I just bought a EVGA Gtx 760 SC /w ACX cooler 2GB, then after i bought it, i found the HD 7950 /w boost 3GB was available in the shop, i was EXTREMELY pissed off. Whenever i open a website to read about next-gen games ( built on consoles), i found that 2GB of vram wont be enough(as people said) as BF3 uses 1.5 in busy 64 players servers with large maps, as well as crysis 3 and skyrim modded which are vram hungry games. So, i wanted to ask you couple of questions which maybe have been implied from what i have said: 1) Is my GPU with its 2GB vram enough for next-gen games(and approxmately what is the time until which it can handle the games?), i forgot to mention that i use a screen of 1600x1200 and i am not intending to upgrade to a higher resolution whatsoever and i game on single monitor(pure gaming PC). Another point, i'm not the kind of people who wants everything maxed out, i can sacrifice some settings such as AA, AF( which i think wont differ that much) for the sake of better gameplay experience. 2) Which GPU is better the VAPOR-X HD 7950 /w boost or mine (EVGA gtx 760 SC /w acx cooler). If you can provide me with any evidences as tests, benchmarks or articles i would be extremely thankful. 3) I think there are some other factors than VRAM for improving gameplay as gtx-770 which is considered somehow a beast for gaming and gtx-680 as well, are just 2GB VRAM, if u can explain this to me or give me a simple article to read about(im interested to know more), i would be again EXTREMELY grateful. Thanks in advance for any answers that will be provided
they are really close at stock http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/854?vs=856 If you can return it grab the 7950, if you cant I would just keep the 760.
At that Res you should be happy with the 760 and only time will tell if games will use more vram. I mean, its going to go up over time anyways, no matter what consoles come out, its just the trend that happens with tech. If your worried about it, just get a 3 or 4 GB card and not worry about it anymore .
HD7950 @ stock clocks has high untapped potential. And that 384bit memory + 3BG may really proof more to be future proof (like 2 months or so, depends on game released that month). But I guess that at time when games will really need more than 2GB graphical memory both cards will be insufficient from performance point of view anyway. Because as you said you do not need to max out everything. And only by maxing out everything and using high resolutions you get such utilization today. You can take metro 2033 and set everything to max. Game will not use you whole graphical memory, but performance wise it would become slow below enjoyable level.
Thanks for the replies.The thing is, when i tested battlefield 3(in a huge 64 map), i found the vram usage about 1500 at my resolution... i was really shocked i had the AA x1 and my res is just 1600x1200 and ppl playing at max AA and 1920x1080 are having the same usage WT*, can anyone explain this to me, as well this made me worried about updating my GPU soon, i just bought this one.
I am sorry for being ignorant but can you explain this leak thing to me? I was really interested in the GPUs' structures and functions(and still interested) but i couldn't find any easy way to learn them alone, so i gave up and thanks for the responsiveness ^^ (Btw, i was playing on kharg island map or something similar cant remember the name exactly )
SP 1st mission right after leaving transporter: 720p - 0xAA - 1019MB 720p - 2xAA - 1060MB 720p - 4xAA - 1107MB 900p - 0xAA - 1021MB 900p - 2xAA - 1098MB 900p - 4xAA - 1171MB 1080p - 0xAA - 1029MB 1080p - 2xAA - 1128MB 1080p - 4xAA - 1253MB As you can see basic memory usage is not affected by resolution in other way than frame buffer allocation. It's all about graphics settings. AA adds additional memory requirements which is scaling properly with screen resolution. And btw. 1920x1080 has only 8% more pixels to render than 1600x1200.
OP, just a note, VRAM usage does not (really) imply how much VRAM a game actually needs. The more VRAM you have, the more the game will use up VRAM, so if you see, for example, 2.5GB VRAM usage on a 3GB card, that doesn't mean that a 2GB card will be a bottleneck. Regarding 7950 vs. 760, both are pretty close at stock, but the 7950 has high overclocking potential + 3GB VRAM + 384-bit bus so it can help it pull ahead. If you can get an exchange, 7950. If not, 760 and enjoy it.
That was pretty useful, thanks for the info, i think i had wrong info about the vram usage vs aa although this was shocking to me http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/crysis_3_graphics_performance_review_benchmark,8.html THE HECK IS THIS. the difference for just fxaa and msaa is 700mb, a big leap for me in vram usage and if i used this setting, what should i see with a 2.2gb used while i have only 2gb(low fps and shutters?)
THAT IS WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR, can you link me any post or article that discusses this more detailed, the thing of altered vram usage according to vram available, i would be greatly grateful, and im already thankful for such info.. ^^ And im stuck with the Gtx 760, but i love it really, it didnt give me any hard time till now, i hope it wont in the couple next years :S
Honestly, I don't have any articles to back it up BUT it's happened for 3GB AMD card users to report more than 2GB of VRAM being used while the game runs the same (if not faster) on a 2GB VRAM Nvidia card (e.g. 7970 vs. 680). I guess the best way to prove this is for you to choose a game that's VRAM-intensive, load a certain level with certain settings (maxed is better), and I'll do the same. Then we compare. Even under the lower VRAM limit, the numbers may indeed be different.
It's a geeks pipe dream believing that 2/3/4/6 GB of video memory is sufficient to hold a whole games textures and frame buffer and you'll never have a pause or hiccup while playing a game.. A lot depends on the game developer and how the game engine is coded along with how fast your hardware can fill and empty your video memory. Hell you can get away with 1GB of video memory providing your hardware can keep the data streaming in and out of your video memory fast enough and the game engine has been optimized to utilize memory properly. Just ask those that have cards with 3/4/6 GB of memory, bet at some point in some game they still get the occasional hiccup or stutter while playing games no matter what setting they use. I enjoyed Skyrim on Sli 1GB GTX 560's using the beths hires packs. 1008MB of video memory used the whole time @ 1920x1080 @4xAA Barely a stutter (once every now and then). Then I use my 2GB GTX 670 same settings, same res, same aa and I see 1366 ~1689MB memory used. Still get a stutter (once every now and then). So what did an extra 1GB of video memory provide when using the same settings? Peace of mind, nah reality it did Diddly Squat. lol
bf3 scales vram usage based on cards amount. the more vram a card has more bf3 uses. it uses extra vram by preloading things in the distance, terrain etc
Great idea,we can do this test on a game we both have, i currently have bf3, crysis3, Hitman absolution(these are most demanding games i have currently), i would try to do it anytime, but i think the processor may affect the performance or streaming of info into the vram, idk really just guessing, anyway i have a core-i5 4570 3.2Ghz, waiting for your reply ^^ If that info was right, i will be very happy, but maybe i will try this with yasamoka as we have difference AMD and Nvidia cards (3gb and 2 gb), i trust your results but results may differ, everything varies on internet, if i tested something, i will trust it the most. I'm surely grateful for your help and appreciate it! Sorry but no, i dont even play LoL, and this wasnt imposting, i didnt ever imagine that anyone will have this name, irs just a chemical xD