16GB vs 8GB VRAM - How much does VRAM REALLY matter?

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If you’re after a comparison between these two functionally identical cards, check out the video before this one on the channel or in the cards above, if you want to know how much 16GB of VRAM really matters in 2024, stick around! As a super brief catch-up, this is the RX 7600, a card with 8GB of VRAM, and this is the RX 7600 XT, a card with 16GB of VRAM. Despite the naming difference, the core in these two cards are functionally identical, with the only real difference being a slightly higher power limit, although as we saw in the last video there really wasn’t much of a difference between them. With that said, in this video I want to focus in on three games in particular: Starfield, as that did show a sizeable performance difference; Cyberpunk, because it didn’t; and Siege as an example of a more esports style title. I’ve tested these games with a bunch of different settings, and I’ve used HWInfo to capture both the D3D VRAM usage, and the system RAM usage, and we’re gonna see what the deal is here.

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[WSS_the_OG]

As you said in another video of yours, by the time the 16 GB of a card in this tier becomes essential, the weak core will let it down anyway (for gaming, specifically). I do think the extra VRAM makes sense for productivity on a budget, though. Great video, thanks!

[rushnerd]

My 3080 is gimped out of the gate with only 10gb of VRAM. I absolutely knew that would be an issue in the future at 4K and it didn't take long for it to be one.
I"m not even talking about RT or anything crazy. We're talking about several games bouncing off the 10gb ceiling and it's only going to get much worse in the future.
Waiting on 5080 just so I finally with have the VRAM I need.

[ionamygdalon]

For future proofing purposes, VRAM is of great importance. Plus let us not forget about unoptimized games. Some games WILL need more than 8GB of VRAM just because they were not properly optimized.

[agentb]

I was considering a 4070 Super a couple of months ago. Someone wanted to prove to me that 12GB is not enough, so they showed me an Alan Wake 2 benchmark chart, where it only had 3 FPS. To be clear: that's Alan Wake 2 with max settings, RTX on, at 4K resolution, with no upscaling. The 3090 is usually the closest equivalent to the 4070 Super - but with twice the VRAM, it ran at 24 FPS in that chart.
In other words - even if the 4070 Super had 16GB or 24GB, it'd still be unplayable with those settings in Alan Wake 2. But turn on DLSS Balanced, and the 4070 Super suddenly soars to 60 FPS.
"But in 5 years, there will be more and more games like this, and not even DLSS will help, " the person argued. Maybe. But in 5 years, I'll likely have a new video card anyway. Or, worst case, I can lower the texture settings like I was already doing on my 2060 for 5 years. Sooo... yeah, I went with the 4070 Super, and I plucking love it.


The VRAM panic over the last year is overblown. Not completely wrong, but definitely overblown.

[rangersmith]

As long as you're not out of VRAM in a particular game or application, you won't notice how much VRAM you have or don't have. But when you're out, you're out. Nothing can fix it short of turning off things (upscaling, frame generation, textures, ray tracing) that use VRAM.

[kevincampbell]

Basically 8GB is fine for 1080p. For 1440p and above you might want a bit more at least 12Gb.

[alexable]

Has no one here noticed the ram usage? 16 gig is definitely a nono nowadays

[Manganization]

Unless you're overshooting by using Very High or Ultra settings, for the type of card it is, if RAM utility is optimised for the game, 8gb should be enough even if it's 1440p. The problem is that games coming out usually aren't optimising RAM usage, so 12gb becomes a necessity than a luxury.

[sergiopery]

This type of analysis needs to focus on actual game footage with games that push close to 8GB of VRAM consumption, VRAM starvation might have an effect on fps but it will primarily be noticeable on screen with objects and textures at a distance.

[BenjyHanz]

The VRAM bandwidth is much more important. I remember that years ago Nvidia launched the GT240 in two versions: 512MB GDDR5 and 1GB GDDR3. In all games and benchmarks, the GDDR5 version always performed better because it had twice the bandwidth.

[beeljaved]

Im fine with 8gb vram 1080p ultra settings. For me good graphics and atleast 1080p hd matters.

[angeldelacruz]

depends on wht resolution u want to play period

[sopcannon]

So vram on amd cards without ray tracing doesn't matter? I do fine with a 4070 and 12gb at 1440.

[MirelRC]

I wonder how things would go with SAM turned ON.

[twobrothersgameplay]

The problem is not the 8-12-16gb vram the problem is the bad optimized games and bad console ports. If i can buy a 4070 ti 12gb for 700$ and avoid to buy a 4070 ti super 16gb for 800$ i will keep the 100$ for the next upgrade.

[zzavatski]

Most of a modern game always belong to the GPU. The fact that games use GBs of system RAM is for legacy reasons.

[Antagon]

It matters ALOT, but the card itself must not be a complete shite.

[davehenderson]

For requirements to play games you need a certain amount of VRAM, so VRAM IS important.

[AnonymousUser-wwns]

I would aim for 16GB VRAM on an 256 bit memory bus and not have to worry about it until 2028.

7900GRE fits the bill

[ikeelu]

Really bad video tbh. He shows three games that are known to be very forgiving on vram. He didnt show games like Ratchet and Clank, The Last of Us, Hogwarts Legacy, and Jedi Survivor which are known to be vram hogs. 8 gb is the bare minimum for 1080p med/low settings these days.