GTX 770 - 4GB or 2GB of VRAM for SLI?

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Palidion

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Jun 19, 2013
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My question is whether I should go with 4GB of VRAM for my GTX 770 with the goal of doing SLI in the near future. My understanding is that some cards are not powerful enough to justify more than 2GB of VRAM, because you'll never be running high enough settings to need it. My thought is that 2 770's will Ultra most games and I'm concerned that I'll be shooting myself in the foot if I don't get enough VRAM to support it.

I'm using a 1080p display right now and will likely upgrade to 1440 in the future as well. Any advice would be appreciated.

 
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TBC1

TBC1

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4gb vram is better for higher resolutions (1440p+), however there is no difference in performance with the 2gb vs 4gb.

Also, I would check out crossfire 280x's (3gb vram) for $600 - they perform on par with the 770.
 
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kirilmatthew

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Jul 24, 2013
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I would not recommend the 770 at this point in time. With the 7970 costing $250 and the 290X costing $550, the 770 is simply overpriced. For one 1440p display I think 2Gb of Vram is fine, 3 being optimal. If they are very close in price, the 4Gb version might be nice, but if there is a big difference, its not worth it. Again, I highly recommend you go with an AMD card. The value is simply so much better. Also, the radeon 290(non-x) is coming out very soon and will probably come for around $400-450. I might look at that as well.
 
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Palidion

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I'm not really interested in AMD at all. Even if it's cheaper I'm sort of stuck with NVidia. I recommended the GTX 770 months ago for the build I'm just now finishing (several friends now have the 770), and I plan to stick to that build, rather than insult them for changing my mind. My question is not what is a better deal in terms of other cards (although you make a very good point, I just can't do it). My question is simply whether I should do more or less VRAM to "future proof" my GPU's a little. Yes, I know that's a stupid thing to say with AMD releasing the cheaper, faster cards already. Do I NEED 4GB for ultra/SLI gaming on a maximum of 1 display at 1440p? If not, how long do you think 2GB will be enough?
 
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Rahbot

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I would buy the 4Gb for down the road performance.... I plan on buying either Three 760's or two 770's for sli on my next build also... unless I can get my old lady to let me buy two 780's. Why you ask is because I'm planning on buying ASUS new 24" 144hz Monitor.
 
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kirilmatthew

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Alright, just a suggestion. I would say go with 2Gb. 4Gb is usually a good deal more money and adds nothing in any game today. It should be good for the next 1-2 years. After that, there will probably only be minor decreases if any. As the card gets older, you will have to reduce settings anyways so it might not matter.
 
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Palidion

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So you'd say SLI 770's can't utilize more than 2GB of VRAM? It's $40 bucks more for 4GB VRAM for the EVGA card I'm lookin at. It's my first serious gaming computer and I don't know what to do.
 
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TBC1

TBC1

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If you really want the 4gb and have the $ then go for it.



 
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kirilmatthew

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On one monitor, probably not. Maybe in the future, but that's a good bit of money for currently no performance.
 
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Palidion

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Would it be shiesty if I was to get the 2GB card for now and then return it within the 30 day VGA return policy window to upgrade to a 4GB? Is that even something worth doing? I mean, it's only $40 bucks difference. . .but then, that's $40 >.<
 
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Palidion

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I'm just uneasy because people have been talking of "2GB no longer being enough" VRAM. I was also reading that BF4's Beta was using MORE than 2GB. I'm no tech wizard, so maybe a beta isn't a good sample to pull from, but I don't want to buy a card that is limited immediately out of the box. I ordered the 2GB. Do you know if I can return it for what I paid for it (to newegg) within the 30 days and then buy a 4GB version then? Also, what do you think the odds are that Nvidia cuts card prices (like the 770) within the next month? The new Hawaii cards from AMD have got to be some sort of pressure for Nvidia's prices. Not to mention Maxwell is coming very soon.
 
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Rahbot

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The main question is what Next-Gen ported games are you going to be playing... Because I heard that nex-gen games will use more VRAM than any before them. So I would think that all the new games coming out in the next 1-3+ Years will start to use more VRAM and before long 1Gb wont matter any more and ill need at least like 2GB to just even play.... just my two cents. Also most new games need like 3GB or more to do ultra settings. Because I've seen videos with like 2-4 Titans have problems running smoothly at 1080+ (3D) even @ 4k in normal mode not 3D. Look at BF4 in 3D @ 1080+
 
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kirilmatthew

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I am not sure if the BF4 beta did that, but its a very bad thing to go by. A couple of games can use more than 2Gb in some situations, but generally it just does because it can. In other words, it has no effect on performance. Chances are prices wont drop much. NVidia will probably bank on their "better reputation" until Maxwell. Maxwell is not coming soon though, probably the middle of 2014. I know you said no to AMD but once again, you would have none of these problems going with a 7970. I know, I'm sorry, but just wanted to point it out again.
 
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Palidion

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BF4 is going to be a major game I play for the next 2 years, and I want it to play well while I play it. Do you know whether it needs more than 2GB? The recommended system settings say 2GB of graphics memory. Is that saying I need more than 2GB?
 
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kirilmatthew

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Most of that is not true. The titans wont struggle, and certainly not because of Vram. There are no games that currently need over 2Gb to play on Max, maybe on a 3 monitor setup. Console ports are irrelevant. They work using HSA and proprietary interfaces. PCs will never have the embedded ram of the XB1, or the 8Gb GDDR5 system memory, at least not intel ones. They wouldn't alienate the majority of users. The one thing that might change is multithreaded gaming (AMD FX).
 
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Rahbot

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Ok BF4 for recommended will need 3GB or more VRAM.... and I've heard that next year more games are going to use more VRAM than the last 2 years... so that 256MB-512MB for min settings and 1-1.5GB for Recommended won't mean anything when you see them at 1GB+ for min and 3GB+ for recommended settings.... I'll stick with the 4GB+ versions of cards, or wait for that rumored 6GB 780 Ti that is coming out...
 
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determinologyz

determinologyz

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If you own a 770 i should go sli..It doesnt make any sense to start over honestly when you pretty much will have a solid set-up getting 2 770s which would chew threw anything mostly
 
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