GTX 680 4gb vs 2gb

[Synthet1X]

What are the advantages of having a 4gb card over a 2 gb? I currently have 2 gigabyte gtx 680s that have 2gb. I recently purchased another system that has an EVGA 4gb card, i dont know weather or not to sell the 2 2gb cards and get another 4 gb card; or sell the 4gb card and keep my 2 2gb cards and save a few bucks. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[toyota]

truthfully this has been discussed to death all over the web. a few seconds on google will find you enough links to keep you busy and there is no reason to repeat the same info over and over.

 

[lavaheadache]

Right now the advantages of having a 4gb card are really only going to be relevant when playing with multiple screens. With that said, my modded skyrim uses nearly 3gb of VRAM @2560x1600 with 4xaa

 

[hokies83]

4k Texture mods and extreme AA can go over 2gb pretty easy as i found out with my 2gb 680s so i got 4gbs lol.

 

[Synthet1X]

4k Texture mods and extreme AA can go over 2gb pretty easy as i found out with my 2gb 680s so i got 4gbs lol.

Yeah, that is why im thinking about going with the 4gb cards, thanks for your replies. Now i just need to get rid of my 2gbs.

 

[Qbah]

My modded Skyrim uses over 2GB of VRAM. I'm changing to a GTX670 4GB version this week, from a 2GB (the shop allowed an exchange).

EDIT: That's at 1080p. Even when I try to turn off AA.

 

[Synthet1X]

My modded Skyrim uses over 2GB of VRAM. I'm changing to a GTX670 4GB version this week, from a 2GB (the shop allowed an exchange).

EDIT: That's at 1080p. Even when I try to turn off AA.

Thats wild, with my 2 680 2gb max payne was eating up over 3 gigs of my vram so i think i will definitely go with the 4gb versions.

Plus hopefully that will make my system a little bit more "future proof"*

 

[lehtv]

Synthet1X, a 2GB card in SLI won't use 3GB VRAM. VRAM is mirrored, not doubled when in SLI

 

[blue.chord]

1)Main factor here would be resolution. Which is why many people who bought a 690 for surround are in tears due to low performance, only 2gb vram :whiste:.

2) Games. Heavily modded skyrim, , max payne 3, crysis 2 modded, and bf3 come to mind

3) how much aa u use.

 

[Powermoloch]

vram is pretty big indicator for me to upgrade and 2-3 gb of vram made a whole a difference in my gaming experience.

 

[Spjut]

For Sli with high-end GPUs, I usually recommend getting the extra VRAM if the price difference isn't too big

 

[Face2Face]

The more Vram the better. Games will only use more of it in the future. My modded Skyrim @ 1080 eats up to 2500MB of vram. GTA V may be a vram heavy game as well?

 

[brandon888]

For sli 4GB version for 100% sure !!!! if you go single card ... well depends .....

 

[BrightCandle]

For sli 4GB version for 100% sure !!!! if you go single card ... well depends .....

I have SLI 2GB and I play in 5760x1200 and its rarely a problem. There are clearly some cases where it can make a difference but personally I prefer 60 fps and I don't thus run the graphics at absolute max with super AA because the card isn't powerful enough to do it at those resolutions.

I don't know, practically day to day I don't ever feel like 2GB is limiting what I get from the cards.

 

[brandon888]

I have SLI 2GB and I play in 5760x1200 and its rarely a problem. There are clearly some cases where it can make a difference but personally I prefer 60 fps and I don't thus run the graphics at absolute max with super AA because the card isn't powerful enough to do it at those resolutions.

I don't know, practically day to day I don't ever feel like 2GB is limiting what I get from the cards.

idk but people talk about max payne 3 and moded skyrim which uses more then 2GB VRAM .... i mostly play BF3 on 1080 P and use haven't got any problem with 2GB vram on my 670 .....

 

[ArizonaSteve]

I have a single 4GB GTX 670, and am running a heavily modded Skyrim. Figured that once the prices come down I'll get a second card for SLI.

 

[moonbogg]

Well this is why 2gb is now standard on even mid range cards. 1gb is limited to budget varieties now. I'd be curious to see what things look like 10 years from now. Will the doubling of ram continue as it has, so that in 10 years we have cards with 64-128gb of ram? Or will tech change in a fundamental way? Hmm...Bring on the 1TB cards already and three 4k monitors in surround.

 

[blue.chord]

I have SLI 2GB and I play in 5760x1200 and its rarely a problem. There are clearly some cases where it can make a difference but personally I prefer 60 fps and I don't thus run the graphics at absolute max with super AA because the card isn't powerful enough to do it at those resolutions.

I don't know, practically day to day I don't ever feel like 2GB is limiting what I get from the cards.

What is the point of investing so much in a surround system only to skimp 100-150$ on vram

 

[BrightCandle]

What is the point of investing so much in a surround system only to skimp 100-150$ on vram

Well the 4GB cards weren't out when I bought so not really a choice. But realistically the cards aren't fast enough in surround mode to actually do all the effects that consume lots of vram. Most of the time you are limited by the card speed not the vram for those options.

There are obviously cases like with modded skyrim where vram is exceeded heavily and the cards can cope with surround, but its pretty rare and it doesn't normally cost many steps of settings to fix it. I would get 4GB if I bought now but I wouldn't call 2GB crippled and certainly not on a single card.

 

[Klunt Bumskrint]

With the average game using around 7-800Mb I don't think its a massive problem to have 2gb.
Mine are 2gb and the only time I've run out is on Max Payne 3 when I couldn't have 8xaa as it tapped out the ram, everything else is max with 4xaa.

I run crysis 2 with all max hi Res texture pack plus HD pack from (forget his name) and the vram sits at 2gb ish. I game at 1200p and won't be changing that for a while.

 

[Synthet1X]

Thanks for the replies guys i decided to go with the 4gb cards.