What happens to the textures when the vRAM gets full?

[Man]

Hi,

 

So I got greedy, sold my RX470 and now I'm 'forced' to use my GT440 "Mac Edition" for the time being. Problem is, that GPU has just a gig of vRAM and I was wondering exactly where do the textures go once the vRAM gets full? Does the GPU has to draw them directly from the storage drive or do they get stored on the system RAM instead?

 

The vRAM on that GPU is 128-bit DDR3 clocked at 666.5MHz which is essentially 1,333MHz, same frequency as my 8GB system memory. My question is: 

 

1. Will I get stutters if I exceed my vRAM limit by bumping-up the textures to their highest resolution?

2. What's the theoretical bandwidth of DDR3 1,333MHz in dual-channel? As per GPUz my GPU's bandwidth is 21.34GB/s and I think my system memory should be just as fast?

[Helpful Tech Witch]

You would see stuttering, theres much higher latency after the vram is full. It would just have to travel much farther.

[Levent]

System RAM gets used.

1-) Usually, depends on the game.

2-) 666mhz*2*64=85.25Gpbs = 8.5GB/s. (If this is not obvious, this is for single channel)

[Moonzy]

5 minutes ago, Man said:

where do the textures go once the vRAM gets full? Does the GPU has to draw them directly from the storage drive or do they get stored on the system RAM instead?

system RAM

 

5 minutes ago, Man said:

1. Will I get stutters if I exceed my vRAM limit by bumping-up the textures to their highest resolution?

depends, most likely yes

 

5 minutes ago, Man said:

2. What's the theoretical bandwidth of DDR3 1,333MHz in dual-channel? As per GPUz my GPU's bandwidth is 21.34GB/s and I think my system memory should be just as fast?

the bandwidth is only between your CPU and RAM, between GPU would be limited by PCIE bandwidth

 

there's also latency which is the bigger problem

[Vishera]

31 minutes ago, Man said:

I was wondering exactly where do the textures go once the vRAM gets full?

They don't go anywhere,Your GPU will shove more textures once there is free space for them.

So while your GPU waits you will experience stuttering.

31 minutes ago, Man said:

1. Will I get stutters if I exceed my vRAM limit by bumping-up the textures to their highest resolution?

Yes

 

If you want to use a GPU with 1GB of VRAM you will have to lower the texture quality and resolution.

But some games even at 480p and the lowest settings can still exceed the limit.

I can recommend you games where 1GB of VRAM will be fine:

Grand Theft Auto V

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Resident Evil 6

Battlefield 3

Sleeping Dogs

Hitman Absolution

Mass Effect 3

Saints Row The Third

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Dragon Age: Origin

 

If you want more you can ask.

[Skiiwee29]

<-- Moved to Graphics cards -->