Question Is 10GB of Vram enough for 4K gaming for the next 3 years?

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moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
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The question is simple. Will 10GB be enough moving forward for the next 3 years? We all know what happens when Vram gets breached: skips, stutters and chugging.
 

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
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Was anyone able to get one? Gone everywhere as of 6am est.

It's 6am PST not EST. So, you have 15 minutes. Newegg had a Gigabyte for $749 late lastnight that you could order but wouldn't ship til 9/22. I had one in my cart but it unreserved after a while then sold out. Only really want the EVGA FTW3 which doesn't sound like will available at launch and wasn't going to try and flip the Gigabyte.
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
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It's 6am PST not EST. So, you have 15 minutes. Newegg had a Gigabyte for $749 late lastnight that you could order but wouldn't ship til 9/22. I had one in my cart but it unreserved after a while then sold out. Only really want the EVGA FTW3 which doesn't sound like will available at launch and wasn't going to try and flip the Gigabyte.
I don't think I want a 3080 but I've had a hell of a time trying to update my profile on Nvidia.com for their shop. Apparently you need to go add something to cart, then from the cart you can access your shop profile which is different than the standard nvidia.com profile.

Just getting it ready for next week for the 3090.
 

richaron

Golden Member
Mar 27, 2012
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HUB demonstrated that a 2080 starts to tank at 4K in Doom vs a 1080Ti because of the lack of Vram. That's with 8GB at 4K right now. This wasn't him just looking at some software reading. The performance was ahead at 1440p, then it tanked at 4K due to a lack of RAM. How long before 10GB gets rekt at even lower resolutions? All it takes is one good AAA game to break the 10GB buffer. I'd be pissed.
There's no way this much GPU power is a good fit for only 10GB of ram. It's ridiculous. New models will be out after AMD drops and everyone will look back at the 10GB card and wonder why the hell it was even released. It's the skimped-out starter card to maker Nvidia look good. It only looks good right now (to some people at least) because it's the first release of a new generation for both parties. I'm not buying it.

Bold added by me. It wouldn't be a "good" game if it tanked with this amount of RAM. A "good" game wouldn't tank.

A "popular" game may tank, but the blame lies in software and not with the normal available hardware's limitations. As we have seen many times in the past.
 
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sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
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I refreshed every 10 seconds and never saw one on nvidia.com. Now it says out of stock and so does best buy.

Maybe I need to write a bot for next week seeing as that is probably what's happening.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,202
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i refreshed like crazy on 4 sites, got a total of 1 "add to cart" buttons, and when i clicked it i got an error

everything else went direct from "coming soon" to "out of stock"

so like i figured, it was a paper launch

i might try for a 3090 next week, or i might just wait till next year and see what AMD has to offer

and if we'd get a 20GB 3080 or a ti
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
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yeah i figured it would be a paper launch

i might try for a 3090 next week, or i might just wait till next year and see what AMD has to offer

and if we'd get a 20GB 3080 or a ti
I think next week the 3090 will be the same. Looks like from what I posted above we may get a 20gb 3080, not sure when.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,202
5,608
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Don't worry guys, the scalpers won for your benefit. You can buy a new RTX 3080 on ebay for between $1500 and $3000.

why the vendors don't just put a captcha on the "add to cart" button for hot items like this, i have no idea

well actually it's probably that they just don't care who buys it
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
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i might as well wait to see if a 3080 ti comes out next year

and maybe OLED monitors would be a possibility then too

i'll just have to delay my flight sim fantasies for a while
 

guachi

Senior member
Nov 16, 2010
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I'll say 'no'. Though I doubt the issue will be widespread enough or even visually noticeable enough to problematic. That being said, I'd be tempted to spend a little more on a competing card that had 12 -16 GB or RAM.
 

smakme7757

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2010
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I recently upgraded from an old U2011 Dell Ultrasharp 1440p monitor to the brand new LG 34GN850-B (3440x1440 UW) in may. I'm still using my old 1080 TI which does a decent job, but isn't quite as powerful with newer games like Doom Eternal. Keeping 144 FPS is a struggle on high settings.

Having a look at the 3080 RTX and there is no doubt that the product will give me buttery smooth gameplay, but I've also questioned the 10GB of VRAM.

