{"id":11119,"date":"2021-04-10T18:37:45","date_gmt":"2021-04-10T16:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/g100.us\/?p=11119"},"modified":"2022-05-09T11:32:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-09T09:32:25","slug":"how-much-vram-do-you-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/","title":{"rendered":"How much VRAM do you need? Professional and Gaming Workloads explored"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_39 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">TABLE OF CONTENTS<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6684473772ebc\" class=\"cssicon\"><span style=\"display: flex;align-items: center;width: 35px;height: 30px;justify-content: center;direction:ltr;\"><svg style=\"fill: #7f11e0;color:#7f11e0\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #7f11e0;color:#7f11e0\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\" \/><\/svg><\/span><\/label><label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6684473772ebc\" class=\"cssiconcheckbox\">1<\/label><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6684473772ebc\" checked><nav><ul class=\"ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 \"><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#How_much_VRAM_do_You_need_An_Overview\" title=\"How much VRAM do You need? An Overview.\">How much VRAM do You need? An Overview.<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#What_is_VRAM\" title=\"What is VRAM?\">What is VRAM?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#RAM_vs_VRAM_Whats_the_difference\" title=\"RAM vs. VRAM: What\u2019s the difference?\">RAM vs. VRAM: What\u2019s the difference?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#Types_of_VRAM\" title=\"Types of VRAM:\">Types of VRAM:<\/a><ul class=\"ez-toc-list-level-3\"><li class=\"ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#GDDR\" title=\"GDDR\">GDDR<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#HBM\" title=\"HBM\">HBM<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#Understanding_the_memory_bus_and_bandwidth\" title=\"Understanding the memory bus and bandwidth\">Understanding the memory bus and bandwidth<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#What_actually_usesfills_up_my_VRAM\" title=\"What actually uses\/fills up my VRAM?\">What actually uses\/fills up my VRAM?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#Does_more_VRAM_improve_my_performance\" title=\"Does more VRAM improve my performance?\">Does more VRAM improve my performance?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#VRAM_usage_across_workloads\" title=\"VRAM usage across workloads:\">VRAM usage across workloads:<\/a><ul class=\"ez-toc-list-level-3\"><li class=\"ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#3D_Modeling_Animation_and_CPU_GPU_Rendering\" title=\"3D Modeling, Animation, and CPU \/ GPU Rendering\">3D Modeling, Animation, and CPU \/ GPU Rendering<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#Video_Editing_Motion_Design_Compositing\" title=\"Video Editing, Motion Design, Compositing\">Video Editing, Motion Design, Compositing<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#Graphic_Design\" title=\"Graphic Design\">Graphic Design<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#Gaming\" title=\"Gaming\">Gaming<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-15\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#Multi-GPU_VRAM_utilization_explained_Are_they_worth_more_than_one_GPU\" title=\"Multi-GPU VRAM utilization explained: Are they worth more than one GPU?\">Multi-GPU VRAM utilization explained: Are they worth more than one GPU?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-16\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#FAQs\" title=\"FAQs\">FAQs<\/a><ul class=\"ez-toc-list-level-3\"><li class=\"ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-17\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#Is_more_VRAM_better_for_rendering\" title=\"Is more VRAM better for rendering?\">Is more VRAM better for rendering?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-18\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#What_happens_if_you_run_out_of_VRAM\" title=\"What happens if you run out of VRAM?\">What happens if you run out of VRAM?<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-19\" href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-vram-do-you-need\/#Can_VRAM_be_increased\" title=\"Can VRAM be increased?\">Can VRAM be increased?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>Raw clock speeds and processing cores are not the only factors to consider when picking a graphics card.<\/p>\n<p>Ensuring your GPU has access to sufficient VRAM (video memory) for your workloads is equally important.<\/p>\n<p>Hitting the sweet spot will allow you to get both the most performance out of your workloads without spending too much on VRAM capacity that you might not need.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Moreover, as your professional projects\u2019 and modern video games\u2019 VRAM demand will continue to grow in the years to come, you can save yourself the need to upgrade your GPU in the near future when choosing a Graphics Card with ample VRAM now.<\/p>\n<p>As is often the case, the VRAM requirements, too, depend on what you plan on using your graphics card for.<\/p>\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/best-gpu-for-editing-rendering\/\">building a PC for tasks such as video editing<\/a>, the VRAM requirements of your graphics card can vary depending on the software used as well as your project complexity, making it necessary to identify the best amount of VRAM for <em>your particular workloads<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>To help you decide, we'll be going through the VRAM requirements of popular creative workloads in this guide.<\/p>\n<p>Because VRAM also has a significant impact on gaming performance, we will give a high-level overview of what to look out for in gaming as well.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_much_VRAM_do_You_need_An_Overview\"><\/span>How much VRAM do You need? An Overview.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>For those of you just looking for some quick numbers, here\u2019s our VRAM capacity requirements summary table for different popular workloads.<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to continue reading for in-depth info on how we came about these numbers.<br>\n\n<\/p><table id=\"tablepress-101\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-101 tablepress-responsive\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1 odd\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Workload<\/th><th class=\"column-2\"> <\/th><th class=\"column-3\"> <\/th><th class=\"column-4\">Recommended VRAM<\/th><th class=\"column-5\"> <\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\"><\/td><td class=\"column-2\"><\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Low<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Medium<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">High<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">3D Modeling, Animation, and CPU \/ GPU Rendering<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Modelling and Animation (Active Workloads)<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">6 - 8GB GDDR6<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">8 - 10GB GDDR6\/6X<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">10+GB GDDR6\/6X<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\"><\/td><td class=\"column-2\">CPU Rendering (Passive