Video card ram size question

[SZLiao214]

At what point in resolution/AA do you need to get a 1 gig video card?

Recently a few games have been crashing my computer when played at full settings and at 1920 x 1080 with no AA. Temps are fine and the power supply is pretty solid. Lowering the rez to 1680 x 1050 seems to solve the problems.

Am i breaking the 512 vram mark in Prototype/Ghost Busters/Call of Juarez?

 

[vj8usa]

There are games that can make use of more than 512MB VRAM at 1080p, but they shouldn't be crashing. You seem to be having some other sort of issue, as running out of VRAM will generally just drop framerates and make the game stutter, without crashing. What video card are you using, and are your drivers up to date? I can't say I've ever encountered your specific issue before, where a game will crash at a high resolution but not at a lower one. Maybe it isn't crashing specifically because of the resolution, but because of the increasing load on the GPU? Do you notice any artifacting?

To answer your first question though, 1080p and higher is when you'll really start wanting over 512MB, especially with AA on. I've actually run out of VRAM at 1680x1050 in a few cases with AA on.

 

[yh125d]

I haven't played any of those games, but by and large 512mb is enough for 1920x1080 with AA for most games. Some of the particularly demanding games will go over, but the majority do not.

 

[SZLiao214]

Originally posted by: vj8usa
There are games that can make use of more than 512MB VRAM at 1080p, but they shouldn't be crashing. You seem to be having some other sort of issue, as running out of VRAM will generally just drop framerates and make the game stutter, without crashing. What video card are you using, and are your drivers up to date? I can't say I've ever encountered your specific issue before, where a game will crash at a high resolution but not at a lower one. Maybe it isn't crashing specifically because of the resolution, but because of the increasing load on the GPU? Do you notice any artifacting?

To answer your first question though, 1080p and higher is when you'll really start wanting over 512MB, especially with AA on. I've actually run out of VRAM at 1680x1050 in a few cases with AA on.

I have a 4870 dk edition which is the one with the better cooler. My case is well ventilated and the temps are fine. Drivers are up to date. There is no artifacting.

I've read that Ghostbusters has issues with using anymore vram then you have but i haven't seen that issue with the other games i listed. I haven't used AA in any of those games.

 

[Schmide]

When you say crashing.

What exact symptoms are you talking about?
BSOD, CCC stopped working, etc?
What driver are you using?
Have you uninstalled/cleaned/reinstalled?
What have you done to eliminate other components, memory,CPU, etc

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: yh125d
I haven't played any of those games, but by and large 512mb is enough for 1920x1080 with AA for most games. Some of the particularly demanding games will go over, but the majority do not.

Actually, no. Take a look at the 4870 512MB versus 1GB benchmarks. Large differences in many games even at resolution of 16x10 with some AA or 19x12 without.

These days I wouldn't buy a card below the GTX 260 with 896MB video ram.

BTW - when video frame buffer is exceeded you see severe fps drops not crashes/bsods. Game will turn into a slideshow not crash. So depending on what you're seeing it might be unrelated to video ram.

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: yh125d
I haven't played any of those games, but by and large 512mb is enough for 1920x1080 with AA for most games. Some of the particularly demanding games will go over, but the majority do not.

Actually, no. Take a look at the 4870 512MB versus 1GB benchmarks. Large differences in many games even at resolution of 16x10 with some AA or 19x12 without.

These days I wouldn't buy a card below the GTX 260 with 896MB video ram.

BTW - when video frame buffer is exceeded you see severe fps drops not crashes/bsods. Game will turn into a slideshow not crash. So depending on what you're seeing it might be unrelated to video ram.

I have looked, and i didn't see differences worth noting really in most games

 

[vj8usa]

I actually start to notice lack of VRAM before my framerates start taking a nosedive (and I only play at 1680x1050). Games will start stuttering, and it doesn't really show up in benchmark results. A few examples I've encountered are when I do an about face in Crysis (no AA), running the HAWX benchmark with 4x AA on (returns good framerates, but the stuttering is unbearable), and Fallout 3 with 4x AA (framerate looks fine, but it stuttered enough that I had to turn AA off).

When I go WAY overboard with VRAM usage though, framerates drop like crazy (Crysis with 8+x AA becomes a slideshow).

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: yh125d
I have looked, and i didn't see differences worth noting really in most games

Then you haven't looked at the right benchmarks.

bit-tech: Fallout 3
Take special notice of fps minimums as resolution increases & more AA is applied. EDIT: The minimums are what is causing the "stuttering" vj8usa is seeing. Doesn't matter what your average fps is - if your minimum rate drops low enough your eyes can detect differences between refreshes and the game appears to stutter.

AT: Race Driver GRID

Those are not isolated cases - read the full articles and you will see the 512MB card simply cannot keep up with the fully-fledged 1GB part.

Prior to this generation of card 1GB was mostly overkill (2900XT 1GB :roll but these days there is so much data to process the GPU really does need the larger frame buffer to keep things running smoothly. Which is why I suggest not buying less than the GTX 260 with 896MB of vram - you'll regret it shortly as games are going to get more texture intensive and you will need that frame buffer to keep the card working efficiently.

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: yh125d
I have looked, and i didn't see differences worth noting really in most games

Then you haven't looked at the right benchmarks.

bit-tech: Fallout 3
Take special notice of fps minimums as resolution increases & more AA is applied. EDIT: The minimums are what is causing the "stuttering" vj8usa is seeing. Doesn't matter what your average fps is - if your minimum rate drops low enough your eyes can detect differences between refreshes and the game appears to stutter.

AT: Race Driver GRID

Those are not isolated cases - read the full articles and you will see the 512MB card simply cannot keep up with the fully-fledged 1GB part.

Prior to this generation of card 1GB was mostly overkill (2900XT 1GB :roll but these days there is so much data to process the GPU really does need the larger frame buffer to keep things running smoothly. Which is why I suggest not buying less than the GTX 260 with 896MB of vram - you'll regret it shortly as games are going to get more texture intensive and you will need that frame buffer to keep the card working efficiently.

Looking at the 4870's the buffer becomes an issue at 8xAA. The 512mb card was doing fine under 4xAA/16xAF at 1920x1200, only being 5fps under the 1gb card. Fallout 3 at those settings is the upper end of the spectrum, and doesn't disprove my statement that 512mb is usually enough for most games with some AA. I never said its enough for all games with 8xAA. Of course there are exceptions. Since the majority play at settings lower than 1920x1200 8xAA/16xAF maximum detail, I still think that 512 is enough, for the majority.