Arc Raiders is a shining beacon of hope in the darkest times of the RAMpocalypse, proving 8 GB budget graphics cards don't have to miss out on glorious graphics
I've recently performed some in-depth testing of VRAM usage in several modern games, to see if 8 GB budget graphics cards are still good enough for gaming in 2026. And it turns out they are—with some caveats.
While the 8 GB variants of the RTX 5060 Ti and RX 9060 XT performed fairly well overall, it was surprising to see just how big the frame rate gap was compared to their 16 GB equivalents. Traditionally, 8 GB and 16 GB budget GPUs have often performed roughly the same, but in this generation of games, that's not so much the case.
In this VRAM-constrained, memory crisis-stricken world, that might be bad news for budget gamers. Should this supply shambles cause graphics card manufacturers to cut all our "low-priced" cards down to 8 GB, though, there is one major beacon of hope—and it comes in the form of Arc Raiders.
I was genuinely astonished to see how well this particular game ran on all of our tested GPUs. It's a great counterpoint to the popular idea that all Unreal Engine 5 games perform like trash, and a testament to the ability of the developers to keep VRAM usage low and frame rates high, even on affordable graphics hardware at maximum settings.
Take a look at the chart below to see what I mean. While the 16 GB cards are still faster overall, even the RX 9060 XT 8 GB (which struggled a little in some of my tests) manages to post a 127 fps average with the sliders cranked at 1440p, albeit with a small dose of Quality upscaling.
Arc Raiders - VRAM usage and performance
In-game testing, Epic settings
| Product | Value |
|---|---|
| RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB | 162 Avg FPS, 110 1% Low FPS, 5.23 Avg. VRAM |
| RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB | 155 Avg FPS, 89 1% Low FPS, 5.63 Avg. VRAM |
| RX 9060XT 16 GB | 142 Avg FPS, 67 1% Low FPS, 7.64 Avg. VRAM |
| RX 9060 XT 8 GB | 148 Avg FPS, 90 1% Low FPS, 5.72 Avg. VRAM |
I spent many hours running around in Arc Raiders trying to force it into all sorts of frame rate-destroying scenarios. I experienced hurricanes, bot invasions, and more than one bullet to the back of the head. This is the life of a Raider.
But while the frame rate is variable (my recorded averages are based on much combined testing), I couldn't get it to range anywhere near its VRAM limit on any of my tested cards. Nor could I get it to deliver anything other than excellent performance—on properly affordable GPUs, no less.
It's also worth noting just how bite-the-back-of-your-hand beautiful this game looks. Jumping into Arc Raiders after testing Cyberpunk 2077, Resident Evil Requiem, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and others is a real eye-opener.
All of those games look great, but Arc Raiders has such a distinct, gorgeously-rendered art style, it's difficult not to feel like it's a game from a different era. I mean, just look at it in motion.
RX 9060 XT 8 GB - 1440p Epic settings
Of course, there are some differences between Raiders and those other games that are worth taking into account. For one, it's essentially a multiplayer shooter played out over relatively large (but not massive) maps, and as a result there are often large periods where there's not a whole lot going on on screen.
Aside from some striking vistas, that is. And some surprisingly complex assets, dropped in among the whistling deserts and crumbling buildings. Still, I'd imagine Arc Raiders is performing some clever culling and sightline tricks behind the scenes to keep things smooth, among some other performance-related wizardry.
But if a game can look this good, running on the premiere game engine of its day, all while keep VRAM usage to a minimum and frame rates high at its top settings, it gives me genuine hope for budget gaming.
If more developers choose to optimise their games for the sort of hardware the majority of their player base actually owns, then perhaps our VRAM-limited future might not be so awful after all. I'm sure I'm not the only one that rolls my eyes when I see major new releases with tanked optimisation, even on high-end hardware.
Take a look at all the results of my budget GPU VRAM testing.
And my eyes start performing backflips when certain industry luminaries try and justify those efforts as something like, oooh, I don't know, "premium games for premium gamers."
Ultimately, our hobby lives and dies based on how many people can afford to play. And given the price of all sorts of PC gaming hardware is soaring right now (and may well get much worse before it gets better), it behooves game developers to prioritise optimisation.
Pretty graphics and silly-high frame rates on budget hardware can be achieved—and if more developers join the cause, we're all the better off for it. It seems to have done Arc Raiders no harm in the sales department, put it that way. Just saying, etc etc.