Is 4GB of VRAM Still Enough?

[Vorzo]

Hey guys,

I've been planning to buy the parts of my first PC build which I will mostly use for gaming. And I've been wondering if 4GB of VRAM is still enough at 1080p for the next 2-3 years, I'm getting the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 480 4G and I'm planning to have it with me for 2-3 more years. Here is the rest of my build if you're interested.

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($194.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($49.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 480 4GB NITRO+ 4G Video Card  ($228.89 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($84.87 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($61.99 @ NCIX US) 
Total: $680.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-09 08:19 EST-0500

 

[Oswin]

that should be enough for the next 2-3 years, what games are you playing?

[Morgan MLGman]

For 1080p? Sure. Worst-case scenario, you drop the graphical texture setting from Ultra to High - not a noticeable difference anyway.

[Vorzo]

3 minutes ago, Oswin said:

that should be enough for the next 2-3 years, what games are you playing?

Well, hoping to play AAA titles like The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Dishonored 2, Doom, and Skyrim. As well as the games that will come out in the following years, hopefully at Ultra or High settings.

[ItsTheDuckAgain]

You don't need VRAM at all until you run out of it. then it starts dumping files to your normal RAM and things go Bananas and result in fire or death of your cat, most likely both.

 

that beeing said, I feel like 4 GB are enough for the next 2-3 years at 1080p with "normal resonable"textures that are not ultra texture witcher 3 addon packs.

[Vorzo]

1 minute ago, Morgan MLGman said:

For 1080p? Sure. Worst-case scenario, you drop the graphical texture setting from Ultra to High - not a noticeable difference anyway.

That's good to hear, some say that games will be needing more than 4GB of VRAM by next year, any of that true?

[Oswin]

Just now, Vorzo said:

Well, hoping to play AAA titles like The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Dishonored 2, Doom, and Skyrim. As well as the games that will come out in the following years, hopefully at Ultra or High settings.

AAA titles in the next 2-3 years... you might need to crank down the settings a bit with that card

[ARikozuM]

You'll be fine in most games. Some of the games that are using more than 4GB would benefit from an SSD as the install location.

 

Witcher 3 is using about 5-6GB.

Battlefield 1 is using about 3.4-3.8GB going from 1080 to 2160.

 

 

[Morgan MLGman]

1 minute ago, Vorzo said:

Well, hoping to play AAA titles like The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Dishonored 2, Doom, and Skyrim. As well as the games that will come out in the following years, hopefully at Ultra or High settings.

Out of all those games, only in ROTTR you'll be forced to lower the texture setting from Ultra to High at 1080p.

 

Just now, Vorzo said:

That's good to hear, some say that games will be needing more than 4GB of VRAM by next year, any of that true?

Nah, it doesn't change year-by-year like that. Games gradually start requiring more VRAM, however 4GB is still enough for 1080p.

[ItsTheDuckAgain]

1 minute ago, Vorzo said:

Well, hoping to play AAA titles like The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Dishonored 2, Doom, and Skyrim. As well as the games that will come out in the following years, hopefully at Ultra or High settings.

hmm I can tell you, that my modded to hell witcher 3 with ultra whatnot addon packs at 3440x1440 with a GTX 1070 and 8GB DDR5 VRAM eats about 5 to 6GB of my VRAM and runs at 55 to 70 FPS. A normal unmodded Witcher with ultra presets eats about 3 GB max VRAM.

[Vorzo]

2 minutes ago, ItsTheDuckAgain said:

You don't need VRAM at all until you run out of it. then it starts dumping files to your normal RAM and things go Bananas and result in fire or death of your cat, most likely both.

 

that beeing said, I feel like 4 GB are enough for the next 2-3 years at 1080p with "normal resonable"textures that are not ultra texture witcher 3 addon packs.

 

1 minute ago, ItsTheDuckAgain said:

hmm I can tell you, that my modded to hell witcher 3 with ultra whatnot addon packs at 3440x1440 with a GTX 1070 and 8GB DDR5 VRAM eats about 5 to 6GB of my VRAM and runs at 55 to 70 FPS. A normal unmodded Witcher with ultra presets eats about 3 GB max VRAM.

