Is 10GB of GDDR6X of VRAM enough for 4K/Ultra gaming?

DSOGaming writes: "A lot of gamers have been wondering whether 10GB of GDDR6X VRAM is enough for 4K/Ultra gaming. So, time to find out."

[FyBy]

These 10GB is only thing that prevented me to buy 3080 and buy 3060Ti. If it was at least 12GB, 3080 would be sure thing.

"For future games…. well… we’ll have to wait and see how things unfold."
EXACTLY

[Nismo458]

Feel sorry for you.

[FyBy]

You dont have to. 3060Ti is great card.

[CaptainHenry916]

I think the 3080TI will be the perfect card for Vram. It will have 20GB and be cheaper than the 3090

[paradigmfellow]

Considering the cost of 3090 and the performance you get in return, there is no reason to buy a 3090 when you can get a 3080Ti that is cheaper and very close in performance to a 3090 (based on the specs).

[Computersaysno]

The new consoles don't have any more available for video memory. Which means they have the same restriction for now so we'll see a couple of years where the memory usage doesn't go too far over this limit.

Then eventually it will and it'll start to hurt these cards. By then you'll probably have something new again anyway and not expect that they can still do max settings and 4K.

[Zhipp]

Yeah, but the current consoles aren't even hitting 4k with last gen ports, and their graphics settings are below ultra as well. 10GB doesn't exactly put the mind at ease if you're looking to play at native 4k.

I think DLSS is the only reason 10GB is going to be sufficient for these cards, really.

[MadLad]

Yeah.
It's another generation where consoles are bottlenecked right out of the gate.
They keep touting the overall power, but not the logistics of what is needed to actually run 4k with 4k textures.
Let alone some of these companies talking about 8k already.

[BioNeo]

ps5/xbsx : 16 GB GDDR6 (from 8gb last gen)

[Computersaysno]

PS4 had about 5.5GB total usable for devs, of which most games used 3-3.5GB of that as video.

In the case of new consoles you can estimate video memory usage no more than 9GB, and even that's pushing it.

[Neonridr]

are we talking about system ram here or GPU ram? Those are two different things.

[Babadook7]

"The new consoles don't have any more available for video memory."

PS5 can and will use more than 10 GB of vram. Series X may or may not ever go over 10 because RAM is split 10 / 6.

[Computersaysno]

Not. A. Chance.

Allocation is also NOT 'used' before you try and go there.

Developers have 13.5GB available on PS5 for example. Sony wall off 2.5GB for various OS operations, including a high res always in memory UI that eats a chunk besides other background processes.

That 13.5GB has to fit their audio, game logic, AI, entire game execution and the like BEFORE you even get to typical video memory use.

In the case of Series X they have 10GB of GPU optimal memory, trying to pull anything across the split controller memory they have would be such a performance penalty it won't be worth it.

This is the split between system memory use, and video memory use for textures etc.

On a console you'll probably be lucky to get a 70/30 split in favour of video, in an absolutely killer optimised scenario where the last drop is squeezed out for video. Few games will achieve this.

Even with a 70/30 split of what is left you're never getting more than 10GB for video usage in either of these consoles when they only have 12-13GB usable by a developer. Not in hells chance.

[Babadook7]

@above
False in several glaring ways. First, the rumor was that PS5 had less OS footprint than the 2.5 GB Microsoft allocated. There is no confirmation otherwise. Regarding game audio data. It just needs to have enough audio to fit the next 2 second of gameplay (because of SSD). This alone dramatically reduces non graphics memory. Second, even without this fundamental boost to memory allocation PS5 already literally runs last gen ports with less memory in every category than the PS4 ports, and that too makes your 70/30 figure obsolete to PS5, bringing us easily into >10 territory. Game logic is not a large amount of data with next gen style streaming. And here we are talking about a console, which means there is no chance developers leave any spec untapped. 10+ GB of vram is not only likely, it's a certainty.

[Computersaysno]

Babadook starts off saying 'false'

Then backs that up with 'rumours.' Hahahah good joke. How about facts from Sony? https://www.eurogamer.net/a...

PS5 had more memory reservation initially than Series X, because it had a higher resolution UI, native 4K and 120FPS. The machine has about 13-13.5GB usable. Sony confirmed that they used a similar amount on PS5 as they did on PS4. We know how much they reserved on PS4.

Audio memory is no joke. Even compressed it'll be a significant amount of memory utilisation if the developer chooses to have as many channels as Sony is encouraging them. For the game's executables you think what, they stream everything in? Lol that's not how this works. You can stream texture data, audio and various other assets, but you don't stream in the game's core logic lmao. It has to be there all the time for all eventualities, because the nature of games is still dynamic.

You're living in dreamland and horribly wrong, not least because we can also now actually measure next gen only game video memory usage on PC. Example? Godfall. On settings ABOVE the ones shown on PS5 especially detail texture settings, at 4K native resolution, the game never used more than 9.3GB of video memory, which also includes a good 500MB in the background for the PC.

