Is Dedicated Video RAM important?

[riguy99]

Hello,

I am wondering if Dedicated Video RAM is important for playing games. I do not have a lot of cash to build a $1000 computer, so I built a budget build a few years ago with a AMD A10-5800K APU. I know that Can You Run It is not the most accurate at telling you if you can run it, but it says time to time that I do not have enough Video Ram. It tells me I only have 512 MB. I never really wanted to play game on high settings or anything, but is this enough that I can play games down the road? Even if I do not have the required amount of RAM, could I still play the game? I am just worried that I will not be able to play the upcoming "Fallout 4" even though there are no system requirements posted yet. Also if I were to buy a new graphics card rather than the one on the APU, what would you recommend and how does that work with a APU?

Specs:
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A75MA-E35
CPU: AMD A10-5800K Trinity Quad-Core 3.8GHz
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7660D
HDD: Western Digital Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB
Case: NZXT Source 210 S210-001
Power: CORSAIR CX series CX430 430W ATX12V

 

[Bossyfins]

How much money do you have to build a PC?

 

[riguy99]

How much money do you have to build a PC?

I am just wondering if 512 is enough, and if it was not, what graphics card I should crossfire with my current APU. I do not have the money to invest in a whole new computer.

 

[hotter-than-Vishera]

Dedicated video RAM is important, as it saves information like textures to the GPU.
However, it is only a piece of the puzzle. There is far more to a graphics card than just its VRAM.

You have CUDA cores and Stream Processors. CUDA cores are made by Nvidia, and Stream Processors were made by ATI, now made by AMD. CUDA cores are generally stronger, but you see fewer of them. For example the GTX Titan X has 3072 CUDA cores, whereas the new Radeon Fury X will have 4096 Stream Processors. Both cards will be comparable in performance. CUDA cores and Stream Processors are also very important because they handle the information, they do the processing. Many cards - AMD and, to a lesser degree Nvidia, are both guilty of this - double the VRAM to make the card look better. But the performance increases are hardly amazing. Why? Because the number of CUDA cores or Stream Processors remains the same.

Finally, you have core speed. Core speed is how often the main graphics chip can control the card. And then you have the effective memory clock - how much data the card itself can move into and out of RAM for the CUDA cores and Stream Processors to handle.

Generally speaking, the original reference cards strike a pretty good balance. AMD and Nvidia know the best mix of RAM plus CUDA/Stream units. Core chip clocks and effective memory clocks, when increased, will usually improve performance. Extra video RAM versus the basic model shouldn't be done, while extra CUDA cores and stream processors can't be done (without making a whole new card).

 

[hotter-than-Vishera]

How much money do you have to build a PC?

I am just wondering if 512 is enough, and if it was not, what graphics card I should crossfire with my current APU. I do not have the money to invest in a whole new computer.

*edit*No, 512MB is not enough. 1GB is barely sufficient and only acceptable on a card under $150. But don't buy a card for less than $90 unless it is on sale.

The thing about APUs is that they were never truly meant to be used with a discrete card.

When you Crossfire your APU's onboard graphics with a discrete card, you gain nothing. This is because the core chipset clock of an APU is much slower than a discrete card - often, the difference is 600-700MHz vs 900-1000MHz, respectively. When two cards go into Crossfire, the faster one is made to slow down to match the slowest one. Couple that with the fact that Crossfire scaling is never too efficient, even when it works, and you sometimes lose performance.

I would just get a good graphics card and not crossfire with the APU. Try and get an R7 265, or an R7 260X. Or if you have the money, replace your motherboard and CPU with an FX-6300 CPU, and get an R9 270X graphics card.

 

[Cons29]

by today's standard 512mb is just not enough even 1gb will have a hard time (it may be enough when at low settings on less demanding games)