GeForce 960M VRAM

[avrahams1]

Hey guys,

I'm currently looking for a new gaming laptop to buy, and I have 2 options:
A Lenovo laptop that's cheap, has a GeForce 960M with 4GB of vram
or:
An Asus ROG laptop that's a bit more expensive and has a GeForce 960M with 2GB of vram.

At first glance it seems like a no-brainer, my problem is though is that the Lenovo laptop has bad reviews all around for overheating under stress and a generally lacking build quality, while the Asus ROG laptops are famous for being great gaming laptops.

So my question is: Assuming I want to play the latest games (GTA V, Battlefield 4 etc) on FHD resolution, how much would the VRAM difference impact me when it comes to performance and graphics settings?

Thanks for the help,
Avi.

* I posted this on the "Laptop tech forum" and then realized it might not be the best place, so I copy-pasted it here.
If I broke any forum rules I apologize in advance.

 

[davmazin]

as far as i have read and investigated 2gb vram is enough for 1080p dunno if you will have it better with 4gb

 

[Mankar Kameran]

The vram is what renders all of the little textures and shaders so with the latest games on ultra settings will probably require more than 2gb.

 

[avrahams1]

The vram is what renders all of the little textures and shaders so with the latest games on ultra settings will probably require more than 2gb.

Even in FHD?
I mean, do modern games consume more VRAM than older games on the same resolution, just because of the higher graphical fidelity?

 

[Mankar Kameran]

The vram is what renders all of the little textures and shaders so with the latest games on ultra settings will probably require more than 2gb.

Even in FHD?
I mean, do modern games consume more VRAM than older games on the same resolution, just because of the higher graphical fidelity?

Yes they do, but the card needs to have enough speed to utilize all of the vram and I don't know for sure if the 960 would measure up to it. You might be better off with the 2GB. Worst case scenario you can disable some of the shader option in game if it starts studdering or drops your framerate.

 

[jaguarskx]

Very High / Ultra High graphic settings (the nomenclature varies by each game) uses high resolution textures which are pretty large file sizes. If you do not have enough VRAM to store them all, then you are going to be taking a hit in performance from time to time as the texture files are swapped back and forth between the VRAM and the hard drive / SSD. Some textures may not even load if the scene requires more textures than can be stored in VRAM.

For 1080p resolution 4GB of VRAM is generally enough to max out the texture quality as long as the GPU chip itself is capable of processing all those textures quickly enough. Beyond 1080p resolution you should definitely get a GPU with more than 4GB of VRAM.