FEATURED How much GDDR do I need to run my game?

[Pierre3400]

Great stuff Pierre! Yes...the number of games that slurp over 3 gigs is climbing. When you get a chance, can you run the same test at 1920*1080? Will add your data points to the table and graph. Thanks!!

I'll look into it yes.

I did an online race, 4 people. Same track as before, and i was using about 3,5Gb constantly threw the race.

 

[Pierre3400]

Okay, finally i got something interesting to share.

I just got my second HD7970 6Gb and as some members may remember i spent a lot of time researching if i need 3gb, most people told me not to get 6gb as 3 was more then enough.

Well, not i got my second card, and really turned up the heat in the pre-alpha game, ProjectCARS, which is the soul purpose why i got these GPUs.

Now i want to show this.

The game is far from finished, but just to show there are games out there that can use more then 3Gb

Specs on rig are in Sig, and i was running eyefinity 5760*1080 60hz screens, all settings on max in the game.

Same track, same car, same settings apart from 1920x1080 60hz

MAX vram used 2,7gb and steady once gaming was 2,1gb

 

[HeatM1ser2k4]

would you update the list to include World of Warcraft at 1920x1200 please?

 

[funsoul]

Been a slacker on this thread. Is there a canned benchmark (or free demo) for WoW?

 

[theELVISCERATOR]

I just tested Crysis 2 maxed out in game High Res DX 11 Ultra at 1080p and got 1848mb using both Precision and GPUZ running...

 

[leftkidney]

I am wondering if a SSD would matter for gaming since I assume that even though most games dont need more than 2GB that 2GB needs to be "replenished" all the time so isnt it hitting the hard drive all the time - would a SSD matter?

 

[MIAHALLEN]

The only games that seem to benefit much are ones with large maps that load areas on the fly as you explore. Then most seem to load smoother with an SSD.

 

[leftkidney]

The only games that seem to benefit much are ones with large maps that load areas on the fly as you explore. Then most seem to load smoother with an SSD.

you mean like arma2 - dayz?

 

[rokka]

Ok guys I noticed that my 2 fav games are not listed, possibly because I am outdated...lol Planetside2 and Everquest 2 Any thoughts on vid card choices.....other than play some newer games.......

 

[Mr Alpha]

Oh, this is really great. I wonder if the numbers will change a year from now when we have a few next gen console ports.

Ok guys I noticed that my 2 fav games are not listed, possibly because I am outdated...lol Planetside2 and Everquest 2 Any thoughts on vid card choices.....other than play some newer games.......

I just finished a big battle in Planetside 2 and with max settings at 1200p it peaked at 1785MB.

 

[funsoul]

Doing pcie 2 vs 3 testing so will be updating this thread in a couple weeks to include everyone's results.

 

[rokka]

Ty Mr Alpha

 

[magellan]

I just tested Crysis 2 maxed out in game High Res DX 11 Ultra at 1080p and got 1848mb using both Precision and GPUZ running...

Interesting on one singleplayer map in Crysis2, also maxed out at 1600 x 1200, DX11, and at 2xAA box I got over 2GiB used. It was the map right after where you fall off the bridge into the water, it's also the map where I get the lowest framerate (24FPS).

I wonder if the new consoles are going to have dedicated video memory? Because I'll bet level and game design will eventually be biased towards the specs of the new consoles.

I am wondering if a SSD would matter for gaming since I assume that even though most games dont need more than 2GB that 2GB needs to be "replenished" all the time so isnt it hitting the hard drive all the time - would a SSD matter?

If you have 16+ GiB of memory I'd imagine most level and texture data would eventually be cached.

 

[SuperDave1685]

Great Post. Thanks for the info!!

 

[yoster]

Good thread, but this info all needs to be taken with a grain of salt. If the game is VRAM intensive, the VRAM usage in many cases will scale to what you have available.

For example, a highly modded Skyrim running on a 4GB 770GTX might use up to 3.4gb of VRAM. Run that SAME modded skyrim on a 3gb card and you might see something like 2.8GB. It would be incorrect to then say "this game won't use more than 3GB of VRAM." The correct statement is that it doesn't NEED more than 3GB. If the memory is fast, it can still send the textures through the memory fast enough where you won't see an FPS hit. If you go too low though, like trying to run that same modded skyrim on a 1gb card, you're going to start seeing stutters when new textures try to load in.