Workloads)<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">6 - 8GB GDDR6\/6X<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">6 - 8 GB GDDR6\/6X<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">6 - 8GB GDDR6\/6X<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-5 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\"><\/td><td class=\"column-2\">GPU Rendering (Passive Workloads)<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">6 - 8GB GDDR6\/6X<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">8 - 16GB GDDR6\/6X<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">24+GB GDDR6\/6X\/HBM2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-6 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Video Editing, Motion Design, Compositing<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">General Video Editing<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">4 - 6GB GDDR6\/5X\/5<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">6 - 8GB GDDR6\/5X\/5<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">6 - 8GB GDDR6\/5X\/5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-7 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\"><\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Video Editing with heavy GPU support, e.g., Davinci Resolve<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">6 - 8GB GDDR6\/5X\/5<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">8 - 16GB GDDR6<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">16 - 24 GB GDDR6\/6X<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-8 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\"><\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Motion Design and Composting<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">6 - 8GB GDDR6\/5X\/5<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">8 - 10GB GDDR6<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">10 - 24 GB GDDR6\/6X<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-9 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Graphic Design<\/td><td class=\"column-2\"><\/td><td class=\"column-3\">4 - 6GB GDDR6\/5X\/5<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">4 - 6GB GDDR6\/5X\/5<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">6 - 8GB GDDR6\/5X\/5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-10 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Gaming<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">1080p<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">4 - 6GB GDDR6\/5X\/5<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">4 - 6GB GDDR6\/5X\/5<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">4 - 6GB GDDR6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-11 odd\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\"><\/td><td class=\"column-2\">1440p<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">6 - 8GB GDDR6\/5X\/5<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">6 - 8GB GDDR6\/5X\/5<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">6 - 8GB GDDR6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-12 even\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\"><\/td><td class=\"column-2\">4K<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">6 - 8GB GDDR6<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">8 - 10GB GDDR6\/6X<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">10+GB GDDR6\/6X<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<!-- #tablepress-101 from cache -->\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_VRAM\"><\/span>What is VRAM?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The abbreviation <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Video_Random_Access_Memory\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>VRAM<\/strong><\/a> stands for <em>Video Random Access Memory<\/em> and serves as fast, temporary storage for the graphics processor on your graphics card.<\/p>\n<p>Before the GPU can process a single frame or specific scene, the VRAM holds the textures, models, geometries, and lighting maps at the ready, that the graphics processor then uses to render that particular frame.<\/p>\n<p>After the rendering is complete, the graphics card stores the result in the VRAM as a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Framebuffer\" target=\"_blank\">framebuffer<\/a>, which is then sent to a video display to output the final image on your monitor.<\/p>\n<p>When we talk about rendering, this really just means processing (maths) of graphical computations that have a visual end-result when put together.<\/p>\n<p>So the GPU is really just doing a bunch of calculations with data the VRAM holds.<\/p>\n<p>A simplified example: To render (create) a visual image in a PC-Game or a 3D-Rendering Software that can then be displayed on the monitor, here\u2019s basically what happens:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The scene Data (Textures, Polygons, Animations, Lights..) is loaded from your Mass Storage into your GPU\u2019s VRAM.<\/li>\n<li>The GPU shoots rays through each pixel<\/li>\n<li>When a ray hits a surface, the GPU looks up what polygons, lights, textures are associated with that pixel. This Data is found in the VRAM.<\/li>\n<li>When the GPU is done checking all pixels for that frame, the frame is finished and can be stored back into VRAM again<\/li>\n<li>The finished frame is displayed on the Monitor (or saved onto disk)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"RAM_vs_VRAM_Whats_the_difference\"><\/span>RAM vs. VRAM: What\u2019s the difference?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/how-much-ram-do-you-need\/\">system memory or RAM<\/a> is an extremely fast, temporary storage in your computer that enables the processor (CPU) to quickly access data needed for processing your workloads. System RAM can be easily upgraded or swapped with different modules.<\/p>\n<p>VRAM is fast RAM that the graphics card processor exclusively uses for tasks like rendering scenes and driving displays.<\/p>\n<p>VRAM is soldered directly onto the graphics card and this proximity to the graphics processor means it can access information from it much faster than it could from the system RAM or attached storage devices.<\/p>\n<p>Because VRAM is soldered onto the GPU\u2019s PCB, it can\u2019t be upgraded or swapped with other modules.<\/p>\n<p>So why does VRAM have to be soldered onto the GPU? Can't we just create a GPU VRAM Socket where we can swap Ram Modules, like it is done with System RAM on the Motherboard?<\/p>\n<p>The reason this is not possible is, that VRAM is a lot faster than System RAM and a GPU Core does not have the level of Caches (L1, L2, L3) that a CPU has. Put together, this means for the GPU to be able to access the VRAM as fast as possible, and for signal integrity reasons, the VRAM has to be soldered onto the GPU.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Types_of_VRAM\"><\/span>Types of VRAM:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There are two types of VRAM that are used on most graphics cards today: GDDR or HBM.<\/p>\n<p>Both GDDR and HBM have undergone several changes over the years, with each new generation bringing improvements in areas like scaled-down node processing technology, memory bandwidth, transistor count, allowing manufacturers to add faster and more processing cores to graphics cards.<\/p>\n<p>Smaller nodes mean you can add more transistors onto VRAM while keeping its size the same. This means higher VRAM capacities at the same size and at lower power consumption.