Modded RTX 2080 Ti with 22GB VRAM crushes stock 11GB card in 2024 AAA games

PC Games Hardware tested a modded GeForce RTX 2080 Ti with 22GB of VRAM against the stock 11GB version, and the extra memory made a real difference in games that actually need it. At 4K with DLSS Performance and FSR 3.1 frame generation, the 22GB card hit 52.5 FPS in Flight Simulator 2024 while the 11GB model crawled at 30.2 FPS — 74% faster. Spider-Man 2 jumped from 39.4 to 64.0 FPS. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle crashed outright on the 11GB card.

At 1440p with DLSS Quality, the gap shrank but stayed visible — Flight Simulator 2024 and Spider-Man 2 still ran about 20% slower on 11GB. PCGH picked nine demanding titles (Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Alan Wake 2, Starfield, and others) that actually stress VRAM at high settings. Most older or lighter games showed no difference, as expected.

This is a niche mod — you can't buy a 22GB 2080 Ti off the shelf — but it confirms what benchmarkers have been saying for two years: 8GB cards hit a wall in 2024 AAA at 1440p/4K, and even 11GB isn't comfortable headroom anymore. The RTX 2080 Ti's core is still fast enough for 1440p/4K when VRAM stops choking it. If you're stuck on an 8GB or 11GB card and upgrading soon, this is why.

Wondering if your own card is running out of VRAM or just raw GPU grunt? Run a quick diagnostic at BetterFPS and see where the bottleneck sits.