I wouldn’t spend lower than $500 on a brand new graphics card in 2024. I perceive that funds is out of the query for a lot of PC avid gamers, and I’m not advocating for greater GPU costs going ahead. However with the video games out there at present, it simply doesn’t make sense to accept a funds GPU that may battle the second you are taking it out of the field.
We obtained a style of the issue final yr with video games like The Final of Us Half One, Resident Evil 4, and Hogwarts Legacy, and the difficulty is cropping again up once more with Horizon Forbidden West. I’m speaking about VRAM in fashionable GPUs. At this level, you’re significantly better off saving up for a costlier GPU, ready till the following era arrives, or digging deep on last-gen choices.
Why are you shopping for a brand new GPU?
In case you take note of PC {hardware} opinions — notably the YouTube megamind of reviewers — you most likely have already got a bitter style in your mouth for 8GB graphics playing cards. I get it. I don’t agree that 8GB GPUs are fully out of date, nevertheless.
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That’s nonetheless greater than sufficient reminiscence for the overwhelming majority of PC video games, and relying on what you play, you might by no means encounter a difficulty with an 8GB graphics card.
There simply isn’t a robust argument for getting a brand-new 8GB graphics card in 2024. I’m primarily centered on the crop of choices between $250 and $400 from AMD and Nvidia — playing cards just like the RX 7600 and RTX 4060. AMD has its RX 7600 XT with 16GB of VRAM at $350, however that value is simply too excessive for a way weak that card is in comparison with the remainder of the market.
Though a brand new GPU will enhance your efficiency throughout the board, you primarily slot in a brand new graphics card to allow new video games in your PC. Possibly it’s taking part in Cyberpunk 2077 on a better graphics preset with options like DLSS, or it’s unlocking the slate of demanding PlayStation exclusives now out there on PC like The Final of Us Half One and Horizon Forbidden West. In these premier releases, over and over, we see that 8GB of VRAM merely isn’t sufficient.
Greater than decrease efficiency
Even contemplating the funds standing of those graphics playing cards — and the pure efficiency concessions as a consequence — they’re a poor funding. In generations previous, you might depend on a funds workhorse GPU for years. Playing cards just like the GTX 1650 may present a number of years of gaming for a low value. Your general efficiency would go down as extra demanding video games launched, however you might nonetheless play them.
The VRAM challenge is a unique beast. In titles like Horizon Forbidden West and Diablo IV, you’ll run into decrease efficiency, however the extra urgent challenge is stutter. Significantly when coming into new areas, the VRAM buffer will fill, vastly reducing your body fee briefly. It’s not an awesome play expertise, and it’s undoubtedly worse than simply taking part in a recreation at a decrease body fee.
Make the precise funding
You’re not simply out of luck, fortunately. Given how late within the present era we’re, you will discover last-gen choices for very low costs on the secondhand market. Playing cards just like the RTX 3080 can be found for round $400 on the secondhand market, whereas AMD’s RX 6750 XT is often out there for round $300 pre-owned. Each include greater than 8GB of VRAM, they usually’re stable performers in comparison with current-gen choices on the similar value.
The opposite possibility is to attend. Rumor has it that AMD will launch its next-gen GPUs in the course of this yr, whereas Nvidia is anticipated to observe up on the finish of the yr. Even when next-gen GPUs don’t resolve the VRAM downside, they’ll push costs down, permitting you to choose up a card just like the RTX 4070 or RX 7800 XT for a cheaper price.
At this level in 2024, when we have now a dozen or extra examples of recent video games stressing 8GB graphics playing cards and extra possible on the best way, it’s not a good suggestion to spend money on a funds graphics card that hardly crosses the mark. It’s a disgrace that’s how issues are this era, however the PC gaming market is caught in a clumsy spot — video games are stressing {hardware} that current-gen funds GPUs simply don’t have.
This isn’t a brand new story, although. Given what we’ve seen from video games and backlash for playing cards just like the RTX 4060 Ti, I’m hopeful that next-gen choices will deal with the VRAM issues PC avid gamers have proper now. Till they present up, I’d maintain off on funds GPUs with 8GB of VRAM if you wish to get your cash’s price.
