Is 12GB of VRAM enough for 1440p or 1080p in 2024? Newest games tested!!!

[@SKHYJINX]

Also, Desktop area also matters, 4K desktop uses 800mb VRAM, 1080p uses 300mb or less., which is included in the allocated value. Multimonitors also add up.

[@mooseonshrooms]

Did not consider that. So with my double 1440p setup I will be noticing slightly higher vram than if I only used one. Wow that seems like such an obvious thing but I never considered it.

[@SKHYJINX]

@@mooseonshrooms yeah I only started considering it when using Nvidia DSR 1080p to 4K+DLSS for those borderless fullscreen only games where you need desktop at 4K and saw 300MB VRAM jump to 800MB!!!

[@stangamer1151]

I believe it does not matter, if you are using in-game exclusive fullscreen mode. But it would be interesting to make such a comparison anyway.

[@fleurdewin7958]

@alargecorgi2199 The thing about console games are ; they don't run on Windows and rely on DirectX , optimization is better for consoles as there is less driver overhead . So if consoles allocate 12GB for VRAM, doesn't mean its applicable to PC . Especially consoles often make use of upscaling feature, many of us PC gamers prefer to play at native resolution, not using FSR and DLSS .

[@DFFans]

@@fleurdewin7958 most people often follow the misconception that "consoles allocate 12gb etc etc" and apply those concepts directly onto pc when all have different api, different driver overhead

[@Silligk]

I crack up every time you move yourself to point things out 😂😂I'm not even into gaming that much anymore but these videos are fun to watch

[@iikatinggangsengii2471]

if its abt fun watching my old streams were fun to watch, i didnt think abt visual quality and just play games as usual

[@iikatinggangsengii2471]

im pretty sure theyll automatically added to the studio, im too lazy to contact and ask for revival

[@wileymanful]

Is 10 million dollars enough for a house I can't believe I have to specify but this is a joke

[@BattleToads]

Not in the west.

[@k5elevencinc0]

​@BattleToads Depends.

[@Anton_dk]

🤓replies

[@Sevastous]

Market says 8 million wasn't enough so ofc we discussing 12

[@thomaslayman9487]

@@Sevastousmight be able to get away with 10mil if you're willing to upscale

[@svenyproud]

so when some of the newest AAA games are already right at the edge of 12GB we can logically expect VRAM usage to increase above 12GB in the next years. That puts the current graphic cards market really into a weird position since Nvidia charges 800$ for the first real 16GB option (I dont count the 4060Ti). AMD starts with the 7800 XT which is slightly under 500$. Thats A LOT OF MONEY on a graphic cards alone for the normal PC gamer.

[@jayceneal5273]

It won't use more until the next console generation. thats roughly 4 years away, when you would already be upgrading anyway.

[@svenyproud]

@@jayceneal5273 how do you know that? whats your source?

[@jayceneal5273]

@@svenyproud they arent going to make the minimum vram usage more than what consoles can use lol

[@No-One.321]

​@@jayceneal5273 That's not true, tons of games are made by AA studios or indie studios and they care less about consoles and these studios are the ones that are making great games this year. And just because consoles are limited doesn't mean the same game won't use more on PC.

[@jayceneal5273]

@@No-One.321 if any indie game or AA game does then it's not very optimized and that's rarely the case anyhow, usually they are made to be run on potatoes. You're just fear mongering for something that isn't going to be a problem

[@docrx1857]

6750 XT user. 12 GB has been enough. Never been an issue.

[@Mattribute]

That card right there was the best value of last gen. Saw some good sales on it when it was still new.

[@DanielHarris42024]

6700xt here, killer.

[@waltuhputurdaway]

​@@Mattribute6800 better deal honestly

[@ludvig3242]

Ye, there's plenty of other things besides that has an impact on performance, VRAM is rarely actually the issue

[@killkiss_son]

​@@Mattribute 6800 or 6800 XT is a bit better in my opinion as it's more future proof

[@hartsickdisciple]

12GB is a very good amount for 98% of games at 1440p.

[@dirkjewitt5037]

Exactly what I was thinking. It might not matter now, but it's good if you don't want to upgrade for a while.

[@mukamuka0]

Will it be enough for extreme setting? for example Cyberpunk 2077 Ultra realistic reshading mod on 1080p? (To clarify, its a mod that push graphic to far far beyond normal Ultra setting)

[@megadeth8592]

@@mukamuka0 nope

[@Obie327]

Exactly! By the time its not enough.. A huge leap or seismic shift will probably happen then. So, It's not a real worry in the here or now. Get what works with at least 12 gigs and be happy!? But seriously, I purchased a 4070 Super and no regrets for price or my gaming needs. Cheers!

[@mukamuka0]

@@megadeth8592 dang it...too bad

[@miruzanka]

You should have tested TLOU as well! That game actually makes gpus perform worse when it tries to use more vram than the gpu has.

[@wanshurst2416]

Played it a few weeks ago. Worked like a Charme

[@deeplaysgaming4754]

that was before the patches

[@dakotad3970]

Well duh any game is gonna run worse with more vram needed than allocated

[@KevDawg1992]

That's with any game. If any game uses more VRAM than a card has, the game will start using system memory which is a lot slower than GPU memory.

