Real world gaming performance 980m (4gb VS 8 gb)

I was reading a thread on TomsHardware about the true performance at 1080p for the 980m on a single card 4gb vs some that the Clevo laptops have w/ 8gb. A lot of people agreed that there wouldn't be any significant increase in FPS on a 1080p monitor at 75hrtz. true that is. I was running The Witcher 3 last night on my G751JY and wondered how better, if at all, it would run with the extra VRAM. Some say that the performance would only really be seen running at 4k on a bigger monitor that the one in my laptop. Just curious.

 

Just consider desktop gpus only have 3 to 4 gb vram 980m is less than a desktop 970. You'll be fine. FPS doesn't have a lot to do with amount of vram

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4GB will run cooler wish my 980M was 4GB want half my vram?

 

Haha. It really run that hot?

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The FPS would only change if the card is running out of vram. This shouldn't happen unless you playing at extremely high resolution, or using a lot (and I mean a lot) of mods. Most situations where you would run out of vram the 980m wouldn't even get a good fps anyway, so you don't need to worry about it.

 

Well gta 5 maxed out at only 1080p uses 3.5gb of vram. I tested it myself

Still 8gb is a bit overkill. 6gb probably the sweet spot. 4gb would be adequate if it wasnt for rubbish console ports...

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I've seen some laptops running two 970m's in SLI, but the 980m still outperform it on occasion. I guess it comes down to the quality of the card as well.


On an unrelated side note, has anybody had trouble with GeForce Experience? I'm trying to open it on my laptop but it gets hung-up on the loading screen and never opens.

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But just because of "used" vRAM still doesn't equate to FPS. Where it's staged and what it's actually using to throw out frames are entirely different.

 

Well this is a tricky question.
the 8GB version will have a performance advantage against the 4GB version ONLY in Vram limited situation, for exemple with super ultra giga uncompressed unoptimized texture, shadows quality etc.
It really depends on the game, as all games doesn't use the same amount of Vram.
but once again Vram usage doesn't equal to Vram needed for the task to be done, as some games tend to use as much as Vram as they can for cache ( with NO REAL performance advantage in FPS bu tjust to reduce sometimes texture popping)

Summary: Diffferent Vram version of the same GPU will perform the same (FPS wise) until some Vram (amount) limited situation comes, and for now no games will bottleneck a 4GB vram gpu (IN THEORY!!!)

BUT funny thing, what i actually found after years of gpu reviews and articles readings is that in NO VRAM LIMITED situation,on the same GPU, games will run 1-2FPS FASTER with the one having the LOWER amount of Vram O__o'
For exemple a 1GB gtx 650m will perform better than the 2GB version, or a 4GB GTX980m version will perform better than the 8GB version etc if both aren't limited by amount of Vram.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-nvidia-geforce-gtx-960-2gb-vs-4gb-review
you can read this article for exemple, and there is other around the web showing what I'm trying to explain

EDIT: this article is interesting too because it shows how Nvidia Vram management is better than AMD one, Nvidia 2GB GPUs are less bottlenecked by Vram than AMD 2GB GPUs

 

I don't mind having 8GB vram on my 980m as I've used more than 4GB on a few games.

...4GB cards probably OC better for the memory clocks though at stock voltage.

 

Can i know which games and the settings+resolution please?

 

Shadow of Mordor, Ultra settings, 1080p: 6 GB Vram.

 

It seems like you haven't read my first post. there is a difference between USED Vram and NEEDED Vram for a targeted performance.
for exemple let's take 1080p 60 fps with ultra settings (like your video).
A GTX 970 with 3.5GB or a GTX 980 4GB have much higher framerate than your exemple while 50% less Vram amount than your GTX 980m 8GB.
if Vram amount was actually a bottleneck they would have LOWER performance than your gtx 980M 8GB ( since Vram bottleneck simply DESTROY framerate); and that's definitly not the case here.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/shadow-of-mordor-performance,3996-3.html

actually you will have higher framerate at 1440p with a 4GB gtx 970/980 than your gtx 980m 8GB at 1080p, so Vram is definitly not an issue even in SoM at Ultra settings.
the game just use more Vram when it's available to cache more things, there is NO IMPACT on framerate

 

You asked for a game that used more than 4 GB Vram as per your qoute of thegreatsquare and I showed it. I never said anything about fps impacts.

 

I've knocked on the door of using up 4gb of vram on my second laptop (980m) playing KF2 at 4k with everything ...and I mean everything maxed.

However....fps were ~24ish on average....playable, but definitely noticeable for those who like to game at no less than 60fps.

THE POINT: "It wouldn't have mattered if that laptop had 8gb of vram.....it would run out of horsepower before the extra vram would even matter......who wants to game at 4k with fps in the 20's?"

