Is 8GB VRAM enough or should I wait?

Posted by soberhamsandwich@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 32 comments

Been thinking of upgrading my aging 1660 Super, Im planning on sticking to 1080p for the immediate future. Doing some research and it seems that all advice is to aim for cards above 8GB of VRAM, but it seems that everything in the sub £300 bracket im looking at tops out at 8GB. Is 8GB really going to limit me? Is so, might it be worth waiting for 8GB+ cards to become more affordable?

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Pumciusz@reddit

If you already have an 8gb GPU then it can be fine, just drop the settings, but I wouldn't buy a new GPU to drop the settings so 8gb isn't acceptable.

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Forward_Cheesecake72@reddit

If you are someone who use gpu for a very long time, i advise to just keep saving till u can get the 16gb. At highest possible setting without RT, it's not hard to hit 8gb. At 1080p btw

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_Niaron@reddit

not enough u should aim for minimum of 12 GB vram

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Walter-dibs@reddit

how bout 10GB?

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YetanotherGrimpak@reddit

No current/previous gen with that ammout of ram. Even if your 3080 is good, current offer does perform quite well, even the 5070.

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Walter-dibs@reddit

rx 6750 gre 10gb.

me got an offer. guess me will decline.

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YetanotherGrimpak@reddit

Yeah, better not.

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Flutterpiewow@reddit

Nope

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64gbBumFunCannon@reddit

I upgraded from my 1660S to a 5060ti 16gb. The difference is insane. I don't play competitive games, really, so I'm making use of DLSS4 mfg. Getting 240fps in the last of us part 2 on ultra is kinda wild when my 1660S couldn't do 30 on medium.

Don't get 8gb. Defo aim for 12+.

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Tech_support_Warrior@reddit

It depends on what you are playing and future plans are.

For the most part at 1080p 8GB is plenty. There a few games that suffer when you only have 8GB of VRAM.

If you plan on going to 1440p anytime soon, 8GB will start to affect your experience and some games won't even launch.

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soberhamsandwich@reddit (OP)

Hmm thats a fair point, its obviously been half a decade since I last bought a card and its a bit annoying seeing all the midrange cards atm have this rather glaring limitation on them. Hence me wondering if its worth waiting.

As mentioned I noticed the Arc cards seem to be the only options which break the 8GB limit under £300, is there any obvious catch with them?

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Tech_support_Warrior@reddit

I am not sure what prices are in the EU or UK but in the US we can get a 9060XT 16GB for the equivalent of £285-300 ($385-410 USD).

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soberhamsandwich@reddit (OP)

yeah, Ive' heard good things about the 9060 and its linux support so I think pushing for it might be worth it if i want to avoid getting a new card for decent length of time.

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yamidevil@reddit

If you have an older CPU please watch this. B580 might as well be worse purchase for you than a 8gb card like 4060.

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Ok_University_5352@reddit

I have the B580, 12GB. Drivers are going to be the main issue. I haven't had any issues so far, but intel is new to the gpu market, so their drivers aren't has sophisticated and reliable as Nvidia, or even AMD. Intel does put out updates very often though. Most of the driver issues you'll find through a Google search are resolved at this point, but still not as optimized.

Looking at comparisons, the B580 outperforms the 4060 in various games, but its kind of 50/50 and depends on the game. The only "new" game I've played is the new monster hunter wilds game (free with my cpu). Which I've heard has terrible optimization on pc. Med/high mix of settings at 1440 gets an unstable 60-70fps max, lows around 45 fps in congested areas. The game also used 8gb of vram right from the start, so yeah, 12gb is a nice but to have.

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Rapscagamuffin@reddit

Right now youre totally fine with 8gb in 1080p but shit moves fast.

If you dont play new games, dont sweat it. Ur good.

I think people are overreacting though about 8gb cards. Developers dont make games in an isolated bubble removed from society. They are well aware of what cards people have and the drama about 8gb cards. They know that the more common cards that were just released have 8gb so theyre not gunna develop games that run like shit on 8gb and have a large chunk of their audience not be able to run their game at reasonable performance.

So ur probably safe with 8gb til the next class of cards come out. So 2-3 years

Tech can move fast though. My 4080super is already showing its age in new titles.

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jabbrwock1@reddit

I don’t have any problems playing modern games in 1440p with my 10GB RTX 3080. 8 GB should be fine for 1080p for quite some time.

You might not be able to use the highest texture resolution or other bells and whistles, but game developers wants their games to be able to run on a wide variety of computers.

If you want to use the new card for a long time you should probably aim both for something both with more memory and decent performance.

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Girrrth_Broooks@reddit

I’d consider saving for something with more. 12-16GB is future proofing you for awhile.

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Tricky_Reception_244@reddit

If you will play open-world games, you need 12 gb at least.

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Weekly_Inspector_504@reddit

RX 9060 XT 16GB 32" 1440P Freesync monitor

That's what in getting. 1080p looks blurred when you've experienced 1440p.

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althaz@reddit

Do not buy an 8Gb card. It's not worth it if you want to play modern games. Especially because the prices for them are all about double what they should be. If you could get a 5060 for $150 it would be a niche purchase, but it would be worth it for some folks - especially for older games it would be an awesome deal.

But at $300 it's absurd. 8Gb 9060XT is in the same boat.

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tpablazed@reddit

tbh man.. 1660 super is a good card at 1080p..

That being said.. I got a chance to upgrade to a 6600xt with 8gb of vram for free and I took it..

I don't think I would do it if I had to pay for it though.. I honestly can't tell much of a difference.

I guess it depends on your monitor?? My monitor is 100hz and I was already at 100 fps on most of the games I play so it really didn't make much of a difference.

I also play at 1080p.

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yamidevil@reddit

Look up difference between the same card that has both the 8gb and 16gb variant. Daniel Owens has good comparisons on yt. I game at 1080p and 8gb won't be enough for me when I upgrade, tho I will play AAA games and use RT/PT.

Also if you have an old system DO NOT buy the B580, even 4060 kicks it with older CPUs.

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