[@camdustin9164]

Would not be a good test since the always allocate more VRAM than it needs, I saw someone did a system requirement test on that game when it just came and see it try to allocate 14GB of VRAM when it doesn’t even use half of it, the setting was 1080p high setting native resolution.

[@mrnicktoyou]

12GB at 1440p is fine with this console cycle. Developers will not create higher resolution textures just for high end PCs if it will not run on a Playstation 5. Which makes 24GB useless.

[@totalermist]

unless you actually do PC things and apply mods and reshaders...

[@mrnicktoyou]

@@totalermist that's true but that's a different argument. Personally, I have learned not to bother with mods.

[@TooBokoo]

@@mrnicktoyou Are you joking? Why not? There are so many games that have mods better than what the original developers even did. I'm still playing new Left 4 Dead 2 campaign maps for free that blow away anything Valve did. It turned a game that would've been entertaining for a couple of years into a game that is still immensely entertaining after 15 years. Not to mention, that 24GB card is going to age a hell of a lot better in the next 2-3 years than a current card with 12GB-16GB.

[@richied5294]

​​​@@TooBokoo I'm sure they will age better but I'm also sure the majority who spent top dollar for those cards today will be upgrading again next GPU Gen so 24gb helps the future used market more than first time owners of those cards.

[@metroplex29]

​@@totalermistThe vast majority of PC players are not interested in modifying their games, so that issue is irrelevant in the general use of the GPU and its vram.

[@Hexifying1]

You were talking really well about this card (6800)last autumn, It went on sale with starfield and I picked it up. Still going strong and can play just about anything I want on high at 1440p. Really happy with this purchase. Thanks!! gr8 video.

[@TrueNebiross]

I have 8 GB RTX 3070 and in Horizon Forbidden West I had to change textures for high instead of very high just because I didnt had enough memory and my FPS dropped from 90-110 to even 36 in cutscenes... Its fair to say that 8 GB is definitely not enough in 2024 for 1440p.

[@jamieshephard2432]

i have a 6800 and play AAA at 1440 and it smashes them all never had a single issue love mine

[@fabrb26]

But that's 16Gb not 12 right ?

[@jamieshephard2432]

@@fabrb26 yeah

[@ChicaneMedia]

Love my 6800, bought it used but the coil whine is a bit annoying

[@JazanMuyanto]

​@@jamieshephard2432Pfftt, weak card, cannt even use ray tracing, trash

[@jamieshephard2432]

@@JazanMuyanto yeah ok if you say so lmfao. ray tracing aint all that anyway n even if i wanted to use rt my gpu would handle it

[@PixelShade]

I always had stutters in HL: Alyx with the RX6600XT (8GB, the only reasonable card during the GPU-apocalypse), Now when I have an RX6800 and 16GB I no longer have those issues, and the Radeon software reports 14.5GB usage in that game (when playing at 5400x2700) so I guess it was a VRAM-related all along. (Or me not understanding that 8GB wasn't enough for "high" textures) Today I just love the security of having plenty of VRAM. Throughout the ages, VRAM is the single thing that has increased longevity of GPUs, and I am happy to have some proper headroom.

[@jorge69696]

Something to consider are games that progressively use more vram during longer play sessions but there is no way for Daniel to test that effectively.

[@MaxIronsThird]

that's called a memory leakage, it's not supposed to happen.

[@legendp2011]

@@MaxIronsThird its not "supporsed to happen", but it does happen in some game

[@MaxIronsThird]

@@legendp2011 Só you're saying I need a card with more VRAM bc of a bug and that's normal? I don't get it.

[@legendp2011]

@@MaxIronsThird what did you not get?

[@sandorclegane3658]

​@@legendp2011he should also test with an operating system that is out of date. Perhaps had a virus. He could do a test while having 1000 tabs open. Yes, all valuable pieces of information

[@UncannySense]

as a 6800 user who plays less demanding non AAA games at 4k it's also interesting to me that the 6800 also appears to beat the 7700xt in performance per watt by 30-50watts. Unless you require AVI encoding the 6800 seems like the sleeper GPU for 2024...

[@danielowentech]

The wattage reports differently between rdna 2 and 3. Pretty sure the 6800 is only showing GPU power but the 7700xt is showing total board. I think in reality there isn't a meaningful difference in efficiency.

[@ZackSNetwork]

Nah the RNDA2 GPU’s don’t show the full wattage that the RNDA3 and Nvidia GPU’s do.

[@ninjafrozr8809]

I have a 6800 but can't take advantage of it because i had to spend all my money on a 4060 laptop for school, instead of upgrading the 5 year old i5 that's paired with the 6800. It's painful to watch these videos and see how good the 6800 is, because i literally have it but i also kind of don't.

[@kotztotz3530]

Daniel is correct. 6800 doesn't show the total board power usage. I think it's another 40-50 watts added onto the 6800 to get the total board wattage, so they basically have the same efficiency.

[@somename5632]

​@@ninjafrozr8809For what school do you need a 4060 Laptop?

[@WutTheHekk]

Curious to see 4070 ti vs 4070 ti super in 4k settings.. Similar difference to 7700xt / 6800

[@megasuperlexa2]

4070 never meant for 4k.. 2k only. If you got that 4k monitor, then upgrade to 4090

[@MiGelPhoto]

OK, it's starting to get enoying: How about 10Gig? A LOT of people have the 3080, and it was/is a very good deal at certain times. And yet, it get's completely overlooked again and again. I just wonder how much it is limited against the 12GB-version or the 4070 (super).

