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How much RAM & VRAM needed for 4K gaming?

As in the title.

 

I plan to get a 4K HDR TV (maybe a couple of months from now depends on whether cheap OLEDs come out).

 

Wondering how much system RAM and VRAM needed to play games like - Witcher 3, Batman Arkham Knight, Dirt Rally, and maybe XCOM 2.

 

Also, I'm not in the market yet for a GPU (hopefully Vega kicks badonkadonks), I could get an RX 480 but IMO it won't cut it for 4K gaming.

 

You can bark like a dog, but that won't make you a dog.

You can act like someone you're not, but that won't change who you are.

 

Finished Crysis without a discrete GPU,15 FPS average, and a lot of heart

 

How I plan my builds -

Spoiler

For me I start with the "There's no way I'm not gonna spend $1,000 on a system."

Followed by the "Wow I need to buy the OS for a $100!?"

Then "Let's start with the 'best budget GPU' and 'best budget CPU' that actually fits what I think is my budget."

Realizing my budget is a lot less, I work my way to "I think these new games will run on a cheap ass CPU."

Then end with "The new parts launching next year is probably gonna be better and faster for the same price so I'll just buy next year."

 

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16 gigs RAM for best performance. 

8 gigs VRAM for best performance. 

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for 4 k gaming on AAA titles, you will need a GTX 1080. A 1070 could cut it, but you wont be maxing anything out at 60 FPS. (so 8GB vram if we are talking about currently available GPUS)

 

As for system ram, 16GB should be enough for any game currently out.

When in doubt, re-format.

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1 minute ago, BloodyWaters said:

16 gigs RAM for best performance. 

8 gigs VRAM for best performance. 

Any source on this?

You can bark like a dog, but that won't make you a dog.

You can act like someone you're not, but that won't change who you are.

 

Finished Crysis without a discrete GPU,15 FPS average, and a lot of heart

 

How I plan my builds -

Spoiler

For me I start with the "There's no way I'm not gonna spend $1,000 on a system."

Followed by the "Wow I need to buy the OS for a $100!?"

Then "Let's start with the 'best budget GPU' and 'best budget CPU' that actually fits what I think is my budget."

Realizing my budget is a lot less, I work my way to "I think these new games will run on a cheap ass CPU."

Then end with "The new parts launching next year is probably gonna be better and faster for the same price so I'll just buy next year."

 

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1 minute ago, pwn_intended said:

for 4 k gaming on AAA titles, you will need a GTX 1080. A 1070 could cut it, but you wont be maxing anything out at 60 FPS. (so 8GB vram if we are talking about currently available GPUS)

 

As for system ram, 16GB should be enough for any game currently out.

I'm looking at old Fury X benchmarks and they look fine at 4K, but is do games really max out 8GB VRAM? I thought it was just DOOM when you enable nightmare mode.

You can bark like a dog, but that won't make you a dog.

You can act like someone you're not, but that won't change who you are.

 

Finished Crysis without a discrete GPU,15 FPS average, and a lot of heart

 

How I plan my builds -

Spoiler

For me I start with the "There's no way I'm not gonna spend $1,000 on a system."

Followed by the "Wow I need to buy the OS for a $100!?"

Then "Let's start with the 'best budget GPU' and 'best budget CPU' that actually fits what I think is my budget."

Realizing my budget is a lot less, I work my way to "I think these new games will run on a cheap ass CPU."

Then end with "The new parts launching next year is probably gonna be better and faster for the same price so I'll just buy next year."

 

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1 minute ago, YoloSwag said:

I'm looking at old Fury X benchmarks and they look fine at 4K, but is do games really max out 8GB VRAM? I thought it was just DOOM when you enable nightmare mode.

The fury X uses HBM memory, so the 4GB ram on a fury X isn't the same as another gpu with 4GB of GDDR5. But yes, 8GB is definitely recommended for running games at 4k. 2-3GB would be ample for 1080p gaming.

