| sc94597 said: 1 We don't even need to discuss 1440p/4k, which I didn't bring up and don't expect the Switch 2 to be able to achieve natively in demanding titles. |
Seems you didn't read my post.
The point is, 1440P is relevant... Because that is a resolution the Switch 2.0 will -not- be running at, thus reducing it's need for higher amounts of Ram.
That's my point.
| sc94597 said: Here is what Cyberpunk 2077 uses at the settings in the Digital Foundry video (Medium, DLSS Quality, 1080p.) Roughly 4.5 GB of GPU memory and 3 GB of system ram.
There have been many other examples: Hogwarts Legacy, The Last of Us Part 1, etc. released this year. |
There have been many instances in the past where games have exceeded a GPU's VRAM limit and ran fine. - They just buffer data into System Ram and fetch the data they need on a per-needs basis. It's not ideal, but it's hardly the end of the world.
An RTX 2050 being a slow heap of trash is not going to have the horsepower to efficiently leverage 8GB/16GB of VRAM. - That's the reality of it... If you are working with a dataset that large, the 2050's performance is going to be terrible anyway.
As for the Switch 2.0, it's ultimately irrelevant as consoles tend to have a unified memory architecture, making all this redundant... But I think you would be deceiving yourself if you believe it will somehow be significantly better than a 2050's capability.
| sc94597 said: 2. You said "the Switch 2 will not allocate RAM for any specific uses" and then "The Xbox One/Playstation 4/Xbox Series X/Playstation 5 ALL allocate at-least 2.5GB of Ram OR MORE for the OS." Anyway, I said "be able to allocate", not that it is some system-determined reservation. After you account for the OS's minimum reservation, CPU-workload demands for the game, etc. you should expect about 6-8 GB out of about 12-16GB to be available. Using the numbers we have here for example, assuming at least 2.5GB for the OS (which I still think is an overestimate for Nintendo's feature sparse systems), ~3GB for CPU-based game-related tasks; 12GB - 2.5GB - 3GB = 6.5GB left unallocated. |
Irrelevant. As I have already established, Console operating systems are not more memory or CPU efficient than a PC, not since the 7th gen.
| sc94597 said: 3. I mean that is even more reason why alleviating a VRAM bottleneck could lead to performance gains. |
They would be better off investing in more functional units or faster VRAM than wasting money on higher capacity VRAM with the rtx2050, it nets you a larger return on investment if performance and/or visuals are your goal.
There is such a thing as "diminishing returns" when it comes to Ram. - Because Ram, unless you are filling up the entire pool completely, 100% of the time, has diminishing returns if the hardware's processing capabilities are unable to keep up with that dataset anyway.
I also have an RTX 3060 notebook with 6GB of VRAM, which is significantly faster than the RTX 2050, but doesn't come with a corresponding increase in VRAM.
And it's fine in everything within expectation. - Some games will use 7GB/8GB of VRAM (1GB/2GB Buffered into the 64GB of System memory) and it's fine.
System behaves as it should.
| sc94597 said: 4. There has been a lot of efforts to streamline the pipelines to work around the memory-hierarchy, I don't disagree. But at least in the current PC gaming situation VRAM is a big issue, even for 1080p. |
It's really not.
The situation is overblown unless you are doing 1440P/4k gaming with Ray Tracing and Ultra settings.
| sc94597 said: 5. Eh, when I said the neutered 2050 is an "underestimate" I wasn't thinking something crazy like the Switch 2 will be able to output at 1440p native 60fps or anything. I suppose I should've put the word "bit" before it. Basically I suspect we'll get more capacity to hit native 1080p low-medium settings with the Switch 2 than the defanged 2050 was able to in Digital Foundry's videos. That's not an unrealistic expectation for low-end hardware at the end of the year 2024. |
I wouldn't be surprised if the Switch 2.0 is another 720P device, just like the Steamdeck. (Technically 800P.)
More power savings can be had at that resolution... And more chances to actually have games perform 30/60fps consistently... And it places even less emphasis on the Ram capacity.
--::{PC Gaming Master Race}::--
