Is the "4GB" R9 380 a gimmick?

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BerettaOnTheNightStand

BerettaOnTheNightStand

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FYI: I'm restricting this question in relation to AAA games (BF4, ARMA III, H1Z1, etc...) with max graphics in 1080p resolution at 50-60+ FPS on a single 60Hz monitor. Don't get too hung up on this, the basic question is still: "Does the 4GB version of the R9 380 have any significant performance advantage over the 2GB version.

Direct quote from game-debate.com

"The Frame Buffer was doubled to 4GB: a gimmick which doesn't yield any performance boost and can be considered marketing to lure consumers into paying more for the same product."

In contrary to this, word around the internet campfire seems to be that it's better to have a 4GB frame buffer (compared against 2GB) even on mid-range GPUs, even though they have slower memory bandwidth than a 390. Of course no one ever backs this claim with any source data.

Any truth to any of this hearsay?
 
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unknownofprob
the Higher Vram cards from what I've seen are targeted purposely for the multi-GPU configurations. when the Vram is scaled but the GPU horsepower is physically increased, this is what makes the true difference when comparing the 2GB and 4GB versions. The Higher Vram models are actually useful as said before when you surpass that 2GB margin, and with the ability to utilize up to 3.8GB of the 4GB it makes the cards worthwhile if you ever breach the given margin. However the GPUs themselves as also said tend to suffer prior to the full base standard Vram (2GB in this case) being needed, thats why it comes down to it being useful for multi-GPU setups.
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BerettaOnTheNightStand

BerettaOnTheNightStand

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If that's the case, what do you make of people thinking 4GBs on mid-end GPUs is just a waste of money? Also, is the 380 a waste of money in general? It's obviously just a rehashed 285, and it's beaten out by the 280x ([strike]which is cheaper[/strike], but hard to find good brands in stock) Any thoughts?
 
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Mousemonkey

Mousemonkey

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Which was just a rehash of the 7950 making the 380 a slightly tweaked 7950 in all but name.
 
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BerettaOnTheNightStand

BerettaOnTheNightStand

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I'm really glad you brought that up. That's more along my point, the 380 only has 182.4GB/sec memory bandwidth, where as the 7950 has 240GB/sec, and the 280x has 288GB/sec. Don't those speeds attribute to how much of the framebuffer can be utilized? That's my real question.
 
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BerettaOnTheNightStand

BerettaOnTheNightStand

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Yeah, but I'm still confused why people are saying that 4GB VRAM on a 380 is rip-off. Why would people say that? They must have a good reason, and I want to know that reason. It's the difference of $40 US, so if it's a gimmick, I'd rather put that money towards other things in my build, than wasting it on nothing. And this question will help a lot of people in similar situations decide what to get, so I want to be as thorough as possible.
 
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Mousemonkey

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Nvidia's architecture and the performance of the card kind of proves that is a moot point. If it was such a big deal then the 380 would have kept the 384bit bus that the 7950 had wouldn't it?
 
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junkeymonkey

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ya, you know you read this here and that there and in the end its still just seems up in the air ?? and they all seem to bench close ?? then NVidia tends to favor a narrow buss ? don't seem to hurt them ?

for what I see whith what I run [???]] I don't guess I ever seen my card exceed 2gb of memory use .. you always see the deal on 2gb may not be enough for future games ?

all you can do is lok up articles and threads like this and draw your own conclusion

http://www.overclock.net/t/1388354/2gb-vram-not-enough-anymore-agree-or-disagree/320
http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1888-evga-supersc-4gb-960-benchmark-vs-2gb/Page-2

[just to say on that review is I wonder why they did not just use the evga 2gb and the 4gb card to do the comparing seing that would be the only real difference . same card/board and all just ones 2gb and ones 4gb- that should of been a more to the fact result ]
the look at the dates and see this been discussed as far back as 2012 ?

then you figure the price difference between a same level 2gb card and a 4gb card ? 20-40 bucks ? may as well go with the 4 ?
I do thing as I said above the narrow buss and higher gb is a better factor ? and then at 1080 may not be any factor or program dependent rendering video ,ect..

so it may just come down to the programs you will use and what they require ?

''Personal opinion''

Doubling the amount of memory on most graphics cards does little for performance, even more so when done outside of the top offerings. At the times when the extra memory does come into play, you’re simply not getting the FPS you need for the game to be playable. ''
http://www.hardwareluxx.com/index.php/reviews/hardware/vgacards/34652-reviewed-evga-gtx-960-4gb-supersc-acx-20.html?start=17

so for the small price difference I guess I would error toward the more memory , why not ? ay least then you got it weather its needed or not .
 
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unknownofprob

unknownofprob

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the Higher Vram cards from what I've seen are targeted purposely for the multi-GPU configurations. when the Vram is scaled but the GPU horsepower is physically increased, this is what makes the true difference when comparing the 2GB and 4GB versions. The Higher Vram models are actually useful as said before when you surpass that 2GB margin, and with the ability to utilize up to 3.8GB of the 4GB it makes the cards worthwhile if you ever breach the given margin. However the GPUs themselves as also said tend to suffer prior to the full base standard Vram (2GB in this case) being needed, thats why it comes down to it being useful for multi-GPU setups.
 
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BerettaOnTheNightStand

BerettaOnTheNightStand

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This makes the most sense. Because obviously what's the point of having a 4GB on a single card setup that doesn't have enough horsepower to utilize a full 4GB worth of ultra graphic textures and what not (That doesn't mean that the extra VRAM isn't useful.) But anyway, Thanks for clearing that up.
 
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