Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The memory crisis affecting gaming hardware has gotten so bad that AMD is going to release GPUs that will only have 4GB of VRAM. Wow. We are running out of memory so bad that we have to lower the standards that much. For context, 8GB of VRAM is required to play most modern demanding titles at 1080p Medium Settings. With 4GB VRAM, you're lucky if these modern games runs on 1080p or at all.
Fortunately, PC gaming is a very flexible hobby, and depending on what games you throw at it, your PC can play something as simple as NES games to running the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator at 4K 60 FPS. A lot of games lie somewhere in the middle of that. I don't blame AMD for releasing models that are below 8GB of VRAM during the memory crisis that we're suffering right now thanks to AI companies hoarding all the hardware. If anything, it varies the market even more and allows people to get into PC gaming for less money playing older and less demanding games for cheap, the ones that require way more power than an integrated GPU.
I find it surprising that none of the GPU manufacturers are making recent GPUs that only run on PCI-E slot power anymore. The last NVIDIA that can run on PCI-E is the RTX 3050. The last Radeon? RX 6400 and RX 6500 XT. Both are coincidentally on 4GB VRAM as well. Intel is the latest one that offer a model that runs purely on PCI-E, and that is the Intel Arc A380, easily the best value out of all those I mentioned. That's a GPU that I ordered because of how surprisingly affordable it is, and I do need to have a PC that can game and make content these days.
All I'm saying is if you're thinking of PC gaming, don't just think of PC gaming as the place to play the latest games. PC gaming has the biggest catalogue of games than any of the consoles combined, and they can still be played to this day with a couple of tweaks and fixes. Thankfully with most games released up to this point, you don't need incredibly demanding hardware, and depending on what you throw at it, your PC can either run it smoothly or chug like crazy. Pick the right games for your PC, and they will run beautifully.
The memory crisis affecting gaming hardware has gotten so bad that AMD is going to release GPUs that will only have 4GB of VRAM. Wow. We are running out of memory so bad that we have to lower the standards that much. For context, 8GB of VRAM is required to play most modern demanding titles at 1080p Medium Settings. With 4GB VRAM, you're lucky if these modern games runs on 1080p or at all.
Fortunately, PC gaming is a very flexible hobby, and depending on what games you throw at it, your PC can play something as simple as NES games to running the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator at 4K 60 FPS. A lot of games lie somewhere in the middle of that. I don't blame AMD for releasing models that are below 8GB of VRAM during the memory crisis that we're suffering right now thanks to AI companies hoarding all the hardware. If anything, it varies the market even more and allows people to get into PC gaming for less money playing older and less demanding games for cheap, the ones that require way more power than an integrated GPU.
I find it surprising that none of the GPU manufacturers are making recent GPUs that only run on PCI-E slot power anymore. The last NVIDIA that can run on PCI-E is the RTX 3050. The last Radeon? RX 6400 and RX 6500 XT. Both are coincidentally on 4GB VRAM as well. Intel is the latest one that offer a model that runs purely on PCI-E, and that is the Intel Arc A380, easily the best value out of all those I mentioned. That's a GPU that I ordered because of how surprisingly affordable it is, and I do need to have a PC that can game and make content these days.
All I'm saying is if you're thinking of PC gaming, don't just think of PC gaming as the place to play the latest games. PC gaming has the biggest catalogue of games than any of the consoles combined, and they can still be played to this day with a couple of tweaks and fixes. Thankfully with most games released up to this point, you don't need incredibly demanding hardware, and depending on what you throw at it, your PC can either run it smoothly or chug like crazy. Pick the right games for your PC, and they will run beautifully.
