How important is VRAM in practice? I'm considering an RTX 3060 Ti and want to play Cyberpunk 2077 at fairly high settings, possibly at 1440p. I'm also looking at CPUs such as the Ryzen 5 5500, Ryzen 5 5600, or Ryzen 7 3800X, paired with 16GB of DDR4 memory. Should I choose the 3060 Ti, or consider an older RTX 2080 Ti with 11GB of VRAM instead? I mainly play competitive shooters and some story games, so I'm not necessarily aiming for maximum ray tracing or path tracing.
4 Answers
VRAM mainly matters when you run out of it. At 1080p, 8GB is usually enough, and 1440p can still work well with 8GB if you use sensible texture and ray-tracing settings. Cyberpunk should run fine on a 3060 Ti, but don’t expect maximum settings with heavy ray or path tracing. The GPU’s overall performance will probably limit you before VRAM becomes the only problem.
You can check benchmark videos for the exact resolution and settings you plan to use, but remember that reported VRAM allocation isn’t always the same as actual VRAM requirement. Standard Cyberpunk settings should be manageable on the 3060 Ti at 1440p, while large texture mods and path tracing can push you toward a 12GB or 16GB card. Also, 16GB of system RAM is usable, though 32GB would be a worthwhile upgrade for newer games.
For 1440p, the 3060 Ti should provide a good experience in Cyberpunk with reasonable settings. You can reduce texture quality, ray tracing, or other demanding options if VRAM usage gets too high. A 2080 Ti has more VRAM, but it’s an older and less efficient card, so I wouldn’t choose it solely for the extra 3GB unless it’s substantially cheaper.
If you’re buying new, it’s worth looking at cards with 10–16GB of VRAM, since 8GB is less comfortable for future games. More VRAM does not increase performance by itself, though—it only helps once a game actually needs it. A newer card with 12GB or more may be a better long-term purchase than either an 8GB 3060 Ti or an aging 2080 Ti.
I mostly play competitive shooters and a few story games. My monitor is 1440p at 144Hz, so I’m wondering whether a 4060 would actually be a better choice even if the FPS improvement is small.