Is 16Gb System Ram needed for a GTX 970 or any 4Gb Card?

...PACMAN... · Nov 5, 2015

I'm finally getting a 970 in the next couple of weeks so I can game with reasonable quality settings @1080p(760 has been a 2nd hand cheap placeholder)

I currently have 8Gb 2400Mhz Gskill Trident, do I need to add another 8 Gb to maximise the 970 or is it totally irrelevant?

I'm pretty clueless when it comes to these sort of things and wondered if there is any correlation between the two....Thanks guys

Kursah · Nov 5, 2015

Irrelevant.

But remember, everything that runs live on your PC, your OS, currently used programs, etc need to run in RAM, so when you run out, and it starts caching things to PF, even with SSD's in RAID0 your system will slow down greatly. 8GB should still be sufficient depending on your usage habits and how much stuff you leave open.

Graphics memory is independent of system memory in this aspect, though I do believe that drivers and maybe DX allow for system memory to be utilized for caching, and up to a 1:1 ratio with the graphic's card's memory. I'm not uber clear on this, but with 4GB of frame buffer on your graphics card, you should be pretty well set for many games at 1080P.

natr0n · Nov 5, 2015

8gb is fine just about standard now. 16 is okay if you play around with video and stuff.

970 should work fine with 8gb system ram.

Aquinus · Nov 5, 2015

Possibly, it depends on how much is being used when you're doing nothing and if you're filling system memory when you play a game. The moment that you fill up your ram and Windows starts swapping out pages to make more room for the game, you start hitting issues with stuttering and smoothness. I run with my page file disabled and there have been several instances where games have pushed my usage past 8GB with everything else going on.

Sooner or later, you're going to need more memory with the way things are going (and always have,) so I wouldn't say that it's a bad thing to do.

...PACMAN... · Nov 5, 2015

Thanks a lot, I'm thinking maybe I should just upgrade it anyway as DDR3 is pretty cheap now, trouble is I have two sticks so another two and the board is fully populated. Perhaps I should sell my two and just get two sticks of 8.

EDIT - Yeh, I think you're right Aquinus. An upgrade wouldn't hurt anyway, regardless of whether it will help the 970 or not.

Aquinus · Nov 5, 2015

...PACMAN... said:
EDIT - Yeh, I think you're right Aquinus. An upgrade wouldn't hurt anyway, regardless of whether it will help the 970 or not.

It would help eliminate memory capacity as a potential bottleneck going forward. 8GB is cutting it close which is why it's a worth while upgrade because you'll avoid the issue all together because of it because you're being proactive. If the price is right, I would advocate for 2x8GB sticks. If I were to upgrade my 4x4GB, I would probably go to 4x8GB so I would have the option of maxing it out in the future should the need ever to arise. I don't think I would pay more for faster memory though. Overclocking is fun but, anything beyond 1600 without an iGPU doesn't get you a whole lot so I would probably go for something like this if I were to ever upgrade: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148659 That's just me though.

PCGamerDR · Nov 5, 2015

...PACMAN... said:
Thanks a lot, I'm thinking maybe I should just upgrade it anyway as DDR3 is pretty cheap now, trouble is I have two sticks so another two and the board is fully populated. Perhaps I should sell my two and just get two sticks of 8.

EDIT - Yeh, I think you're right Aquinus. An upgrade wouldn't hurt anyway, regardless of whether it will help the 970 or not.

8gb is fine but if the upgrade is cheap it doesn't hurt

. i have g.skill ripjawz @2368mhz :toast:

.

64K · Nov 5, 2015

I upgraded to 16 GB a while back. Another 8 GB of DDR3 would be around $45- $50 so that's not too much. I doubt you will need more than 16 GB for gaming due to the consoles being limited to 8 GB and only 4-5 GB used for the game itself. If you are thinking about keeping your rig as it is for more than this console cycle then I couldn't even guess what the next gen consoles will cause us to require but I imagine you will be on a new CPU and mobo and on DDR4 by then probably.

Edit: oops I just noticed what kind of RAM you're running so it would be a bit more than $50 unless you caught a good sale. I would still do it though.

