Gpu usage vs VRAM usage

[COWZYOV]

I recently found out that gpu usage and vram usage are 2 different things, and don’t go hand-in-hand. When gaming, I see vram usage stays unwaveringly at say, 1 gb (out of 4 gb total), while gpu usage fluctuates much like cpu usage, sometimes even going over 50%! It doesn’t take a math expert to know that 1 gb is much less than 50% of four gb, so I know they must be two different things.

Either way, I’m planning to build a pc (I’m currently using a laptop, and the pc I’m planning to build should have a much stronger cpu), and the gpu I’m planning to use is a GTX 950 (yes, I know, it’s weak). I know that my current gpu never seems to need more than 1.5 gb vram, so I’m not concerned about the gtx 950 having only 2 gb.

However, how do I know whether or not the gtx 950 will hit max gpu usage faster than my previous gpu?

In short, which one of the gpu specs should I pay attention to to approximate how much the gpu can handle before hitting 100% gpu usage?

[Eldin]

Originally posted by AÀÁÂÄÆÃÅĀ:

while gpu usage fluctuates much like cpu usage

You're on the right track.
Graphic card does have its processor, it's called GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
And it have its RAM called VRAM (Video RAM)

VRAM is used by the GPU for caching textures and other information for the video card to load and render.

You can find more info by googling it, but basically you need more VRAM if you're playing on high resolution and use high resolution textures.

[COWZYOV]

So how do I determine my gpu strength relative to others? Core clock speed?

[Magma Dragoon]

games will load VRAM with assets until either all assets are loaded or VRAM is full

Originally posted by AÀÁÂÄÆÃÅĀ:

So how do I determine my gpu strength relative to others? Core clock speed?

Benchmarks and its location in the product stack. If a 970 gets 50fps a 960 will get less and 950 will get less than that.

[Eldin]

Originally posted by AÀÁÂÄÆÃÅĀ:

So how do I determine my gpu strength relative to others? Core clock speed?

Core Speed, Architecture, Memory Speed, Memory Bus, Memory Type, Memory Bandwidth, L2 Cache, Shader Processing Units, Texture Mapping Units, Texture Rate, Render Output Units, Pixel Rate.

It's best to use comparison websites and they'll take all those things in consideration and tell you approximately which card is better and how much.

[COWZYOV]

I assume that I shouldn’t just say “Vram will suffice, so I won’t run into problems”.

That’s like buying 32 gb of ram but hitting a heavy cpu bottleneck, right?

[shoopy]

VRAM won't affect FPS unless you run out of it. So it's important to have enough, but more doesn't mean faster.