Discussion RTX 30 series GPUs dont have enough VRAM

eli150

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Hey guys,
The amount of VRAM on Nvidia's new GPUs seems very low to me and i cant find a lot on the subject online so i wanted to see what you guys think.
There is no need to mention the 3090 because this GPU is in a class of it's own and it costs 1500$.
Games are beginning to demand a lot more VRAM especially at 4K but i also seen some high usage at 1440p. With the new consoles releasing VRAM demand will probably be even higher just like when PS4 and Xbox One were released. I think that at some point soon even the 3080 won't be fully utilized because of it's VRAM amount.
 
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You can’t compare console to pc, don’t even try. I’ve only seen my 2080S use up to 5gb at 1440p across all games. It’s going to be interesting to see the benchmarks. I had previously a GTX780 3GB and remember reading the 970 4GB in the same games used less VRAM at the same settings. The article claimed it was more efficient. Now I never owned a 970 so this is not first hand but if that article was corrected you can’t even compare gpu’s from different architectures.
 
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eli150

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10gb is fine for 4K. I wouldn't try it with the 8gb 3070, though.

Even if that is ture, it's also a problem. 3070 is apparently faster or as fast as a 2080ti but only has 8gb of VRAM.

EDIT: Didnt see you already mentioning the 8gb.. anyway i dont think that will be the case for long. There are probably some games that use more the 8 at 4K and soon i think games will demand even more
 
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eli150

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You can’t compare console to pc, don’t even try. I’ve only seen my 2080S use up to 5gb at 1440p across all games. It’s going to be interesting to see the benchmarks. I had previously a GTX780 3GB and remember reading the 970 4GB in the same games used less VRAM at the same settings. The article claimed it was more efficient. Now I never owned a 970 so this is not first hand but if that article was corrected you can’t even compare gpu’s from different architectures.

I respect that and you might be correct but i cant say i'm fully convinced. I think that Contorl, a recent game which has some "next gen" features like ray tracing is using around 7gb at 1440p
 

eli150

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I’m not saying one way or another but another thought is developers know what hardware people are using and work with it.

It is driving me crazy dude.. look at the test Hardware Unboxed did a YEAR ago. 8 or 10 clearly isn't enough for a next gen GPU. I really want to buy the 3080 but im not going to get one until i see a GPU with more VRAM and if AMD gives me something close to or better with more memory i'll probably get that.

View: https://youtu.be/pfnzHA3-MhM
 
It is driving me crazy dude.. look at the test Hardware Unboxed did a YEAR ago. 8 or 10 clearly isn't enough for a next gen GPU. I really want to buy the 3080 but im not going to get one until i see a GPU with more VRAM and if AMD gives me something close to or better with more memory i'll probably get that.

View: https://youtu.be/pfnzHA3-MhM
I’m not really sure that video supports your point that strongly. The conclusion is 6gb was enough for the short to medium but accepting the inevitable that VRAM requirements will increase with time. That’s what’s always happens. It also shows that utilisation doesn’t mean required.

Another unknown is how RTX IO and the upcoming direct storage API will impact requirements. It’s not unreasonable to expect this will help reduce VRAM requirements.

I am not saying you are wrong, your considerations are definitely valid. However I think there are other factors making it less clear cut. We really need to see benchmarks including the new RTX IO.

As for AMD I really want them to come out strong and give competition. It’s a big ask for them not only step up their hardware but also their drivers.
 
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eli150

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I’m not really sure that video supports your point that strongly. The conclusion is 6gb was enough for the short to medium but accepting the inevitable that VRAM requirements will increase with time. That’s what’s always happens. It also shows that utilisation doesn’t mean required.

Another unknown is how RTX IO and the upcoming direct storage API will impact requirements. It’s not unreasonable to expect this will help reduce VRAM requirements.

I am not saying you are wrong, your considerations are definitely valid. However I think there are other factors making it less clear cut. We really need to see benchmarks including the new RTX IO.

As for AMD I really want them to come out strong and give competition. It’s a big ask for them not only step up their hardware but also their drivers.

Yeah.. I just hope AMD can really give Nvidia a fight this time. 5700XT was a good start. Either way, i cant shake the feeling that the VRAM amount on the 3080 and 3070 is going to be a problem.

It happened to me once before and i don't want to upgrade a GPU again because of VRAM. I'll wait as long as i can before upgrading from my used 1070 ti. A shame because i was really looking forward to getting the new RTX 3080
 

xravenxdota

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Nvidia are predicting AMD will come out strong.They have aggressive pricing.Personally i will never buy a first gen part.The rtx 20 series was a bust.It was overpriced and it had little performance over pascal cept for the 2080ti but be real 90% of people will not fork out $1200.The new line up has compelling prices.Hardware unboxed did a video i think yesterday that they tested gpu scaling and it really wasn't worth it to upgrade from a 1080ti to a 2080 cause of the different in prices.