...PACMAN... · Nov 5, 2015

Yeh, I can get another two sticks of the same for 50 pounds so I may just do that when I get the 970.

Guakamolly2 · Nov 5, 2015

I do not see a problem with that at all considering that the GPU has its own VRAM although i would recommend spending the 45$ and buy another 8GB of RAM. Let me know how this does work out for you though because i have 8GB of RAM and a GTX 750ti FTW and would be interested in upgrading.

horik · Nov 5, 2015

I upgraded from 2x3 Gb ram to 2x8 Gb, i sold the old ram on ebay.
I also have an GTX 970 and easely got to 8Gb Ram used in Blender but not in games.
I have 5Gb usage in Cities Skylines, 4Gb in Battlefield 3 multiplayer, 5Gb in Dying Light, all this with browser open.

...PACMAN... · Nov 5, 2015

Guakamolly2 said:
I do not see a problem with that at all considering that the GPU has its own VRAM although i would recommend spending the 45$ and buy another 8GB of RAM. Let me know how this does work out for you though because i have 8GB of RAM and a GTX 750ti FTW and would be interested in upgrading.

I will do, should be fine and looking forward to an upgrade in fps

System Name	Old but gold
Processor	3770k @ 4.5Ghz
Motherboard	Asus Maximus Gene V
Cooling	Hyper 212 Evo
Memory	16Gb 1600 DDR3@2400 Cl11
Video Card(s)	GTX 1080 FE
Storage	SanDisk Extreme 120Gb SSD (os) , SanDisk 480Gb (Games), WD Caviar Black 4 TB (Games and storage)
Display(s)	32" Samsung HDTV 1080P
Case	Some old Dell
Audio Device(s)	Onboard HDMI
Power Supply	EVGA G2 550w
Software	Windows 10 Pro 1903

System Name	Kursah's Gaming Rig 2018 (2022 Upgrade) - Ryzen+ Edition \| Gaming Laptop (Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 2022)
Processor	R7 5800X @ Stock \| i7 12700H @ Stock
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strix X370-F Gaming BIOS 6203\| Legion 5i Pro NM-E231
Cooling	Noctua NH-U14S Push-Pull + NT-H1 \| Stock Cooling
Memory	TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32GB (2x16) DDR4 4000 @ 3600 18-20-20-42 1.35v \| 32GB DDR5 4800 (2x16)
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 4070 JetStream 12GB \| CPU-based Intel Iris XE + RTX 3070 8GB 150W
Storage	4TB SP UD90 NVME, 960GB SATA SSD, 2TB HDD \| 1TB Samsung OEM NVME SSD + 4TB Crucial P3 Plus NVME SSD
Display(s)	Acer 28" 4K VG280K x2 \| 16" 2560x1600 built-in
Case	Corsair 600C - Stock Fans on Low \| Stock Metal/Plastic
Audio Device(s)	Aune T1 mk1 > AKG K553 Pro + JVC HA-RX 700 (Equalizer APO + PeaceUI) \| Bluetooth Earbuds (BX29)
Power Supply	EVGA 750G2 Modular + APC Back-UPS Pro 1500 \| 300W OEM (heavy use) or Lenovo Legion C135W GAN (light)
Mouse	Logitech G502 \| Logitech M330
Keyboard	HyperX Alloy Core RGB \| Built in Keyboard (Lenovo laptop KB FTW)
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64 \| Windows 11 Home x64

System Name	natr0n-PC
Processor	Ryzen 5950x/5600x
Motherboard	B450 AORUS M
Cooling	EK AIO 360 - 6 fan action
Memory	Patriot - Viper Steel DDR4 (B-Die)(4x8GB)
Video Card(s)	EVGA 3070ti FTW
Storage	Various
Display(s)	PIXIO IPS 240Hz 1080P
Case	Thermaltake Level 20 VT
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Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III ARGB 80+ Gold 650W
Software	XP/7/8.1/10
Benchmark Scores	http://valid.x86.fr/79kuh6