[@mmadevgame]

A lot. 3080 is completely insane. 1080 ti had 11gb. Many years later you get 10gb on 3080 which is absolutely insane. Also add the prices people paid for it...

[@Definedd]

the 3080 is gonna struggle in the very near future, 10gb isnt gonna be enough for 1440p really especially with newer games today

[@EjayT06]

@@Defineddalready struggles

[@KrisDee1981]

How about 11Gb? Well let me tell you. I have an RTX 2080ti and it's a perfect Nvidia midrange GPU. Bought used 2 years ago for only $300 before Vram drama. Used 3070 was much more expensive.

[@AndreFreitas91250]

The 3080 was ridiculously expensive almost until it was discontinued due to scalpers. And by that time the 4070 was released which was the best new GPU option for that performance tier (similar performance with more VRAM and dlss3 for a lower price).

[@cybernd6426]

One thing to 15:00 It seems like the ram usage on the RX 7700 XT is way higher with 16.7GB compared to 15.1GB on the RX 6800. Not sure if there were maybe other reasons for it, but just something I think is interesting It seems like that the same happens on 1440p. But also happens on Starfield 17:44 while it doesn't even come close to using 10GB of VRAM

[@jasonly8407]

Hmmm..interesting..🤔

[@lawrencekallal6640]

It varies. At 3:14 the 7700XT system is using less ram than the 6800 - 14.4 vs 15.4. In Alan Wake2 sometimes the 7700xt is higher and sometimes lower.

[@cybernd6426]

@@lawrencekallal6640 oh yeah there it is like that. Would be interesting to know why it is like this

[@360raja7]

I just ended up getting 7900 gre, 16 seems like a safe spot and was relatively much cheaper than a 4070S. Sure no nvidia feature set but it is what it is- so far been enjoying it! Honestly with this test I feel like it's difficult to compare 12gb vs 16gb because there isn't any games that actually use over 16gb vram (unless RT), once those become more mainstream due to consoles then we'll see performance difference. Just like how 8gb vram cards are becoming more irrelevant.

[@stangamer1151]

8GB cards started to struggle when new gen consoles were released. Same will happen to 12GB cards, once the next gen consoles launch in 3-4 years. Until then there won't be any major changes in VRAM usage. We are experiencing the same game behavior for ~3 years - 8GB has become insufficient for max (ultra) settings even at 1080p, but still enough for high settings. 12GB is enough for 1440p/max and 16GB is enough for 4K/max.

[@jannclaudebinoya]

The RTX 4070 and RX7800XT is basically the new gtx 1060 6gb and rx 580 8gb. Look how that turned out.

[@TheIndulgers]

Yeah. The rx 580 aged far more gracefully.

[@fleurdewin7958]

Not the same. Both Nvidia Pascal and AMD Polaris have equal gaming features. RTX4070 just gets better ray tracing capability over the RX7800XT. As a gaming card, sure the RX580 is better today. However, for HTPC use, the GTX1060 is better because it has hardware VP9 decoder which KZbin playback requires. RX580 doesn't , only RX5000 series and newer can decode VP9.

[@yt-mull0r]

​@@fleurdewin7958better raytracing in some games. It's mostly Cyberpunk that heavily favors Nvidia. In other raytracing titles AMD RDNA3 performance is on par or sometimes even better than Nvidia.

[@kionmahuermicio9860]

​@@yt-mull0rAlan Wake? Ratchet and Clank? Robocop? Avatar Frontiers of Pandora?

[@teslapower6860]

@@yt-mull0r that's not totally true

[@Durion7]

I have my OG 3080 10GB Ram and it's all working perfectly fine in 1440p and even in 4k in many games.

[@Z1mmb0]

the 12gb card performs at VRAM bottleneck better when the game just doesnt load the textures properly. so it has less to process. nowadays you always have to check the visual result, 1% lows, runtime dependency, etc. low-mid tier gpus cant keep up with technical dev demand anymore

[@DanielHarris42024]

My 6700xt rocks. Raytracing taxes the cpu too much for the benefits that I barely notice anyway, so thus far I have zero issues or games I can't play. Thanks for making all these comparison vids, very useful info, I appreciate all you do fellow Daniel.

[@michaelthompson9798]

I’d love to see an Nvidia RTX 2000 vs AMD Radeon Rx7000 series video comparing Ray Tracing to see how well Radeons RT compares to early Nvidia iterations 💪😇👍

[@PanchoMngkn]

Bro, the 7800XT RT is better than the 4070

[@PanchoMngkn]

And is a cheaper card

[@ElJewPacabrah]

@@PanchoMngkn😂

[@__-fi6xg]

@@PanchoMngkn wrong

[@aether8412]

@@PanchoMngkncompletely wrong

[@eminpasha7472]

I got the rx6800 standard version one, and I'm happy with it. Does a great job

[@MohawkNinja636]

I have a 7900XTX and just bought Avatar. I play at 4k with FSR and frame gen. The benchmark is pretty choppy with highs in the low 100s and lows as low as 25 yet actual gameplay is highs of 300 and lows of around 100. Allocated VRAM is 22gb!

