While buying a graphics card, many factors play an essential role: one of them is the VRAM. The amount of VRAM needed also depends on various other factors. How to decide in such a case how much VRAM you need?
Depending on the various factors and use cases, let’s dive in to see how much VRAM you need.
VRAM stands for Video Random Access Memory and offers faster access to the data needed to carry out graphics-related processes.
As your CPU uses RAM to store and access data, in the same way, GPU uses VRAM to store and access graphics-related data. You cannot extend your VRAM as you extend your RAM because, unlike RAM, your VRAM comes inbuilt in the Graphics Card. And that’s why it becomes necessary to know how much VRAM you need before buying your graphics cards.
Also read: How to check VRAM in Windows 10?
How much VRAM do you need?
Various factors play an essential role in determining the amount of VRAM needed. Let’s look into some of the major ones.
Resolution
Your monitor’s resolution plays the utmost important role in determining the amount of VRAM you need.
The higher the monitor’s resolution, the higher is the VRAM required for faster access and storage of the graphics-related data. Also, higher resolution takes more space than the low resolution and, hence, consumes more VRAM than lower resolution monitors.
Game you are playing
If you play highly detailed games, you require more VRAM to display graphic details and data. However, if you are playing simple and not so graphic utilizing games like Minecraft, less VRAM is required. Hence, the amount of VRAM needed depends on the type of game you want to play.
Settings of your games
The settings you do in your game also impact the amount of VRAM used. If you set your game to use the highest graphics and texture quality, more VRAM is made. You can set your game to use lower graphics and texture quality, thus reducing VRAM usage by GPU.
Also read: Which display is right for you?
Notes
As discussed above, many factors affect the amount of VRAM required. Thus, you need to look for the screen resolution you are using and the game you plan to play.
For example, monitors with a resolution of 1440p, 4k, or more, used to play heavy design and graphics-oriented games, are advised to use a VRAM of 8GB. On the other hand, if you don’t want to play heavy games, then, in such a case, you can use 2GB VRAM also. However, it is recommended to have at least 4GB of VRAM, keeping the current gaming scenario and future in mind because once invested, you may or may not want to upgrade again.
Also read– Top 7 Graphic Cards under INR 5000.