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"GDDR\"><\/span>GDDR<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/GDDR_SDRAM\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>GDDR<\/strong><\/a> or Graphics Double Data Rate has long been the VRAM of choice for the graphics card industry, thanks to its similarity to DDR System memory, making it easier and cheaper to manufacture.<\/p>\n<p>Featuring six major and two minor revisions, GDDR saw massive improvements in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bit_rate\" target=\"_blank\">transfer rates<\/a> (the amount of data that can be sent or received per second) from the fifth generation onwards, with GDDR6 having double the transfer rate of GDDR5.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11121\" style=\"width: 838px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11121\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11121\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image.png\" alt=\"GDDR VRAM Memory Clocks and Transfer rates\" width=\"838\" height=\"252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image.png 838w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-300x90.png 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-768x231.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 838px) 100vw, 838px\"><\/noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11121\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11121 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20838%20252%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"GDDR VRAM Memory Clocks and Transfer rates\" width=\"838\" height=\"252\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20838%20252%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 838w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 838px) 100vw, 838px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image.png 838w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-300x90.png 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-768x231.png 768w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image.png\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-11121\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image-Source: Wikipedia<\/p><\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"HBM\"><\/span>HBM<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/High_Bandwidth_Memory\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>HBM<\/strong><\/a> or <em>High Bandwidth Memory<\/em> is a type of VRAM that employs stacked memory chips to achieve a smaller form factor than comparable GDDR memory.<\/p>\n<p>HBM is also more power-efficient, thanks to the wide memory bus that helps it transfer data at lower clock speeds.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11122\" style=\"width: 1260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11122\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-with-border wp-image-11122\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1.jpg\" alt=\"Memory location on GDDR5 vs HBM\" width=\"1260\" height=\"709\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-825x464.jpg 825w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-594x335.jpg 594w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-420x236.jpg 420w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px\"><\/noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11122\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-with-border wp-image-11122 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%201260%20709%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Memory location on GDDR5 vs HBM\" width=\"1260\" height=\"709\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%201260%20709%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 1260w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-825x464.jpg 825w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-594x335.jpg 594w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-420x236.jpg 420w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1.jpg\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-11122\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image-Source: graphicscardhub<\/p><\/div>\n<p>However, with HBM memory modules being more expensive to manufacture, the memory is rarely employed in consumer GPUs, with AMD's Vega series being the only consumer graphics card to utilize it.<\/p>\n<p><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-with-border alignnone wp-image-11123\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1.png\" alt=\"HBM Graphics Memory Transfer Rate\" width=\"613\" height=\"285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1.png 613w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-300x139.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 613px) 100vw, 613px\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-with-border alignnone wp-image-11123 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20613%20285%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"HBM Graphics Memory Transfer Rate\" width=\"613\" height=\"285\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20613%20285%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 613w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 613px) 100vw, 613px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1.png 613w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1-300x139.png 300w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-1.png\"><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Understanding_the_memory_bus_and_bandwidth\"><\/span>Understanding the memory bus and bandwidth<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>While a sufficient amount of VRAM is crucial, your graphics card's performance will strongly depend on the graphics processor\u2019s <em>memory bandwidth<\/em>. The memory bandwidth depends on the type of memory used, memory bus width, memory clock, and cycles per clock.<\/p>\n<p>To make it easier to understand, you can imagine a line at the ticket counter. The <strong>memory bandwidth<\/strong> of the GPU is similar to the number of people that get their tickets in a fixed unit of time, say, a minute.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>memory bus width<\/strong> here is the total number of ticket counters available, so the more, the better, whereas the <strong>memory clock<\/strong> can be thought of as the time taken by the cashier to print a single ticket, which remains fixed in our case.<\/p>\n<p>The VRAM is typically split into several memory modules in a graphics card, each having the same capacity. Each memory module will have a fixed number of lanes to the graphics processor.<\/p>\n<p>A lane is a trace on the graphics card PCB, with each one capable of transferring data simultaneously in both directions.<\/p>\n<p>So, if we take the example of the RTX 3080 with a 320-bit bus, we can calculate from the 10GB of GDDR6X VRAM that with each module having a capacity of 1GB, each will have 32 lanes to the graphics processor.<\/p>\n<p>Comparing this to the 192-bit bus of the RTX 3060 with <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/gddr5-vs-gddr6-whats-the-difference\/\">12GB of GDDR6 memory<\/a>, we see each 1GB module being allocated only 16 lanes, which serves as a reminder that more VRAM may not always be better.<\/p>\n<p>The memory bus width is the total number of lanes from the processor to all the memory modules over which the memory can transfer the data.<\/p>\n<p>Higher performing cards usually employ a wider bus to achieve a higher memory bandwidth.<\/p>\n<p>The memory clock is another crucial factor at play while calculating the memory bandwidth. Having a higher memory clock increases the bandwidth and can compensate for a smaller memory bus in graphics cards.