gtx 860m 2 gb vs 4 gb

CaesarAnto

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hi all,

I have to buy a new laptop (Asus N551-JM) and I can't make up my mind between the two gpu versions. From what I understand, 4 gb are useless at 1080p, and apart from that I've always been used to lower resolutions. I'm really not a hardcore gamer and I'm happy with my oldies&goldies, the thing is, though, that I'm awaiting (the highly hypothetical) Fallout4 as well. From what I understand, the gtx 860m would in any case lack the horsepower to take advantage of 4 gb, but then again, I find people mentioning games that are already capping out the 2 gb vram (I'll quote some passages from another forum: "2GB cards are perfectly viable and useful and everything these days... but 4GB cards are going to get more useful as people are primarily coding for machines with large amounts of video RAM", "MOST high end games cap out at 2GB to 2.2GB maximum vRAM being used")

thanks for your help
 
Solution
Go for the 4gb if your budget permits

i have a 2gb 860m , it can run ost games on ultra 1080p at 40FPS (witcher 2,shadow of mordor- jst with high textures everything else ultra)

even though many system requirements have been bloated it is good to have a bit of an extra VRAM

i agree that the 860m doesnot have the HP for 4gb,

1.Look at this

SOM - high text , ultra AA ,everythig else - 2506MB

the same goes for some other games too..

2. Now i win 7+ you can use a bit of your RAM (normaly it is 1gb) when your inbuilt VRAM is less(though it is a bit slower). If you have 8gb ram , it is more than enough ( well , i have seen it utilization at a max of 5gb during intense gaming)

3. THere ought to be a few FPS difference between the 2gb...

uthvag

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Oct 5, 2014
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Go for the 4gb if your budget permits

i have a 2gb 860m , it can run ost games on ultra 1080p at 40FPS (witcher 2,shadow of mordor- jst with high textures everything else ultra)

even though many system requirements have been bloated it is good to have a bit of an extra VRAM

i agree that the 860m doesnot have the HP for 4gb,

1.Look at this

SOM - high text , ultra AA ,everythig else - 2506MB

the same goes for some other games too..

2. Now i win 7+ you can use a bit of your RAM (normaly it is 1gb) when your inbuilt VRAM is less(though it is a bit slower). If you have 8gb ram , it is more than enough ( well , i have seen it utilization at a max of 5gb during intense gaming)

3. THere ought to be a few FPS difference between the 2gb and 4gb

4.You can always reduce the AA / texture quality if you take a hit

hope it helps!!


IMPORTANT- make sure you get the 4gb maxwell(GM107 chip i think,just check it) and NOT the kepler
 
Solution

CaesarAnto

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May 6, 2011
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so basically, the amount of memory only affects texture size, resolution and AA? like I've said, I'm getting an upper-middle gpu just for Fallout 4 (if it will ever be made), I wouldn't mind playing it with low or medium settings with the 2 gb version at all; I'm pretty sure both are Maxwell, btw. Budget is not really an issue but there's a 130€ difference (and a +8gb ram which I wouldn't need anywway) and given my needs I'm not sure if it's worth it

thanks for your help
 

uthvag

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if low/mediumm is your target why not an 850m or 840m combined with an i5 maybe 4210?

PS- glad to help!!

if you found your answer/ pick a solution!!
 

CaesarAnto

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because I'm afraid such a configuration won't be enough if the game comes out in, say, 3 or 4 years (in 2008 I bought a 600€ laptop with a geforce9300m and two years later it was struggling with Fallout New Vegas; assuming this new laptop will have a 5-year lifespan before it conks out, I'd rather play it a little safer with a gtx860 (hope what I wrote makes sense)
 

wishy35

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Dec 12, 2014
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I don't really have a "solution", rather an extra question. I am debating which of these two GPUs to get as well. My mind is set on the asus g551-jm. however benchmarks actually show the 2gb version performing better than the 4gb version and I am talking for both Maxwell, not the 4gb Kepler. For example in a review I read that the 2gb version on a acer v15 nitro scored 28377 on 3DM Cloud (G), whereas the 4gb version on the said asus g551jm scored only 20669. The other tests (3DM Fire (G) 3DMark 11 (G) U. Heaven) were more or less the same. Comparing the fps of high end games was also the same (for example both scored 28 fps on high settings on Metro: Last light), however on lighter games like fifa 2014, the asus scored 103 fps on high and the acer (with the 2gb gpu) had over 300 hundred. I can't explain these differences and I have no idea why the 2gb is, granted slighly, but better than the 4gb version.

So which one should I get in the long run?