RX 480 4GB vs 8GB

[-iSynthesis]

So i found some of the first custom RX 480s on mindfactory.de , I have very limited money and am looking at buying the Sapphire Nitro one, 4GB 249€, the 8GB ones are at around 300-330€. Is the price-premium actually worth it for someone on a limited budget? (1080p) With my old 280x i basicly never exceeded 2.5gb in GTA V and that was on almost highest settings. 

[ryan_BO2]

with that price difference i would go for 4gb and if you really want the 8gb go for the 1060

[Misanthrope]

Haven't seen a single 4gb 480 model in stores myself. Like at all. But if you found one sure. Some games might go over a bit like GTA V and Shadow of Mordor though only on Ultra and reducing some settings gets you back in business.

 

I agree with ryan here 4gb 480 or 1060 the 8gb model just isn't as compeling when it's close to the faster 1060 in Price.

[-iSynthesis]

6 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

Haven't seen a single 4gb 480 model in stores myself. Like at all. But if you found one sure. Some games might go over a bit like GTA V and Shadow of Mordor though only on Ultra and reducing some settings gets you back in business.

 

I agree with ryan here 4gb 480 or 1060 the 8gb model just isn't as compeling when it's close to the faster 1060 in Price.

Well they haven't put any pictures up etc. but here's the link:

http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/4096MB-Sapphire-Radeon-RX-480-Nitro-OC--4GB-GDDR5--DVI--2x-HDMI--2x-Disp_1114532.html

Thanks!

[Cyracus]

In tests I've seen most games run pretty much the same on both, only a few actually get better performance with the 8gb model so the 4gb model is ok

[Thony]

42 minutes ago, ryan_BO2 said:

with that price difference i would go for 4gb and if you really want the 8gb go for the 1060

Which has 6GB the sweet spot.

[LabRat]

what's so sweet about paying more for 2 less gigs of ram?

[Faizaan]

You don't need 8gb. For the 8gb rx480 price you can get a 6gb 1060 which will out perform it. 

[Darkseth]

Depends. There are Games out now, that can fill 4gb Ram under 1080p easy.

Like, 4gb is right now, the absolute BARE MINIMUM" that works on 1080p. In the Future, it will be rather more than less.

Now take in account, that most games are built with 8gb in Mind (because so many cards have 8gb atm), and if the Game is poorly coded as well (like CoD BO3), 4gb won't be enough.

 

My opinion: I would NOT buy 4gb right now. Even if you save 50 bucks, you WILL have sooner "problems" with it, than with 8gb.

 

Example: A german tech site made a small article about that, and a "memory check" might follow soon.

Some examples the author mentioned where:

- Doom doesnt allow "nightmare" setting of shadows and virtual pages with less than 6gb Vram.

- Black Ops 3: some details cant be turned up on Max.

- Mirror's Edge Catalyst doesnt show some Details on Ultra setting (on the higher Hyper setting even more).

- Rise of the Tomb Raider can fill 4gb easy. And if Textures are "very High", quite some lags occur.

 

If you have no problems turning the settings down, you won't have problems..

But if you buy the card so you can use max settings on 1080p... go for 8gb.  Seriously. You might be happy now tos ave 50 bucks, but you WILL regret it in 1-2 years.

 

Quote

what's so sweet about paying more for 2 less gigs of ram?

Well, you might get 2gb less, but it's still plenty for 1080p and even many wqhd. And right now, the 1060 is 13,72% faster than the RX 480 8gb considering ALL tests/games, and ALL APIs (DX11, 12, Vulkan)

Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q4VT3AzIBXSfKZdsJF94qvlJ7Mb1VvJvLowX6dmHWVo/edit#gid=0

 

Plus, consumes 30-40 watt less.

[Faizaan]

I myself went for the 8gb rx 480 but when the 6gb 1060 was launched I felt like I made the wrong decision. But I looked at the crossfire possibility with the 480. 

[Sintezza]

2 minutes ago, Faizaan said:

I myself went for the 8gb rx 480 but when the 6gb 1060 was launched I felt like I made the wrong decision. But I looked at the crossfire possibility with the 480. 

I dont think that you realy made a wrong decission with an eye on the future.

The GTX1060 is indeed faster in DX11 titles, but in DX12 they are pretty much trading blows.

And wenn it comes to Vulkan the RX480 has a lead atleast in Doom.

Since most new upcomming games will most likely have either DX12 or Vulkan support, i dont think that you made a bad decission by all means.

[Faizaan]

4 minutes ago, Sintezza said:

I dont think that you realy made a wrong decission with an eye on the future.

The GTX1060 is indeed faster in DX11 titles, but in DX12 they are pretty much trading blows.

And wenn it comes to Vulkan the RX480 has a lead atleast in Doom.

Since most new upcomming games will most likely have either DX12 or Vulkan support, i dont think that you made a bad decission by all means.

At first I thought I made the wrong decision but after I found out I didn't.

[DXMember]

for that price I'd get the 4GB and try flashing it

[Castdeath97]

also check the 1060 prices!

 

[-iSynthesis]

19 hours ago, DXMember said:

for that price I'd get the 4GB and try flashing it

As far as i have heard that was only possible with the first few 4GB cards, it will definetily not be possible with the custom ones.

I'll probably go either for the Sapphire Nitro or the PowerColor Red Devil. I really don't want to pay these 50 bucks because they are a lot for me but i guess I'll see how my money situation is looking when they actually release it (caseking is saying that the Sapphire one is available from the 26.08 and the PowerColor one from 19.08

[LabRat]

digital foundry just did a vid on 4 vs 8....... watch it through.

 

[RuLeZ]

The only reason to get the 8GB is future proofness, I would go for 4GB version.

[RuLeZ]

22 hours ago, DXMember said:

for that price I'd get the 4GB and try flashing it

Dont do it without checking the card first by removing the cooler.