RX 480 4GB vs. 8GB

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Cam P

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May 16, 2015
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Do you think there will be a performance difference between the 4GB and 8GB model of the RX 480?

For 1080p? 1440p? 2160p?

Also, could this be comparable with the performance difference between the R9 290X and R9 390X?
 
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M
Hey there.
I'm coming from a R9 390 8GB and I assure you that i've never, ever had used more than 3.8GB of ram at 1080p.
Either that, or 4GB of ram at 1440p.

Try not to fall for the gimmick because even 3GB is mooore than enough at 1080p.
4GB would be great if you have a 1440p/2k monitor.

Because you'll start to lose performance even if you get to fill up that sort of ram because raw power wont be enough to provide a normal performance for all that texture and pixels.
Just a marketing gimmick. :)

so get whichever is cheaper and if you got 1080p.
then 4gb woohoo
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M

MakotoSGT

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Dec 19, 2012
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Hey there.
I'm coming from a R9 390 8GB and I assure you that i've never, ever had used more than 3.8GB of ram at 1080p.
Either that, or 4GB of ram at 1440p.

Try not to fall for the gimmick because even 3GB is mooore than enough at 1080p.
4GB would be great if you have a 1440p/2k monitor.

Because you'll start to lose performance even if you get to fill up that sort of ram because raw power wont be enough to provide a normal performance for all that texture and pixels.
Just a marketing gimmick. :)

so get whichever is cheaper and if you got 1080p.
then 4gb woohoo
 
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ImPain

ImPain

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Aug 2, 2013
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For 1080 you do not need 8GB, it's a waste, 4 GB are more than enough.
If you go above 1080p and especially for 2160p there will be a difference since there are a ;lot more texture to load, so 8GB will be usefull.

In terms of performances, going 8GB instead of 4GB is not comparable to 290X vs 390X. If you can go for the 390X go for it, it will give you better performance than just a RAM increase.
 
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Z

Zooloored

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Jul 5, 2016
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Do you have a source for this information? No accusations, just wondering if its a definite :)
 
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mpc007

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May 13, 2016
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VRAM is overrated these days. I'm running dual HD7850s with 1GB VRAM on 1080p and despite people say this actually can't work you get great fps in most of todays titles. Some games don't handle it as well, but that only shows in small FPS drops when a new part of the game is loaded in. I have to say that working with low VRAM is more forgiveable when you have a fast SSD and plenty of normal RAM as well - which I do.
 
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J

Jay_Gil

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Sep 30, 2016
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Question: If 4 gigs are enough for 1080p, does that apply to 21:9 as well? A card would have to push ~700k more pixel? Does this affect newer cards with 4 gigs? Should I get 8? My HD 7850 is definitely suffering ^^
 
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F

Fr4nk20

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Jan 6, 2017
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What went you with finally? Had a 7850 too and I went for a Msi rx 470 armor 4gb. Maxed out 1080p paired with fx-6100@4.6ghz it gets around 3.8 or 3.9gb and I'm worried for the future games..

 
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T

trotxig

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Jan 12, 2017
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trotxig

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Jan 12, 2017
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I find that some games are using around 3.8-3.9 GB of VRAM on my RX 470 too, but that's only if I have texture settings set to ultra. Usually I just set textures to high or very high rather than ultra and that saves me almost a gigabyte of VRAM. Since I game on a TV for the games that do use that much VRAM when set to ultra like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided or Watch Dogs 2, I tend not to see that much difference between very high and ultra anyway from a reasonable viewing distance. I guess for playing games up close on a monitor it may be more of a concern.

Besides, by the time 4 GB VRAM is absolutely no longer enough for running games with reasonably good settings at 1080p, the Radeon RX 470's GPU will be have become somewhat antiquated anyway so I wouldn't worry too much about whether its future proof in the gaming department beyond a couple of years. For now I still think 4 GB is the sweet spot for 1080p, if you aren't expecting to play every single game at the highest settings.
 
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