For a Gtx 970, is 3gb VRAM or 6gb better?

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Solid Slate

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May 28, 2015
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I'm looking at two models of MSI Laptops; one sports a GTX 970 card with 3GB of VRAM and 12 RAM gbs, while the more expensive one carries a GTX 970 with 6GB of VRAM and 16GB of RAM. The 6GB version is $150 more expensive, and the above appear to be the only differences. Is the larger RAM amounts worth it?
 
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hotter-than-Vishera
Additional VRAM is usually just a marketing gimmick. And besides, even if a program uses 6GB of VRAM (which only 1 game running at 4K can do, as far as I'm aware) the basic electronics of the GTX 970M probably won't be able to adequately feed all 6GB. It's sort of like the GTX 970 for desktops, where 500MB of VRAM can technically be accessed, but accessing it is very, very slow and actually hurts overall performance.

The cheaper model has plenty of RAM and having a GTX 970M to begin with is already almost as good as you can get. I say go with the cheaper laptop.
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hotter-than-Vishera

hotter-than-Vishera

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Jun 12, 2014
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Additional VRAM is usually just a marketing gimmick. And besides, even if a program uses 6GB of VRAM (which only 1 game running at 4K can do, as far as I'm aware) the basic electronics of the GTX 970M probably won't be able to adequately feed all 6GB. It's sort of like the GTX 970 for desktops, where 500MB of VRAM can technically be accessed, but accessing it is very, very slow and actually hurts overall performance.

The cheaper model has plenty of RAM and having a GTX 970M to begin with is already almost as good as you can get. I say go with the cheaper laptop.
 
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