memory bandwidth to utilize 4GBs properly and other places that said it will. I not only play games but also 3d model and do Unity stuff as well.

 

[Karadjgne]

Pay the extra, get the 4Gb. You may or may not use 4Gb, depending on app, but guaranteeing you will limit options by using a 2Gb card isn't worth the saved $.

 

[imrazor]

Personally I find the extra VRAM most useful for loading high-res textures, either provided by the game, or as 3rd party mods. I enjoy the extra detail and sharpness that they provide. So far I haven't run into issues with memory bandwidth or performance, although I usually stick to mid-range to high-end video cards. The 960 is no slouch, and I don't think you'll have an issue with performance at 4GB.