Is 8GB of VRAM good enough for gaming?

You might be wondering if 8GB of VRAM is good enough gaming – we’ve broken it down for you here.

Videogame technology is progressing in leaps and bounds and the latest games have responded by becoming increasingly more demanding. New releases such as Hogwarts Legacy can be so formidable for gaming PCs that users are reporting crashes, frame drops and stuttering.

There are lots of important specs and factors to balance across your PC, one of the most important ones, however, is VRAM. Let’s take a look at whether 8GB is enough for gaming in 2023.

Is 8GB of VRAM good enough for gaming?

The answer to this question of course has lots of caveats: what GPU is housing the VRAM? What games are you trying to play? What are the other specs for your system? Putting these aside it is still possible to get a sense of whether 8GB is enough VRAM for gaming.

Really what is important here is the type of games you want to play and the type of settings you want to play them on.

For example, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor System Requirements list the recommended GPUs with either 12GB or 8GB of VRAM a piece. That is not playing the game on the highest specs possible either.

While an older game such as God Of War suggests you can play on the high graphic settings with 8GB of RAM just fine.

Meanwhile Hogwarts Legacy lists one GPU that has 8GB and one that has 11GB as being recommended in order to play the game on high settings. But recommends cards with far more, as much as 24GB of VRAM if you want to play on ultra settings.

This is a trend that continues with other major releases. So what does this mean?

Essentially 8GB of VRAM is good enough for modern games on low to medium settings and some older games on higher ones.

This means it’s good enough for 1440p but likely not 4K.

If you want to play on the highest settings possible, or future-proof yourself against new developments in gaming, it could be a good idea to invest in a GPU with more VRAM.

Frequently asked questions

What is VRAM?

VRAM stands for Video RAM. It is a type of computer memory that specifically deals with video rendering. It facilitates the smooth creation and depiction of graphics on your computer.

Is 8 GB VRAM overkill for 1080p?

8GB of VRAM should be plenty for handling games at 1080p, though more could facilitate higher frame rates. However, these are only accessible with the best monitors for gaming.