8GB Graphics Cards Struggle in Real-World Tests: Should You Upgrade?

Bloggers Prove 8GB Graphics Cards Can't Keep Up In Real-World Tests [VIDEO] In the ongoing debate about how much video memory (VRAM) gamers actually need, the YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed conducted an interesting experiment. They compared the performance of 8GB and 16GB versions of the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, but instead of using their standard test bench, they simulated a graphics card upgrade on older motherboards with previous-generation PCIe interfaces. The results showed that in this scenario, VRAM size really does matter. The experiment is relevant because many PC owners upgrade their graphics cards without replacing their motherboards. This can result in the interface bandwidth becoming a bottleneck, limiting the performance of a graphics card with less VRAM. In most modern games tested, the 8GB model performed on average half as fast as the 16GB model when running on PCIe 3.0 instead of 4.0. Additionally, the gameplay became noticeably less smooth and suffered from stutteri…