 

Personally, I would stay away from the fury since it is now ancient technology. Either go for the 1080 or wait to see what vega brings, since I don't expect driver support for Fury X to last that long.

When in doubt, re-format.

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From personal experience depending on the game I see up to 5gbs used on 1440p gaming so I'd agree you need 8gb for 4k. Also yes 16gb is good for your system memory at the moment for straight up gaming.

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5 minutes ago, pwn_intended said:

The fury X uses HBM memory, so the 4GB ram on a fury X isn't the same as another gpu with 4GB of GDDR5. But yes, 8GB is definitely recommended for running games at 4k. 2-3GB would be ample for 1080p gaming.

 

Personally, I would stay away from the fury since it is now ancient technology. Either go for the 1080 or wait to see what vega brings, since I don't expect driver support for Fury X to last that long.

TBH, I wouldn't spend as much as a GTX 1080, GTX 1070 is definitely within my scopes since it has a much better price to performance ratio. That's why I'm hoping that Vega does kick some. Also, if competition were to happen, I'd consider the GTX 1080, maybe for $500 but not any higher. Also have to save more if Imma push the budget a little further.

 

Say, if a Vega 4GB HBM would come out would that be fine?

You can bark like a dog, but that won't make you a dog.

You can act like someone you're not, but that won't change who you are.

 

Finished Crysis without a discrete GPU,15 FPS average, and a lot of heart

 

How I plan my builds -

Spoiler

For me I start with the "There's no way I'm not gonna spend $1,000 on a system."

Followed by the "Wow I need to buy the OS for a $100!?"

Then "Let's start with the 'best budget GPU' and 'best budget CPU' that actually fits what I think is my budget."

Realizing my budget is a lot less, I work my way to "I think these new games will run on a cheap ass CPU."

Then end with "The new parts launching next year is probably gonna be better and faster for the same price so I'll just buy next year."

 

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1 minute ago, YoloSwag said:

Say, if a Vega 4GB HBM would come out would that be fine?

Stay tuned to find out...

No one who isn't under a big NDA would have access to that information at the current moment.

When in doubt, re-format.

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16gb RAM (8gb works too...)

8gb VRAM (6gb works too but not with max settings)

Intel Core i9-10900X, Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, 64GB DDR4 3200MHz, Asus GTX 1080 Strix, 2TB 970 EVO Plus, 2TB SN570, 8TB HDD, DC Assassin III, Meshify 2

Old PC: Intel Xeon X5670 6c/12t @ 4.40GHz, Asus P6X58D-E, 24GB DDR3 1600MHz, Asus GTX 1080 Strix, 500GB, 250GB & 120GB SSD, 2x 4TB & 2x 2TB HDD, Fractal Define R5

PC 2: Intel Xeon E5-2690 8c/16t @ 3.3-3.8GHz, ThinkStation S30 (C602/X79), 64GB (4x 16GB) DDR3 1600MHz, Asus GeForce GTX 960 Turbo OC, 1TB Crucial MX500

PC 3: Intel Core i7-3770 4c/8t @ 4.22-4.43GHz, Asus P8Z77-V LK, 16GB DDR3 1648MHz, Asus GTX 760 DC2 OC, 1TB & 250GB Crucial MX500 and 3x 500GB HDD

Laptop: ThinkPad T440p, Intel Core i7-4800MQ 4c/8t @ 2.7-3.7GHz, 16GB DDR3 1600MHz, GeForce GT 730M (GPU: 1006MHz MEM: 1151MHz), 2TB SSD, 14" 1080p IPS, 100Wh battery

Laptop 2: ThinkPad T450, Intel Core i7-5600U 2c/4t @ 2.6-3.2GHz, 16GB DDR3 1600MHz, Intel HD 5500, 250GB SSD, 14" 900p TN, 24Wh + 72Wh batteries

Phone: Huawei Honor 9 64GB + 256GB card Watch: Motorola Moto 360 1st Gen.