<\/p>\n<p>Simplified, the math would look something like this:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Memory Bandwidth = Memory Bus Width x Memory Clock Speed<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The bandwidth will limit how much of the memory your graphics card will utilize when under heavy loads.<\/p>\n<p>Remember that a higher memory bandwidth might not always guarantee increased performance since the GPU's processing power to handle the data from the VRAM must also be considered.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_actually_usesfills_up_my_VRAM\"><\/span>What actually uses\/fills up my VRAM?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The frame buffer that is used for Monitor-display occupies a tiny amount of the graphic card's memory, with a 4K HDR image occupying around 50MB of VRAM.<\/p>\n<p>This low consumption is why graphics cards whose only purpose is to drive displays don\u2019t need large amounts of VRAM. (Workloads such as Word-Processing or simple Browsing)<\/p>\n<p>However, when a graphics card needs to render frames for visually demanding tasks, it requires several <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Data_buffer\" target=\"_blank\">data buffers<\/a> that would cover the scene's texture, lighting, shadows, geometry, among others, which will quickly fill up the GPU\u2019s available VRAM.<\/p>\n<p>Add to this features like Ray Tracing, Anti-Aliasing, complex texture maps, and you will need a considerable amount of VRAM. Working with higher resolutions will also scale up the VRAM requirements.<\/p>\n<p>To summarize: Anything that the GPU needs for processing goes into the VRAM.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on your workloads this can be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Data Buffers, Frame Buffers<\/li>\n<li>Textures, Videos (Image-Sequences)<\/li>\n<li>Polygons, Meshes, Geometry<\/li>\n<li>Lights, Light Caches<\/li>\n<li>Ray-Trees<\/li>\n<li>Depth Maps, UV Maps<\/li>\n<li>Databases<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Does_more_VRAM_improve_my_performance\"><\/span>Does more VRAM improve my performance?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>So, does increasing VRAM enable a graphics card to render scenes faster? The short answer is yes, but only if you had too little, to begin with.<\/p>\n<p>Your graphics card utilizes VRAM the same way your processor uses the system memory.<\/p>\n<p>When your PC runs out of system memory, the additional data is written to a page file that resides on your SSD or hard disk, which is much slower than the system memory, causing your system to become sluggish and prone to frequent crashes,<\/p>\n<p>The same is true with VRAM, with the difference being that the data is offloaded into the system memory. Due to the System RAM\u2019s distance from the graphics processor, and the many connections and smaller busses it has to traverse to do so, it is much slower for the GPU to access, and this often leads to instability and slowdowns.<\/p>\n<p>In such scenarios increasing the VRAM can show a significant performance improvement since the data now can reside entirely in the graphics card's memory, making it easier for the graphics processor to access.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, increasing VRAM capacity is only possible by buying a new GPU (or by linking through NVLINK - more on this later).<\/p>\n<p>Although VRAM capacity is important, though, choosing a graphics card based only on VRAM capacity can bottleneck your performance in other ways as many lower-tier graphics cards like Nvidia\u2019s 12GB RTX 3060 marketing stunt makes the RTX 3060 look more attractive and powerful than even higher-tier GPUs with less VRAM. (which it isn\u2019t)<\/p>\n<p>Your best bet is to identify the VRAM <em>and <\/em>performance requirements for your workloads and choose a graphics card that fits your budget.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"VRAM_usage_across_workloads\"><\/span>VRAM usage across workloads:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>So, enough talk. Let\u2019s take a closer look at some popular workloads and their VRAM requirements.<\/p>\n<p>As mentioned before, selecting an excessive amount of VRAM might have no real-world performance benefits, while not having enough could lead to crashes and cripple your performance.<\/p>\n<p>We have combined similar workloads into popular categories based and take a look at their VRAM Requirements:<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3D_Modeling_Animation_and_CPU_GPU_Rendering\"><\/span>3D Modeling, Animation, and CPU \/ GPU Rendering<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Getting the most out of your GPU in 3D workloads today depends on whether your scene data, that is needed to render a frame, can fit easily into your GPU\u2019s video memory.<\/p>\n<p>If you run out of memory you will be forced to rely on system RAM, which is slower for graphical tasks.<\/p>\n<p>We've categorized usage according to active and passive 3D workloads:<\/p>\n<h4>Active workloads<\/h4>\n<p>For those <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/best-computer-3d-modeling-rendering\/\">building a PC for 3D Modeling<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/best-computer-for-animation\/\">Animation<\/a>, the graphics card plays a vital role in determining the <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/cinema-4d-viewport-performance-benchmark-scores\/\">framerate of your viewport<\/a> and how smooth your work will feel.<\/p>\n<p>The ideal viewport framerate should be at around 30-60 fps for a smooth experience that allows you to interact with your model without encountering lag.<\/p>\n<p>Since you will render frames in real-time, ensuring your graphics card is equipped with sufficient VRAM is essential.<\/p>\n<p>Based on your scene complexity, polygon count, texture display resolution, and viewport-effects, we recommend starting with at least a 6GB graphics card like the GTX 1660 Super, which hits the sweet spot for price and performance.<\/p>\n<p>If you plan on activating heavy viewport rendering features in <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/best-renderers-render-engines-for-blender\/\">Blender's Eevee<\/a> or Maya's Viewport 2.0, the added shader effects, SSAO, Depth of Field, Bloom, or real-time reflections will make it challenging to work on cards with less than 8GB of VRAM, especially if the scene is of a more complex nature.<\/p>\n<p>If this is you, look into buying at least an RTX 2060 Super or RTX 3060 Ti to be able to continue working with a responsive viewport.<\/p>\n<p>Working at higher resolutions will also lead to higher consumption of VRAM, and at this point, most lower-end 8GB cards will begin to reach their limits.