Is 2GB of VRAM enough?

[Cs342]

I was thinking of getting a GTX 770, but it "only" has 2GB of memory compared to something like a 7950 or 7970 which has 3GB. Will this difference be noticeable in the long run? how much memory is necessary for today's games, and how long will 2GB be "enough"?

[Cacao]

At 1080p it's fine, it will start having trouble at 1440p+ resolutions with the newer titles.

[Samdb]

If you intend to get a multiple monitor setup I would go for a higher capacity.

[Vitalius]

Wait for the 9970? Just a thought.

[Emperor_Piehead]

1080p your fine any higher it might struggle my 2gb of vram suffers on total war shogun 2 on 1440p.

[I'm Batman]

1080p = fine 

anytin more than that it will start runnin out of memory

[Wasabiz]

I had this question to myself today too, I'm glad you brought it up haha. 

[ComputerNoob]

I was thinking of getting a GTX 770, but it "only" has 2GB of memory compared to something like a 7950 or 7970 which has 3GB. Will this difference be noticeable in the long run? how much memory is necessary for today's games, and how long will 2GB be "enough"?

are you running 1080p? if so then yes you are okay.

[ERSCreeper]

1080p = fine 

anytin more than that it will start runnin out of memory

You are alive! I thought the Joker got you! :D

[I'm Batman]

Wait for the 9970? Just a thought.

if he is planning on buying a 770 9970 will probs be out of his price range but 9950 will be really good

 

i HİGHLY reccomend AMD cards (im always used nvidia) because the consoles are using AMD stuff which means most of the games (probs all) will be much more optimized for AMD and their cards are really good for gaming too... only rason left to buy nvidia is the CUDA cuz CUDA İZ AMAZİN but i will make a change to AMD very soon.

[R4STABAN]

I used to use 2gb @ 3x1080p which comes close to vram limit on games like bf3

[Frix]

2GB is fine, I used to run BF3 on a 6850 with only 1GB and that was enough.

[_ASSASSIN_]

if he is planning on buying a 770 9970 will probs be out of his price range but 9950 will be really good

 

i HİGHLY reccomend AMD cards (im always used nvidia) because the consoles are using AMD stuff which means most of the games (probs all) will be much more optimized for AMD and their cards are really good for gaming too... only rason left to buy nvidia is the CUDA cuz CUDA İZ AMAZİN but i will make a change to AMD very soon.

this is complete BS

I'm sorry to say, but they don't bring that optimization back to the PC if you didn't realize, the only optimization coming from console to PC is multicore usage, other than that amd isn't getting some kind of benifit

[Guest GRRigger]

this is complete BS

I'm sorry to say, but they don't bring that optimization back to the PC if you didn't realize, the only optimization coming from console to PC is multicore usage, other than that amd isn't getting some kind of benifit

full dx11 is one thing to consider

[Haggis_]

I used to use 2gb @ 3x1080p which comes close to vram limit on games like bf3

Yes, dont think you will need more then 2 GB today unless you are going 4K gaming. Tomorrow is another storry

[_ASSASSIN_]

full dx11 is one thing to consider

what do you mean?

[Xelithium]

2 GB is actually fine, you might get some performance improvement with the next-gen titles if you have a 3 GB+ card. But people forget that the higher end engines have dynamic memory allocation. Such as Frostbite. The BF4 alpha benchmarks showed the game using 2.2-2.7 GB VRAM with the 780 but the 690 almost performed equal to 780 SLI in the FPS charts, and destroyed a single 780.

 

Benchmarks: http://www.bf4blog.com/battlefield-4-alpha-gpu-and-cpu-benchmarks/

 

If you are worried about VRAM, go for the 7970 GHz Edition. I performs almost equal to the 770.

[Dravic]

I was thinking of getting a GTX 770, but it "only" has 2GB of memory compared to something like a 7950 or 7970 which has 3GB. Will this difference be noticeable in the long run? how much memory is necessary for today's games, and how long will 2GB be "enough"?

It's enough today. What about tomorrow? if you can add those few bucks, by all means get 770 4GB. What if in 3 months from now BF4 will absolutely kill cards with 2GB because of high res textures? Okay maybe BF4 is a bad example cuz it looks shitty anyway but what about hmm let's say Witcher 3? What if you want to play that game and it will kill cards with just 2 GB of ram because textures will be so high-res? You will have a vram bottleneck and let me show you (simulate) how does vram bottleneck look - currently only way to force it really is using high-res monitor setup:

 

Check 760 and 770 SLIs. They are 2GB versions here.

You can see they perform really much better than 780/Titan at 1080p and a bit better than 780/Titan in 1440p. Now take a look at 5760x1080. You see? framerates are dead. and what's that? Oh it's 7970 with 3GB RAM still standing on its own! -.-

[dkevelx]

I don't know too many people who game on three monitors, to be honest and its not like people are going to change to 4k monitors or something like that anytime soon (I'm willing to bet a nice chunk of money that 90% of people game on a single 1080 and won't upgrade even to a 2560x1600 any time soon). If you are just gaming on 1080, then 2gb will be fine, as most people have said. Anything higher than that and I'd seriously consider getting 3gb+.

 

That being said, I'd rather wait for the 9970 or get a 7970 over a 770.

[Dravic]

I don't know too many people who game on three monitors, to be honest and its not like people are going to change to 4k monitors or something like that anytime soon (I'm willing to bet a nice chunk of money that 90% of people game on a single 1080 and won't upgrade even to a 2560x1600 any time soon). If you are just gaming on 1080, then 2gb will be fine, as most people have said. Anything higher than that and I'd seriously consider getting 3gb+.

 

That being said, I'd rather wait for the 9970 or get a 7970 over a 770.

 

Nobody knows but you can predict we aint going backwards but we are going forward. We are getting higher and higher polygon counts and higher and higher res textures. 2GB may be not enough in few months. Why gimp yourself to uselessness (vram bottleneck is really making your GPU useless, you have to use lower texture settings etc given they are available)?

[R4STABAN]

It's enough today. What about tomorrow? if you can add those few bucks, by all means get 770 4GB. What if in 3 months from now BF4 will absolutely kill cards with 2GB because of high res textures? Okay maybe BF4 is a bad example cuz it looks shitty anyway but what about hmm let's say Witcher 3? What if you want to play that game and it will kill cards with just 2 GB of ram because textures will be so high-res? You will have a vram bottleneck and let me show you (simulate) how does vram bottleneck look - currently only way to force it really is using high-res monitor setup:

 

Check 760 and 770 SLIs. They are 2GB versions here.

You can see they perform really much better than 780/Titan at 1080p and a bit better than 780/Titan in 1440p. Now take a look at 5760x1080. You see? framerates are dead. and what's that? Oh it's 7970 with 3GB RAM still standing on its own! -.-

 

That chart is absolutely pointless.

 

What it shows is this:

 

None of the cards produce playable framerates for that game at those settings @ 3x1080p

 

The settings are also ridiculous.

[Bluuz]

2gb is not fine. Almost all modern games will use over 2gb, even at 1080.

[I'm Batman]

You are alive! I thought the Joker got you! :D

i was banned X.X

[I'm Batman]

this is complete BS

I'm sorry to say, but they don't bring that optimization back to the PC if you didn't realize, the only optimization coming from console to PC is multicore usage, other than that amd isn't getting some kind of benifit

so you know better than camaron... i dont think so bro

[_ASSASSIN_]

so you know better than camaron... i dont think so bro

camaron?...