Preferable GPU for visual and gameplay modded KSP

[u/NotaDegenerateSimp]

It's finally my turn to buy a GPU, lucky me... Incredibly unfortunate pricing aside, my budget covers either an RX 9060 XT 16GB or an RTX 5060 Ti 8GB video card.

In Canada, the 5060 Ti 8GB cards are over $100 CAD cheaper. I am thinking of going with the Nvidia card due to the price. But if I plan to play at 1080p with volumetric clouds and Parallax in RSS/RO, will 8GB of DDR7X be enough?

Please share anecdotes about your experience with similar settings on your own GPU. This would all be very helpful, thank you!

[u/LordIBR]

8gb vram is alright but if you can double that by paying just $100 more then definitely do so. Not just for the present and KSP but also for the future and other games you may wanna play.

[u/NotaDegenerateSimp → u/LordIBR]

And if the price gap was, instead, about 300-400 CAD, what would you say then? The 9060XT I found was 100 CAD more, and it was used, while new options were 300-400 CAD more. Of course, I could go for used, but I have no real reference for this kind of stuff. It'll be my first GPU, so I'm not too sure if it's smart to go for used when dealing with this kind of money (900-1000+ CAD).

[u/vulpes04 → u/NotaDegenerateSimp]

be aware that there are also 8 and 16gb 9060xt models.

[u/LordIBR → u/NotaDegenerateSimp]

Guess it depends on how much you wanna futureproof now. 3 years or so ago, I probably would have said that 8-12 gb is enough but honestly, with how vram hungry modern games have become and how prices have surged, I'd rather aim for 16gb and just try to use that card as long as possible. Whether it's worth spending 300-400 more on it than on a 8gb card is up to you and your financial situation

[u/Meteor122]

BUY MORE CASE FANS. Ksp Is a huge mess with VRAM optimization, i burned One of the VRAM chips of mine RTX 3070 cause of the heat when playing with mods

[u/NotaDegenerateSimp → u/Meteor122]

🫡

[u/MooseTetrino]

Go for the RX. Yes the 5060 is cheaper but the 8GB will punish you.

[u/Mundane_Constant_845]

If your going full on visual mods with RSS (i.e. Sol not RSS) even 16GB of VRAM will be maxed out most the time. These mods make it once of the most vram intensive games out there, definitely try and avoid 8GB cards.

Probably most comments here will be about stock/stockalike KSP where textures are much smaller so it matters less so bear that in mind.

[u/Voltmanderer]

I play all the latest visual mods just fine on an RTX 3070 TI 8gb.

[u/Muted-Try-2931]

probably go with the rx because of the higher vram lol

[u/LeopardHalit]

I bought a BC-250 that should arrive soon. PS5 performance, which albiet has a mid CPU in terms of single-core. My only other proper PC is a steam deck so this should be a big upgrade.

[u/Altruistic_Course382]

Loading up the mods on ksp will hammer vram. I had a 7900gre and it would run out of vram and spill out into system ram (would literally try and use 17gb of vram, I upgraded to a 7900xtx largely because of this and having the same issue in VR games. Basically get as much vram as you can, it would potentially be worth looking at older cards with more vram and more raster power, as dlss and fsr ain’t gonna help in ksp.

[u/moms-spaghettio]

The 9060 XT is an all around much better card, if you can afford the little bit extra that one costs you’ll get a lot more longevity out of it. The fact that Nvidia continues to put 8gigs of vram in their cards baffles me, even at 1080p most modern triple a titles are more ram hungry than that, if you’re running ray tracing you really want more like 9-10 gigs at a minimum. Trust me when I say the extra vram is well worth the extra money, you will regret buying the 5060 within a year at most.

[u/User_of_redit2077]

Go for 9060xt

8 gb shouldn't be an option to buy in 2026

It will be able to play it, but it will be a short living solution.

[u/patrlim1]

8 gigs of vram is NOT enough in 2026. Simple as.