Problem with the plain 1080 was that nvidia shot themselves in the foot when they released the 1070 ti as it could be clocked to either match or beat the 1080.We will see if this will be the case again with releasing the 30xx series and if they will release a super version which would make there marketing scheme dodgy
 
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VRAM has become a marketing issue.
My understanding is that vram is more of a performance issue than a functional issue.
A game needs to have most of the data in vram that it uses most of the time.
Somewhat like real ram.
If a game needs something not in vram, it needs to get it across the pcie boundary.
hopefully from real ram and hopefully not from a hard drive.
It is not informative to know to what level the available vram is filled.
Possibly much of what is there is not needed.
What is not known is the rate of vram exchange.
Vram is managed by the Graphics card driver, and by the game. There may be differences in effectiveness between amd and nvidia cards.
And differences between games.

Graphics card designers pick the specs most appropriate to the card they are designing.
I would not attempt to second guess them.
The vram you get with a card will be appropriate for the card.
 
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eli150

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Nvidia are predicting AMD will come out strong.They have aggressive pricing.Personally i will never buy a first gen part.The rtx 20 series was a bust.It was overpriced and it had little performance over pascal cept for the 2080ti but be real 90% of people will not fork out $1200.The new line up has compelling prices.Hardware unboxed did a video i think yesterday that they tested gpu scaling and it really wasn't worth it to upgrade from a 1080ti to a 2080 cause of the different in prices.

Problem with the plain 1080 was that nvidia shot themselves in the foot when they released the 1070 ti as it could be clocked to either match or beat the 1080.We will see if this will be the case again with releasing the 30xx series and if they will release a super version which would make there marketing scheme dodgy

yeah RTX 20 series was really bad. I wanted to get a new RTX 2070 but because when i realized it wasn't worth it i started looking for a good deal on a used gpu. Found a GTX 1070 ti ;)
 

eli150

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The vram you get with a card will be appropriate for the card.

Cant agree with you there. 2GB wasn't enough for my GTX 770 and 3.5GB definitely wasn't enough for my GTX 970. I think it wont be long before 3070 and 3080 will need to use more than 8gb or 10gb.

That said, I get what you are trying to tell me and i will reconsider if there wont be a better upgrade option.
 
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As in all things... it depends.
Here are two older studies of 2gb vs4gb vram:
https://www.techspot.com/review/1114-vram-comparison-test/page5.html
 

animekenji

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I'm considering getting a 3070 and am happy with 8GB of VRAM. I think it will be fine for my resolution of 3440 x 1440 and is double what I have now.

8GB is more than enough if you will primarily be playing at 1440p, or the widescreen version of 1440p. If you have a 4K monitor, though, the 3080 is going to be better as many games will easily exceed 8GB at that resolution and cause slowdowns.
 
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1ntelligence

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It will always come down to money.
Nvidia has left the gap for additional 3000series cards. The $200 3070 - 3080 gap will close with those additional cards.
If I didn't have a budget I would be buying the 3090 and a whole new computer to go along with it... but anyone who has to consider "budget" needs to avoid the 3090.

The Vram in the lesser cards will only increase if Nvidia feels the need to release the additional cards, and that will be determined by what team red comes up with, or doesn't come up with.
 

eli150

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As in all things... it depends.
Here are two older studies of 2gb vs4gb vram:
https://www.techspot.com/review/1114-vram-comparison-test/page5.html

True but would you take the risk knowing that game requirements are going up? Especially when the new consoles release. 700$, more if you are outside of the US, is a lot of money for that 3080 with only 10 gigs. It also suppose to run much faster than the 2080 ti and it has less VRAM.. how does that make sense?

EDIT: Just checked i was sure the 2080 ti had GDDR6X but it's GDDR6.. still my point is true for the 3070 and i doubt the memory being faster would help when games demand 12gb+
 
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eli150

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I'm considering getting a 3070 and am happy with 8GB of VRAM. I think it will be fine for my resolution of 3440 x 1440 and is double what I have now.

Honestly, I'm playing at 1440p and 3440x1440 would probably need even more VRAM from your gpu. I recommend you wait.. at least until you see what AMD has to offer. Trust me dude i really want that 3080 but not if i need to upgrade after a year or two because of VRAM. It's your decision. After all, i'm saying all this based on a hunch.. but i believe i have a valid concern.
 

eli150

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Until we see some actual tests of the new 3000 series cards, we really won't know. I am thinking that the cooling will be more of an issue for most - at least with the the FE cards.

The tests will probably just show us how fast the gpus are.. we can already guess that. If it's anything close to what Nvidia are saying and i believe it is then those gpus are very fast. I just think you wont be able to enjoy that once VRAM demand goes up.

About the cooling.. they seemed to be bragging about their new cooling solution so i guess we will see. I still prefer the triple fan cooling solution
 
With the new consoles releasing VRAM demand will probably be even higher just like when PS4 and Xbox One were released.
Ps4 had a shared pool of mem and that was it, the new consoles will have a new way of getting data to the GPU which will need very little cpu power and they will have a very fast ssd,chances are that games build for the new consoles will load in data more often just because it will be so much easier reducing mem size requirements or at least there is no reason for it to go up.
 
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eli150

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Ps4 had a shared pool of mem and that was it, the new consoles will have a new way of getting data to the GPU which will need very little cpu power and they will have a very fast ssd,chances are that games build for the new consoles will load in data more often just because it will be so much easier reducing mem size requirements or at least there is no reason for it to go up.

Now that is interesting. I hope it turns out this way