Are 8GB gpu's really that bad buy?
Posted by Bro0k@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 65 comments
Im looking to get a gpu for the next 2-4 years, cuz currently I have none, well Ryzen iGpu but you cant game on it.
Im looking at a 5060Ti 8GB for 440usd(local price converted to usd, cuz I dont live in the US), next option is 5060Ti 16GB for 700usd, 5070 is 850usd and 5070Ti 1100usd.
My budget is around 500usd, I could stretch it to 700usd for the 5060Ti 16GB, but 850usd is very far. Ideally I want the 5060Ti 16GB, but the price is very high that its not that strong to justify the money.
I play mostly casual games and sometimes new releses like Forza Horizon now, but im fine with Dlss and 60fps.
Mordarroc@reddit
8gb cards today are what 4gb cards were nottnjat long ago. Adequate but not great. That said im still rocking an rx580 4gb. Lol
MultiMarcus@reddit
It depends on what you mean, really. When you say for the next 2 to 4 years, does that mean that you’re planning on replacing it after that? If so, I think an 8 GB card is mostly fine targeting 1080p but realistically you will be limited in some ways.
The issue with the VRAM stuff is that people are buying graphics cards for quite a lot of money that will probably not be great for the next console generation which admittedly will likely be a longer cross generation period. But good hardware gets held back by poor ram allocation.
Lee_GeneralLee@reddit
I would say no, wait and find an older GPU like a 7800XT or a 3080. If you want something a little more efficient/ new I would go RTX 5070 12Gb. 9070 if you can find one near MSRP
Gakuta@reddit
I have a pcie-powered 6GB card. It can run most modern games at native 1080p 60fps at low settings. If DLSS is involved then it can play even more games even at DLSS Perf because DLSS is just that good for someone who isn't sensitive to visual clarity too much. The 2026 Lego Batman game eats this GPU.
Get a used 8GB card from a trusted friend/ seller. They are cheaper than buying new and they won't have the same performance degradation as buying a used SSD or any drive.
nvidiot@reddit
Yes and No.
For 1080p, 8 GB GPU is fine, and for some specific games, you can do with reducing some texture quality.
For 1440p, I wouldn't recommend 8 GB GPU if you play any AAA titles, or you are looking for something that'll last many years.
Also, 5060 Ti 16 GB / 5070 Ti is pretty overpriced today. 9060 XT 16 GB, or 9070, or 9070 XT are currently a better value choice than a GeForce generally.
Cute_Customer420@reddit
with using DLSS performance and 2x framegen is was playing expedition 33 at 4k high settings comfortably. 1440p i did epic settings. using a 5060ti 8gb
can we stop with the 8gb slander just cause u hate NVIDIA and want people to buy amd gpus
LinePublic5979@reddit
Ever thought some people want to keep a GPU for more than just a year or two and still be able to keep up with the latest games? Nothing about people slandering 8gb cards to get people to buy AMD. 8gb of VRAM is not ideal for 1440p/4k today for a lot of games and certainly won't be enough in the next few years.
AMD offer better value for money than Nvidia whether you like it or not, that's just a fact and that's coming from someone who uses an Nvidia card. Your example is cherry picked, one game is not going to give a good idea of how a card will perform across a wide variety of games
ButterscotchTop194@reddit
This sums it up nicely. Worth adding, that most 8gb cards arent really limited at 1440p because of VRAM quantity but overall performance. It's more about throughput and speed than vram quantity.
Cold-Sandwich-34@reddit
Great answer. Depends on use case. I regularly see over 11-14GB VRAM usage on 1440p@165hz and 4k@60hz.
thatissomeBS@reddit
It will absolutely use it, sure. But sometimes I load up a game at 1440p and it runs at about 6.5gb, then as I move around the map it just caches everything until it's at 11.5gb (12gh card). I think if it kept a smaller cache and stayed at 7.5gb it would be mostly fine. Even better with a bit of upscaling.
It's not optimal by any means, but bit for someone coming from an iGPU with a limited budget it will be more than serviceable. Medium settings with a 5060(ti) 8gb will look amazing compared to the iGPU they're currently using, and within their budget.
aztracker1@reddit
Was going to say the same.. 9060xt/9070/9070xt are pretty great... Especially if you're even thinking about trying Linux. Been running a 9070xt for a bit over a year now bumped from 3080 and been very happy with it.
Bro0k@reddit (OP)
I dont plan to use Linux.
blind616@reddit
How was your experience with the 3080 on Linux? Looking to migrate all my windows machines to Fedora with the same gpu
Cold-Sandwich-34@reddit
Use Bazzite if you don't want to tinker, use CachyOS if you do.
