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VRAM has been a debated topic in the gaming industry for decades. Initial graphics cards from the early 1990s packed just a couple of megabytes of video memory. Fast forward to 2023, companies like Nvidia have launched industry-grade graphics cards with 48 GB of memory. Consumer graphics cards, however, haven't gone above 24 GB yet.
The only GPUs with over 20 GB of memory are the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, the Nvidia RTX 3090, and the RTX 4090. At the low-end, graphics cards with 4 GB are also available on the market.
Thus, the burning question is how much graphics memory is ideal. Is 6 GB enough in 2023, or do you need to look at options that bundle more memory? This article will try to answer the very question.
Choosing the ideal amount of VRAM can be a very daunting process
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Before diving further into the article, let's analyze the various options in the market. We will only consider the GTX 16, RTX 30, and 40-series video cards from Nvidia and the AMD Radeon RX 6000 and 7000 series options. Older models have already been discontinued, as some are too weak to play the latest video games.
Entry-level cards like the GTX 1650, the RX 6400, and the RX 6500 XT pack just 4 GB of VRAM.
Moving a step higher, we have the GTX 1660 series, the RTX 3060M, and the RX, which packs 6 GB of memory.
There are an awful number of video cards with 8 GB of VRAM in the market. Starting from the RTX 3060 Ti to the RX 6600 and RTX 3070 lineup, multiple graphics units launched around three years ago pack no more than eight 1 GB memory chips.
There are a similar number of cards with 12 GB of video memory. In the mid-range, we have the RX 6700 series and the RTX 3060. Some high-end cards, like the RTX 3080 and 4070 lineup, also pack a similar memory buffer.
16 GB of video memory isn't a very popular option — only a handful of cards, including the RX 6800 and the RX 6900 XT series from AMD, and the Nvidia RTX 4080, rock eight 2 GB memory modules. As mentioned before, 24 GB can only be found in the flagship options.
In addition to this, there are some video cards with rather unusual memory configurations. The RTX 3080 and the RX 6700 can be bought with 10 GB of VRAM, and the latest RX 7900 XT comes with 20 GB of memory.
Why do we need video memory?
Before we can draw a logical conclusion as to how much VRAM we need, it is important to understand why we need it in the first place and how it differs from traditional memory.
Most modern video cards pack either GDDR6 or GDDR6X memory. These standards are based on DDR4 memory but pack certain differences that make them ideal for carrying out rendering workloads.
With 4K gaming slowly becoming the norm, game developers are bundling the latest games with detailed 16K textures that ensure realistic environments at high resolution This results in large file sizes.
While playing these games, these textures must be simultaneously loaded into the memory to ensure smooth communication between the graphics card and the rest of the system. Thus, the need for larger VRAM sizes rises. This is also why older games tend to use much less video memory than the latest titles on the market.
The ideal VRAM size for 2023
The most popular resolutions for gaming are 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. We will focus on these three standards for the sake of this article.
Full HD gaming
FHD has been around for over a decade, and the last-gen PS4 and Xbox One consoles were designed to handle games at the resolution. It has been established that one doesn't need more than 6 GB of VRAM to play video games at the resolution. This is primarily the reason why the RTX 2060 and 2060 Super GPUs pack 6 GB of memory.
1440p gaming
1440p gaming requires a ton of more resources than 1080p. Until last year, 8 GB of memory was generally enough to play the latest titles at the resolution. However, the standard is quickly falling out of fashion. With the latest games taking realism to new highs, 12 GB is the new norm for QHD gaming.
4K gaming
4K is way more intense than the other two resolutions. At the bare minimum, we would recommend a card with 12 GB of VRAM for the resolution. However, one should look at 12 GB models from the latest Ada Lovelace or RX 7000 series cards. While purchasing a last-gen card, at least 16 GB of VRAM is required to ensure smooth performance at UHD.
The latest video cards from Nvidia and AMD pack adequate video memory to ensure smooth gaming. However, the issue primarily arises while purchasing slightly older graphics cards. Some video cards like the RTX 3050, the RTX 3060, and the RX 6800 series have been adequately futureproofed regarding memory size. Thus, these cards remain our top recommendations.
