How Much VRAM Do Gamers Need? 8GB, 12GB, 16GB or MORE?

Vram hasn't even been that slow of a creep, several games from around 2016 like Deus Ex MD on ultra 4k can still max out a 16GB card

guys are these benchmarks done with upscaling? or native? cause i think upscaled benchmarks should be included

8GB vRAM isn't adequate. Because of terrible game designers alone. There is no reason I can run WoW or Fallout 76 at 4k 60+ on a 3060ti. Without raytracing. Using about 5GB . With newer games hogging the vRAM . As a programmer I can tell you it's lazy coding. You don't need to store assets in vRAM. Lazy coders do it because they don't have the skill to do otherwise. We need to put the blame where it belongs. The games designers.

In 2025 will be, FHD 12GB, QHD 16GB UHD 20GB, Period

Great shear. TY
Off topic question. Does the VRAM affect the energy use a bunch ?
I want to make a seed box/media player portable(about 3gb VRAM). And adding a gaming steam deck to it would be a pulse. But not if it requires more VRAM at a costing of more energy use.

I am really fond of getting a 7800 XT, as the price/performance seems pretty great. The 4070 with 12GB costs the same and only is ahead, when using Nvidia exclusive features, but then you also get in to VRAM issues. Spending more money on a 4070 Super or Ti or Ti Super or what they are called doesn't seem justified, as I don't care whether I have 115 or 102 fps, but rather whether I have 102 or 62 fps.
A 4060 ti can be had with more VRAM than a 4070, but also costs almost the same. It's probably best to wait at least a few months, to see how the prices change with new generations or whether new gen will be worth it and enjoy my 3060 12GB as long as I still can.
I mostly have rasterized games anwyway for now and I rarely buy any AAA games.

Wondering why someone who can write code and start a company that allows us to unleash the total power of our cards? They release updated drivers to increase performance like donkey and carrot. Be nice to down load one driver to jail break the GPU and be done with it. Give me what I paid for upfront.

My $320 PowerColor Fighter AMD Radeon RX 7600 says 8gb is enough

You want extra vram for adding mods later anyway.
I'm shocked the 5080 only has 16GB Vram. It really should have at least 24GB now, with 16GB for mid range cards. Without that it's not very future proof.

Nice work! Since the RTX 5080 will only come with 16 GB, I'm hesitant if it's the right choice. I usually keep my hardware for years and want to have the option of switching to 4K as well. Maybe waiting for a possible 5080 Super with more VRAM is worth it, if that will ever be a thing. A bit of criticism regarding the graphs in the video: especially in this situation, I would appreciate having consistent x axis scaling. Even though it reduces detail in the plots where we reach lower maximum values, it makes comparing the plots a lot easier.

I have 12g. I can play alan wake 2 path tracing and ultra everything w FG and dlss quality im getting 70-90 fps

i wonder how increased v cache we've been seeing helps with the lack of vram or is it a patch job fix that only remedies the underlying issue in certain scenarios like 1 percent lows?

However much VRAM the newest consoles are using, video cards should be double that, minimum.

The 5060 will have 8 GB of real vram and 4 GB of fake generated ram. It looks and feels like 12 GB of vram! The fake generated frames work better with the generated ram. 😅

Visiting this just after the 5000 series launch. It’s sad to see the 5080 at just 16gb. It feels like it should be a 24gb card. Maybe even the 5070 Ti. I worry that it limits their useful life. If it’s so easy to push 16gb even now, what’s going to be the bare minimum a few years from now.

me with 4gb of vram reading this comments 😅

Ps5 has 16gigs of vram. Not mid/high end card should be lower than that

Remember when you could buy an 8GB GPU for $200 nine years ago?

Funny that this was suggested to me after the RTX 5000 series was announced lol. Something tells me that 5070 12GB is going to be limited in the near future.

Simple question. Should I buy an older gen used gpu with more vram or a newer one with less?

so for this moment only 4080(maybe) and 4090 gaming laptops have some meaning.
But them are too expensive. So no meaning in gaming laptops.
Well done Nvidia.

