Just how much vram do you really need for 4K

[DanceswithUnix]

Looking to get a new monitor for my Wife's machine, and a bit tempted by 4K now the price seems to be dropping a bit.

Her gaming needs aren't that silly: she currently plays WoW (PvE not raiding) and Civ 5 and if she had to drop back to 1920x1080 I expect she will be OK with that, but just how much grunt do you need for casual gaming at 4K?

She currently has a 2GB 260X driving 2048x1152 (same monitor I have, I want to nick it for a dual head setup ) so she has a displayport output at least.

[kalniel]

Depends on the game. For causal/low-fi games then I'd guess 2GB is plenty - pixels don't take up that much VRAM, large textures/bump maps do.

[Mauley]

I would agree with Kalniel, 2GB should be enough but if you want to have a bit of headroom then 3GB or 4GB would be ideal.

[DanceswithUnix]

Cheers guys. I was getting the impression that 2GB is getting a bit tight these days, I guessed losing some to extra pixel and Z buffering was going to lose a bit of texture space but how much you can lose before it makes a difference?

Well I was uncertain enough of how suitable the monitor was that I didn't buy it in time.

Ebuyer were doing this one for £300: http://www.ebuyer.com/655861-acer-cb...r-um-pb0ee-001

Which compared to the IPS 1920x1200 24" Dell I was lining up seemed a fairly good deal. Thanks for the feedback though, next time something interesting pops up I can decide more quickly.

[AMDMatt]

As a 4K user myself, it really depends on the level of grunt you have available as to how much video memory you need. As a rough guide though, I'd suggest a minimum of 3gb, a recommended amount of 4gb. 8gb is ideal when you use more than one card at 4k.

[MrRockliffe]

I was doing a little testing at 1440p (and if people want me to I can do a proper review type thing) as to how much VRAM it uses. So far, I can conclude that it's often hitting the limit. Again, I've not done a lot of testing, but if it gives me an excuse to play games I can take a further look if it helps people?

[kalniel]

I was doing a little testing at 1440p (and if people want me to I can do a proper review type thing) as to how much VRAM it uses. So far, I can conclude that it's often hitting the limit. Again, I've not done a lot of testing, but if it gives me an excuse to play games I can take a further look if it helps people?

If you can try some casual games and the likes of WoW, then sure, always useful

[MrRockliffe]

Unfortunately, I don't have Wow.

Games I have:

Watchdogs
Titanfall
L4D2
Black flag
Blood dragon and 50 others that I can't remember

I can download other games, for testing purposes, if anyone wants?

[kalniel]

They're all a bit hard core! I expect the requirements are quite a bit higher for those games compared to casual usage.

[MrJim]

They're all a bit hard core! I expect the requirements are quite a bit higher for those games compared to casual usage.

Left For Dead 2 is quite an old OpenGL game, I would've thought the VRAM usage might be comparable to WoW?

[shaithis]

GPU-Z + DSR or VSR @ 4k and you can check every games VRAM usage before buying a monitor.

[MrRockliffe]

I've got plenty of indie games, so I can play those too. I've also got skyrim (albeit with a few mods installed). When I get on my computer, upload a picture of the games I have. I can always upscale them to UHD and then down sample using nvidias new feature? It'll give an idea of what 4K will be like to run. Not entirely scientific, but it'll give an insight I imagine.

[MrJim]

GPU-Z + DSR or VSR @ 4k and you can check every games VRAM usage before buying a monitor.

DSR seems to only support some of the most recent games:

http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/technology/dsr/games