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11124\" style=\"width: 680px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11124\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11124\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2.jpg\" alt=\"Blender Viewport FPS Performance Benchmark at 2K Resolution on different Graphics Cards\" width=\"680\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2.jpg 680w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-594x335.jpg 594w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-420x236.jpg 420w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\"><\/noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11124\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11124 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20680%20383%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Blender Viewport FPS Performance Benchmark at 2K Resolution on different Graphics Cards\" width=\"680\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20680%20383%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 680w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2.jpg 680w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-594x335.jpg 594w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-420x236.jpg 420w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2.jpg\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-11124\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image-Source: Techgage<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Keep in mind that, similar to gaming, the viewport load is shared between the CPU and GPU at lower resolutions, making the CPU the primary bottleneck.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11125\" style=\"width: 680px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11125\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11125\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-1.jpg\" alt=\"Blender Performance Benchmark in Viewport at 4K Resolution\" width=\"680\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-1.jpg 680w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-1-594x335.jpg 594w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-1-420x236.jpg 420w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\"><\/noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11125\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11125 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20680%20383%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Blender Performance Benchmark in Viewport at 4K Resolution\" width=\"680\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20680%20383%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 680w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-1.jpg 680w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-1-594x335.jpg 594w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-1-420x236.jpg 420w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-1.jpg\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-11125\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image-Source: Techgage<\/p><\/div>\n<p>So, <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/should-you-upgrade-cpu\/\">upgrading the CPU<\/a> can give you a significantly larger improvement over increasing the VRAM, especially if your scene already fits nicely into the video memory.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summary: VRAM requirements for active 3D workloads such as Modeling, Animation, Rigging, Texturing<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Baseline: A GPU with 6-8GB of VRAM (e.g. GTX 1660 Super)<\/li>\n<li>Moderate complexity scenes: A GPU with 8-10GB of VRAM (e.g. RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070)<\/li>\n<li>Highly complex scenes: A GPU with 10+GB of VRAM (e.g. RTX 2080Ti, RTX 3080)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Passive \/ rendering workloads<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/render-engine-hardware-compatibility-cpu-gpu-hybrid\/\">Offline Final-Render Engines<\/a> differ in their VRAM consumption from active workloads. We've categorized passive rendering into CPU and GPU-based rendering as both have their own set of hardware requirements.<\/p>\n<h5>CPU rendering:<\/h5>\n<p>Since <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/best-cpu-for-rendering\/\">CPU rendering<\/a> makes use of the processor\u2019s cores, there is little to no requirement of a graphics card, let alone one with large amounts of VRAM to ensure quick and bottleneck-free rendering performance.<\/p>\n<p>Focusing your budget on buying a CPU with as many cores as possible will ensure that you get the best performance in applications that use CPU-based 3D Render Engines like <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/vray-benchmark\/\">V-Ray<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/corona-renderer-benchmark-results\/\">Corona<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/best-cinema-4d-pc\/\">Cinema 4D\u2019s Physical Renderer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h5>GPU rendering:<\/h5>\n<p>While <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/best-hardware-for-gpu-rendering-in-octane-redshift-vray\/\">GPU rendering<\/a> is heavily dependent on your graphics card's processing power and compute capabilities, ensuring your project fits into the VRAM is essential for the graphics processor to operate at peak performance.<\/p>\n<p>Most GPU-rendering engines like Redshift, Octane, and V-Ray show significant improvements in render times with larger amounts of VRAM, especially with scenes that employ a large number of polygons, high-resolution textures, and complex (GI, Light Cache, Brute Force) lighting.<\/p>\n<p>For simple scenes with low poly models and small resolution textures, running a GPU with 6GB or even just 4GB of VRAM can be sufficient.<\/p>\n<p>If you plan on rendering a more complex scene with higher-resolution textures and many high-poly objects and cloners, we recommend buying a GPU with at least 8GB of VRAM to ensure the scene adequately fits into the graphics card memory and doesn\u2019t have to be offloaded \u201cout-of-core\u201d into the System\u2019s RAM, which slow things down considerably.<\/p>\n<p>Working with higher resolution outputs (e.g. Print-Sized Render-Resolutions) will almost always require you to have a card with a sizeable amount of VRAM as the Render Buffer complexity increases with the number of pixels even for scenes with just average complexities.<\/p>\n<p>For the most complex of projects, you will require a significant amount of VRAM. Nvidia's prosumer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/en-us\/geforce\/graphics-cards\/30-series\/rtx-3090\/\" target=\"_blank\">RTX 3090<\/a> is a good choice here, coming equipped with 24GB of VRAM.<\/p>\n<p>You could also go for a Quadro card like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nvidia.com\/en-us\/design-visualization\/rtx-a6000\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ampere RTX A6000<\/a> for the higher VRAM capacity though you spend a considerable amount of money <em>just <\/em>for more VRAM and not necessarily processing capability.<\/p>\n<p>For render-engines like Chaos Group's V-Ray that support the following feature, <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/nvlink-vs-sli\/\">employing Nvidia's NVLink can allow for VRAM pooling from multiple graphics cards<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10424\" style=\"width: 1920px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10424\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-with-border wp-image-10424 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/01\/image91.jpg\" alt=\"NVLInk Benchmark Rendering\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1186\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/01\/image91.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/01\/image91-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/01\/image91-1024x633.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/01\/image91-768x474.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/01\/image91-1536x949.