Is 8 GB No Longer Enough? How Much VRAM Do You Really Need in 2025

The YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed tested two versions of the new RTX 5060 Ti GPU — one with 8 GB of VRAM and the other with 16 GB. The cut-down 8 GB model performed terribly in many modern games, sometimes delivering nearly half the FPS of its bigger sibling. Honestly, it’s not surprising. Tech experts have been warning for years that 8 GB of VRAM would soon become insufficient for comfortable AAA gaming — even at 1080p. So if you're planning to upgrade your PC, let’s figure out how much VRAM you really need to avoid regrets a couple of years down the line.

This situation has been years in the making. Ever since the release of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, it became clear that a big leap in system requirements — especially for VRAM — was inevitable.

Modern consoles use a unified memory architecture: 16 GB of GDDR6 is shared between system and graphics tasks. Both the GPU and CPU access the same fast memory pool directly, eliminating the need for separate memory transfers like on traditional PCs. This allows developers to build highly detailed worlds without compromising texture quality.

Unfortunately, this unified memory model has a downside for PC gamers with lower-end hardware. Since console specs dictate the baseline for most multiplatform titles, system demands — including VRAM — have risen sharply. On top of that, we’re seeing more and more games with ray tracing that can’t be turned off. Just next month, Doom: The Dark Ages is launching, and it won’t even run if your GPU lacks ray tracing support. And ray tracing is notoriously memory-intensive, as it requires storing lots of scene data for realistic lighting and reflections.

While 6 GB VRAM GPUs are becoming rare, they still pop up — for example, in laptops with RTX 4050, or used RTX 2060 cards for budget builds.

These options should be dismissed immediately. A 6 GB card only makes sense if you’re absolutely sure you’ll never play new titles and only want to run older or online games like Dota 2 or Counter-Strike 2. Modern AAA games such as the Silent Hill 2 Remake, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, or Horizon Forbidden West either look bad or run terribly on such limited GPUs. Even Indiana Jones and the Great Circle officially requires 8 GB — it technically runs with 6, but you'll face visual glitches, lighting bugs, and other issues.

If you already have a graphics card with 8 GB of VRAM and play at 1080p, you can still get by for a couple more years. More and more games are starting to exceed that memory limit, but that doesn’t mean you need to rush out and upgrade today.

It’s a different story if you’re planning to upgrade, building a new PC from scratch, or considering a 1440p or 4K monitor. In that case, 8 GB cards should be off the table. It’s money down the drain — you’ll be forced to upgrade again in a few years, especially when the next-gen consoles arrive and push system requirements even higher.

In some titles, the difference between 8 and 16 GB is staggering, even for similar-tier GPUs. German site PCGamesHardware tested the RX 7600 and RX 7600 XT, which only differ in VRAM size. In some games, they perform similarly. But in others, they may as well be entirely different cards. For instance, in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart at 1080p with max settings and ray tracing, the RX 7600 averaged a sad 12.9 FPS — while the 16 GB XT version hit 34.6 FPS. A massive gap.

As shown in the aforementioned Hardware Unboxed review, the 16 GB RTX 5060 Ti runs Indiana Jones and the Great Circle at over 90 FPS on ultra settings. The 8 GB version? It crashes to desktop. You simply can’t select the same high settings with only 8 GB — and again, we’re still talking about 1080p.

Naturally, the difference becomes even more dramatic at higher resolutions. Even though the RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB is considered a mid-range GPU, it handles 1440p — and even 4K — quite well. It hits 67 FPS on very high 4K settings in Horizon Forbidden West with DLSS enabled. Meanwhile, the 8 GB version barely hits 16 FPS.

So, if you’re buying a new GPU in 2025, look for at least 12 GB of VRAM. That amount is enough to play nearly all modern games at high or ultra settings in 1080p and even 1440p. Given the trends in visual fidelity and ray tracing adoption, 12 GB should last about 2–3 years without major compromises.

However, many experts predict that by 2027–2028, 12 GB will start limiting performance in AAA titles. Sure, you’ll still be able to run new games, but you may have to lower textures or disable advanced features. So if you want to future-proof your build or plan to game at 4K, 16 GB (or more) is the smart choice.

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There’s at least one piece of good news — 16 GB cards aren’t dramatically more expensive than their cut-down versions. For example, the RX 7600 XT costs just $60 more than the base RX 7600, and the RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB is only $50 more than the 8 GB model — at least according to MSRP.

Just make sure to check the exact version you’re getting — especially if buying a prebuilt PC. Some sellers may include the 8 GB version of a GPU like the RTX 5060 Ti and still advertise the build as high-end, even though the performance gap is significant.

What about you? How much VRAM do you think is optimal for gaming in 2025? Share your opinion in the comments.