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GTX690 - enough VRAM?

W

wellspear

n00b
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
10
I have been thinking about this question a lot recently, and while I've read tens of different posts about this question, there are equally many opinions on this.

I plan to build a new computer, with either a GTX 690 or 2x GTX680's in SLI. I want to play all games in 2560x1440, in ultra with 4xAA, and 60fps+.

I've heard that todays games don't need more than 2GB for maxing them out completely with 4xAA on ultra (BF3, Crysis 2 etc), but I want the machine to be able to play future games with those settings.

Now I have 2 questions that I want someone who KNOWS to answer:

1. Is 2GB VRAM enough to run TODAYS games in 1440p, ultra, and 4xAA, at 60fps?
2. When new games come out, that are more demanding, do you think that the GPU power will be the limit, or the VRAM? For example, say that I get 2x680's 4GB in SLI now, will they run games in a year or more smoother than a GTX 690?


Thanks!
 
Yes to 1. I run 2 670s lightly OC'd at 2560x1600 and I play bf3 at ultra with 4xMSAA and average about 70fps. I think I might have disabled FXAA, not sure I'll check in a sec. I haven't played any other games in a few months now but nothing is as difficult as bf3 imo.

2 is hard to say, we don't know the specs needed for engines like unreal engine 4 coming out soon. With technologies like TXAA www. ge-force.com /landing-page/txaa (url is banned here due to hack i think) coming out we may not need much more vram in the future.

gflgs has an important point re: cpu. With physics and cpu shader effects getting exponentially more complex, a powerful cpu is necessary to maintain good fps in games like bf3. You definitely want an OC'd sandy bridge or better to get the full use out of the GPUs.

EDIT: yup fxaa disabled, here's a pic of my settings: http://i.imgur.com/9uCaV.jpg
 
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4GB is enough for 3x1440p in any game or benchmark I tried so far, including maxed out Heaven (3,500MB VRAM usage at 8064x1440).
 
The answer to #1 is, yes, 2GB is enough.

The answer to #2 is, who knows what tomorrow's games will bring. But with the overwhelming majority of gamers having 2GB or less of VRAM, I'd say it is unlikely that any games that come out in the usable lifespan of a GTX 690 are going to really need more than 2GB of VRAM on a single monitor.
 
gflgs said:
Another question is; is your CPU future-proof as well?
Click to expand...

I have not decided which CPU to buy. The choice is between 2 CPU's: either a 3770K or a 3930K. I mean, for gaming the 3770K is supposedly more than enough, but I do want the CPU to perhaps be viable to use in the next PC build too. So next time I decide to upgrade the PC, maybe I will only upgrade to GPU, and let the other components be there.

What do you guys think? Is the 3930K more future proof, even though it's based on SB? I mean, it does have the socket 2011 with better SLI support etc, but I dont know.
 
Its more about bandwidth and membus than the GB but I dont foresee any games coming out that needs more than Bf3 and such.,
 
wellspear said:
I have not decided which CPU to buy. The choice is between 2 CPU's: either a 3770K or a 3930K. I mean, for gaming the 3770K is supposedly more than enough, but I do want the CPU to perhaps be viable to use in the next PC build too. So next time I decide to upgrade the PC, maybe I will only upgrade to GPU, and let the other components be there.

What do you guys think? Is the 3930K more future proof, even though it's based on SB? I mean, it does have the socket 2011 with better SLI support etc, but I dont know.
Click to expand...

SB-E blech. Go with the 3770K.
 
featsdontfailme said:
Have you considered using two HD 7970s or purchasing an HD 7990?

They have 3 GB of VRAM.:D
Click to expand...

I have considered them, but after reading all the reviews, they are pretty much out of the question. The 600-series excel by far in terms of game smoothness (less micro stuttering), and also perform better in almost all games. So it's either the 2GB effective VRAM 690 or 2x680's with 4GB effective which I'm considering.
 
wellspear said:
I have considered them, but after reading all the reviews, they are pretty much out of the question. The 600-series excel by far in terms of game smoothness (less micro stuttering), and also perform better in almost all games. So it's either the 2GB effective VRAM 690 or 2x680's with 4GB effective which I'm considering.
Click to expand...

All the reviews out there are with older drivers; the 7900 series have vastly improved with the latest set of drivers.
Plus with the price drop, I honestly think the 7970's (non ref) are a better buy than the 680 series.
 