[@JavierBuitrago-z4s]

Maybe the 4070 Ti and the 4070 Ti super could close the gap to compare more accurately the VRAM, but these ones are still a good example, nice comparison

[@armegeddonschildren]

My exact thoughts.

[@MaxIronsThird]

4070Ti S is quite a bit faster than the regular Ti, the comparison wouldn't work.

[@JavierBuitrago-z4s]

Is less than a 5% in most cases, wouldn’t make a big difference, and it would a better representation letting aside generational improvements and architecture

[@MaxIronsThird]

@@JavierBuitrago-z4s 10% you mean

[@rg975]

I run my games at 4k on a 12gb card with no issues 🤷‍♂️

[@ehenningsen]

Because that's the current threshold for the 9th console generation. PS6 and the next XBOX generation will change that, but we are 4 years away from the start

[@Denniz69]

No the new Xbox is launched about 2 years from now on because they gave up against PS5 and they wanna start fresh with a banger console​@@ehenningsen

[@DanielHarris42024]

I have a 6700 on my gaming rig, and a 5700xt on my secondary attached to the 4k tv. I can play nearly everything on the secondary just fine. The 67 just rocks without flinching.

[@toptime737]

Which settings?

[@Jakiyyyyy]

Keep in mind this is just one-time testing. If you do actual gameplay or longer session of gaming, it going to nuts, especially in games where the memory leak issues are horrible, if you know what I mean. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@AzSureno]

6800xt :) I run 1440p paired with a 5800x3d I’ll look forward to rdna 5

[@The_Noticer.]

Same combo, its honestly faultless. I haven't had a single issue with framepacing, frametimes or framerates in any AAA title.

[@retrosean199]

I use my 6700XT in my living room on my budget 4K TV and it usually requires that some form of upscaling be used. So far I haven't found a game that simply refused to work on it, although there's discussion about the importance of a card's memory bandwidth when trying to push a 4K image even with upscaling.

[@z_wulf]

You should test a 3080 with 10gb and 12gb versions, and just underclock the 12gb by like 5% to match the performance of the 10gb. I'd love to see that video, since that would be a good showcase if 12gb is enough compared to 10gb, and if those with 10gb versions were basically screwed by nvidia.

[@redbot1233]

I love it when you just searched for this yesterday, and now a detailled video explains it yay

[@ninjafrozr8809]

From this video i can tell that even 8GB is almost enough for native 1440p Ultra settings. That means with a bit of DLSS/FSR 8GB is just the right amount of VRAM to have for 1440p in 2024. 10GB of VRAM will last you a bit longer, and 12GB of VRAM is FAR from being a bottleneck. I actually have the RX 6800 16GB so i'm pretty well off but i also have a 4060 laptop which is 8GB so i occasionally check these videos haha.

[@Zombie101]

I'm on 8gb 1440p and its great

[@albert2006xp]

It's not, games like Forbidden West would have noticeable chug on 8Gb at 1440p. And that's just an example off the top of my head. A lot of games allocate textures based on your VRAM as well, so you might get blurry textures as it approaches the cap even if you don't hit the drop FPS in half out of VRAM wall. 12Gb is probably fine for a couple years, but if you're buying a new card at this point I would assume you want to be covered for at least 5 years.

[@puffyips]

@@Zombie101”great”, you literally can’t max out textures which makes games look best that is not great.

[@XIeepy1]

RTX 3070 1440p high RT Reflections Cyberpunk 2077. After opening map or inventory i have drops to 15 FPS for 10 seconds, because vram bottleneck. 8gb Not Enought for 1440p high without rt lol

[@ninjafrozr8809]

​@@albert2006xp This isn't buying advice. This is just telling 8GB card owners that they can hold out on an upgrade for another year. Forbidden West is in this video and it uses right around 8GBs at 1440p Very High. This allocation is on a 12GB card (games allocate extra memory if you have it) so it's safe to say it would use around 7.5G on an actual 8GB card. And again, that's one of the most demanding games of 2024 at native QHD Max settings. And then there's upscaling when you will need it next year, so you're covered there. People who own 3070's or 6600XT's should be fine until next gen cards are available at sensible prices. I have a 6800 16GB so i'm good for the foreseable future.

[@AaronWOfficial]

A lot of gamers are looking at VRAM the wrong way, been saying this for years. Just because VRAM allocation says 14gb doesn't mean you need 16gb. If you have 12gb it will just allocate less memory. What matters more is your memory clock and bandwidth, the faster your gpu handles memory the less it needs to allocate.

[@loxonin138]

Although no one thumbs up for your comment, i thought the same as you based on my own experience. Using VRAM is like a subway with a limited number of seats, and it can carry more people than the number of seats to their destinations without delay.

[@AaronWOfficial]

@@loxonin138 Ikr, ppl saying 12gb vram is not enough are literally dumb. I can play games native in 1440p at over 144 fps, I am even using 1620p DLDSR with Quality DLSS (mainly because TAA is trash, if DLAA is an option I use that instead of DLSS) and ultra settings and games still run like butter. Above 12gb for 4k ok sure, in SOME games. Most games aren't that demanding though, and the most demanding games are often poorly optimised or only have bad performance with ray tracing which is also true for the 4090. Try running a game with ray tracing on that card, you won't hit 100 fps. Clearly VRAM isn't everything because a 4090 has 24gb of VRAM and still can't do high fps at 4k. I wish more people had brains and stopped spreading misinformation, all these console players coming to PC thinking they know about hardware when they know fk all is to blame I think. Just because they come to PC and built one they think they know everything, but it's easier than ever to build a PC nowadays I could teach an 8 year old how to do it in 1 day. Back in the day, you would get crucified on sites like tomshardware if you even dared trying to say VRAM is the only thing that matters.

