For which games is 8GB VRAM not enough?

Question

I would like to know your experiences with games where you know that 8GB is not enough. Please also let me know if reducing the settings solves the problem.

pinguinpingi9 · Answer

Roblox. Something like that might just be enough, or Transport Fever 2 or Omsi 2 (but I think Omsi is poorly programmed. It lags no matter if you have an RTX 10000 or whatever).

happyphilxd · Answer

Far Cry 6 with UHD Texture Pack active and Diablo 4 with textures at max. The games are still more than playable but drop below 60fps, but I have extreme performance losses in both games at 1440p and the VRAM of my RTX 3060ti is at almost 8GB.

In both cases, this is more likely due to poor optimization. Especially in Diablo 4, where textures look bad at every level, and only at the maximum level do many objects, such as chained people, finally have sharp textures instead of pixelated mush.

I have a GTX 1080ti lying around. It would be interesting to see if the 11GB of VRAM is enough to improve performance, even if the graphics card is a bit slower than the 3060ti.

sirsulas74 · Answer

Hogwarts Legacy was criticized for this, as far as I know. Reducing texture quality should always help.

kelrycorfg · Answer

Call of Duty Modern Warfare Remastered (2016) and Call of Duty Infinite Warfare already exceed 8 GB in Full HD and Ultra settings, with approximately 9 to 11.5 GB.

In both games, you can clearly see the impact shared memory has on overall performance when running them like this. Windows can offer up to 50% of the RAM as additional memory via the graphics card's PCIe bridge, so games can still run. Thanks to DMA technology, the CPU isn't subjected to any additional load, but the swapped memory is still understandably significantly slower than dedicated VRAM.

However, this can be reduced below the 8 GB limit by adjusting the settings, especially memory-intensive settings (shaders, textures, etc.). This will result in significantly higher performance for games. Shared memory should always be avoided.

If the game doesn't show it, Windows 10 and Windows 11 can show you how much shared memory is being used (often translated as "shared GPU memory") in the Task Manager under Performance. The fact that it's usually filled with 100-500 MB is normal for normal data transfers. But if it slips into the GB range, you know where the poor performance is coming from. That's when real swapping processes are taking over as shared memory.

heizfeld · Answer

Hello,

Why don't you just get a 16G card, it's not that much of a difference.

Or 12 G from Asus, is cheap right now

ASUS Dual Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB (DUAL-RX6700XT-12G) (hardwareschotte.de)

You can play all resolutions 1080p, 1440p and 4k, in each case the frame rate is slightly lower (fps)

RX 6700 XT Test In 25 Games at 1080P, 1440P, 4K, Ray Tracing & FSR 2 (youtube.com)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZH0Ky44w0I

LG

Harry

kaleopan · Answer

Nobody here will be able to answer that for you, as very few people own both versions of a card, the one with 8GB/16GB like the 4060 TI.

Nobody can differentiate between used and allocated memory here, which is why statements like "Game XY needs 12 GB of VRAM even at 1080p" are made, because people simply look at how much VRAM is allocated and then draw the wrong conclusions from such half-truths.

elytox · Answer

Yes, I've already got it on my radar, but I'm more inclined to go for the 6650XT because I've often seen higher temperatures and, above all, higher noise levels with the 7600.

elytox · Answer

Yeah, that wouldn't be a problem for me. Medium settings are enough for me. Depending on the game, the difference between high and max settings is only noticeable in the details, where you have to look really closely to notice a difference.