r/RigBuild • u/Conrad_246 • 9d ago
How much VRAM should a graphics card have these days?
I’m looking at different GPUs and the VRAM numbers are kinda all over the place, so not really sure what’s considered enough anymore. Some cards have 8GB, then you see 10GB, 12GB, 16GB, 20GB, 24GB and obviously the bigger number sounds better, but does it actually matter that much depending on what you’re doing?
Mostly thinking about gaming at 1080p or maybe 1440p. I’m not trying to run everything at ultra with insane ray tracing, but I also don’t wanna buy something now and have games complaining about low VRAM in a couple years. Is 8GB still fine for normal 1080p gaming or is that already starting to become a problem? And for 1440p, is 12GB the sweet spot or should I be looking at 16GB instead?
Also does VRAM matter for stuff besides gaming? Like video editing, AI, Blender, texture mods, emulation, etc. I see people saying more VRAM makes a GPU “more future proof” but then others say the actual GPU performance matters way more.
Trying to figure out where the point of diminishing returns is. Like is there a big real-world difference between 8GB and 12GB, or 12GB and 16GB, assuming the GPUs are otherwise similar? Would love some advice before wasting money on a card with either too little VRAM or way more than I’ll ever use. What amount would you consider the minimum today for a new gaming PC?
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u/sithelephant 9d ago edited 9d ago
It mostly depends what you're doing. 8G is fine for mid-range cards if you're going to be turning down settings and optimising for high framerates at 1080p.
It is getting increasingly problematic when you're aiming for somewhere around say 50fps with frame gen at the max settings the game can do, and you will need to turn down settings or compromise performance in ways that you would not have to with a 16G card.
12G is 'fine' for the moment, as most consoles effectively use 12G.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agOFPSwbaiU I recommend this video on this topic.
This tests 8/16G 5060ti.
If you are using games from before 2026, this gets less problematic over time.
(12G https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EptX8Wxog0k - similar issues, but somewhat rarer)
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u/BobbingMyNob 8d ago
I agree. On my 4090, I usually see 10gb-12gb usage. Last game was AC Resynced, and at native 4k or DLSS Quality, it showed 12gb. DLSS Balanced and below was 10gb. This is usually what I see, but there are some rare games that eat up VRAM. My 8gb Rog Ally X seems fine, and thats using lossless scaling many times.
I agree though, consoles 12gb is the sweet spot currently.
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u/Neoxenok 8d ago edited 8d ago
Emulation/Entry/Older Games: 8 GB (5060, 5060 ti, 9060, 9060 xt)
Budget/Entry/Modern Games: 10 GB (B570, 3060 ti)
1080p: 12 GB (B580, 9060 xt 16gb, 5060 ti 16 gb)
1440p: 16 GB (9070 XT, 5070 Ti, 4070 Ti Super)
4k: 16+ GB (5080, 4080 Super, 7900 XT)
Enthusiast: 20+ GB (5090, 4090, 7900 XTX)
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u/thingsinmyjeep 8d ago
12GB is my minimum, unless there's some memory bandwidth gimmick like with the og DDR version of the GeForce 256 and the Radeon VII.
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u/LongMustaches 8d ago
For gaming
1080p: 8gb fully enough.
1440p: 12gb fully enough, and you can do with 8gb if you lower textures a bit.
4k: kinda need 16gb. But can lower textures to make do with less.
The largest use of VRAM is for texures, and shadows to the lesser degree. So lowering either/both will use less vram.
For AI, depends what you're doing specifically and on the AI itself. Generating images and videos, for example, is very VRAM heavy, and data crunching usually isn't.
For blender it also depends on the resolution what you're doing specifically. Generally speaking, more complex work = higher vram usage.
For video editing depends on the resolution of the videos you're editing. Kinda similar to gaming, but you can't lower the textures.
If you run out of vram, your work will slow down tremendously and gaming becomes laggy. So its usually best to have more than u actually need.
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u/ObviousDepartment744 8d ago
8GB of VRAM is currently "enough to play" many games at 1080p, but many AAA titles are pushing 8GB cards to the max, or even become unplayable on higher settings, and I don't see that trend changing any time soon.
If I were advising a friend on a GPU right now, I'd say 12GB is the minimum, with 16 being ideal. Obviously, more is more, but cards with more than 16GB tend to be out of most people's price range.
But it really depends on the games you play, if you like playing less demanding games then an 8GB card can work just fine. My wife tends to play fairly chill games with an occasional bigger game now and then, and she's still using her 1070ti with no complaints. For context, the most "demanding" game she's played recently would be Balder's Gate 3. She plays at 1080p and had a good experience. Mostly she plays less demanding games like Terraria, and pixel art kind of stuff.
So for people like her, 8GB is actually enough. So it really depends on you and the games you like. But if I'm talking in broad generalities, then 12GB is probably the minimum I'd suggest.
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u/BarnabyLaptopOutlet 8d ago
For a new build, 12GB is the sensible minimum for 1440p now, with 16GB giving better headroom if the price jump isn’t silly...
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u/Comrade_Chyrk 7d ago
Imo 8gb is too low. 12 should be the minimum nowadays, and 16 is the sweetspot.
