Is 4GB VRAM Still Adequate?

[Sturmgewehr_44]

With the release of that Shadow of Mordor game, I find it very disturbing. I have no interest in the game, but that does not matter. It's Ultra texture pack raises the question if the amount of VRAM in consumer-level Graphics Cards is enough. My GTX 980 has 4GB, as do all other 980s.

Is this enough? Ubisoft unoptimised titles can take as much as 3.8 GB of VRAM when maxed out at 1080p. And then, there is that texture pack. Apparently, if I am not misunderstanding the rage, it calls for a "minimum" of 6GB of VRAM. That is absolutely absurd. But is it true? I've heard mixed reception. It seems some users can run it on a 980 or 970, whilst others are reporting the VRAM usage at over 5GB at 1080p. What is there? Is the recommended 6GB an overestimate?

In the next few months, will 4GB VRAM be sufficient, or will it get drained away by a new SKU with 6 or 8GB? I find this bothersome, considering the amount of lazy, unoptimised work, and on top of the Console's unified memory. Didn't this same issue happen with the GTX 580 and it's 1.5GB of VRAM?

 

[JakeAlmighty]

If VRAM is soon able to be combined in CrossfireX//SLI, then all our problems will go away

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/43347/geforce-radeon-gpus-soon-combine-vram-thanks-dx12-mantle/index.html



re: Ubisoft - I think we all just need to band together and stop them from ever making more video games tbh :/

 

[Sturmgewehr_44]

If VRAM is soon able to be combined in CrossfireX//SLI, then all our problems will go away

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/43347/geforce-radeon-gpus-soon-combine-vram-thanks-dx12-mantle/index.html



re: Ubisoft - I think we all just need to band together and stop them from ever making more video games tbh :/

Didn't know DX12 was planning something like that. I thought it was Pascal (Volta before the rename) was focusing on stackable VRAM? I doubt DX12 will suceed in this. I believe the VRAM situation is an underlying architectural bottleneck, and I don't think it could happen to Maxwell.

That being said, I have heard from people that the recommendation for 6GB comes from running the Ultra textures at 4K or downsampling. Even then, 6GB is a tonne of VRAM.

I just want to know, or predict, where this whole VRAM thing is heading towards. Will we stay at 3GB or push past 4GB and bottleneck our current cards? Am I correct when I mention this happened to the 570/580 reference cards as well? Hopefully I am just overreacting...

 

[Davidgilinsky]

well to be honest im using an msi r9 270x hawk 2gb version. and i can play dying light on ultra without a hiccup. i doubt that game developers will push it that far when it come to memory usage on a gpu, im not saying it will not happen. but maybe 3-4 years from now 4gb vram would be the mainstream amount of vram needed when it comes to gaming. lets be realistic not all gamers can afford a high-end video card so they still need to cater for the masses. hope this helps

 

[iamlegend]

Honestly you are overreacting. No one knows what will happen, just live your life and enjoy every game you play.

 

[TofuLion]

maybe we'll see an APU variant that uses DDR4 from AMD in an effort to relieve the VRAM situation, and put them back in the game?

 

[iamlegend]

Highly possible but improbable.

 

[TofuLion]

they should do it and make it crossfire compatible with the newest series

 

[iamlegend]

lololol, that is way too far brother, APU that will crossfire R9 280x? I doubt that idea.

 

[TofuLion]

in order to keep their radeon department in full swing. super enthusiasts might consider going with AMD as a budget solution if it was anywhere near capable of performing on par with intel X99. i personally have noticed this 3.8GB VRAM usage in ACU max settings. it would be nice to have the ability to upgrade this without getting a completely different GPU.