AsakoJun 30, 2023

How far does 4GB of VRAM get you nowadays?

https://lemmy.world/post/838341

How far does 4GB of VRAM get you nowadays? - Lemmy.world

Recently I’ve finally built something that I could consider ‘decent’, 10th gen i5 and 16GB of DDR4 but what aggravates me the most is that I could only attain an RX 570 4GB within my extremely tight budget, how much can I get out of said cards nowadays? Specially given how stupidly high PC game requirements are nowadays. I play at 1080p, not even 2K. I have a dripfeed of an income so it can be very difficult for me to even upgrade a storage device.

Show threadKutsuya
On 1080p I would say it would be fine? Just don't expect to play everything maxed out.
Jun 30, 2023 at 6:31amWeb
Show threadaddieJun 30, 2023

This. What primarily uses up the space is:

  • textures (twice the size, four times the storage) and having a colour / bump / reflectivity / emmisivity / diffusivity / &c texture for every surface

  • shadow maps - (most) lights have a high-resolution texture associated with them, see how far they ‘shine’ in every direction before they hit something. Modern games have a lot of lights

Turn down texture and shadow quality, watch your GPU RAM usage drop right off.

Show threadAsakoJun 30, 2023

Don't expect to play everything maxed out

Nah, my aim has always been smooth/high framerates over "ultra" settings so I don't have worries aboht that sort of thing.

shadow maps

This I didn't know, I thought that textures were the main thing that really made GPUs choke nowadays, given how devs are obsessed with things like 8K textures and whatnot.

Still, good to see that I didn't buy an useless card for today's gaming, or at least I think so, I run Gundam Battle Operation 2 perfectly fine and stable so far.

Show threadPetrusHydeJun 30, 2023
I guess it depends on what kind of games they're gonna play, too. I think for Indies, non triple-A and older games this PC will do just fine. The thing with PC gaming nowadays is that there are so many choices, not everything is triple-A cutting edge games.
Show threadcomic_zalgo_sansJun 30, 2023
It really depends what they're playing. For older games it's more likely to be fine, but including "nowadays" in the question would make me think about modern games and that means you'll need to check requirements. Not every recent game will work or won't be pleasant even if it can, but as PC gaming is so broad there's a lot that will.