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"><\/noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10424\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-with-border wp-image-10424 size-full lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%201920%201186%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"NVLInk Benchmark Rendering\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1186\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%201920%201186%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/01\/image91.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/01\/image91-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/01\/image91-1024x633.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/01\/image91-768x474.jpg 768w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/01\/image91-1536x949.jpg 1536w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/01\/image91.jpg\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-10424\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image-Source: Chaosgroup<\/p><\/div>\n<p>NVLink lets you render highly complex scenes without the need to buy a single expensive GPU with a high VRAM capacity, especially with Nvidia's RTX 20-series cards featuring more widespread support for the feature.<\/p>\n<p>Some <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/redshift-benchmark-results\/\">rendering engines like Redshift<\/a> employ &#8220;out of core&#8221; rendering to get around potentially low capacities of VRAM. In Redshift, when a graphics card runs out of memory, the render engine will allocate the system memory instead.<\/p>\n<p>While this comes at a performance cost, some scene data, like textures, will perform similarly when loaded from the System\u2019s RAM, to loading from the GPU\u2019s VRAM.<\/p>\n<p>However, the supported data types are limited, and exceeding the VRAM by a significant amount can cause crashes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/octanebench-benchmark-results\/\">Engines like Octane<\/a> that do not support the feature will crash due to insufficient VRAM, so depending on your software of choice, it might be better to invest in a powerful enough GPU to prevent any slowdowns.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summary: VRAM requirements for passive 3D workloads such as GPU Rendering<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Baseline: 6-8GB of VRAM (e.g. RTX 2060 Super)<\/li>\n<li>Moderate complexity scenes: A GPU with 8-16GB of VRAM (e.g. RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3080)<\/li>\n<li>Highly complex scenes: A GPU with 24+GB of VRAM (e.g. RTX 3090, A6000) or multiple GPUs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Video_Editing_Motion_Design_Compositing\"><\/span>Video Editing, Motion Design, Compositing<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/best-computer-for-video-editing\/\">While building a computer for video editing workloads,<\/a> the VRAM required is highly dependent on the type of software you use.<\/p>\n<p>Video editing applications like Premiere Pro do not make use of GPU acceleration to such an extent that increasing the VRAM would significantly improve performance.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, choosing a graphics card with better processing performance will yield better results.<\/p>\n<p>We recommend buying a graphics card with up to 8GB of VRAM for Premiere Pro, and even a budget consumer GPU should be fine for this workload.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11127\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11127\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11127\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-3.jpg\" alt=\"Premiere Pro GPU Comparison\" width=\"800\" height=\"802\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-3.jpg 800w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-3-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-768x770.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"><\/noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11127\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11127 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20800%20802%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Premiere Pro GPU Comparison\" width=\"800\" height=\"802\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20800%20802%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-3.jpg 800w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-3-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-768x770.jpg 768w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-2-3.jpg\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-11127\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image-Source: Pugetsystems<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Summary: VRAM requirements for Video Editing applications like Premiere Pro<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A GPU with 4-8GB of VRAM (e.g., GTX 1660 Super, RTX 2060 Super, RTX 3070)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For those interested in <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/best-pc-for-davinci-resolve-studio\/\">building a workstation PC for video editing software like DaVinci Resolve<\/a> or Fusion that make <em>heavy <\/em>use of your graphics card to function, ensuring you have the right amount of VRAM can significantly improve overall rendering and playback performance.<\/p>\n<p>Running multi-GPUs is possible as well, which can reduce render times even further.<\/p>\n<p>We recommend a graphics card with at least 6-8GB of VRAM and a decent amount of processing power for editing 1080p or 2160p footage on a Full-HD timeline.<\/p>\n<p>If you plan to work with footage resolutions at 4K or greater and need to work with a high resolution 4K timeline, then investing in a graphics card with at least 8GB of VRAM is recommended.<\/p>\n<p>Because DaVinci Resolve makes excellent use of additional VRAM, going with a graphics card with more memory would give you the flexibility to work with higher-res footage and timelines in the future.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11128\" style=\"width: 651px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11128\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11128\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-3.jpg\" alt=\"DaVinci Resolve Graphics Card Comparison\" width=\"651\" height=\"646\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-3.jpg 651w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-3-300x298.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-3-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 651px) 100vw, 651px\"><\/noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11128\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11128 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20651%20646%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"DaVinci Resolve Graphics Card Comparison\" width=\"651\" height=\"646\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20651%20646%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 651w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 651px) 100vw, 651px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-3.jpg 651w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-3-300x298.