AMD claims most gamers don’t need more than 8GB of VRAM, after new GPU launch

AMD has stuck its head above the parapet in the increasingly fraught GPU VRAM discussion, with the company’s chief architect of gaming solutions, and former Alienware co-founder, Frank Azor, claiming that most gamers have “no use for more than 8GB” of memory on their graphics cards. The statement follows the launch of the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT, which comes in both 8GB and 16GB versions, and Nvidia coming under heavy criticism for only including 8GB of memory on the GeForce RTX 5060.

As I’ve just found in my Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 review, 8GB is still just about enough memory to run many of the latest games at decent settings, as long as you don’t go above a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080. However, demanding titles such as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are already pushing VRAM requirements hard, with the RTX 5060 unable to cope with this game above the Medium graphics preset, even at 1080p, simply because it doesn’t have enough memory. With the Radeon RX 9060 XT release date coming soon, it looks as though AMD is keen to stick up for the cheaper version of its new GPU.

Frank Azor made the statement in a post on X (formerly Twitter), where he replied to PC hardware YouTuber Michael Quesada, who asked how putting 8GB of VRAM on a new graphics card can be justified in 2025. In response, Azor said that the “majority of gamers are still playing at 1080p and have no use for more than 8GB of memory, adding that the “most played games WW [worldwide] are mostly esports games. We wouldn’t build it if there wasn’t a market for it. If 8GB isn’t right for you then there’s 16GB. Same GPU, no compromise, just memory options.”

There’s definitely some truth in this statement. After all, the fourth most popular GPU on the Steam Hardware Survey is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 right now, which only has 4GB of VRAM, let alone 8GB. It’s also true that many of the most popular games, particularly in the esports world, don’t go hard on VRAM usage. If you’re currently playing Fortnite on a GTX 1650, then upgrading to an RTX 5060 will give you a massive frame rate boost, and enable you to increase the graphics settings significantly, all without maxing out its 8GB of VRAM.

Buying a new graphics card isn’t just about esports and playing your favorite old games, though. Statistically, most gamers may indeed not need more than 8GB, but if I’m spending $299 on a graphics card investment, I also expect it to be able to run the latest games without falling over, and last for a few years before I need to upgrade. From my testing so far, it looks as though 8GB cards are going to really struggle here – if they don’t already fall over in these titles, the VRAM usage is often right on the edge.

The problem is that both the 8GB and 16GB versions of this card, and the RTX 5060 Ti for that matter, have the same model name. That means system builders could sell their PCs as having an RTX 5060 Ti or Radeon RX 9060 XT, for example, without necessarily revealing how much VRAM is fitted to it, and save some money, while the PC buyer gets a GPU that doesn’t have enough memory to cope with some of the latest games.

If you’re looking to buy a new budget gaming GPU, and you’re hoping to push up the settings in the latest single-player titles for a good couple of years, then my advice is to avoid 8GB graphics cards, even if they’re cheaper. For the latest buying advice, check out our guide to the best graphics card, as well as our tutorial on how to install a GPU.

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