To get the best of both worlds of 4k gaming with 1080p speeds....i just set the resolution to the middle one (2### x 1###) and it plays nicely with fps's in the high ~80's/90's with the 4k look and feel.....


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Thanks for all the information and replies! It puts a lot of it into perspective. I see a lot of it has to do with what's being rendered. I was playing Witcher 3 last night and it occasionally got choppy at random points, however I can't really tell you exactly what the fps were because I can't get GeForce Experience to work on my laptop so I can't get into shadowplay.


One thing I found that's interesting is how much difference disabling Nvidia hairworks does for the performance. Once I disabled it, I was able to play the game more fluidly.

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you are right then, i asked for a game that USE more than 4GB of Vram and you showed to me

 

At what frame rate? My 980m could not get a solid 60 with truly everything maxed, especially if you mean the advanced settings.

 

Crap frame rate! I just wanted to see vram usage

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That's why I said what I did before, in most high vram situations the 980m can't even run it at a decent fps.

 

So is the 8gb 980m card worth it if you're only gaming on a 1080p display?

 

No it doesn't for now

 

FTFY

 

No and it's quite likely it never will be. However, in 98% (maybe 100% but don't quote me on that) of cases, the 980m 8GB card is an MXM GPU which means it can be upgraded to a better GPU in the future. With the 980m 4GB card, it's very likely soldered onto the motherboard and thus you would have to get an entirely new laptop for a better GPU - no way to upgrade your existing laptop. Clevos are generally fantastic for their upgradeability.

 

The 980M 8GB in the AW are BGA ...soldered.

 

Hope this helps....

I've ran a few games FPS, Racing etc...varies games on 4K MAX SETTINGS on my other 17R3 w/ 980M (4GB vram) and here are the results....

Question to ask yourself: "Do you really want to game at 4K with only getting >20-24fps? An extra 4GB of vram isn't going to help you....."

Solution: "If you really want to game at 4K and achieve higher frame rates, you'll need to SLI on a previous gen AW laptop or get a laptop with a desktop 980 GPU. Period. Or an Amp of course...which is what I'd opt for...."





IMPORTANT THING TO KEEP IN MIND:

"You will run out of horsepower before being able to utilize the extra vram with these graphically intense games. Therefore, if you don't mind gaming at 20-25fps on 4K with knowing that even 4GB is enough, then more power to you. If you're like the majority who can't stand anything below 60fps, then the 980M 4GB is more than enough and practical over having an extra 4GB that you'd never really use, "practically," in games unless it's for another app that can actually benefit from it. Even then...the difference would be minute. This doesn't mean that you also have to stick to gaming at 1080p. I've found to really like 2560x1440 as it gives me the best of both worlds of high fps that of 1080p and the quality jump in that of 4K.....it's a sweet spot of a resolution for gaming IMO. "





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And as I said, in no Vram limited situation if 2 GPU are exactly the same except for the Vram amount, the gpu with the LESS amount of Vram will SLIGHTLY FASTER than the same gpu with MORE amount of vram by 1 or 2 fps ( read the link i posted previously)

 

Correct....

I've already read it.

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4GB vs 8GB provides a negligible difference in regards to performance at 1080p (and maybe higher) because games do not require more than 4GB's of VRAM.

Here's a decent comparison and explanation:



If this video was comparing a 4GB card vs 8GB card, performance would be nearly identical with a few outliers (e.g. FPS drops).

 

No its not, and when 4GB isn't enough a new more powerful card that will actually be able to run those situations well will be out. If the 980m 4GB runs out of VRAM it also won't be getting decent fps with 8GB as the task is too intensive, above from iunlock is a great post.

 

Unless you are running SLI. Then you suddenly have more GPU performance to play with. I am glad the MXM cards are 8GB because I feel I do need it on SLI.

 

Right, which is why I said it's very likely MXM, I didn't say every single 8GB 980m is MXM.

 

Correct.

 

As long as your above 1080p then yeah it is more likely.

 

GTA V is using slightly more than 4gb for me on 1080p with everything maxed. I am sure when fallout 4 texture mods and such start releasing, fallout 4 is gonna start to use more than 4gb on 1080p as well.

Dont get me wrong, 8gb is completely overkill, but you cant fit 6gb on a 980m so...

 

I'm not sure GTA correctly reports its own vram usage... It can show like 9gb on my 980 Ti sli which isn't even a thing. But yeah you are right about the mods.

 

I use rivatuner.

 

I can say at least that my 6GB 970M has like 5.5GB used by COD AW... So more vRAM isn't a negative.. It should help when you increase texture etc settings and especially as resolution increases...