[@TheGrace020]

10gb was enough ish on my 3080 but would have prefered 12-16 atleast to feel safe

[@kkrolik2106]

10GB is enough for now on my RX 6700 in theory I can add 2GB more but this requires some soldering and bios editing.

[@ninjafrozr8809]

@@kkrolik2106 I'd want to do that just because I can. Because not a lot of cards can have that even with soldering and a custom bios. If the 6700 was 8GB it might've even been worth it for the trouble but I'd say the 10GB memory will well outlast the capabilities of that GPU.

[@PeterPauls]

⁠@@kkrolik2106 To be fair the RTX 3080 with its 320 bit memory controller would have deserved 20 GB of VRAM because that card just much more faster. Back then they put 1GB GDDR6X on every 32 bit because 2GB GDDR6X modules wasn’t available. In the other hand on 160 bit on the 6700 AMD already put 2GB GDDR6 modules per 32 bit, how would you put extra 2GB on it? Does for example 4x2GB module plus 1x4GB module work with that card, is a memory controller able to use different kind memory capacity because the only successful mod that I saw was the RTX 3070 8GB to 16GB but the guy on the 256 bit memory controller just replaced the 1GB modules to 2GB modules.

[@dahahaka]

You don't need to feel "safe" it's not like games wont run if you hit vram limits, watch the 8gb video to see how little impact this has even in 2024

[@SpeedySpeedBoy14]

that's why I waited for 12GB variant to release (I got it on launch day and have it undervolted)

[@Ralipsi]

It seems that the VRAM is not the only thing to consider, neither upscaling / retracing. it seems that we could underestimate the optimisation factor. Therefore, it becomes more and more difficult to buy hardware these days. That was a great video! Thanks.

[@Cinnabuns2009]

I ran Ghost of Tsushima at Very High preset (motion blur off/chromatic aberation off/depth of field off) on 3080Ti 12GB @5120x1440 (not 4k but nearly) and it was in the 80s-110s for the entire game. Worked fine.

[@Juni-p6i]

I have the RTX 4070 Super, and considering how where I am computer parts are insanely expensive, getting my pure performance build at $2000, which is outrageous just for 4070S, I will have to make it last for at least a decade. With that said I've settled on a 1080P monitor, hoping it'll be able to play all games in 1080P max at smooth 60FPS for the upcoming decade.

[@TheDarksideFNothing]

Thanks for the info I was really stressing about the only viable upgrades in my price point being 12 GB

[@mattzun6779]

One other thing to consider is that recent poorly optimized games either used more VRAM when the first launched or poorly managed VRAM and ran out in longer sessions. This usually gets fixed in a patch, but its still a hassle.

[@patatacaliente8270]

I'm quite happy with my 12 GB 6700xt playing on 1440, but to be fair, I tend to play games that aren't too demanding, either. I'm confident the card will serve me very nicely for several more years at least.

[@Edsdrafts]

23:45 - this. You should aim for 16GB even though PC has VRAM separate from system RAM. We simply run higher settigs and resolutions and sometimes on bad ports. We need the headroom.

[@Nicky_TM]

i have a superultrawide 1080p monitor and might upgrade to 1440p superultrawide, would the RX 6800 be better? It's slightly cheaper than the 7700XT in my country (for extra clarification, I will be using it as an eGPU via oculink with either an 8840U or strix point/lunar lake)

[@thecurto]

Thanks for this Daniel! Would it be possible to add a GPU percentage utilization stat to your overlay? I noticed the 6800 power/wattage dropped for most of the ray tracing tests vs the 7700 XT which makes me think the GPU was not fully utilized during ray tracing. Probably drivers as you mentioned but the % would give us a bit more info on this

[@Alvin853]

I'm currently playing Rise of the Tomb Raider, a 2015 game, and with 1440p DLSS Quality everything max I'm going beyond 8GB of VRAM, getting massive stutters on my 3070 Ti. This is a 9 year old game, if 8GB wasn't enough back then, why are we still seeing so many 8GB and 12GB cards in 2024.

[@tommy6742]

I'm running Ghost of Tsushima with a 5800x3d+4070 on High 21:9 1440p with DLSS on Quality and Frame Gen enabled getting 135 fps - 140 fps. 12GB of Vram still isn't an issue at all right now.

[@Greenalex89]

Cause it's a console game from 4 years ago. Congrats

[@steaksoldier]

I'd love to see these same tests at 2160p as well

[@AshRaf-to5gu]

Hi Daniel, this video was very useful. As I am trasitioning to a 4k set up it would help if you made a "is 12gb enough for 4k?" video.

