Video RAM - how much do you really need?
BioShock's submerged cities and shadersBioShock was very much the spiritual successor of System Shock 2 (if not just a modern reworking of the same idea) and boasts all kinds of rendering effects and detail levels. Unlike STALKER though, it's a cross-platform title, so one might expect the VRAM load to be lower, as the latest generation of consoles don't have the same levels of memory as a desktop PC.
Even so, as one can see, at the maximum possible DX9 settings, the game can easily use 300MB of local memory. Once again, these settings put it out of reach for a 256MB graphics card but also note that anti-aliasing is also a big RAM consumer: an extra 245MB is needed for 4x AA at 1600 x 1200. BioShock has a simpler array of detail settings than the previous two games we've looked at and although it doesn't quite have an overall preset value, there is a single slider which affects the others:
 High graphics preset Knocking the details down to "low" removes most of the shader effects and detail textures, but the overall environment remains the same: this is why it still needs 100MB of RAM at 1600 x 1200. However, this does mean that a budget graphics card, with just 128MB, could run the game at a lower resolution. Once the detail increases, though, it's a different story and at the highest value, BioShock loves RAM. So far we've had games that have prided themselves on having uber-level graphics and worlds to explore, but not all titles are like this. Many sports and racing games keep things much simpler, so let's examine a recent rally blast.
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