Nerf_Herder77@reddit
I used a 3080 on bazzite for about a month and never ran into any issues playing games.
Cold-Sandwich-34@reddit
Agreed.
Caruncle@reddit
Went with a 7800XT for my Linux build last year and I haven't experienced any issues. Pretty stoked since I don't have to worry all the time about drivers anymore.
VoraciousGorak@reddit
What's the price for a 9060 XT 16GB for you?
Bro0k@reddit (OP)
Like 550usd, but i dont really want Amd, i had lot of driver timeouts on my last amd card
SylverShadowWolve@reddit
Dude that's comparably such a good deal
VoraciousGorak@reddit
You're not gonna like the quality of NVIDIA's recent vibe coded drivers then.
AMD has been for a few years a comparable if not superior buy drivers wise. Speaking from personal experience - I have multiple AMD and NVIDIA GPUs deployed around my house - the glitches from both companies have been both rare and manageable.
thatissomeBS@reddit
How long ago was that? Because I have a 6750xt and my SO has a 9060xt 16gb and the only time I've ever had an issue was when we missed an update, which usually happens once then I check for an update. I even had an rx580 before that and still no problems to speak of.
Solid_Refrigerator98@reddit
Depends on how much you care about textures/resolution. The general consensus is 8gb for 1080p 12gb 1440p and 16gb.(however some games may need more). I play in 1440p on a 8gb card. I do this as the games I play rarely exceed 4-6gb of vram, as per I can afford to use a higher resolution.
I have also played games such as cyberpunk with my vram maxed out at 1440p. I didn’t find the experience much worse than if it wasn’t to be completely honest. For competitive shooters, the games are usually made with low end computers in mind so 8gbs will be a little overkill maybe for overwatch, cs2 R6S, and valorant
Requirement_Fluid@reddit
What CPU is it exactly?
Bro0k@reddit (OP)
Ryzen 7700
Requirement_Fluid@reddit
As long as it is a pcie 5.0 board and you accept low graphics quality then you should be OK
2Ravens89@reddit
Yes they're bad, you'll constantly be worrying about VRAM utilisation in some games and changing settings just because you didn't get a card with at least 12. You are getting gimped in two directions, low raw performance and VRAM
Its not a good idea. The card you wanna start your search with with at the cheap end is probably the Intel Arc B850, it has 12gb, good value. Its the cheapest card I can recommend. It is good for 1080p and somewhat ok 1440p.
From there I'd consider 9060XT, 9070, 9070XT depending on budget, all capable.
Currently I don't think Nvidia are at the races apart from a 5070Ti. Very expensive but also very good, better than anything AMD has. In the lower ranges Nvidia kinda sucks just because of that 100-200 dollar premium on the same performance.
kyansan1@reddit
Have you considered the rx 9060 xt 16gb and rx 9070?
Bro0k@reddit (OP)
I have and would rather get a 5070
ime1em@reddit
i'll leave these here for you to decide how long that gpu could potentially last before needing to upgrade , look at 5060Ti 8GB fps and the vram usage.
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/gainward-geforce-rtx-5060-ti-8-gb/31.html
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/007-first-light-performance-benchmark/7.html
kermityfrog2@reddit
If you're getting a new GPU, for that price and lasting 2-4 years, it's probably not worth it. You can still play a lot of games with decent frame rates using an older 8-12GB card. I managed 40fps on Space Marine 2 using an ancient 2600K and RTX 2070 at 3440x1440 resolution. I've since built a new computer. A lot of people will claim that 8GB is unusable for 1440, but you never know unless you are a thrifty gamer and test it yourself with old hardware. You don't need to set everything to Ultra.
If you want a new card, and have limited budget, then an AMD card is probably a better buy for you now.
dorting@reddit
Buy 16 GB or used 8gb at low price
nanonan@reddit
$500 USD is enough, 9060 XT 16GB is your best bet, 7800XT 16GB also good. Until then there's always /r/lowendgaming for tips on playing with an igpu which is doable on low-mid settings.
DragonGodPadron@reddit
Not worth imo.
I had 11GB in 2017 so buying an 8 today seems like a waste of money. Just save up for better.
iceseayoupee@reddit
Not necessarily, but its definitely worth buying if youre on 1080p for most of the time
Pure_Design_4906@reddit
Radeon Rx 7000 series, 7800xt 7900xt 7900gre or ,7900xtx
Westerdutch@reddit
If you only listen to 'anything less than the best is crap' crowd then yes, anything 8GB of less will actually hurt and make you life shorter.
I recently put together a compact couch gaming system for in my living room, it has a little low profile 6gb 3050 that set me back just under a hundred bucks and it has been getting more use than my proper rig with a 5070 12gb.
