Discussion Why do GPUs (especially older high end ones) have more VRAM than they realistically will be able to utilize?

[beyondlogic]

I am in the market for an older model gpu. I've settled on the RTX 3060 or 3060Ti. The Ti has 8gb and the former, 12gb. Given what I'm reading in your discussion, it seems the Ti would be fine, but the straight 3060 might be better in the near time.

I considered a mid-range card, but this is an upgrade to a system that is used as a streamer in our LR. My son is just dipping his toes into gaming so I thought I'd upgrade the gpu to a newer model. The PC tested well and is capable of running the games he plays. Any more insight into the benefits or lack of them regarding the memory difference in these two cards would be appreciated.

12gb will help in regards to textures and overall performance headroom. running out of video memory can lead to a very bad time e.g freezing and janky movement while the 3060 ti may offer a much faster framerate the overall visuals will be diminished because even if you set the visuals to ultra quality it would dip into the system ram which is much slower. if your intending to use it for streaming the 3060 12gb i would recomend. streaming takes up to 2gb of vram and recomendation is about 4gb.

so say your playing a game and streaming it

the game uses 8gb/ the streaming app the other 4gb

it also depends on resolution your intending to play also.

if for steaming and gaming i would use the 3060 12gb

3060 ti with gddr6x ( not the one with gddr6 as thats slower memory). nvidia released 2 types of 3060 ti the original only had gddr6
the newer models had gddr6x ( which is about 5 percent faster in some games.)

again depends on resolution.

 

[drjohnnyfever]

12gb will help in regards to textures and overall performance headroom. running out of video memory can lead to a very bad time e.g freezing and janky movement while the 3060 ti may offer a much faster framerate the overall visuals will be diminished because even if you set the visuals to ultra quality it would dip into the system ram which is much slower. if your intending to use it for streaming the 3060 12gb i would recomend. streaming takes up to 2gb of vram and recomendation is about 4gb.

so say your playing a game and streaming it

the game uses 8gb/ the streaming app the other 4gb

it also depends on resolution your intending to play also.

if for steaming and gaming i would use the 3060 12gb

3060 ti with gddr6x ( not the one with gddr6 as thats slower memory). nvidia released 2 types of 3060 ti the original only had gddr6
the newer models had gddr6x ( which is about 5 percent faster in some games.)

again depends on resolution.

Thanks for this. I chose that one too, thinking as you explained. Your discussion here was very informative and helped make my decision. My son will indeed be streaming some games and I figured that additional RAM on the GPU would do more good.

Many thanks for your response.

 

[beyondlogic]

Thanks for this. I chose that one too, thinking as you explained. Your discussion here was very informative and helped make my decision. My son will indeed be streaming some games and I figured that additional RAM on the GPU would do more good.

Many thanks for your response.

no problem some games like Hogwarts legacy/no many sky can use up to 10gb of ram
also shadows kept to low or medium wont impact performance as much.

 

[recycledelectrons]

For example, I thought the Radeon VII with its 16GB of VRAM would be good in 2023, given the fact that games are using more and more VRAM, but the GPU can't keep up with the 16GB of VRAM. My real question is why older GPUs have more VRAM than they need when by the time it is needed, the GPU won't be able to keep up.

How much VRAM should be matched with what processor depends on your applications.

I need more VRAM for running LLMs, and I have a NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24GB card sitting next to me, waiting for my new PC to arrive tomorrow. I will probably need a second one, but I want to see if I can distribute my LLMs over 2 cards before blowing another $350 on fleabay.

For gamers, the current amount of VRAM is too large to ever be used.

For professionals, the current amount of VRAM is too little. I want a card with a cheap (GTX 950-level) processor and about 64GB of HBM3, and a single Display Port output, but nobody makes it. They are trying to please everyone with compromise cards.

 

[Order 66]

Thanks for this. I chose that one too, thinking as you explained. Your discussion here was very informative and helped make my decision. My son will indeed be streaming some games and I figured that additional RAM on the GPU would do more good.

Many thanks for your response.

It’s fine now, but maybe next time start your own thread?

 

[Order 66]

How much VRAM should be matched with what processor depends on your applications.

I need more VRAM for running LLMs, and I have a NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24GB card sitting next to me, waiting for my new PC to arrive tomorrow. I will probably need a second one, but I want to see if I can distribute my LLMs over 2 cards before blowing another $350 on fleabay.

For gamers, the current amount of VRAM is too large to ever be used.

For professionals, the current amount of VRAM is too little. I want a card with a cheap (GTX 950-level) processor and about 64GB of HBM3, and a single Display Port output, but nobody makes it. They are trying to please everyone with compromise cards.

A gtx 950 level card wouldn’t be able to get anywhere near using 64GB of HBM3, not to mention HBM (in general) is extremely expensive.