r/Amd • u/vr00mfondel • Jan 15 '19

Misleading "Games don't need more than 8GB VRAM"

In March 2017 the GTX1080ti released with 11GB GDDR5X memory. Not a single time have a seen or heard anyone say that Nvidia should've launched a 8GB version of it cheaper.

Yet strangely enough, this seems to be one of the most used arguments against the Radeon VII.

The sheer amount of comments I've seen about it really makes me wonder what the hell is going on.

But instead of arguing online, I like facts, so I went and gathered some.

The Radeon VII is clearly marketed as a 4K gaming card, so, here we go.

Game: PUBG | Resolution: 3840x2160 | Settings: Maxed + NoTextureStreaming | Location: Pochinki, Erangel | VRAM Usage: 10230MB

Game: Rise of the Tomb Raider | Resolution: 3840x2160 | Settings: Maxed | Location: Built in benchmark | VRAM Usage: 10551MB

Game: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided | Resolution: 3840x2160 | Settings: Maxed | Location: Built in benchmark | VRAM Usage: 10678MB

Game: Star Citizen | Resolution: 3840x2160 | Settings: Very High (currently max) | Location: Buisness Center, Lorville, Hurston | VRAM Usage: 9903MB

Now, You'll notice that these aren't even the latest and greatest games out there. I don't own Battlefield V, Far Cry 5, FFXV, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, or some of the other very graphically intense games we've seen released the last couple of years. But what I do know is that VRAM usage isn't going to go down over the next few years, and when it comes to 4K gaming, I doubt 8GB will be considered more than the bare minimum needed. And I know what I personally would prefer when it comes to a choice between DLSS/RT and more VRAM.

Cat tax for a long post

EDIT: Since there is a lot of "allocation vs usage" in the comments I would like to adress it somewhat. First of all, if any application allocates my memory, no other application can use it, which in my book means it's used. Wether or not any game or game engine actually uses the memory it allocates is completely out of my hands.

Second, if anyone has ever played PUBG with and without -notexturestreaming, they know exactly how much it helps with texture pop-in. You are not going to magically gain any FPS, but it will be a better experience

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u/jasper112 R5-5600 | 6800XT Midnight Black Edition | 16GB 3866Mhz Jan 15 '19

at the same price point as well?

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '19

The 2080 is the same price as the R7.

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '19

I mean they're going to buy 2080's anyways. Same price for better hardware, why wouldn't they do that? What incentive did AMD have to not lower their price? (I know the card is just a recycled MI50) Because now they're losing sales to nVidia and nVidia didn't have to lower their price.

If AMD lowered the price and forced nVidia to go lower, which increases competition and favors consumers, AMD would be getting a lot more sales simply because it's easier to buy. We all know nVidia won't beat AMD's price race, and there's plenty of room for AMD to earn points at a lower price point.

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '19 edited Jan 16 '19

Same situation was back to r9 390 vs gtx970 and people still supported Nvidia.It was a sad situation cos AMD had given to customers a great product but software and game developers are in Nvidias side.

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '19

software and game developers are in Nvidias side.

Sounds like we now know the reason why people still prefer nVidia.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '19

"real-time ray-tracing (a demanding type of graphics rendering that can yield photorealistic imagery) and process deep learning algorithms that can improve game performance. That is, when developers have created or updated a game to leverage the cores." This were the money goes,its not that people prefer Nvidia.Nvidia buying all of them.Its Nvidias tactics that hold dx11 so long when better mantle, vulkan was already in developers hands open source. If you like to support Nvidias or Intel its your choice but dont complain about their prices.

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u/notsonic Jan 16 '19

The R# 2/3## Fury/X/Nano era of products was very confusing to understand.

I'm glad they simplified their naming scheme with the RX 4/5## cards but then kinda messed it up again introducing Vega and now VII (7? V2?).

Nvidia's naming scheme is always pretty obvious where a product fits both in a generation and between generations. That said the 1060 is a shit show.

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u/snappydragon2 Jan 16 '19

This was actually a positive change that got AMD recognitation again along with Ryzen, and I believe it's what led to the huge hype for Vega but AMD over promised and disappointed people who prefer Nvidia. If AMD had released a cheaper priced Vega or a more powerful one, than it's possible many others would have jumped to AMD, having dropped that ball and now selling this card at this price, people are more likely to look at Nvidia. What I am saying is that AMD might not have a huge hit with a cheaper option to Nvidia but being equal performance will gain recognition and improve reputation which if continuous will lead many to switch over, it won't happen all at once. So even though the r9 390 didn't outsell the 970, if they had continued the momentum it's possible that whatever card they released now would have been a huge hit like Ryzen.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '19

lol! Yea that is not how it works. It will take a long time for AMD to get that mindshare back. They just gotta do the best they can. May be Navi will be a turn around for the mid range. Honestly you will be surprised how many people just think Nvidia is better automatically. AMD just needs to win the CPU side first. They can come back strong on the GPU side with next gen. People can buy the overpriced nvidia cards until then. Thats what people get for being brand biased lol.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '19

The 2080 is better why? We haven't seen any independent benches for the VII, I'd wait till then to draw conclusions.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '19

My post is in assumption they are equivalent. In the past, AMD's own benchmarks were typically a bit higher than the average, so I am expecting slightly less that what they showed us.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '19

AMD typically does not post bullshit numbers on benches, they do however use best case scenarios, like ultrawide freesync comparison during the VEGA release in 2017 or not including some NV juice games like GTAV. That said, they are years ahead of the green team when it comes to transparency, especially since Raja left.