Does it make sense to buy 2gb+ video cards?+

[Magic Carpet]

with bf3 my 1gb gets fully utilized. Is it a good idea to pick up a next-gen card with more memory?

 

[chimaxi83]

In my opinion, yes. Its more of a future proofing measure right now, though. A 7970, at Eyefinity resolutions, doesn't pass 2 GB of usage yet.

If I were in the market for a card, I'd want the extra padding though, just in case.

 

[Kenmitch]

with bf3 my 1gb gets fully utilized. Is it a good idea to pick up a next-gen card with more memory?

I guess it would also depend on if you are having issues playing your games at your current resolution. If not the nice thing is the longer you wait the cheaper it is to upgrade....For the most part but sometimes the good old supply and demang thing come into play.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I play at 1680x1050 mostly. I saw BF3 reaching ~1000mb on a couple of occasions. It's not regularly doing that though. But maybe 2012 games will push it harder?

Also, a side-question... what about applications using CUDA, how are they, memory consumption wise?

Cheers guys!

 

[Ken g6]

Also, a side-question... what about applications using CUDA, how are they, memory consumption wise?

Completely dependent on the application. Some use a lot; some use practically none. Most probably aren't going to require more than 1GB until most cards exceed 1GB.

 

[VirtualLarry]

A friend of mine upgraded from an 8800GT 512MB to a 550ti 2GB, for I guess, SWTOR.

 

[GotNoRice]

It's not just about the resolution you run at, the average amount of VRam typical games use increases over time. Remember it wasn't long ago that people were using cards with 128-512MB VRam and running at all kinds of high resolutions without issue. So regardless of what you need or don't need now, getting a card with more VRam is going to definitely come in handy in terms of increasingly the longevity of the card.

 

[edplayer]

It's not just about the resolution you run at, the average amount of VRam typical games use increases over time. Remember it wasn't long ago that people were using cards with 128-512MB VRam and running at all kinds of high resolutions without issue. So regardless of what you need or don't need now, getting a card with more VRam is going to definitely come in handy in terms of increasingly the longevity of the card.

Maybe

I bet if you could get those cards (the ones that were 128~512MB of vram) in 1GB sizes they would still suck. By the time when videocards need more than 1GB of vram, current cards that have the 1GB or 2GB option would suck either way.

 

[GotNoRice]

Maybe

I bet if you could get those cards (the ones that were 128~512MB of vram) in 1GB sizes they would still suck.

Cards like an 8800GT 512MB are still one of the most common cards in use today. I have a 9800GT with 1GB VRam and it clearly outperforms my other 9800GT with only 512MB VRam.

By the time when videocards need more than 1GB of vram, current cards that have the 1GB or 2GB option would suck either way.

Well with games like BF3 easily able to use more than 1GB VRam, the time when videocards need more than 1GB Vram is right now.

I'm running 2x 4870x2 which is a ton of GPU power still, but I'm clearly held back by only having 1GB Vram in many situations. Cards like the 5970 are much more powerful and held back by 1GB Vram even more.

 

[Puppies04]

BF3 is a funny game to compare vram usage.

traditionally if you didn't have enough vram you had to lower setting as the game would drop to single figure FPS. With BF3 as far as I know the game just loads higher texture futher away from your characters standing point as you increase total vram but you don't suffer from FPS drops so a 1gb card can cope very well even in a situation which would use 1.5gb vram on the same card with increased memory.

Back to the original question though As games have always increased the amount of vram needed as time has passed and assuming that all new games won't be as clever as BF3 appears to be, spending a little extra on more vram seems to be a decent future proofing mechanism. That is unless you are buying a low/mid range card that isn't capable of utilising that amout of vram at full load in the first place.