VRAM 2GB vs 4GB
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Newty182




Posts: 10812
Location: UK
PostPosted: Sun, 31st Mar 2013 20:11    Post subject: VRAM 2GB vs 4GB
So I'm planning on getting a GTX 670 in a few weeks, but are there any benefits to getting a 4GB card instead of 2GB? I play games at 1080 resolution. I have read on a lot of forums that 2GB is enough and, something along the lines of, 'the card isn't fast enough to process 4GB of data'? Confused

I have pretty much exactly enough money to get the 2GB version. But I guess if there might be a really good reason to get the 4GB then I would have to consider it.

Will things change when next gen console games are released? I know next gen consoles really aren't going to be that powerful, but what about the 8GB of DDR5 the PS4 will have?

So confused about all of this lol.


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tw1st




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Location: New Jersey
PostPosted: Sun, 31st Mar 2013 20:47    Post subject:
Get the 4GB. I went with 2GB and now I'm regretting it, more and more games will start using up that VRAM.


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Breezer_




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Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sun, 31st Mar 2013 21:43    Post subject:
For 1080p 2GB is enough, anything higher then you better invest to 3-4Gb cards. Really cant recommend 670 with 4GB memory for the price what it goes for.
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Paintface




Posts: 6877

PostPosted: Sun, 31st Mar 2013 22:27    Post subject:
Breezer_ wrote:
For 1080p 2GB is enough, anything higher then you better invest to 3-4Gb cards. Really cant recommend 670 with 4GB memory for the price what it goes for.


+1
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rgb#000
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Posts: 5118

PostPosted: Sun, 31st Mar 2013 22:56    Post subject:
if you read a bunch of GTX670/680 4GB reviews you'll quickly learn that it's not worth it at all. it's faster 0-1% (sometimes even slower lol) than 2GB models.

get 2GB model, it's perfect for 1080p resolution.
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Breezer_




Posts: 10843
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sun, 31st Mar 2013 23:43    Post subject:
2GB model is little faster because 4GB models doesnt have that tight memory latency settings, it can be fixed with updated bios tho. I have played now with 1440p for a year almost, only games that uses over 2GB and requires it is Crysis 3 if you enable MSAA on very high settings and Skyrim with modded textures and shit (tho this one requires over 2 GB VRAM even at 1080P).
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Newty182




Posts: 10812
Location: UK
PostPosted: Sun, 31st Mar 2013 23:47    Post subject:
I'm kind of glad that most of you are saying 2GB, I'm on a really tight budget. Smile Cheers!

I am still thinking about future games though, and how much vram they could use..


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Breezer_




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Location: Finland
PostPosted: Sun, 31st Mar 2013 23:54    Post subject:
Tbh when games starts to natively require more than 2GB on 1080p, then most likely 670 is too slow card no matter if it would have 4GB VRAM.
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Newty182




Posts: 10812
Location: UK
PostPosted: Mon, 1st Apr 2013 00:01    Post subject:
2GB it is then


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Shocktrooper




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PostPosted: Mon, 1st Apr 2013 01:28    Post subject:
Breezer_ wrote:
Tbh when games starts to natively require more than 2GB on 1080p, then most likely 670 is too slow card no matter if it would have 4GB VRAM.


This. If you play only on 1080p get an upper mid range card now (660ti or 7950) and prepare to get the next in 2 years. No matter if you got a 660, 670, 7950 or 680 now, you will be fucked royally at around the same point of time in the future - only difference is that if you got an expensive model you will also have wasted more money.
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Breezer_




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Location: Finland
PostPosted: Mon, 1st Apr 2013 01:40    Post subject:
There is good examples like Titan with 6GB VRAM... The card is not gonna even run stuff with decent framerates for what its designed (high resolution surround gaming etc..). Then there is at same price point GTX 690 which does everything better with 2GB VRAM, ofc its dual GPU and problems coming, but still.
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KaSssss




Posts: 2136

PostPosted: Mon, 1st Apr 2013 09:06    Post subject:
"To make the 4GB of VRAM on the GTX 670 work for you, you are going to need at least three of them for 3-way SLI, to give you the performance to back up the VRAM. Or, we would also like to see 4GB of VRAM on 2-way GTX 680 overclocked, or even 3-way GTX 680. There are advantages to more VRAM, and 4GB can smooth out performance in a lot of games, but today's games are more GPU demanding than ever. These newer games require a lot of performance, and GTX 670 is already starting to show its age in today's latest games. We are already experiencing today the fact that we need faster GPUs in games like Far Cry 3 and Hitman: Absolution."

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/01/14/asus_geforce_gtx_670_directcu_ii_4gb_sli_review/9#.UVkyc9yeMi0

@1080p it's clearly useless except if you run three 670/680, get a titan instead Cool
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Newty182




Posts: 10812
Location: UK
PostPosted: Mon, 1st Apr 2013 18:54    Post subject:
So my budget may have increased to £500 So Much Win

Sold my laptop and my TV that I don't use to my brother, 500 for both, got 100, he is giving me 100 next week, and then 300 the week after. But now I have no idea what to get. The £300 for the laptop is a sure thing, I just hope he doesn't change his mind about the TV.


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Mister_s




Posts: 19863

PostPosted: Tue, 2nd Apr 2013 12:01    Post subject:
I remember people saying 2GB was overkill when 1GB was the standard.

If you want to play games with everything max/ultra for some years, go for the 4GB version. If you're fine with lowering options when playing a proper PC game (good textures and proper graphical options), buy the 2GB version. If the price difference is small, go for 4GB.

