A problem with the Series S now shows why graphics cards with “only” 8 GB of video memory could be fatal in the long run. Are 8 GB of video memory still sufficient for graphics cards in 2023?
The Xbox Series S is the weakest next-gen console. It offers less performance than the Series X and less memory, but it only costs around 200 euros.
On reddit, a user showed a picture of his Xbox Series S. He was playing Borderlands and the game crashed with the message that the video memory was full. And that once again causes the discussion as to whether 8 GB of video memory is simply not enough.
Will 8 GB of video memory still suffice in 2023?
Basically, the higher the resolution, the higher the load on the video memory. Because this is where the textures are cached. If the video memory is not sufficient, unpleasant reloading jerks usually occur. In the most annoying case, the game simply crashes.
But will 8 GB of video memory still be enough in 2023? The tech colleagues from GameStar used several games to check how much video memory games will actually need in 2023. You get the result:
The problem, however, is that each game uses a different amount of memory. Games like Anno 1800 or Age of Empires IV require little memory, other games like Call of Duty: MW2 also like to use 12 GB. Games like Diablo 4 ensure with a “memory leak” that the game fills the memory of the graphics card to the maximum without compromise and then causes crashes.
In the future, however, that 8GB could become tight. This is also pointed out by many players who are already carefully watching the next graphics cards.
What about the Xbox Series S? The Series S is also a special case. Although the Series S offers 10 GB of GGDR6 memory, this is “shared”: The console does not have a real graphics card, but relies on a processor with an integrated graphics chip. The processor and graphics chip therefore share the memory among themselves. The end is much faster here than with a graphics card with a full memory expansion.
8 GB of video memory is already causing discussions with the RTX 4060 and RX 7600
What graphics cards are coming next? With the RTX 4060 and the RX 7600, two new graphics cards are probably in the starting blocks. But even before the release, the specifications are discussed (via videocardz.com). And the speculated 8 GB of video memory doesn’t exactly make many users happy.
Many gamers also state that they are quite willing to pay more money for a graphics card if the memory size is right in the end.
In addition, more and more gamers are playing on WQHD or higher resolutions. Graphics cards with 8 GB of VRAM may simply not be enough in the long run.
AMD’s crash landing with the Radeon RX 6500 XT also showed how important VRAM has become:
The RX 6500 XT was released as a budget card, but it only comes with 4GB of video memory. There were also a few other problems that make the card only conditionally recommendable. All these problems then made the RX 6500 XT a symbol for the problems of the graphics card market:
The tests for the Radeon RX 6500 XT show how broken the graphics card market is