[@lupintheiii3055]

It's not enough

[@blubbel222]

Heya. Don't know if that really helps you, but I have been playing ghost of tsushima on a vega 64 (8gb) on high in 4k just fine! But it's with fsr quality, capped at 60fps. (The GPU isn't even sweating, running below 100% most of the time if you capped the frame rate at 60, tsushima in particular is super well optimized) Generally speaking, the really outdated Vega 64 has been running everything just fine in 4k with medium to high graphics (30-60fps)! So you should be fine until your GPU upgrade if you are willing to turn down your settings a bit. I personally don't really see the difference between very high and ultra and the performance gains you get are totally worth tuning it down a notch. Also (in my case) it helps that I don't even have the option to ray trace xD

[@AshRaf-to5gu]

@@lupintheiii3055 Oh I see

[@AshRaf-to5gu]

@@blubbel222 Thanks I does help. I use the 3060 12gb model which is similar in performance to Vega 64. At least now I know Ghost of Tsushima won't be a problem in 4k. I recon there are many games that do not cross 8gb even in 4k so hopefully it won't be a big issue.

[@ahmSinsol]

I think at this tier of GPU, 12gb is plenty, but with a 4070/Super or especially a 4070 ti, things like path tracing and 4k become more viable in general, and the costs of the cards is high enough that you probably are aiming to keep it for a few years and don't want to be lowering settings due to vram constraints. I'd be very hesitant to get a 4070 ti (non-super), especially, for that reason. And if the rumors of the 50-series are true, we should expect the next gen of mid-tier cards for Nvidia to have the same VRAM limits, while presumably having more power in general.

[@Geralt400]

I had vram issues on my 12 GB 4070 TI when using path tracing on cyberpunk dlss quality 1440p. I eventually upgraded to a 4090 and my takeaway is that 12 GB is not an issue until path tracing and high-end Ray tracing starts to come into a play, which is not something that matters much with AMD right now

[@Shermos]

Those who like to mod games (especially texture packs) will find the 12GB buffer can be exceeded much more easily. My previous GPU was the 1080TI. I didn't like the idea of upgrading to a card with only 1 extra 1GB of Vram, so picked up a 6800XT. The only Nvidia card I would consider buying now is the 4070TI Super, but it's still a bit too much on the expensive side for my taste.

[@jabcreations]

16GB is lower-midrange and here is why: D4 and Sniper Elite 5. I don't blame anyone for not testing Diablo IV okay, they absolutely butchered that game. But if you do a real 180 degree half-circle around the map you will eventually run out of VRAM. They both fixed and broke stuff after a friend hooked me up and it used to run out of VRAM in like 1-4 minutes tops. But it's also wildly more laggy. Also I got a free copy of Sniper Elite 5 and the kind-of-an-island map maxed out my RX 6800's 16GB. It didn't crash though. So yeah, getting tired of seeing the exact same games benchmarked over and over.

[@ElFlipo1337]

In my opinion memory issues in games come down to devs not properly mangaging memory because its hard and time consuming. They have 4090 in there dev pcs so if it runs fine there they call it a day. Also Nvidia is aware of this. Nvidia limits vram on the mid to low end to drive players to spend more via planned obsolescence.

[@brego129]

Could also look at 3080 Ti (12gb) and 3090 (24gb). They are practically the same card.

[@GROGU123]

It’s mostly games that were designed for the XBX and PS5 that need more vram. Object density and textured were heavily optimized on consoles for a little over 8gb shared memory. Hardware Unboxed did a good video on Harry Potter and Resident Evil needing more vram.

[@D.Bartholomeo]

man i love ur channel keep up the good work ✌

[@Gimpy17]

one game that uses an absurd amount of vram is Escape From Tarkov. I have a 3080 12gb and I have had to turn DLSS to performance when I have textures on high. When I turn textures to medium, I still have DLSS on quality to guarantee the VRAM usage stays under 12gb.

[@Dempig]

HDR and a quality display makes more of a difference than ray tracing

[@ltdada74]

4070 super here and couldn’t be happier with the performance…it’s THE perfect 1440p card atm, zero issues with the vram. In two years you can sell it and for another 300,- you’ll have the next gen. It’s current gen (including AMD) best value card price/performance wise jncluding AMD

[@Eddydatscrazy]

Everyone is saying 12 gig is not enough, but here’s the trick you don’t have to run every game on ultra or 4K. It’s ok to run MED - HIGH lol

[@howvery_]

bit annoying considering i played med-high mix settings on my 1060 mobile 6gb and now im tryina research what to upgrade to and even at 12 on a desktop i have to stay med-high? i rlly hope not i cant afford more and want a real upgrade aaaaa

[@Sid-Cannon]

When I got my 4070 at launch, I never bothered stressing about whether 12GB of VRAM was enough for 1080p or 1440p. Consoles have 16GB unified so probably no more than 12GB dedicated VRAM. For me, not only will it be when the PS6 comes out that 12GB might not be enough, but when they're releasing games for PS6 only, kind of like early PS5 games worked on PS4 and PS5, but now it's PS5 only. So it's gonna be a few years off, and when it does happen my 4070 won't have enough horsepower anyway.

[@KevDawg1992]

The thing with consoles is that devs tend to not crank the settings to the max on consoles so of course they wouldn't use more than 12GB.

[@albert2006xp]

Yeah basically 12Gb will hold... but be ready to not play at the highest settings in 3 years or so. You're gonna be turning down some RT, some textures way before PS6 games are a thing. PC release only features basically.