Sorry to bother, I'm thinking of buying an RTX 5070, but watching this video it seems that the ram on the card will be insufficient.... it ahs 12GB of ram and I have a 1440p monitor... What were they thinking????? I don't want to spend more for a 5070 Ti so I'm very confused. Should I wait for the "super" version that will mount the 16GB or go for the 5060 Ti being 12 GB of ram (If I'm not mistaken).

My 4070 12gb is more than enough for ultra 1080p gaming...

3070 ti8gb died. Typically used 6gb and 5.4gb of vram on two games I play at 1440 with Ultra settings. Typically got 80fps on both .

Bought a 6800 none XT. This gets similar performance, maybe 2-5 fps more than the 3070ti in one game and more or less identical in the other . However it uses 7 and 9gb of vram respectively. Visually, I can't tell the difference. Have LG Oled 1440 monitor. Why is NOBODY talking about how AMD cards use more VRAM ?

Looking at this days before the 5090 and 5080 launch, I’m not liking 16GB on the 5080 but I guess that’s all I got to choose from, and no, the 7900 XT/XTX aren’t options for me, the games I play perform better with an Nvidia card sadly, I would love the XTX

I swear to god if these games are rendering every texture in the whole area of the player without using frustum culling then we have a way bigger problem 💀

Glad I just got a 3090 😂

goodbye laptops because desktop are coming to be beyond... graphics is sad... and vram... T_T welcome to 2025.... a dying age to get a gaming laptop.

No u dont need more than 12 for 1440p. Not seen a game use more than 11 at max settings. 4k though u do. Its why i think 12 is fine for a 70 series card, which is a 1440p card,, but when they released the original 4080 with 12gb that was stupid

Coming back to this video after the 5080/5090 release, just reassured me to get the 5080, 16GB is enough for 1440P

last gen cards are lit 1080p cards

ChatGPT led me here.

Considering some of the games even lacked a “low” settings, I don’t think the fate of 8gb vram is as dire as the conclusion makes it out to be. It seems like AAA games, if well optimized, push 8gbs to the limit but are still usable for “high” presets.

I think the real questions are: 1) how significant are the differences between “high” and “ultra/very high” (or “medium” and “high” for that matter)? 2) how many more games are going to require rt, and can 8gb still be usable if the rt hardware is sufficiently powerful?

All that said, I couldn’t help but feel this is another reason to go for the B580….

I play on 1080p, so I find that 8gb is enough still for a nice mix of medium and high settings.

Hi guys, I'm from the future. 5080 is 16gb here. gl hf

At 1440p, I think the 5080 is perfect for me. I don't want to work with the extreme power consumption and price of the 5090.

Midrange to low end previous gen AMD cards are now performing better in RT than their Nvidia equivalents simply for having double the VRAM 😂

Could you do an AMD version of this video, even if it is short and has the same results as this video?

YUP 16gb vram should be required for a gpu over 450$

7900 xt <3

GPU'S NEED VRAM EXPANSION SLOTS!

Soon nvidia is going to have 1gb cards but 7gb downloaded it the drivers 😂

try testing ark ascended 1440p mid settings. with fps spikes and crashging as 16gb isnt enough

yep 5000 series didnt improve any Vram :)

Im here on a 3060 laptop, praying.. ready to give AMD my money. But they're looking at that rake, yearning to step on it, like tradition demands. Fingers crossed 🤞

I’m waiting for a 5080 super with 20+ and hopefully less scalping lol

question i got 24gb VRAM is that good enough to run basically anything?

Where this all gets even more confusing is that I literally run at max settings on my 4070s 12gb using raytracing 1440p and sure sometimes I'm usuing ALL my vram albeit it rarely; yet I have yet to encounter any frame dips, hitching, stutter, or anyother aformentioned problems.

Again USING all available vram and EXCEEDING vram is different as well.

Also the AMD argument is JUST TURN OFF RAYTRACING NO ONE LIKES IT ANYWAYS. Or use DLSS and reduce your vram usage further.

Thats why i bought 3060 12 gb version

As a real online gamer I’d say 8 Gb is enough in 1440p, in many instances in 4K as well