Eluder79 said:
All the reviews out there are with older drivers; the 7900 series have vastly improved with the latest set of drivers.
Plus with the price drop, I honestly think the 7970's (non ref) are a better buy than the 680 series.
Click to expand...

Can you provide some newer benchmarks perhaps, where the difference you talk about is noticeable?
 
I don't believe there are any reviews as of yet, but from my experience, there's been a big change since the launch of the cards in terms of the drivers, both stability and performance.
 
At 2560x1440, 2GB is enough for today's games. If you are modding games then it may not be. Mass Effect 3 isn't very demanding, but I'm hitting 3GB of VRAM usage with it and the 80 some odd texture mods I've got for it. So the real answer is: It depends As for tomorrow's games, it depends. For the immediate console port laiden future, yeah it should suffice most of the time. But for how long is anyone's guess.
 
wellspear said:
What happends when the GPU dosent have enough VRAM? Huge fps difference?
Click to expand...

When a GPU doesnt have enough VRAM you have to wait for it to recache everything... So basically your framerate can go from 60 to 2 for a few seconds then back up to 60.

I personally only had it happens to me once... with gtx 470 highly oced in SLI in skyrim with way too many mods. The cards were fast enough the game + mods but the vram couldnt keep up with it.

I run the same stuff with my gtx 670 and it's fine.
 
Dan_D said:
At 2560x1440, 2GB is enough for today's games. If you are modding games then it may not be. Mass Effect 3 isn't very demanding, but I'm hitting 3GB of VRAM usage with it and the 80 some odd texture mods I've got for it. So the real answer is: It depends As for tomorrow's games, it depends. For the immediate console port laiden future, yeah it should suffice most of the time. But for how long is anyone's guess.
Click to expand...

He Dan, what mods are you using? I play ME3 MP a ton.

P.S. Sorry about the thread jack.
 
The 7970 got alot better after the 12.5 driver for me, both the 12.5/12.6 and 12.7 is working very good in BF3. i run two 7970 @ 1150/1600 and a 3930k @ 4.7Ghz, and i cant notice any microstutter.

But, the 600 series is suppose the be smoother and a bit stronger in BF3, so its up to you, if i would have choosen today, i think i would go for two 670's or 680's.
 
wellspear said:
What happends when the GPU dosent have enough VRAM? Huge fps difference?
Click to expand...

Normally you can easily fix the problem by just reducing the amount of MSAA you are using. The only time you are going to run into problems with a single monitor are with MSAA on. With something like FSAA you'd be fine.
 
Vegas P11 said:
He Dan, what mods are you using? I play ME3 MP a ton.

P.S. Sorry about the thread jack.
Click to expand...

I've not only used a ton of mods, I've made a ton for the game. There are a few of us in one thread on the BioWare forums which have pretty much retextured at least 75% of the game at this point. In multiplayer I usually use mods which improve the textures in the maps as well as the weapons. I don't normally load the single player character / NPC textures if I am not going to be using them.

1-8.jpg

M-98Widow2.jpg

I retextured this armor, and all the weapons in the shot.

I redid the Graal Spike Thrower as well.

Comparison-1.jpg


Shot of the MP Cobra missile Launcher I redid:

HydraMissile.jpg


Mods I've personally made:

Armor + Squad mate outfits
N7 Defender Armor
Collector Armor
Liara Alternate Armor
Liara "From Ashes DLC" Armor
Ashley Williams "Default Armor"
Recon Hood

Weapons
M-55 Argus
M-3 Predator
M-11 Wraith
M-96 Mattock
M-98 Widow
Black Widow
M-77 Paladin

Because someone asked:
Diana Allers + Camera Rig

I've also assisted in other mods for the games and tested a ton of them. Some others I've put out are adjustments to the mods done by others. I also have a few more I'm working on.
 
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wellspear said:
I have considered them, but after reading all the reviews, they are pretty much out of the question. The 600-series excel by far in terms of game smoothness (less micro stuttering), and also perform better in almost all games. So it's either the 2GB effective VRAM 690 or 2x680's with 4GB effective which I'm considering.
Click to expand...

The cards actually trade back and forth, depending on the game.
I have a system with two 670s and one with two 7970s.
Quite honestly, with the 12.4 drivers and latest CAPs, there is no difference in EyeFinity vs Surround.
I have the 670s OC to match 680 speeds and the 7970s run at 1125/1500.