Shortly: it depends on your preference.
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KaSssss




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PostPosted: Tue, 2nd Apr 2013 12:02    Post subject:
read my post Mister_s , you are going to need at least three of them for 3-way SLI, to give you the performance to back up the VRAM.
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Mister_s




Posts: 19863

PostPosted: Tue, 2nd Apr 2013 12:14    Post subject:
My point was that the answer is "we can't know". If the price difference is small (I don't know how much the difference is), I'd personally just get the 4GB edition. If I had to pay 50 euros extra however, I'd just buy the 2GB edition since I'd be fine with lowering some options if one day that need arises. It's personal. I don't believe you can ever be future proof with PC HW (certainly not now since we don't know how the new console ports will run).
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sausje
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PostPosted: Tue, 2nd Apr 2013 12:17    Post subject:
Well i regret having 1GB cards now, for example with bioshock, i got the GPU power to max everything out and keep solid 60 fps at 1080p, but not enough vram for the textures... So yeah, kinda shit to be forced to play with low textures but everything else maxed out Sad


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Mister_s




Posts: 19863

PostPosted: Tue, 2nd Apr 2013 12:19    Post subject:
I thought both card memories were added in CF Confused You can only use 1GB?
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sausje
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PostPosted: Tue, 2nd Apr 2013 12:20    Post subject:
Yep, memory gets mirrored, since both cards are rendering the same frames (as in 1 sec image, 30 frames get rendered on card 1 and the other 30 on card 2, to get 60 fps) (ofc it's not as simple as i explain it here, but you get what i mean Razz)


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rgb#000
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PostPosted: Tue, 2nd Apr 2013 14:02    Post subject:
Newty182 wrote:
So my budget may have increased to £500 So Much Win

Sold my laptop and my TV that I don't use to my brother, 500 for both, got 100, he is giving me 100 next week, and then 300 the week after. But now I have no idea what to get. The £300 for the laptop is a sure thing, I just hope he doesn't change his mind about the TV.

my recommendation still unchanged gtx670 2gb, amazing bang for buck, or well gtx680 now that you have higher budget Wink
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Breezer_




Posts: 10843
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Tue, 2nd Apr 2013 23:54    Post subject:
Bioshock Infinite on Ultra @ 1440p for sure likes VRAM Very Happy. I highly doubt its actually using that much, probably just caches more since i have 3GB available.

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sausje
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PostPosted: Wed, 3rd Apr 2013 00:22    Post subject:
Breezer, god knows how often it's been said, direct links to postimg don't work on the hump unless you got the image cached...

Unless you like people seeing your posts like this:

 Spoiler:
 


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Breezer_




Posts: 10843
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Wed, 3rd Apr 2013 00:28    Post subject:
Fuck this shit, what are good sites then to post? Every other fucks ups the image quality what i have tried.

EDIT: Ah well here is hurrgurr image..



Last edited by Breezer_ on Wed, 3rd Apr 2013 00:29; edited 1 time in total
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Newty182




Posts: 10812
Location: UK
PostPosted: Wed, 3rd Apr 2013 00:29    Post subject:
I can see that image.

I'm still torn between 2 and 4GB. I think it's because of all the problems I have had with my 1GB cards and textures, like Bioshock Infinite. And New Vegas.. I really want to play it with the custom made textures, but even the lowest resolution of them textures causes stuttering. I have a feeling that, if I have the money, I will end up getting the 4GB.


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sausje
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Posts: 17716
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PostPosted: Wed, 3rd Apr 2013 00:30    Post subject:
Breezer_ wrote:
Fuck this shit, what are good sites then to post? Every other fucks ups the image quality what i have tried.


http://minus.com/ Wink


Newty182 wrote:
I can see that image.

I'm still torn between 2 and 4GB. I think it's because of all the problems I have had with my 1GB cards and textures, like Bioshock Infinite. And New Vegas.. I really want to play it with the custom made textures, but even the lowest resolution of them textures causes stuttering. I have a feeling that, if I have the money, I will end up getting the 4GB.


So why hold yourself back then and maybe regret it later on?
Either go cheaper AMD and have more vram, or save a little longer and buy the 4GB 670 you want.
But don't rush your decision now just because you want a faster card, i know you will regret it if you do Razz


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Last edited by sausje on Wed, 3rd Apr 2013 00:32; edited 1 time in total
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Breezer_




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PostPosted: Wed, 3rd Apr 2013 00:31    Post subject:
You dont need more than 2GB for 1080p unless its unoptimized modded game.
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Breezer_




Posts: 10843
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Wed, 3rd Apr 2013 00:38    Post subject:
Since you have 500 pounds to spend, get SLI 660Ti, it even crushes GTX titan Very Happy You can get 2 of these 3GB models for 500 pounds. 660 ti can be overclocked to 680 levels, brother has one and its awesome card (basically 670). One of these alone is faster than highly overclocked GTX 460 SLI setup, so that indicates some how they are gonna perform.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-033-KF
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MAD_MAX333
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Location: Toronto, Canada...eh
PostPosted: Wed, 3rd Apr 2013 00:53    Post subject:
i just installed bioshock and ran the benchmark... i have the 670 2 gig OC... on ultra everything whatever its called my lowest FPS ever was 37...average i would guess was around 57...high was WAY up there.... just get the 2gig
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sausje
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Posts: 17716
Location: Limboland, Netherlands
PostPosted: Wed, 3rd Apr 2013 01:00    Post subject:
You gonna get framedrops and stuttering max when using ultra textures and ultra shadows, even on 1080p it goes above 2GB vram usage Wink

Hell, even TB had issues with stuttering and massive framedrops and he's running 2x Titan cards..


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Breezer_




Posts: 10843
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Wed, 3rd Apr 2013 01:24    Post subject:
Game itself is having some problems with streaming the textures, 2GB is fine.
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