How much does VRAM matter?

[dafatboicalliou]

I have seen that RTX 3060 12GB cards sell for like $775 (USD) but the RTX 3080 with 10GB of VRAM sells for waaay more, why is this?

[Chris Pratt]

The 3080 is a vastly better GPU. Almost on the order of having two 3060s. That's why the price difference is huge. The difference in VRAM is mostly an artifact of when they were introduced. The original 3060 had 6GB, and the second model just doubled that, which ironically gave it more than a 3080 at the time.

 

However, VRAM capacity, just like system RAM capacity only matters when you don't have enough. 12GB of VRAM is honestly kind of overkill for a 3060, but it could be argued 6GB wasn't quite enough. However, it's still beaten by a 3060 Ti with just 8GB of VRAM, so it's not a silver bullet either.

[RONOTHAN##]

4 minutes ago, Chris Pratt said:

The original 3060 had 6GB, and the second model just doubled that,

Think you're thinking of the 2060, but your point still stands. AFAIK the 3060 only ever had 12GB except in mobile.

[Fasauceome]

Vram is like normal ram; having more is only useful of you use all of it

[Kisai]

8 minutes ago, dafatboicalliou said:

I have seen that RTX 3060 12GB cards sell for like $775 (USD) but the RTX 3080 with 10GB of VRAM sells for waaay more, why is this?

The Video memory makes a difference under different scenarios.

 

An RTX 3060 with 12GB will be more useful for a machine learning scenario that relies on memory. For example a TTS that runs on a GPU requires 60MB per second of audio. While an RTX 3080 might  be a better card for doing it overall, the 12GB on the weaker card allows for the longer audio to be done at all, where the stronger card can render it faster, you're going to have smaller outputs.

 

For games, generally 1080p caps out at 4GB. A 4K experience may require 8GB. But ultimately some of these cards just have a specific amount of memory because that's how the parts logistics worked out. Historically, some of these weaker cards with large amounts of memory, are trying to pad their marketing by having large numbers.

 

[valentinardem]

Hi, you need to look at the ram speed the RTX3080 have 10GB of GGDR6X, more and faster cache. The story behind the 12gb of the 3060 is because 6gb was to low for ray tracing. So they juste double the cheap 6gb memory that you can find in gtx card like the 1060gb. It's just economy mesure by Nvidia. Because the 8go of the 3070 for exemple cost more to nvidia.