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-3-150x150.jpg 150w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-3.jpg\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-11128\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image-Source: Pugetsystems<\/p><\/div>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Summary: VRAM requirements for GPU-dependent Video Editing applications<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1080p\/2160p footage with FHD timeline: A GPU with 6-8GB of VRAM (e.g. RTX 2060 Super, RTX 3070)<\/li>\n<li>4K footage with QHD Timeline: A GPU with 8-11GB of VRAM (e.g. RTX 2080Ti, RTX 3080)<\/li>\n<li>4K+ footage with 4K timeline: One or multiple GPUs with 16-24GB of VRAM (e.g. RTX 3090, Quadro RTX 6000)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While the <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/adobe-after-effects-system-requirements\/\">system requirements for motion design and compositing software like After Effects<\/a> heavily favor the CPU and amount of system memory, they use graphics acceleration for specific features like GPU-accelerated Effects.<\/p>\n<p>We recommend targeting 8GB of VRAM unless you plan to work in higher resolutions and Bit-Depths or use After Effects in conjunction with 3D rendering plugins like Cineware or GPU accelerated third-party plugins such as NeatVideo DeNoise, that depend more heavily on the graphics card\u2019s performance and VRAM capacity.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11129\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11129\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11129\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-4.jpg\" alt=\"After Effects GPU Benchmark Performance Chart\" width=\"800\" height=\"791\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-4.jpg 800w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-4-300x297.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-4-768x759.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"><\/noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11129\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11129 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20800%20791%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"After Effects GPU Benchmark Performance Chart\" width=\"800\" height=\"791\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20800%20791%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-4.jpg 800w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-4-300x297.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-4-768x759.jpg 768w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-4.jpg\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-11129\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image-Source: Pugetsystems<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Summary: VRAM requirements for Motion Design and Composting Workloads<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Baseline: A GPU with 6-8GB of VRAM (e.g., GTX 1660 Super, RTX 2060 Super)<\/li>\n<li>Moderate 3D rendering and GPU accelerated plugins: A GPU with 8-11GB of VRAM (e.g., RTX 3060, RTX 3070)<\/li>\n<li>Heavy 3D rendering and GPU accelerated plugins: A GPU with 11-24GB of VRAM (e.g., RTX 2080Ti, RTX 3090)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Graphic_Design\"><\/span>Graphic Design<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/best-computer-for-graphic-design\/\">Graphic design<\/a> programs like <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/adobe-photoshop-system-requirements\/\">Photoshop<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/best-pc-for-adobe-illustrator\/\">Illustrator<\/a>, Indesign, and Affinity designer see only marginal performance benefits when utilizing a more powerful GPU. Even a budget GPU with just 4GB of VRAM can be sufficient for most graphic design workloads.<\/p>\n<p>Scaling up to more than 8GB will not impact performance, and even most premium GPUs will not perform better than a typical 8GB graphics card, even when working at higher resolutions.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11130\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11130\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11130\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-5.jpg\" alt=\"Photoshop GPU comparison\" width=\"800\" height=\"815\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-5.jpg 800w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-5-294x300.jpg 294w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-5-768x782.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"><\/noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11130\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11130 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20800%20815%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Photoshop GPU comparison\" width=\"800\" height=\"815\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20800%20815%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-5.jpg 800w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-5-294x300.jpg 294w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-5-768x782.jpg 768w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-5.jpg\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-11130\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image-Source: Pugetsystems<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Summary: VRAM requirements for Graphic Design<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Baseline: A GPU with 4-6GB of VRAM (e.g., GTX 1660)<\/li>\n<li>Moderately complex artboards: A GPU with 4-6GB of VRAM (e.g., GTX 1660 Super, RTX 2060)<\/li>\n<li>Highly complex artboards: A GPU with 6-8GB of VRAM (e.g., RTX 2060 Super)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Gaming\"><\/span>Gaming<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Gaming has the most diverse VRAM usage across workloads affected by several different factors like resolution, graphics quality, or games played.<\/p>\n<p>Most games today let you adjust the quality of graphics you\u2019ll want to play at.<\/p>\n<p>Options typically range from low to ultra (and some manual more granular control), with every higher preset progressively increasing the shadow complexity, post-effects, object details and many other visual aspects of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Choosing a higher preset will require an increasing amount of VRAM to hold the extensive texture data and model detail in memory.<\/p>\n<p>Of course every Game has its own VRAM requirements and we will only be able to give a generalized overview here.<\/p>\n<p>Open world games like Shadow of Mordor will consume a considerably higher amount of VRAM simply at Ultra-settings because of the higher number of details that need to be loaded.<\/p>\n<p>Other modern Games might see no increase in VRAM requirements at all when changing your quality settings.<\/p>\n<p>Many game developers optimize their games to run on GPUs that have less VRAM, so do keep an eye out for your game\u2019s official system requirements.<\/p>\n<p>You will need to prioritize what is essential for your gaming experience before choosing a graphics card. Usually, sticking with higher resolutions will force you to play with reduced quality unless you are willing to invest in a high-end graphics card.<\/p>\n<p>Exceeding the VRAM available on your graphics card will lead to stutters and crashes, while having an excess of VRAM will lead to no real-world performance difference, similar to system RAM.<\/p>\n<p>Another factor people tend to forget is VRAM allocation vs. actual usage. For example, Microsoft Flight Simulator allocates\/reserves the full 11GB of VRAM available on an RTX 2080Ti even though it might use less at a given time.<\/p>\n<p>It goes without saying that your GPU and CPU's processing power have to be considered as well, as this will impact your gaming performance even more than ample VRAM.