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How much vram do i actually need?

Splashzed
By Splashzed
in Graphics Cards
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Go to solution Solved by Briggsy,

In cases where you are maxing your VRam, then System Memory will be used instead. PCI-E 3.0 can transfer 985MB/s per lane in one direction (so 15.39GB/s @ 16x), which means that faster system memory, up to 2133Mhz (which has ~17GB/s bandwidth in dual channel), should theoretically increase performance if you run out of Vram (which should be rare with current games).

 

In short, 3GB of Vram for a single 780 is going to serve you fine for years. there are even 6GB variants of the 780, which as silly as that seems, would be a great choice if you find a deal on one.

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3GB should be enough.

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Hey guys, i am looking for a gpu and i thought to get a gtx 780 and i saw that it has 3 GB of vram and my question is: is that enough? I'm playing at 1080p...

Thanks in advance

Currently: yeah.

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Hey guys, i am looking for a gpu and i thought to get a gtx 780 and i saw that it has 3 GB of vram and my question is: is that enough? I'm playing at 1080p...

Thanks in advance

 

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3 or 4GB should be plenty

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i have a gtx 780 3gb its a very powerful card but many games are capping the vram on it already...i fear for the future, i'd love to have 4 or even 6gb on it.

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Why not 970?

VRAM problem: can only use 3.5GB 

Current Rig:   CPU: AMD 1950X @4Ghz. Cooler: Enermax Liqtech TR4 360. Motherboard:Asus Zenith Extreme. RAM: 8GB Crucial DDR4 3666. GPU: Reference GTX 970  SSD: 250GB Samsung 970 EVO.  HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 2TB. Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro. PSU: Corsair RM1000X. OS: Windows 10 Pro UEFI mode  (installed on SSD)

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These days, 4gb needs to be the new standard. Sure you can set the settings a bit lower an make do with 3gb of Vram, but if you want to turn everything up to max, you need 4.

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VRAM problem: can only use 3.5GB 

 

I swear to god... people need to stop spreading bad information.

 

There is 4GB of usable VRAM on a 970.

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CPU: Dual Xeon E5-2650v2 || GPU: Dual Quadro K5000 || Motherboard: Asus Z9PE-D8 || RAM: 64GB Corsair Vengeance || Monitors: Dual LG 34UM95, NEC MultiSync EA244UHD || Storage: Dual Samsung 850 Pro 256GB in Raid 0, 6x WD Re 4TB in Raid 1 || Sound: Xonar Essense STX (Mainly for Troubleshooting and listening test) || PSU: Corsair Ax1500i

CPU: Core i7 5820k @ 4.7GHz || GPU: Dual Titan X || Motherboard: Asus X99 Deluxe || RAM: 32GB Crucial Ballistix Sport || Monitors: MX299Q, 29UB65, LG 34UM95 || Storage: Dual Samsung 850 EVO 1 TB in Raid 0, Samsung 850 EVO 250GB, 2TB Toshiba scratch disk, 3TB Seagate Barracuda || PSU: EVGA 1000w PS Platinum

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I swear to god... people need to stop spreading bad information.

There is 4GB of usable VRAM on a 970.

As you said.

But only 3.5gb is running at advertised speeds, the last .5gb will slow you down significantly

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I haven't found a game yet that I can't run at max textures with two 2GB cards in SLI. As far as the other screen effects I turn depth of field, ambient occlusion, motion blur off in all cases regardless of performance cause I just don't / like care for them. (I hate blur and I certainly don't want blur at the expense of frames! AO is just not noticeable for me) I always fiddle with anti aliasing too. My library includes BF4, Crysis 3, Dying Light, and modded Skyrim. don't have Shadow of Mordor yet to try the vram killer most people link. That being said still aim for 3 GBs or higher but if your budget is in the mid range cards (R9 270(x), GTX 960) it isn't the end of the world. 

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These days, 4gb needs to be the new standard. Sure you can set the settings a bit lower an make do with 3gb of Vram, but if you want to turn everything up to max, you need 4.

 

Bugger all uses that much at 4K. Recommending the top tier cards just for 1080p is stupid.