Realistically that's around 8.7GB for the game itself on PC, lower settings on PS5 and it'll be less. This is also a 'true' next gen game with no current gen equivalent.

There isn't a game out there that doesn't already run at higher settings on PC over and above PS5 all while using less than 10GB of video memory, as this article demonstrates. The list includes Cyberpunk 2077, AC Valhalla, Watchdogs legion and Godfall. All of them above PS5 settings, none of them above 9.3GB, most below 9GB.

There is no way at all PS5, or either new console will use more than 10GB for video memory. They will be lucky to use more than 9GB, as stated.

[Babadook7]

I called 2.5 GB system RAM reservation a rumor, you called it a fact. Nothing in your link to verify it. You just failed to back it up as fact which supports what I just said. Those rumors 'that PS5 OS is smaller than XSX' came from insiders by the way.

Audio memory is no joke, correct, which is why streaming it in is a huge deal. We know that from Sony themselves and many other sources that it is a big deal. Less audio in RAM means more VRAM.

I said game logic is a small portion of system RAM. That is true.

So, Godfall, an early, flawed, poorly optimized game uses 9.3 GB of VRAM on PC and your saying that somehow proves your point that on current gen CONSOLE no game will EVER use over 10 GB? That! Does! Not! Follow!

GodFall is not an example of PS5 at full optimization. And you know that.

Cyberpunk does not exist on PS5. How is Cyberpunk or any BC title evidence of anything about PS5 at this point? PS5 games that will 'take advantage of the SSD, I/O and maximize internal RAM' are still to come, starting with 1st party and UE5 next year. Those are using a fundamentally new approach to data management. By the way, if we look at Valhalla we already see PS5 punching well above its weight, and that's the tip of the iceberg.

"There is no way at all PS5, or either new console will use more than 10GB for video memory. They will be lucky to use more than 9GB, as stated."

You are literally talking out of your ass here. You have NOT shown anything of the sort.

Lets do some simple math. PS5 has 2x the total ram in PS4. 16 vs 8. It has a reduced OS RAM reserve to PS4, we know this is likely true from insiders, but lets assume they are the same. Killzone Shadow Fall already used 3.5 GB of VRAM. If it was ported to PS5 it would have room for that same 3.5 GB of VRAM, plus all other needed data, plus have a full 8 GB remaining. That's 3.5 + 8 which is 11.5 GB of VRAM. Nothing you can say can change that fact. That's before taking into account next gen streaming techniques such as streaming in audio, animation etc. You simply are wrong and clearly talking out of your ass.

[Nismo458]

More than 10 GB is useless. It's like saying we need more than 16 GB Ram for gaming, useless.

[FyBy]

For now. But usually you dont buy graphics cards for few months. Some people buy them even for next 5 years.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Actually Star Citizen benefits a lot from 32GB of RAM.

[traumadisaster]

Since it may be the only game then there is something wrong with the code.

[Games1st]

Godfall is 12 GB

[purple101]

Of course. They give you 10gb so next time they can sell you 12gb

[darksky]

That is the tactic but people fall for it. They knew the 3080Ti will come later so had to create a reason for buying it. It's not gonna be much faster so VRAM is the only benefit.

[Skuletor]

There was already an article saying you need 12gb of vram to run Godfall at 4K Max, a month or so ago on here.

[traumadisaster]

Just because a game fills up the available ram doesn't mean fps drop without it. Cod fills up cards available ram but the fps are the same on a lesser vram card.

[Chunky007]

Is 10GB of GDDR6X of VRAM enough for 4K/Ultra ?

There fixed it for you. Honestly how some articles get approved without grammar being picked up is beyond me.

[Mandingo2020]

Still rocking my Asus Strix ROG 1080ti running games in 4k with over 60FPS no issues in 2020. When it's a real 75% improvement from what I have now or what I have now breaks I'll upgrade.

[blacktiger]

no

[traumadisaster]

yes

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

He said..NO!!!

[purple101]

Maybe

[XbladeTeddy]

Definitely

[jonivtec]

Its a nice move that amd release their 6800 series card with 16gb of ram....10 is a weird choice since my 1080ti was 10 gig vram almost 4 years ago....maybe i'll swap my 3080 with a 6800xt later on when their driver will be more mature and their raytracing support patched up.

[phoenixwing]

I do 1440p gaming on my 2070 super. 4k isn't worth it

[XxINFERNUSxX]

The 3090 should have had 32GB of VRAM the 3080 24GB, they need to future proof more. I'm still waiting for the rumored 3070 Ti, to be announced.

[bacano]

I bought a 3080 because I have a 1440p g-sync monitor, I prefer to have 60+ fps in all games with max settings instead of 4k atm. As far as I know, 3080 doesn't have any bottlenecks at1440p