General X58 Xeon/i7 discussion

Some other PC's:

Spoiler

Some of the specs of these systems might not be up to date

PC 4: Intel Xeon X5675 6c/12t @ 3.07-3.47GHz, HP 0B4Ch (X58), 12GB DDR3 1333MHz, Asus GeForce GTX 660 DC2, 240GB & 120GB SSD, 1TB HDD

PC 5: Intel Xeon W3550 @ 3.07GHz, HP (X58), 8GB DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 (GPU: 1050MHz MEM: 1250MHz), 120GB SSD, 2TB, 1TB and 500GB HDD

PC 6: Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 @ 3.8GHz, Asus P5KC, 8GB DDR2, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470, 120GB SSD and 500GB HDD

HTPC: Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.0GHz, HP DC7900SFF, 8GB DDR2 800MHz, Asus Radeon HD 6570, 240GB SSD and 3TB HDD

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My first PC: Intel Celeron 333MHz, Diamond Micronics C400, 384mb RAM, Diamond Viper V550 (NVIDIA Riva TNT), 6gb and 8gb HDD

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19 minutes ago, BloodyWaters said:

16 gigs RAM for best performance. 

8 gigs VRAM for best performance. 

 

8 minutes ago, DELTAprime said:

From personal experience depending on the game I see up to 5gbs used on 1440p gaming so I'd agree you need 8gb for 4k. Also yes 16gb is good for your system memory at the moment for straight up gaming.

 

1 minute ago, Pasi123 said:

16gb RAM (8gb works too...)

8gb VRAM (6gb works too but not with max settings)

 

People saying 16GB is fine, didn't HWC did a demo some time ago on games running at 8GB RAM?

 

Also, not that I have no plans to go 16GB, but the thing is I'm trying to prioritize what to buy. If the 16GB is optional I'd hold off maybe even for the entire year.

You can bark like a dog, but that won't make you a dog.

You can act like someone you're not, but that won't change who you are.

 

Finished Crysis without a discrete GPU,15 FPS average, and a lot of heart

 

How I plan my builds -

Spoiler

For me I start with the "There's no way I'm not gonna spend $1,000 on a system."

Followed by the "Wow I need to buy the OS for a $100!?"

Then "Let's start with the 'best budget GPU' and 'best budget CPU' that actually fits what I think is my budget."

Realizing my budget is a lot less, I work my way to "I think these new games will run on a cheap ass CPU."

Then end with "The new parts launching next year is probably gonna be better and faster for the same price so I'll just buy next year."

 

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1 hour ago, YoloSwag said:

 

 

 

People saying 16GB is fine, didn't HWC did a demo some time ago on games running at 8GB RAM?

 

Also, not that I have no plans to go 16GB, but the thing is I'm trying to prioritize what to buy. If the 16GB is optional I'd hold off maybe even for the entire year.

You might experience lag spikes if you have less RAM. 

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6 hours ago, BloodyWaters said:

You might experience lag spikes if you have less RAM. 

But it isn't that essential right? so is it fine if I hold off on it or something?

You can bark like a dog, but that won't make you a dog.

You can act like someone you're not, but that won't change who you are.

 

Finished Crysis without a discrete GPU,15 FPS average, and a lot of heart

 

How I plan my builds -

Spoiler

For me I start with the "There's no way I'm not gonna spend $1,000 on a system."

Followed by the "Wow I need to buy the OS for a $100!?"

Then "Let's start with the 'best budget GPU' and 'best budget CPU' that actually fits what I think is my budget."

Realizing my budget is a lot less, I work my way to "I think these new games will run on a cheap ass CPU."

Then end with "The new parts launching next year is probably gonna be better and faster for the same price so I'll just buy next year."

 

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As always it depends on the game and what settings you use. 4GB is the bare minimum. Duel 480s could give you a pretty good experience like 290s or 980s before it. 8GB is obviously better and will allow you to increase texture settings further, but like I said it depends on the game. ROTTR has a texture setting which, at 4K, will want to use up to 10GB. I wouldn't say that a Titan X is needed, but there's the very occasional game that can benefit.

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