[@Iridiumcosmos]

The thing about consoles that you have to remember that part of that “unified memory” is still reserved for system RAM. As someone else said as well. The consoles don’t even run aggressive textures either since they still prioritize FPS over fidelity.

[@ehenningsen]

My 4090 rarely exceeds 12GB for 4k, which is why I went ahead with a 4080 laptop instead of a 4090 laptop (a sale at half the price). The 4080 laptop is a 4070 desktop equivalent. I don't expect problems until after the start of the next console generation and understand that I will have to utilize DLSS tech for the few most demanding games.

[@mitsuhh]

@@Iridiumcosmos Wha? Other way around. Consoles historically prioritise graphics over framerate

[@dangahagan7645]

I do wish you’d used an Nvidia GPU for this test, because their drivers both allocate and use less VRAM. But still a good test, about as expected. Another thing to note is that if you’re struggling with VRAM and have a secondary monitor, try running your side monitor off the motherboard. That usually cuts off about half a GB for me.

[@no_name900]

4K is certainly doable in a 7700 XT/6800 in many games, especially when using upscaling. Would have been useful and interesting to have 4K comparisons as well

[@mojojojo6292]

If you're using up-scaling you're rendering at 1440p or less anyway. There might be slightly more vram usage over native but not much.

[@Tamtam-hh3xv]

Have you considered writing a pytorch program which allocates a tensor of say 4 GB to artifically restrict the vram avaliable to the games? Would it even work? If it does, This should serve better than finding different variant of a single GPU.

[@gandalfpsykos]

If you cant benchmark for 1-2 hours on each game to make sure your results are accurate, maybe include fewer games instead? Also, AMD vram usage and Nvidia vram usage are often not the same, a game that uses more than 12gb on AMD might use below that on Nvidia card, but I'm sure you already know that. But your video is titled as if AMD vram usage represents all GPUs.

[@JustAGuy85]

Callisto Protocol towards the end. I'm not knocking you, you can't play each game for 2+ hours straight. I get that. But Callisto Protocol will have you using all 12GB VRAM midways through and filling it into your RAM. I hit 25GB RAM usage from VRAM overflow (6700XT 12GB) around 60-70% through the game. It's UE5 and it needs VRAM. That's the future of UE5 if you ask me. AMAZING graphics. I mean, look at Jedi Survivor. Same thing. These new AAA games WILL use more than 12GB VRAM IF you run them for longer than 5 minutes. We're moving towards 16-20-24 GB VRAM GPUs for 1440p alone once these devs get freedom to do what they want to do with high detail textures and large maps.

[@howvery_]

everywhere i look online, i see ppl saying dont go for a 4060 16gb (idr if it was ti or super or whatever) and just get a 4070 bc the vram isnt for gaming and 4070 is faster, but then i see this and i believe it bc i see games like inzois min requirements, but i still cant tell if i should pay less and get more vram or pay more and get the faster 4070...i cant get the 4070 16gb its still obscenely exppensive where i live :(

[@hksduhksdu]

II really like this comparison, but it would be nice to see the GPU Usage % on top left as well so at least sometimes we can rule out the potential reason of the games not being optimized ( low utilization )

[@azsaid9003]

Last year using 4070ti....and yes 12gb vram for 2k/4k ultra setting not enough juice for run AAA games, UE5 games or ps5 console port games.....games like forspoken, immortal of aveum and hogwart legacy is very laggy and destroy the experience...... After using 4080 all problem of vram issues is solve.....all games above already crank the vram around 13gb to 15gb vram on 2k-4k ultra max setting.

[@lukasgroot]

Nice comparison, floating mini Daniel strikes again. Also, take a shot each time Daniel says "uh" 😵‍💫

[@Oddweevil317]

Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart is the only game I have spilled over VRAM on so far at max settings 1440p. 4070 12GB

[@theexorcist982]

Vram allocations on these two cards are all over the place.. Completely non comparable when it comes to Vram allocation and usage. Also, Vram plays very small role between resolutions, but the amount of textures loaded in memory is what makes all the difference how game will run and look. I see comments like "oh, i play everything at 4k with 12gb"... Yes you do!! Which games and on which settings!? Even 3080 with 10gb runs 95% of todays games on high settings at 1440p 60fps+ with no issue.

[@Hakeraiden]

Yes, it's fine for me. As for Avatar, I think developers talked about how they fill the rest of capacity with garbage ram and that's why it's so high

[@briando8150]

3070 user here with a 4k monitor. I can get away with 1440p and med/high textures upscaled to 4k on top of frame gen and I usually have enough VRAM for that. Otherwise I'll try to run 4k DLSS Performance + Lossless Scaling as well.

[@DGH286]

Damn, was hoping my 3080ti is the 12gb in the video but 7700xt is fine, good video.

[@erickalvarez6486]

Ratchet and Clank should have come to this testing aswell, Ratchet is a vram eater lol

[@dianaalyssa8726]

Thanks for the continued analysis.

[@valderon3692]

Before watching the video I already know this is mostly going to be about over the top settings in AAA games that I'm never going to play. Most people don't buy the kinds of cards that will run these games on the highest settings anyway. So I think since my 6 GB card is just now starting to struggle a bit in terms of playing modern games I would say 8 GB is fine for most people right now and 12 is probably going to be what I aim for in my next card and probably what I would recommend people start buying if they are buying new. Anyone who tries to say we 'need' more than that has unrealistic beliefs of what and how most people play.