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11131\" style=\"width: 1360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11131\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11131\" src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-6.jpg\" alt=\"Gaming Performance Comparison with different GPU VRAMs\" width=\"1360\" height=\"1212\" srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-6.jpg 1360w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-6-300x267.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-6-1024x913.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-6-768x684.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1360px) 100vw, 1360px\"><\/noscript><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11131\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11131 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%201360%201212%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Gaming Performance Comparison with different GPU VRAMs\" width=\"1360\" height=\"1212\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%201360%201212%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 1360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1360px) 100vw, 1360px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-6.jpg 1360w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-6-300x267.jpg 300w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-6-1024x913.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-6-768x684.jpg 768w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/media\/2021\/04\/word-image-6.jpg\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-11131\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image-Source: Techgage<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Our recommendation is to go with a GPU with at least 6GB of graphics memory if you plan on playing games at 1080p, high quality and reasonable framerates.<\/p>\n<p>Most graphics cards with this VRAM capacity will run most modern games, even demanding ones above 60 fps at high quality.<\/p>\n<p>For high <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/monitor-guide-refresh-rates-response-times\/\">refresh rate<\/a> 1080p and 1440p gaming, we recommend buying a current or last-gen GPU with at least 8GB of VRAM.<\/p>\n<p>You can run games just fine with 6GB of VRAM, but with memory consumption increasing with every new game released, it's best to get something stronger from the start to remain futureproof.<\/p>\n<p>For 4K gaming, going up to or even above 10GB of VRAM is a wise choice, especially with modern games already consuming large amounts of VRAM. Going with this configuration will let you play at high, or ultra presets at 4K, most likely even for most games launching in the near future.<\/p>\n<p>The memory bandwidth and processing power also play a vital role here, which is why cards like the RTX 3080 with 10GB of GDDR6X VRAM outperform the previous-gen RTX 2080Ti with 11GB of GDDR6 VRAM by almost 50% in 1440p and 70% in 4K.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summary: VRAM requirements for gaming<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1080p: A GPU with 4-6GB of VRAM (e.g. RTX 2060, GTX 1660 Super)<\/li>\n<li>1440p: A GPU with 6-8GB of VRAM (e.g. RX 5700XT, RTX 3060 Ti)<\/li>\n<li>4K: A GPU with 6-10GB of VRAM (e.g. RX 6800XT, RTX 3080)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Multi-GPU_VRAM_utilization_explained_Are_they_worth_more_than_one_GPU\"><\/span>Multi-GPU VRAM utilization explained: Are they worth more than one GPU?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Running multiple GPUs can help accelerate some specific workloads found in 3D Rendering and Video Editing significantly. However, the available VRAM doesn\u2019t stack with added GPUs.<\/p>\n<p>The graphics card and PCIe slot technology available today are not advanced enough to allow a GPU to access another's memory in real-time <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/ram-memory-latency\/\">without having a considerable amount of latency<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A typical multi-GPU setup works by loading identical copies of the workload into the VRAM of each of the GPUs available in the system. Each graphics card then processes the data, and this parallel computing is where the actual performance lies.<\/p>\n<p>Memory stacking does work when directly connecting your GPUs through an NVLINK bridge.<\/p>\n<p>While Nvidia bundles their potential memory pooling <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/nvlink-vs-sli\/\">NVLink feature<\/a> with premium GeForce and Quadro cards, it must be supported by your workload's software to use the combined memory of multiple GPUs.<\/p>\n<p>To not be reliable on NVLink and with few developers supporting the feature, we recommend buying graphics cards with a larger capacity for the best compatibility, even in multi-GPU configurations.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQs\"><\/span>FAQs<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_more_VRAM_better_for_rendering\"><\/span>Is more VRAM better for rendering?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The rendering performance does scale with the available VRAM to a specific point where the 3D scene\u2019s entire Data can easily fit into the VRAM and does not need to be offloaded into the system memory.<\/p>\n<p>After this, the additional VRAM will have little impact on performance, and the additional performance you will get comes solely from the increased processing cores on the GPU and some potential Software-level optimizations that make use of free VRAM like Caches and Ray-Trees.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_happens_if_you_run_out_of_VRAM\"><\/span>What happens if you run out of VRAM?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>When a graphics card runs out of VRAM, the data meant to be loaded into the graphics memory is offloaded into the system memory (RAM) - if the Software \/ Game supports this. Almost always, this will lead to a decrease in performance, stuttering or even crashes.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Can_VRAM_be_increased\"><\/span>Can VRAM be increased?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Unfortunately, unlike traditional RAM, increasing your VRAM is not possible as it is soldered directly onto the GPU\u2019s PCB (Printed Circuit Board). However, by using features like Nvidia's NVLink, it may be possible to pool multiple GPUs' memory, though support depends on your software.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><em><strong>That's about it from us! Let us know of any questions in the <a href=\"#comments\">comments<\/a> or our expert <a href=\"https:\/\/g100.us\/forum\/\">Forum<\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Raw clock speeds and processing cores are not the only factors to consider when picking a graphics card. Ensuring your GPU has access to sufficient VRAM (video memory) for your workloads is equally important. Hitting the sweet spot will allow you to get both the most performance out of your workloads without spending too much...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2343,"featured_media":11146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[74],"tags":[118,124,255],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2343"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11119"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17275,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11119\/revisions\/17275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/g100.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}