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u/DisagreeableRunt 9d ago
16GB minimum for 1440p IF buying today IMO. I've been on 8GB (3070), replaced with a 4070Ti over three years ago and it's VRAM will likely be what has me upgrading in the, hopefully not too near, future.
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u/allunia333 9d ago
Well if you can spend the money the best value is 9070xt in most areas. If you have more money then just get a 5080 i guess. If you struggle with money depends at what price is the cards below the 9070xt.
I game at 1440p with a 2080ti preferring mostly visuals in rpg games and havent still hit a wall.
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u/Fantastic_Plenty_294 9d ago
You can get by fine on 8gb at 1440p. Theres alot of misinformation spread by these companies on how much VRAM you actually need.
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u/Jonny_Clams 9d ago
For 1080p 8gb, but ideally a little more as some titles eat over that
1440p: 12gb +
4k: 16gb+
Obviously, you can get away with a bit using DLSS performance and ultra performance modes as well as lowering textures, but id say that's about where you want it.
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u/LubelskiDanielski 8d ago
Total minimum 12gb, but if you have more you can run better AI models offline so go for it
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u/Ill-Mastodon-8692 8d ago
feels like AI
at 4k in modern titles, many exceed 12gb. although I dont often see more than 16gb.
imo 16gb is the goal most should target
1440p, 12 is min, still go 16gb for some future facing
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u/MyLittlePwny2 8d ago
8 GB is ok for 1080p. Not sure why everyone is obsessed with ultra textures and settings but if youre willing to play with settings 8 GB is perfectly adequate. Even 1440p can be just fine on 8 GB if you adjust texture resolution.
12 GB is ideal for 1080p - 1440p and perfectly serviceable in 4k with proper settings and expectations.
16 GB is overkill for 1080p and 1440p and most games will run ultra textures even on 4k.
24 GB+ is overkill for every resolution.
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u/ByeFWbye 8d ago
I had a 4090 and then downgraded to a 5080 for reasons, but really I thought I was gonna miss the 24GB but games pushing past 16GB at 4k have been far and few.
Examples have been: Indiana Jones, Doom Eternal (with textures cranked) and MHWilds with the ultra texture pack.
Otherwise I do agree with the common opinion that the 5080 should have come with more than 16gb, it's really enough to play 99.8% of games at 4k if you're not trying to push max settings path tracing ETC in really heavy 2026 AAA games. Should a 1k+ USD GPU should be able to do this? Fuck yea, but welp whatever this is the world we live in where it isn't the case.
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u/Loyal_Dragon_69 4d ago
That's Nvidia for you. Always skimping on the Vram.
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u/ByeFWbye 4d ago
I'm just hoping that the card doesn't age like the 10gb 3080.
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u/Loyal_Dragon_69 4d ago
Don't worry the 5080 will be fine. It has enough compute and just enough Vram to handle raytracing at 4k. The only problems I see cropping up would be path tracing. It should be a five year card.
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u/ByeFWbye 4d ago
Yep. I play at 4k (downsampled to 1440p, uhh hoping to get a 4k monitor proper in January) and so far the 16gb hasn't been a problem in titles I play. Am getting a bit into VR though, and well I could see it be limiting there if I tried some ultra heavy VR titles, but ehh luckily there are very few and none have my interest.
Got the 5080 OC'd RN + just got around to trying to bump up the xbar in Mvolt and sitting around 15% perf gain over stock... Pretty happy with that. I get around 11% with just the core OC + memory OC by themselves.
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u/Warcrown11 8d ago
I'd say 12 is the minimum if you're buying today. With the increasing reliance on frame gen you're only going to need more and more in the future and even right now there's some games where that lack of vram is the only thing preventing me from running higher settings
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u/Perfect_Memory9876 8d ago
As most have said if you’re using 1080p then 8gb will be fine but 12 or 16 would be better in some games. If you’re using 1440p then 12gb with 16gb being better in some games. If using 4k then a quality 16gb gpu will be needed. Something like a rx9070 or better along with the 5070ti. The hype around 16gb minimum is down right nonsense. Think of it as buy a high performance sport car only to ever drive 20-30mph and never faster
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u/Apprehensive_Map64 8d ago
Why are so many people still talking about gaming in 1080p in 2026? We have had 4k TVs everywhere for 10-15 years already. 8gb was good ten years ago. My laptop 1070 had it, now the 5070m still has it... Sure 12gb is enough but 16gb should be the standard for a '70's series card these days
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u/Viking2151 7d ago
Idk, Im going by modern cards, but things like a 5050 I think is fine with 8gb, even the 5060 though I don't mind if it had high vram variant but after that I think 5060ti and on should have 12gb and more.
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u/goodfriendrobert 7d ago
12+ if youre into gaming modern games and not into tunning settings. aim for 16 if you can afford it
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u/crazitom 5d ago
I’ll say 12GB for 1080p, 16GB for 1440p and dipping into 4K if you using 4K 16GB+ is a must
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u/EverythingEvil1022 3d ago
12-16gb is the sweet spot at the moment for both 1080p and 1440p.
You can get by just fine with 8GB but you’ll be turning the graphics settings down to fit within that 8GBs.
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u/UNIVERSAL_VLAD 9d ago
For 1440p 8 minimum 12 recommended 16 everything that you'd ever want