Is 2GB enough GPU memory? If not how can I tell?

[Rolando_d]

I've got what I'd consider a pretty good system:

• 
  CPU: FX 8320 8 Core 4.3Ghz OC
  GPU: EVGA GTX 760
  RAM: 8Gb Gskill DDR3 1333
  MOBO: GA-970a-ud3
  PSU: Seasonic M12II 750W
  SSD: 120Gb Samsung EVO
  HDD: Seagate 2TB 64MB Cache
  Hyper 212 EVO CPU Fan

However, I've been playing ARK Evolved and I haven't been getting the performance that I'd like. Only 30 FPS and dips sometimes and freezes for a second or so. I've ruled out CPU but I only have 8GB of ram and it looks like I'm using 94% of that. Also, It looks like my GPU's memory (2GB) is loaded 99%, however task manager says GPU usage doesn't go above 60%ish. Am I hitting a situation in which the vram of my graphics card is not enough? I've uploaded a picture of the performance I'm getting in game. Thanks for the help!

 

[utroz]

Yes your GPU does not have enough Vram, and it seems like you are really close on system RAM as well. You could try running at a lower resolution and or reducing image settings to see if that helps. Your system is OK, the GPU is kinda 3 generations old so this is to be expected with new games..

 

[Rolando_d]

Yes your GPU does not have enough Vram, and it seems like you are really close on system RAM as well. You could try running at a lower resolution and or reducing image settings to see if that helps. Your system is OK, the GPU is kinda 3 generations old so this is to be expected with new games..

Hm, that's weird because all the research that I have done says that the 760 is not capable of performing at a high enough level to use 2GB of vram. The only card that has issues with bottlenecking due to vram are cards like the 970 and above. Is that accurate? How can the card then be maxing out vram but only be at 54% useage according to the monitor?

 

[utroz]

Yes your GPU does not have enough Vram, and it seems like you are really close on system RAM as well. You could try running at a lower resolution and or reducing image settings to see if that helps. Your system is OK, the GPU is kinda 3 generations old so this is to be expected with new games..

Hm, that's weird because all the research that I have done says that the 760 is not capable of performing at a high enough level to use 2GB of vram. The only card that has issues with bottlenecking due to vram are cards like the 970 and above. Is that accurate? How can the card then be maxing out vram but only be at 54% useage according to the monitor?

Are you reading the graphs you posted correctly? There have been many cards that have been bottlenecked by Vram, this card was made for games 5 years ago as it was a mid range card 3 generations ago and soon to be 4. New games have better textures that use more Vram, also what resolution you play at effects this as do your image settings. You could lower the resolution and or settings and see if that helps. Other than that you probably need a faster GPU with more VRAM. But the way I read those graphs is you are running out of VRAM and your GPU load looks maxed out too according to the one program but the other says 50% gpu load.. I would lean toward the 99% number.

 

[Rolando_d]

Yes your GPU does not have enough Vram, and it seems like you are really close on system RAM as well. You could try running at a lower resolution and or reducing image settings to see if that helps. Your system is OK, the GPU is kinda 3 generations old so this is to be expected with new games..

Hm, that's weird because all the research that I have done says that the 760 is not capable of performing at a high enough level to use 2GB of vram. The only card that has issues with bottlenecking due to vram are cards like the 970 and above. Is that accurate? How can the card then be maxing out vram but only be at 54% useage according to the monitor?

Are you reading the graphs you posted correctly? There have been many cards that have been bottlenecked by Vram, this card was made for games 5 years ago as it was a mid range card 3 generations ago and soon to be 4. New games have better textures that use more Vram, also what resolution you play at effects this as do your image settings. You could lower the resolution and or settings and see if that helps. Other than that you probably need a faster GPU with more VRAM. But the way I read those graphs is you are running out of VRAM and your GPU load looks maxed out too according to the one program but the other says 50% gpu load.. I would lean toward the 99% number.

Yeah, I was actually super confused about that number difference. The 99% is from Nvidia Inspector and the 50% is from windows task manager so I assumed the windows task manager to be correct. Anyways, I think you're right. Time to upgrade I guess. I have a FX-8320 OCd to 4.3 Ghz so hopefully that won't bottleneck a new card.