 

It's also not "standard." It's on the 970, 980, 290 and 290X. They are not "standard" cards, they are the top end of what's available (other than Titans).

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As you said.

But only 3.5gb is running at advertised speeds, the last .5gb will slow you down significantly

 

There is a guy on here running 970 SLI at 4K and he hasn't had any issues with memory.

The projects never end in my line of work.

CPU: Dual Xeon E5-2650v2 || GPU: Dual Quadro K5000 || Motherboard: Asus Z9PE-D8 || RAM: 64GB Corsair Vengeance || Monitors: Dual LG 34UM95, NEC MultiSync EA244UHD || Storage: Dual Samsung 850 Pro 256GB in Raid 0, 6x WD Re 4TB in Raid 1 || Sound: Xonar Essense STX (Mainly for Troubleshooting and listening test) || PSU: Corsair Ax1500i

CPU: Core i7 5820k @ 4.7GHz || GPU: Dual Titan X || Motherboard: Asus X99 Deluxe || RAM: 32GB Crucial Ballistix Sport || Monitors: MX299Q, 29UB65, LG 34UM95 || Storage: Dual Samsung 850 EVO 1 TB in Raid 0, Samsung 850 EVO 250GB, 2TB Toshiba scratch disk, 3TB Seagate Barracuda || PSU: EVGA 1000w PS Platinum

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i have a gtx 780 3gb its a very powerful card but many games are capping the vram on it already...i fear for the future, i'd love to have 4 or even 6gb on it.

Like which game?

I'm not planning to change the card for at least 2 years, what should i do?

I'm not getting any amd cards because they are updating their line in Q2 but i can't wait til Q2 come on AMD can't you anticipate a little?

 

Why not 970?

The 980 is too expensive and the 780 is better than the 970!

I am really confused...

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In cases where you are maxing your VRam, then System Memory will be used instead. PCI-E 3.0 can transfer 985MB/s per lane in one direction (so 15.39GB/s @ 16x), which means that faster system memory, up to 2133Mhz (which has ~17GB/s bandwidth in dual channel), should theoretically increase performance if you run out of Vram (which should be rare with current games).

 

In short, 3GB of Vram for a single 780 is going to serve you fine for years. there are even 6GB variants of the 780, which as silly as that seems, would be a great choice if you find a deal on one.

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In cases where you are maxing your VRam, then System Memory will be used instead. PCI-E 3.0 can transfer 985MB/s per lane (so 15.39GB/s @ 16x), which means that faster system memory, up to 2133Mhz (which has ~17GB/s bandwidth in dual channel), should theoretically increase performance if you run out of Vram (which should be rare with current games).

 

In short, 3GB of Vram for a single 780 is going to serve you fine for years. there are even 6GB variants of the 780, which as silly as that seems, would be a great choice if you find a deal on one.

PCIe 3.0 x16 can transfer 32GB/s.

https://www.pcisig.com/news_room/faqs/pcie3.0_faq/#EQ3

"It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out." - Carl Sagan.

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you" - Edward I. Koch

"I didn't die! I performed a tactical reset!" - Apollolol

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PCIe 3.0 x16 can transfer 32GB/s.

https://www.pcisig.com/news_room/faqs/pcie3.0_faq/#EQ3

 

my bad, I should have added "per direction"

R9 3900XT | Tomahawk B550 | Ventus OC RTX 3090 | Photon 1050W | 32GB DDR4 | TUF GT501 Case | Vizio 4K 50'' HDR

 

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In cases where you are maxing your VRam, then System Memory will be used instead. PCI-E 3.0 can transfer 985MB/s per lane in one direction (so 15.39GB/s @ 16x), which means that faster system memory, up to 2133Mhz (which has ~17GB/s bandwidth in dual channel), should theoretically increase performance if you run out of Vram (which should be rare with current games).

 

In short, 3GB of Vram for a single 780 is going to serve you fine for years. there are even 6GB variants of the 780, which as silly as that seems, would be a great choice if you find a deal on one.

Well that is reassuring, thanks Briggsy!

I think i'm going with the 780 then!

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