Well I won't be modding crazily with my budget, so that's good news.

 

[Vorzo]

4 minutes ago, Oswin said:

AAA titles in the next 2-3 years... you might need to crank down the settings a bit with that card

Will I get better future performance with a GTX 1060 6GB, their prices aren't that far apart.

[EPPHO]

For 1080p it will be enough

[Matias_Chambers]

Why not get the 8 GB version or 6 GB 1060 for only a tiny bit more?

[Darkseth]

No it's Not enough. ^^ Except you are fine with going down with Texture settings etc.

 

RX 480 8gb > RX 470 8gb > RX 480 4gb.

 

Don't save 20 bucks or so and go with 4gb. You will regret it sooner or later. More like sooner, since it's already a problem Today.. And yes, in 1080p.

 

btw: Whoever said, Witcher 3 is using 5-6gb Vram... Nope

In 1080p maxed out, it's more like 2 - 2,3 gb at best. Never seen 2.5gb.

More than 4gb Vram is not vor Witcher 3. But for a bunch of other titles.

[Vorzo]

Just now, Matias_Chambers said:

Why not get the 8 GB version or 6 GB 1060 for only a tiny bit more?

Yeah, I was considering that too, it comes down to RX 480 4GB or GTX 1060 6GB, what worries me is that the RX 480 might outlive the GTX 1060 in terms of performance in the following years.

[Matias_Chambers]

Just now, Vorzo said:

Yeah, I was considering that too, it comes down to RX 480 4GB or GTX 1060 6GB, what worries me is that the RX 480 might outlive the GTX 1060 in terms of performance in the following years.

But why not get the 8 GB version?

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/BZJkcf/powercolor-radeon-rx-480-8gb-red-devil-video-card-axrx-480-8gbd5-3dhoc

[Vorzo]

1 minute ago, Matias_Chambers said:

But why not get the 8 GB version?

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/BZJkcf/powercolor-radeon-rx-480-8gb-red-devil-video-card-axrx-480-8gbd5-3dhoc

Because where I live the 8GB variant is around $68 more (converted).

[SeanAngelo]

30 minutes ago, Vorzo said:

Hey guys,

I've been planning to buy the parts of my first PC build which I will mostly use for gaming. And I've been wondering if 4GB of VRAM is still enough at 1080p for the next 2-3 years, I'm getting the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 480 4G and I'm planning to have it with me for 2-3 more years. Here is the rest of my build if you're interested.

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($194.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($49.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($59.99 @ NCIX US) 
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 480 4GB NITRO+ 4G Video Card  ($228.89 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($84.87 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($61.99 @ NCIX US) 
Total: $680.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-09 08:19 EST-0500

 

on 1080p yeah

[Vorzo]

Just now, SeanAngelo said:

on 1080p yeah

Ok, nothing to worry about then? All good to go?

[ItsTheDuckAgain]

16 minutes ago, Darkseth said:

btw: Whoever said, Witcher 3 is using 5-6gb Vram... Nope

that was me. read my post again since you missed the important parts the first time. thanks :-)

[SeanAngelo]

6 minutes ago, Vorzo said:

Ok, nothing to worry about then? All good to go?

yeah

 

and why not the 6GB GTX 1060? it's better in terms of performance.

[Simon771]

4GB is enough for 1080p gaming right now, and it should be for another 2 years at least

 

But I have to agree with others ... why don't you buy GTX 1060 6GB instead? It's same price. At least here.

[Freezanator]

20 minutes ago, Vorzo said:

Ok, nothing to worry about then? All good to go?

If you could spend a little more, I suggest you switch your GPU to the GTX 1060 6GB. It has 2GB more VRAM which will keep you with lots of VRAM for years to come. It also has more "horsepower" than the RX 480 4GB.  

[iRileyx]

Depends on the game and settings you have. I play gta v with everything on very high, all textures to full and it can use 4-4.5gb of my VRAM. luckily i bought the 8gb 480, but i was considering the 4gb version.