Ello guys In my wandering of this forum I've noticed more and more people stating the need for more VRAM for a given res, and I was thinking maybe a thread should be started on it. If people state the res they're using and the amount of VRAM a couple of select games use (ARMA2, BC2, ect) Then we'll know how much we need for a given res Is this worth while or should I just forget about it? If people want it I'll do a spreadsheet with res's and the VRAM usage people are having on a game and average it out and display the average, so as people add to the thread the data becomes more accurate Thoughts? Also thoughts on software that will say the VRAM usage?
Good idea it's something I've always been interested in myself. Afterburner monitors VRAM usage which is something most people will have installed anyway.
I'm not sure if it's displayed along with temperatures/clocks etc by default you may have to manually select it as one of the graphs to show.
Oh right, sorry to get your hopes up there that may be the case as I'm running Nvidia hardware and couldn't remember if it was displayed when I had my 5850.
768mb GTX 460 SLI @ 1680x1050 BC2 = 640mb VRAM usage all settings on max, DX11. Civ V = max VRAM usage (751mb avg. showing and game settings NOT maxed). This game is a VRAM hog. I'll check my other games and post back later. Does GPU-Z show VRAM usage? Sent from my HTC Desire S
1GB seems fine for anything up to 1200p. Multi monitor, 3D/120hz and >1200p may need 2GB. 1050p you can get by with 512 or 768mb it would seem.
Just thought I'd check Crysis 2 with the new DX11 and High res patch : 1920x1200 it's using all 1.5GB of VRAM on my GTX 480
I read in a Firaxis forum that someone with a 1.5GB GTX 580 was seeing 1.8GB VRAM usage with Civ V! Something I think the game isn't optimised that well.
Could just be it loads as many textures as it can into vRAM after all unused RAM is wasted RAM. Kinda like caching in Win 7
I remember RivaTuner tracks VRAM usage. Yes good old RivaTuner. I think most games cache textures now..
Arma2 is a crazy vram hog if you put the view distance up. I think you would need a 2gb card to get max. all and the full 10km draw distance. Crysis 2 from what I've heard will use up whatever vram it finds. Though it seems to reserve it rather than actually fill every corner of it. Ergo vram usage in afterburner is misleading in this case.
Okay, I've checked out a few more games: All at 1680x1050, rig as per sig... Dirt 2 - 4xMSAA, vsync on, everything high except post process (I get microstutter if it is on high) - avg. FPS 61, minimum 56 - 638MB VRAM used according to Afterburner OSD ARMA II - default graphics settings after installation (2400m viewing distance) - benchmark 1 avg. FPS = 60 (vsync), 553MB VRAM used - benchmark 2 avg. FPS = 24, 364MB VRAM used Just Cause 2 - 4xAA, 16xAF, default settings after installation - Dark Tower benchmark avg. FPS = 53.7, 570MB VRAM used
If you want to test your vRAM - GTA IV is the game to use, stick everything on max and it'll use over 1GB! EDIT: Also, as an aside, what happens if you X-fire two cards with different amounts of vRAM (ie 2x 4870's - 1 with 512mb and 1 with 1Gb)
Don't have any of the GTA games, not my scene really... Not sure about mixing and matching VRAM amounts in xfire/SLI, I thought it would only utilise the lower of the two cards?
Ah ok, well in that case, I put max draw distance on GTA IV about a week ago, and vRAM usage went up to 1.2GB @ 1920 x 1080p - everything else on max too. I didn't record the fps but it felt fine though.