I've recently been flying through quite a few video cards and this was one of the very first phenomenons I noticed. Doesn't seem to affect many games right now (I used my 4gb card as a testbed to see what the 'ceiling' was for various games and only 1 (modded skyrim) would go over 3gb) but with future games, who knows. A noteworthy mention is Bioshock Infinite & Crysis 3, both of which would use just over 2gb in some cases.

One thing I DID notice was.. holy cow.. a lot of games don't even use 1GB of vram! The triple-a titles do sure, but there are a boatful of non AAA's that look sexy sexy but hardly pull 1GB, or just barely over.

NOTE - ALL OF THE ABOVE ASSUMES 1080p! Higher resolutions, of course, will use more (as the charts here show.)

Regardless, i like the thread and it's interesting to look at those charts!!

I'll definitely say this - with the next gen future ahead of us and the uncertainty of what kind of vram we might need, and given it's usually only about $50 to go from a 2gb to a 4gb version of the same card, I'd highly encourage any user reading this thread and thinking about getting a new card to go for a 3gb or 4gb version! The price difference is minimal for the potential future-proofing.

 

[funsoul]

Great Post. Thanks for the info!!

yvw SuperDave1685!

Good thread, but this info all needs to be taken with a grain of salt. If the game is VRAM intensive, the VRAM usage in many cases will scale to what you have available.

For example, a highly modded Skyrim running on a 4GB 770GTX might use up to 3.4gb of VRAM. Run that SAME modded skyrim on a 3gb card and you might see something like 2.8GB. It would be incorrect to then say "this game won't use more than 3GB of VRAM." The correct statement is that it doesn't NEED more than 3GB. If the memory is fast, it can still send the textures through the memory fast enough where you won't see an FPS hit. If you go too low though, like trying to run that same modded skyrim on a 1gb card, you're going to start seeing stutters when new textures try to load in.

I've recently been flying through quite a few video cards and this was one of the very first phenomenons I noticed. Doesn't seem to affect many games right now (I used my 4gb card as a testbed to see what the 'ceiling' was for various games and only 1 (modded skyrim) would go over 3gb) but with future games, who knows. A noteworthy mention is Bioshock Infinite & Crysis 3, both of which would use just over 2gb in some cases.

One thing I DID notice was.. holy cow.. a lot of games don't even use 1GB of vram! The triple-a titles do sure, but there are a boatful of non AAA's that look sexy sexy but hardly pull 1GB, or just barely over.

NOTE - ALL OF THE ABOVE ASSUMES 1080p! Higher resolutions, of course, will use more (as the charts here show.)

Regardless, i like the thread and it's interesting to look at those charts!!

I'll definitely say this - with the next gen future ahead of us and the uncertainty of what kind of vram we might need, and given it's usually only about $50 to go from a 2gb to a 4gb version of the same card, I'd highly encourage any user reading this thread and thinking about getting a new card to go for a 3gb or 4gb version! The price difference is minimal for the potential future-proofing.

Excellent point yoster! I've seen a number of forum posts that refer to the 'it'll just use as much as you give it' effect. Not sure which or how many games it applies to, though.

Yep...definitely a ton of games that take 1.2gig or less.

Glad you like the thread...will get it updated sometime soon.

UPDATE: Thread updated

 

[77ab2]

ive always wondered what frames minecraft gets (FTB modpack)

 

[funsoul]

If you've got a copy I could borrow, will certainly test it out for max vRAM usage. Googling around, there are a few places where the fps stats are listed.

 

[Proxish]

Hey guys, I can test a list of games at 1440p.

All I need is the list of games you want tested and a small tutorial on how to record the information for you all.

First one I'll add is Battlefield 4, which I can confirm with my setup works at 60fps-80fps with no MSAA and 50fps-60fps with everything maxed out.

 

[GatorChamp]

BF3/4 - Bioshock - AvP - Crysis 2 and 3 - Starcraft (more CPU dependent but for good measure) - Metro.