8gb vs 4gb vram

[kdfresh09]

hello. im gaming on a 1440p 60hz monitor. i play games like crysis3, cod advanced warfare, grid 2, farcry4, wolfenstien ect ect....i like to play, of course, with settings maxed out, and with as much aa as possible. im in need of a graphics card, and im stuck on what to get. do i go for

-AMD R9 290X 8gb powercolor pcs+
or
-nvidia gtx 970 4gb gigabyte g1 gaming
or
-do i i wait and see if nvidia comes out with 8gb cards (although ive read that it wont be till next year before we see these cards)
i am debating if 4gb is enough for current and future games at 1440p, with aa on. i sold my 2 x gtx 670's that had 4gb vram each, and noticed that in a couple games i played i was tipping the 4gb vram to 3.7gb used. so im not sure if i should just go with the 8gb 290x, or if the 970 4gb will be enough for about 1.5 years

 

[tylerjrb]

For the price of an r9 290x 8gb might as well get a gtx 980. Which even with its 4gb still outperforms the r9 290x even with 8gb VRAM. 4gb is good enough.

 

[kdfresh09]

yeah, i think 4gb would be enough for this year, but thats about it. maybe i could get a 4gb now, and then sell it and get something with 8gb when they come out. or shoudl i just stilll wait till the 22nd when the 960 comes out, and hope that prices will come down a little on the 970 and 980. also, any word on when the new amd cards will be released?

plus, a 980 is $120 more still than that r9 290x with 8gb, and my budget doesnt stretch that far. max budget would be $450, but honostly, id like to keep it at about $300 - $400.

 

[beers]

I take it you meant 970 instead of 670?

I'd just go 8 GB if you were going to crossfire. Otherwise it shouldn't make a difference at those settings with a single card.

 

[kdfresh09]

^^^that makes no sence. people said the same thing about the 4gb gtx 670 i had, and it uses the 4gb no problem when gaming. i can see creation content where your view would be valid, but its not the same as gaming. the 8gb of vram will be utilized up to 8gb, depending on the games textures, and the gpu itself will have no problem pulling the data drom the vram to draw the picture on the screen

 

[beers]

Shrug, do whatever you want then. At least you didn't use the term 'cents'..

For next gen gaming you could have the option of just picking up another card cheaply for more performance instead of being limited by VRAM and having to abandon the 'platform' entirely for a new card or set of cards.

 

[tylerjrb]

Out of the gtx 970 or r9 290x I'd get the 290x it's slightly more powerful and has the 8gb vs 4gb. Just make sure to get one with a decent cooler like the sapphire versions or it may self combust .

 

[kdfresh09]

i was looking at the powercolor pcs+ from newegg. r9290x 8gb for $436
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131608

 

[lemon07r]

The 970 is better IMO. Its a beastly overclocker. I'm over clocked to 1550mhz on stock voltage lol. Well easily outperform a r9 290x even if overclocked. Its a lot quieter too. And you get full dirextx 12 support when it comes out. Idk about the r9 290x but if I remember right it only gets partial support. And 4gb is more then enough IMO. It won't be until a couple years until u need more then that. I've only seen games need more then 2gb when played at 4k lol

 

[kdfresh09]

like i said i play games at 1440p and vram usage exceeds 3.7gb with msaa or any sort of aa turned up past 2x during crysis 3, shadow of mordor, and call of duty advanced warfare to name a few, so i disagree that 4gb will be enough for 2 more years. its beginning to not be enough now. as far as the gtx970, ive read everywhere that it has bandwidth issues once vram reachs around 3.5gb. anythng past that and the bandwidth dips to 1/25 of its proper perfromance. will have to wait till nvidia comes back with a sloution, and could turn into a recall. nvidia said they are looking into the problem and will let us know when they figure it out basicaly, so for now, a gtx 970 is off the list.