2 vs 4 GB of VRAM? (Building on a budget)

[xnax2802]

Hey guys!

Info:
I'm going to be building a gaming rig for my girlfriend soon, so naturally I'm looking at parts for it. The most demanding game she's going to be playing within a foreseeable future is DA:Inquisition @1080p. Budget calls for as cheap components as possible without cheaping out too much.

Q:
The GTX 750ti Strix has caught my eye, but I'm unsure whether the 4GB version makes any sense for that kind of use. I can't find any usable info on DA:I's VRAM usage @1080p (I wouldn't ask you guys if my Googling abilities could answer my question ).

I'm also thinking of getting the XFX R9 270(X)/370 instead, since all three cards offer seemingly similar performance for (presumingly) about the same price; although, these cards only come with 2GB of VRAM.

Any help/thoughts on the matter would be much appreciated.

EDIT:
Colours are more or less settled on white/black (Define R5 White and an MSI Krait MB; still need to convince her to get the windowed version), and I just discovered the not-actually-Krait-Edition MSI GTX 960 in black and white, which is absolutely GORGEOUS imo; but again: only 2GB. :cry2:

EDIT 2:
It seems the XFX R9 280/380 is a more fair matchup for the GTX 960 price-wise. And it has 3GB VRAM. It does seem I'm ultimately just confusing myself even further. (Oh, and there's a black/white edition of the 380 from MSI, although it's a lot more pricey).



tl;dr:

DA:I @1080p. Does 4GB VRAM make sense on a 750ti? Would 2GB be enough on low-end midrange cards like this?

 

[NeverBackDown]

I'm running a 7950 with 3GB of Vram. In DA:I I was using just about 2.2-2.4GB depending on the area or lots of people fighting. So I would say the 3GB is the safe mark.

Can't remember for sure but i'm pretty positive I ran DA:I on almost maxed out(1080p) and got think it was about 40-50FPS as an avg. Anything less and I think you probably need to tone down a lot of settings or experiment and get creative. So ideally I think a R9 280/380(4GB versions) would be the lowest you should get in terms of performance.

 

[xnax2802]

Thanks for the reply.
So it's definitely able to use more than 2GB VRAM. The HD 7950 is basically an R9 280, though, so I'm still not sure whether the extra 2GB VRAM would give me a noticable increase in fps/quality on a 750Ti or the like.

Taking power draw (in regards to choice of PSU) into consideration, pricing incl. PSU is as follows:

GTX 750Ti Strix - £199
GTX 960 "Krait" - £213
XFX R9 280 - £232

The 280 is obviously the more powerful card, but considering the total budget is around £620, +/- £33 is not "nothing," even though seeing it listed like that makes me wonder why I don't just grab the 280.

 

[Kushiro]

The 7950 is actually faster than the 280.

You could actually look around for a 290(x) GPU, they are quite powerful and are going for cheap at the moment.

Do not even consider the 750ti when you can get the 960 for only 14 more, however you are honestly going to be much better off with a 290(x).

Also 4GB of Vram absolutely doesnt make sense for a 750ti.

 

[xnax2802]

The 290 is a little out of my budget for the build, unfortunately. It's gonna cost me £300 incl. PSU. Bleeding an extra £68 (£100 from the 750Ti) isn't really an option, sadly.

I'm still going to take your advice and steer clear of the 750Ti, however.

The 7950 is actually faster than the 280.

[...]

Do not even consider the 750ti when you can get the 960 for only 14 more

Does that mean you'd choose the GTX 960 over the R9 280 and save the £9? I'm still torn between the two, when considering aesthetics, performance, amount of VRAM wtc.

 

[Kushiro]

What PSU are you looking at exactly? If it was between the 960 and the 280, I would say the 960 and just overclock it.

If you could provide your other components, it would make things easier.

You could quite literally run the 290x on a 500W or even 450W quality PSU and still be perfectly fine.

 

[xnax2802]

I'm planning on getting a semi-modular Fractal PSU from the Integra M line.


Full specs (haven't fully settled on the CPU yet):

Fractal Design Define R5 White
Fractal Design Integra M (at whatever wattage is gonna be needed)
MSI 970A Krait (Will obviously get switched out, if the money lands on an Intel CPU instead)
AMD FX-4300 Black (with stock cooler for now)
2x4GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
Kingston HyperX Fury SSD - 120GB
A Samsung optical drive


All inclusive (periphirals too) it adds up to ~£620