Depending on your definition of 'casual gaming' then no, you absolutely do not need to spend over a thousand bucks on a gpu to have fun playing a game.
Azatis-@reddit
Yes it is but for 1080p without ray tracing is alright
montesitesi@reddit
For 1080p, if you aren't playing at max settings it'll be fine.
yick04@reddit
Not if you're just a regular gamer.
Tarnished-Tiger@reddit
For newer games, 8gb vram will try to convince you the game is running at max settings while giving visibly shittier graphics
KajMak64Bit@reddit
They are really bad buy because these modern GPU's can easily do 1440p almost max settings and even 4K but can't because they lack the VRAM
knjazremixkruska@reddit
In that price range I would consider RX 9060XT 16GB or for a better deal around 300$ for RX 6700XT/RX6800XT with 12GB. I currently have RX 6700XT and it's honestly amazing for 1080p gaming, for the most demanding games at highest settings it can hold up with over 100fps, for example RDR2. At the present moment 8GB GPUs are great for 1080p even medium 1440p, but I would be careful about newer games optimization getting more shitty with every passing year.
TheMcSebi@reddit
Not generally, no. But only if you plan on staying with 1080p
warp37@reddit
You pay more for 16Gb today or you pay for new GPU soon.
I bought GTX 670 in 2012. And it was a trash in 2015 because of 2Gb. I think same story was with GTX 1060 3Gb.
bushmonster43@reddit
if you can live with 30fps, 8gb does fine at 2k. I have a cheap tv
Equivalent_Age8406@reddit
ive seen blurry textures as low as 1080p with 8gb cards. definitely wouldnt get one for 1440p. just get a 9060xt or something.
_lefthook@reddit
Daniel Owen has a recent vid on this.
https://youtu.be/agOFPSwbaiU?si=UYC6RHoh-wNx2UxN
8gb vs 16gb on recent titles.
TLDW 8gb WILL hold you back if you play at high res and high ultra settings, but you can mitigate the issues by optimising settings and using upscaling etc.
razaroQ@reddit
Been playing rust and pubg for years on 3060ti with 8gb on 1440p and uhd, no problema at all :)
xNeurosiis@reddit
What resolution are you planning on playing at? Is DLSS, frame gen, etc, important to you?
Bro0k@reddit (OP)
1440p, Dlss was really nice on my previous gpu that the first gen midrange RTX card.
xNeurosiis@reddit
Like others have said, a 9070 non-XT or the 9070 XT would be perfect for 1440p. You don’t get DLSS, but you do get FSR4 which is pretty good, but not every game has it.
aztracker1@reddit
You also often don't need it with a 9070xt at 1440p you can run native at decent frame rates in most games.
glizzygobbler247@reddit
Optiscaler takes 30 seconds to set up
warp37@reddit
With 2K resolution do not even think about 8Gb GPU.
glizzygobbler247@reddit
Why not go amd, ur gonna want more than 8gb for 1440p
Celcius_87@reddit
8gb in 2026? I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.
sundragon6@reddit
Highly recommend 9070 xt
ReasonableNetwork255@reddit
fps wont be the issue so much as how high of details it will push without issues .. as ling as ur ok with medium'ish settings there wont be any problems ..
Accomplished_Emu_658@reddit
Are they bad? No but very limiting. If you can make the stretch now, it could mean buying later instead of sooner. Might be difference of buying in 6 years instead of four. Or realising in a year or two that you should have gone 16gb. So buying twice instead of once
Nagol567@reddit
I usually recomended the RX9070 because its $600 USD vs $450 for the RX9060ti 16gb. Thats a 50% uplift in performance for less than 50% more money.
SkyflakesRebisco@reddit
They are absolutely fine for 1080p if you tweak away from extreme/ultra texture packs for most games, especially considering the price difference jump to 16gb. I just got a 5060 8gb for $242usd, upgrading the kids rig from a 1650s.
AtlQuon@reddit
It is not that they are bad necessarily, it is that we won't know how much longer they stay relevant. For now it is mostly ok, with the current prices game optimization will have to be done to keep selling them, so it may be fine for the next 4. 8 is the minimum now and sitting on the minimum means you will be the first one to notice it not being enough anymore.
Worried-Active-1430@reddit
Depends, what resolution will you be gaming at? If 4K then you NEED the 16gb but if you are running a non-ultrawide or a TV at 1080p or 1440p then you should be fine
Legin14@reddit
I think 8gb is still fine as long as you accept that you wont be able to play all games on the highest setting.
I dont mind dlss either, couldnt care less how it looks in the end tbh. As long as i can play the games with good frame rates im happy.
R7 5700x 4070
And a
R5 5600g Rx 7600