The platforms are nearly identical, save for system Ram. One is an X58 one is an X79.:D
 
i can tell you is this, 690 will have enough horsepower to run BF4 nice and smooth when it comes out in 2014 or the early Beta in 2013 but i can tell you right now that Vram will be an issue at the res you will be playing with 4xmsaa.

if you are not looking to upgrade until way down the road i suggest geting 2x 680's with 4gb of Vram.
 
The thing I'm taking into consideration when choosing between the 690 and the 2 680's 4GB, is that when you reach the point where VRAM is not enough, do you still think that the equally performing 680's will be able to handle the 4xAA? Because if they cannot, the solution would be to adjust the AA to perhaps 2x or even some FXAA instead - which the 690 would perhaps be able to handle, if you know what I mean.

What do you guys think about that?
 
TroyX said:
i can tell you is this, 690 will have enough horsepower to run BF4 nice and smooth when it comes out in 2014 or the early Beta in 2013 but i can tell you right now that Vram will be an issue at the res you will be playing with 4xmsaa.

if you are not looking to upgrade until way down the road i suggest geting 2x 680's with 4gb of Vram.
Click to expand...

How do you know that when there are zero details about BF4?

We can guess that it will be using the Frostbite 2 engine, like BF3, if the timeline is anywhere near 2013, potentially some some minor improvements as they will likely target the next generation consoles as a launch title (December 2013).
 
grambo said:
How do you know that when there are zero details about BF4?

We can guess that it will be using the Frostbite 2 engine, like BF3, if the timeline is anywhere near 2013, potentially some some minor improvements as they will likely target the next generation consoles as a launch title (December 2013).
Click to expand...

There is no way BF4 will be using the same engine. It will likely be something like Frostbite 2.5, similar to how BFBC2 used Frostbite 1.5 versus 1.0 for BF2
 
cesium666 said:
There is no way BF4 will be using the same engine. It will likely be something like Frostbite 2.5, similar to how BFBC2 used Frostbite 1.5 versus 1.0 for BF2
Click to expand...

Pretty sure they've already stated that it's using the same engine, which makes sense since they haven't finished maxing out Frostbite 2 with BF3.
 
I would also say go with 7970's. When they are clocked to 1125/1575which they will all hit easily, plus on the latest drivers, they are a better buy IMO than the 680's.
 
extide said:
I would also say go with 7970's. When they are clocked to 1125/1575which they will all hit easily, plus on the latest drivers, they are a better buy IMO than the 680's.
Click to expand...

I don't want to hate on AMD, but I'll be waiting for [H] to review them with the newer drivers. They made pretty stark comments about the smoothness of BF3 with Crossfire. My experience with a pair of HD6950s mirrors theirs.
 
IMHO Sony and Microsoft will decide if 3-4GB per card is a good buy. At some point they'll release new consoles. There are some rumors that it might happen this year, or it might be several years. If one of them releases a console that can use >2GB of textures this year 3-4GB cards will be a good buy. A Console with >2GB vram & presumably lots of system ram (or a unified memory setup like the XBox360) means a lot of those those sloppy, half-assed Console ports will suddenly go 64-bit only and you'll need more than 2GB vram to run with the same texture quality the console uses.

Personally I hope this happens soon, since I'd like to see 64-bit games start coming out. We've been sort of stalled out the last few years on detail, and a big part of the reason is that game devs just can't let go of XP. A 4GB console will force them to go 64-bit or make major changes between PC and console versions.
 
Personally, I would go with the 2 x 680 SLI over the single GTX 690, but, that's just me. The X79 chips have far greater bandwidth than any others but the systems don't seem as stable as the 1155 socket based systems.

Resale of the 2 x 680s will bring you more than trying to sell 1 x $1000 card
 
MaadDaawg said:
Personally, I would go with the 2 x 680 SLI over the single GTX 690, but, that's just me. The X79 chips have far greater bandwidth than any others but the systems don't seem as stable as the 1155 socket based systems.

Resale of the 2 x 680s will bring you more than trying to sell 1 x $1000 card
Click to expand...

X79 is perfectly stable. I fold 24/7 on my 3930k at 4.8Ghz, and it is solid, and fast.
 
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