[@adis.g6569]

Bought 4070 TiSuper for the VRAM. Right now those extra 4 arent really needed. But playing games at 1440. AAA games, it is borderline

[@Ka5him]

If you're running 8gb of VRAM even on powerful GPUS like the 4060/4060ti/3060ti/3070 or even the 10 of 3080, reducing graphics settings to High than Ultra would certainly make this VRAM issue solvable, the additional particles on ultra compared to High will always give diminishing returns vs its performance no matter what the card.

[@tapioorankiaalto2457]

Playing Cyberpunk 2077 in 1440p with everything maxed out, RT Psycho & Path Tracing on with a 4070 @ 60 FPS constantly using less than 200W and 11,5GB of VRAM

[@AdnanKhan-be9dr]

Good choice of GPUs to use for the comparison. My opinion is that the 4070 TI variants are too powerful to make a comparison for these more commonly used resolutions.

[@sidheart8905]

I am happy with 1080p with 12gig vram, as most of other content I see like animes,movies, shows are available in 1080p mostly so not going to buy 1440p monitor just for game because the 1080 looks stretched.

[@markusjohansson6245]

Answer, yes. (4070ti owner here). Might go for memory in a few years when upgrading

[@12coco100]

I know you tested new games like hellblade, avatar. But you also tested Cyberpunk, Horizon and ghosts which are 4 years old now and are ps4 games

[@abesmissioncontrol2013]

Nvidia used to have better texture compression algorithms than Radeon, potentially reducing vram usage. Not sure if that is still true.

[@camdustin9164]

Still true, the 4090 often used about 500MB to 1GB less than the 7900XTX in the same games at the same resolutions and settings.

[@abesmissioncontrol2013]

@@camdustin9164 trying Arc rn and it's 1-2GB worse than Radeon. Like Far Cry 5 w/ HD textures took ~10GB on Radeon but takes ~11.5GB on Arc.

[@FATBOY_.]

What about 10 GB on the rtx 3080 with ray tracing.

[@schassismx3115]

I've had no issues personally. Depending on how the 50 series looks, I might keep it for one more generation.

[@lupintheiii3055]

It's bad

[@Ligmaballin]

My 2080 S runs raytracing fine with no issues. Cyberpunk ray tracing set to high and i get 40 fps mostly.

[@CROWNZI]

Well using this logic i dont think upgrading a card will be caused by the VRAM but the pure performance that will be required to run the game that WILL REQUIRE more than 12gb of VRAM. IN that case you are upgrading not becuase of the VRAM but because of the CHIP technology and what is required to get the FPS, or both.

[@bumbaclot813]

I was playing Avatar today with everything on Max at 1440p, and it was eating up a little over 13gbs. It looks beautiful though.

[@Steve-go6oq]

I went with the 7700 XT Steel Legend instead of the XFX 6800 because I have a white build. 🤣 That said when I saw reviews the 6800 generally beat out the 7700 XT but I figured driver development would hopefully keep me going in the long run.

[@Goose683]

would love to see the RT reflections only test on other cards at 4k

[@ewitte12]

12GB is borderline for 4k but just fine for 1080p or 1440p. I think by time it's a problem at the lower resolutions it may be time to upgrade anyway.

[@FrostyBud777]

THIS is why I got a 7900xtx with 24 gb of ram for 999 instead of a 12 gb 4070ti when it came out for 800 DOLLARS, Nvidia went crazy and I left!!! Should have only been 600 MAX!

[@KevinGoldLVL]

I know you said you don't have one on hands, but I would really like to see this kind of testing on the 10gb 3080, the first game I saw some problem with crashing is the RE 4 demo with RT On ultrawide 3440 1440 resolution don't know about the full game, clearly 10gb was really not enough VRAM for such a powerful GPU

[@evolucion888]

RDNA 3 RT advantage is not due to drivers, is hardware tweaks to improve BVH and instructions for discarding data, WTH lol

[@4m470]

Yes, and if the games are unoptimized and use up too much VRAM, turn down to MEDIUM settings.

[@marufulislam4311]

Hi Owen when testing VRAM, you should chose VRAM heavy games Last of us part 1, Star Wars jedi, Hogwarts, Avatar ETC

[@MichaelHolmgaard]

Why test on poorly optimized games? Those should not be a deciding factor for people

[@mllecamill3]

Stop saying “it’s only allocated.” That doesn’t matter. If the overall VRAM is over the VRAM the card has, it doesn’t matter that the game actually uses less. It’s still simply not enough. Windows will always use a bit of VRAM, and any background application as well.

[@The_Noticer.]

Have to say though, your 6800 has some really low clockspeeds. My 6800XT red dragon goes to 2440 out of the box, 2700 if you press it. I think you have it in the "quiet" mode, which is TDP limited. Cyberpunk equally very low powerdraw of 160W.

[@smashishere]

the issue here is people using presets that are not meant for these cards, the hardware requirements for this game have the medium preset as the recommended preset, very high is for top end cards running the game at 4k

[@Brainiaccccc]

More alocated VRAM for the card that has more VRAM: take that to extreme and see how distant or not so distant objects look worse. Performance remains the same, but the price to pay is this quality