With that being said I have come up with a few questions which I can't really answer until reviews of the 3090 RTX are available:
  • Would a 3090 RTX have a substantially longer usable lifetime than a 3080 RTX to warrant double the price?
  • Would it be better to buy a 3080 now and then buy a new "3080" in 2 years?
  • Would the 24GB on the 3090 RTX end up being a false hope as the GPU itself will struggle in 3 years time to keep up dispite the large VRAM available?
I'm in the market for a 3090RTX, but buying a 3080 and then replacing it in 2 years doesn't seem like a bad idea either, maybe even slightly cheaper in the long run.

Either way, I'm still on the fence until the 3090 RTX results are available.
 

amenx

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
3,851
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In 2 years there will be something that outperforms the 3090 easily and at lower cost. Those looking to future-proof will go thru the upgrade cycle all over again in 2 years. 24gb vram is not necessarily what future games may need, its because of the bit-bus limitations that only allow 12gb or 24gb. And the competition has 16gb because that gives it a marketing edge over 12gb. That imo is why Nvidia chose 24gb instead of 12gb.
 

JustMe21

Senior member
Sep 8, 2011
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It looks like Gigabyte's site confirmed 20 GB 3080s and 16 GB 3070s. I'd speculate that with AMD going 16 GB, Nvidia won't get too crazy on pricing for the higher memory versions...unless AMD's top end tanks real hard. I also wouldn't be surprised to see the 20 GB models with regular GDDR6 instead to keep that cost down as well.

 
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phillyman36

Golden Member
Jun 28, 2004
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Out of curiosity would there be much of a difference in 10GB vs 20Gb 3080 @ 1440p and 1080p in performance? (Games like Call of Duty, Fortnite, Battlefield, and Tomb Raider)
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
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Out of curiosity would there be much of a difference in 10GB vs 20Gb 3080 @ 1440p and 1080p in performance? (Games like Call of Duty, Fortnite, Battlefield, and Tomb Raider)
Depends on how many settings you want to crank up to max but I don't think there would be crazy performance gains. It may just be smoother with ability to have everything maxed out.

The 20Gb is a good option for those that don't want to upgrade next year or after. If I end up going for a 20gb 3080 I'm keeping it for 3 years like I did the 1080ti.
 

pallab

Member
Jul 11, 2019
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Out of curiosity would there be much of a difference in 10GB vs 20Gb 3080 @ 1440p and 1080p in performance? (Games like Call of Duty, Fortnite, Battlefield, and Tomb Raider)
If you need to close out the gap between 10 & 20GB you need ram caching. So good amount of ram from a superspeed nvme with Asus boards should do it.
 

moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
3,095
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That 20GB version is the one to get. I wouldn't ever consider Vram again with a 20GB card. I've enjoyed that carefree use with the 1080Ti for almost 4 years and I'd hate to be concerned about Vram starting day 1 of having a new card. The 10GB version is a no-go and should be renamed the buyer's remorse version.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,202
5,608
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That 20GB version is the one to get. I wouldn't ever consider Vram again with a 20GB card. I've enjoyed that carefree use with the 1080Ti for almost 4 years and I'd hate to be concerned about Vram starting day 1 of having a new card. The 10GB version is a no-go and should be renamed the buyer's remorse version.

honestly though if you were able to get a 3080 day 1, you could use it until mid-2021 and still probably resell it then for a profit
 

sze5003

Lifer
Aug 18, 2012
14,177
622
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That 20GB version is the one to get. I wouldn't ever consider Vram again with a 20GB card. I've enjoyed that carefree use with the 1080Ti for almost 4 years and I'd hate to be concerned about Vram starting day 1 of having a new card. The 10GB version is a no-go and should be renamed the buyer's remorse version.
This will depend on how it's priced. If performance is close to a 3090 and it costs $1200 then maybe the 3090 is a better option, at least for those of us keeping a card more than 2 years like we have been.

I don't imagine the 20gb 3080 being better than a 3090 if it is released shortly after the AMD cards with 16gb of vram. I think those AMD cards are being announced middle of October.
 

pallab

Member
Jul 11, 2019
30
1
11
This will depend on how it's priced. If performance is close to a 3090 and it costs $1200 then maybe the 3090 is a better option, at least for those of us keeping a card more than 2 years like we have been.

I don't imagine the 20gb 3080 being better than a 3090 if it is released shortly after the AMD cards with 16gb of vram. I think those AMD cards are being announced middle of October.
the 3080 w/ 20GB wont cost above 850$ for the FE version.
Provided you can bot it.