System Name	Apollo
Processor	Intel Core i9 9880H
Motherboard	Some proprietary Apple thing.
Memory	64GB DDR4-2667
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, 8GB HBM2
Storage	1TB Apple NVMe, 4TB External
Display(s)	Laptop @ 3072x1920 + 2x LG 5k Ultrafine TB3 displays
Case	MacBook Pro (16", 2019)
Audio Device(s)	AirPods Pro, Sennheiser HD 380s w/ FIIO Alpen 2, or Logitech 2.1 Speakers
Power Supply	96w Power Adapter
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard	Logitech G915, GL Clicky
Software	MacOS 12.1

System Name	Old but gold
Processor	3770k @ 4.5Ghz
Motherboard	Asus Maximus Gene V
Cooling	Hyper 212 Evo
Memory	16Gb 1600 DDR3@2400 Cl11
Video Card(s)	GTX 1080 FE
Storage	SanDisk Extreme 120Gb SSD (os) , SanDisk 480Gb (Games), WD Caviar Black 4 TB (Games and storage)
Display(s)	32" Samsung HDTV 1080P
Case	Some old Dell
Audio Device(s)	Onboard HDMI
Power Supply	EVGA G2 550w
Software	Windows 10 Pro 1903

Is 16Gb System Ram needed for a GTX 970 or any 4Gb Card?

...PACMAN...

Kursah

Super Moderator

natr0n

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man

...PACMAN...

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man

PCGamerDR

64K

...PACMAN...

Guakamolly2

horik

...PACMAN...

Processor	i7 7700k
Motherboard	MSI Z270 SLI Plus
Cooling	CM Hyper 212 EVO
Memory	2 x 8 GB Corsair Vengeance
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 2070 Super
Storage	Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB and WD Black 4TB
Display(s)	Dell 27 inch 1440p 144 Hz
Case	Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow Edition
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNova 850 W Gold
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech G105
Software	Windows 10

System Name	Lynn
Processor	Intel Core i7 860 @ 4.0Ghz LGA1156
Motherboard	ASUS P7P55 LX Intel P55 Express LGA1156 DDR3 ATX
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Memory	24GB DDR3 G-Skill Ripjaw X-Series
Video Card(s)	XFX RX480 8GB GDDR5
Storage	250B SSD for Windows 500gb for Steam 100GB SSD for Origin games 150gb HDD for school
Display(s)	Acer 24in 1080p + HP 19inch 1080p
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Audio Device(s)	N/A
Power Supply	Cooler Master 750w
Mouse	Razer Deathadder Chroma
Keyboard	Razer Blackwidow Chroma
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	Never benchmarked but it's good

Processor	X5650 @3,7 Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte Ga-EX58-UD5
Cooling	Cogage True Spirit
Memory	2x8 GB Kingston HyperX Fury 1866 CL10
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 1070
Storage	250Gb MX100 SSD+1TB WD Green
Display(s)	QNIX QX2710 2560x1440 27" PLS 96Hz
Case	NZXT Tempest
Power Supply	Corsair RM750 750w 80 Plus Gold Modular
Keyboard	Logitech K120
Software	Win 10 Home 64 bits

System Name	Old but Gold
Processor	A10-6800k : 4,700GHz@1.4v
Motherboard	Asus F2A85 V-PRO
Cooling	CoolerMaster Gemin 2 S524 with a modded crazy fan on it :D
Memory	8GB G.Skill RipJawZ @2400MHz Dual Channel; 10-12-12-31
Video Card(s)	Clud3D R9 290 RoyalAce core@1077 mem@1350
Storage	Dual 500GB Seagate Barracuda
Display(s)	Asus VH198T Res 1440x900@75Hz, Aspect Ratio 16:10, 10000000:1 Contrast Ratio
Case	Diablotek Predator
Audio Device(s)	Onboard Realtek ALC892 Unlocked DTS and DD :) !!!
Power Supply	Corsair CX750M
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech Generic PS/2 Keyboard !
Software	Win 10 Pro 64-Bit
Benchmark Scores	2,810 on Valley 1.0 Custom Preset: Ultra DX11 1080p 4xAA.