 

[utroz]

Well I think you can get a GPU at least 3x faster than your current one and not bottle neck in most games. Some games just hate AMD so you can't win them all with your current system. In those types of games you can up the resolution and image settings and not loose much FPS due to the fact that the game's engine is the bottleneck on your cpu and not the gpu. So I would get a 4GB or more GPU like a 970, or 380X. You could go higher but the cpu bottleneck will happen more and more often in current non DX12 or Vulkan Games.

 

[Rolando_d]

Well I think you can get a GPU at least 3x faster than your current one and not bottle neck in most games. Some games just hate AMD so you can't win them all with your current system. In those types of games you can up the resolution and image settings and not loose much FPS due to the fact that the game's engine is the bottleneck on your cpu and not the gpu. So I would get a 4GB or more GPU like a 970, or 380X. You could go higher but the cpu bottleneck will happen more and more often in current non DX12 or Vulkan Games.

Thank you, that's extremely helpful. I don't like going small and then wanting an upgrade soon after however, so I was thinking of going with a 980. I know my CPU will bottleneck but I'll deal with it for now. In June I start my new engineering job and then I'll finish upgrading and go ahead and hop over to intel with a new mobo and cpu. If I'm switching to a new mobo and cpu anyway, would you reccomend the i7-6700 skylake or i7-4790k? I've heard 4790k is still stronger, but I don't really understand all the perks that the 1151 socket advertises so I don't know if it's worth it

 

[utroz]

So those GPU's i recomenned are the fastest I would try putting in your current system, but if you are going to switch to an Intel system (either i7-4790k or i7-6700K can handle the fastest video cards currently made. The skaylake I7-6700K is faster on average and it supports more modern tech like DDR4, the motherboards for it should also work with upcoming Kaby Lake and possibly Cannon Lake. It depends if you want to built a total new system or do you want to reuse parts from your current build. As you have 1333Mhz DDR3 i would just go with a DDR4 Skylake i7-6700K based system, if you 7get a i7-4790K you will be able to use DDR3 but will most likely want ram faster than your current kit so might as well make the jump to DDR4. Also you don't have to get an i7 based system for gaming, the i5-6600K, or i5-4690k are both great for gaming..

 

[utroz]

If you are going to switch to an Intel system (either i7-4790k or i7-6700K can handle the fastest video cards currently made. The skaylake I7-6700K is faster on average and it supports more modern tech like DDR4, the motherboards for it should also work with upcoming Kaby Lake and possibly Cannon Lake. It depends if you want to built a total new system or do you want to reuse parts from your current build. As you have 1333Mhz DDR3 i would just go with a DDR4 Skylake i7-6700K based system, if you 7get a i7-4790K you will be able to use DDR3 but will most likely want ram faster than your current kit so might as well make the jump to DDR4. Also you don't have to get an i7 based system for gaming, the i5-6600K, or i5-4690k are both great for gaming..

 

[Rolando_d]

So those GPU's i recomenned are the fastest I would try putting in your current system, but if you are going to switch to an Intel system (either i7-4790k or i7-6700K can handle the fastest video cards currently made. The skaylake I7-6700K is faster on average and it supports more modern tech like DDR4, the motherboards for it should also work with upcoming Kaby Lake and possibly Cannon Lake. It depends if you want to built a total new system or do you want to reuse parts from your current build. As you have 1333Mhz DDR3 i would just go with a DDR4 Skylake i7-6700K based system, if you 7get a i7-4790K you will be able to use DDR3 but will most likely want ram faster than your current kit so might as well make the jump to DDR4. Also you don't have to get an i7 based system for gaming, the i5-6600K, or i5-4690k are both great for gaming..

Yeah, thanks for all the help! The only reason I wanted to stick to the i7 system was because I do like Microsoft Flight Sim, which is extraordinarily CPU intensive. I know my FX 8320 OCd to 4.3 Ghz can't handle it the way I would like