Hey everyone! I'm in the market for a new GPU and I'm a bit confused about VRAM. I've come across some discussions online saying that the amount of VRAM a game needs can depend on the type of GPU you're using. For example, a game might need 6GB of VRAM on GPU A (which has 8GB total) but require 10GB on GPU B (which has 12GB). This strikes me as odd—doesn't the VRAM requirement of a game depend on the game assets and resolution rather than the GPU's memory? Any insights or explanations would be super helpful. Thanks!
5 Answers
It's a bit of both! It does depend on your settings. It's generally advised to leave some VRAM free for the system to avoid issues. Games typically have limitations in place, so they might not use all the available VRAM if they don't need to, but higher settings or resolution could push them to use more, especially on newer titles. In certain situations, some GPUs are limited by their VRAM, like the 5070 when playing at high settings.
Yes and no. A lot of it will rely on the resolution and specific settings you're using. Some games may adjust their internal settings based on how much VRAM you have available, which could lead to texture pop-ins if you're running low. But overall, the same graphical settings should drive similar VRAM usage, approximately speaking, regardless of the GPU.
I've heard claims that Nvidia cards generally use less VRAM compared to AMD cards, but I'm not sure how true that is. There's some truth to it though, as Nvidia's compression algorithms tend to be more efficient, which helps save some space.
You're right to question that. The VRAM requirements are more influenced by the resolution and the game settings rather than specific GPU models. While some vendors might show slight variations in usage, it's mostly about how well the game is optimized and what background processes you have running too.
I think you're touching on something called VRAM allocation. Some games allocate more VRAM based on the amount your GPU has. So essentially, they will use as much as they can. If you have a GPU with higher VRAM, like 16GB, a game might actually use more compared to if you're running it on an 8GB GPU. This can lead to a smoother experience because there's less loading time, but it's worth noting that any game can run with "any" amount of VRAM, just at a worse performance level. Just keep in mind that more modern games might require more than 8GB due to their higher asset demands, especially at higher resolutions.
Thanks for this info! So if I understand correctly, I might not know if I'm hitting my GPU's VRAM limit until I run into errors? How can I tell if a game is actually VRAM limited?
Right? It’s not extreme but in some cases, that difference can be noticeable depending on the game or texture sizes.