Amount of VRAM Required for Gaming

messi_tnt

Distinguished
Jul 6, 2011
13
0
18,510
Hi there,

This question has been asked a lot on forums everywhere and I'm just looking for an updated answer taking into consideration the latest games released now and for future purposes.

So I am planning to build this RIG (Intel core i5 4690, 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, and 750W PSU), my budget would allow me to buy a GTX 970 or R9 390 as they are almost at the same price now, and here is my question:

If I'm planning to play only at 1080p and this is the resolution of the monitor that I'm going to get, and I will never go for a 4K monitor in future, will the 3.5 GB of VRAM on the GTX 970 be enough for high settings gaming or should I go for the 8 GB on the R9 390?

And will there be some games in future (like in 2 years for example) that are able to use all of the VRAM on the GTX 970 at only 1080p making this card looks weak?.

If there are other factors that governs the decision please feel free to mention it.

Regards
 
Solution
The 970 is 4gb regardless of what you read, it's just the last 0.5gb is accessed slower and I'm yet to see a benchmark or review that shows this is a problem. It's seems to be a whole lot of hot air over nothing. At the moment only a few games use 3gb or slightly more at 1080p so the 970 is still a great choice.

However the next generation of Nvidia cards should be announced next month and in the shops by end of June or early July. If you can wait I would
The 970 is 4gb regardless of what you read, it's just the last 0.5gb is accessed slower and I'm yet to see a benchmark or review that shows this is a problem. It's seems to be a whole lot of hot air over nothing. At the moment only a few games use 3gb or slightly more at 1080p so the 970 is still a great choice.

However the next generation of Nvidia cards should be announced next month and in the shops by end of June or early July. If you can wait I would
 
Solution