Upgrading Graphical Performance: Nvidia Enhances GTX 970 with 8GB VRAM Enhancement
Unleashing the Beast: Resurrected and Upgraded Graphics Cards
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 970, once a powerhouse in the gaming world, was famed for offering performance comparable to AMD's Radeon R9 290X, while being more budget-friendly. Fast-forward ten years, and some ingenious tinkering by Brazilian modder Paulo Gomes and his team has breathed new life into this classic card, as they managed to double the original VRAM from 4GB to 8GB.
To pull off this feat, the modders substituted the original 512MB, 7 Gbps GDDR5 memory modules with 1GB, 8 Gbps chips, and added a resistor to allow the GPU to recognize the increased VRAM density. In the hands of YouTuber Peperaio Hardware, this one-of-a-kind Asus Strix-branded RX 970 was put to the test. The question at hand: does doubling the VRAM on an older GPU result in any gaming improvement?
Testing involved a mix of old and new games, with titles like Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA V Enhanced, and Plague Tale Requiem failing to exhibit any significant improvement. Comparisons were made to a Gigabyte Windforce GTX 970 with 4GB memory.
However, the picture changed when it came to Cyberpunk 2077, where performance varied depending on the graphics settings. The 8GB modded GPU saw a 5-15% performance boost. The two games that reaped noticeable benefits from the increased VRAM were The Last of Us Part II Remastered, boasting a 24% increase in frame rate, and Horizon Forbidden West, offering a staggering 40% improvement.
In February last year, the same modding team successfully repaired and upgraded a defective RTX 3070 by replacing its original 8GB GDDR6 memory with 12GB. After solder-in of new 2GB memory chips and modifying the GPU's BIOS, the upgraded RTX 3070 performed efficiently, passing all stress tests, and showing that the mod was both technically viable and functionally robust.
This upgrade paid off in gaming performance. In Resident Evil 4 Remake, the modified RTX 3070 delivered a remarkable 66% performance increase compared to the standard 8GB version. The Last of Us Part I saw a 25% performance boost, while Hogwarts Legacy ran 20% better with the extra VRAM.
While both Nvidia and AMD continue to assert that 8GB of VRAM is sufficient for most gamers, real-world mods like these suggest otherwise. As modern titles become increasingly demanding, Nvidia released the RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti in 8GB variants, while AMD has announced its new Radeon RX 9060 XT will also come with 8GB of VRAM.
Simply increasing VRAM can dramatically impact gaming performance by enabling the GPU to store more textures, assets, and visual data needed for rendering. This reduces lag, stuttering, and texture pop-in at higher resolutions or settings. However, the overall effect depends on the GPU architecture and whether the existing VRAM is a true bottleneck.
Older GPUs with limited VRAM, such as the 3.5-4GB effective VRAM on the GTX 970, may struggle with modern games. These games demand larger VRAM buffers due to complex lighting, shaders, and detailed textures. Additionally, VRAM is physically fixed on the GPU chip, so there's no easy way to add more memory on older cards like the GTX 970; upgrades require replacing the entire graphics card.
Upgrading to a newer card with more VRAM significantly enhances gaming performance, particularly at higher resolutions and with modern graphical features. In short, more VRAM translates to better handling of textures and visual data, resulting in improved smoothness and reduced stuttering. However, on older GPUs, VRAM is often a limiting factor, necessitating a full GPU upgrade for improved results.
- Despite technology advancements, the question remains whether increasing a gadget's VRAM, such as smartphones and other devices, could significantly improve gaming performance.
- In the future, consumers might be enticed by smartphones equipped with greater VRAM, similar to these upgraded graphics cards, for a smoother gaming experience on mobile platforms.
