VRAM size with IGP and dedicated GPU

Post » Fri Sep 05, 2014 2:23 am

I installed the performance monitor for Skyrim and one thing I noticed is my VRAM size, which is displayed as 2048MB.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/6491/?

Screenshot IGPU and GPU 2048MB: http://i.imgur.com/q0djCO9.png

Then I disabled the IGPU in the BIOS and it displayed as 4096MB: http://i.imgur.com/IhhDuVw.png

I don't notice any difference in fps either way playing the game (usually 40-60 outdoors and steady 60 indoors), but miss my external monitor connected to the IGPU.

It still stutters a little either way, the first time I fast move the camera in a new area. I use many high textures for landscape etc.

This is with ENB enabled.

I tried Auto/Force for the IGPU in the BIOS, both is detected as 2048MB.

With 4096MB VRAM it seems to use a maximum of 2048MB anyway?

Does the tool work properly and detects my actual setting?

Would the doubled VRAM improve anything, maybe never CTD (happens rarely).

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Christine Pane
 
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Post » Thu Sep 04, 2014 8:02 pm

> but miss my external monitor connected to the iGPU. <

What you mean with that ???

You can't play with your IGP GPU and your dedicated GPU the same time. !!!

I don't know what R9 series GPU you have, but it's better than your internal CPU IGP1.

1it's equivalent to an R7 250 with DDR3 memory

It depends actually from your GPU controller if you can utilize more than 2 GB of VRAM, and your game of course.

> Would the doubled VRAM improve anything, maybe never CTD <

Not really, but skyrim has a bad habit to crash if VRAM exceeds the 3.X GB barrier.

But you are at the 2GB mark, so a CTD because of that, not really.

---------

There could be several reasons, why you are getting CTD. Most of them are usually mistakes made by you. lol

  • If you encounter a crash as soon as the game opens, it means your game or a mod is missing an .esm file which is a master file, that provides several resources to the plugins you have installed. Check your mod list, mod by mod, and see if you miss anything.

  • For a CTD during your game play, the most obvious reason are two or more mods that conflict with each other or a mod that is poorly programmed.

The best way to go, is to disable 5 or 10 mods at a time and keep testing until the CTD stops, re-enabling the mods that you found to not be causing the CTD.

To avoid this in the future, use BOSS to sort your load order, and TES5edit to clean up your mods.

Lastly, a CTD can be caused by a defective script, which can be traced with the Papyrus Log file.

Save bloats are another problem, caused by scripts. Removing the mods caused by those scripts, does not solve the issue, and possibly may corrupt your save file.

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Kit Marsden
 
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Post » Thu Sep 04, 2014 11:10 pm

What card do you have? If you have a 2GB card then you do not have 4GB of vram. It is showing Total VRAM which probably includes shared memory.

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adam holden
 
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Post » Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:10 pm

I don't mean to play with both cards at the same time and crashes are really rare. For example one time I couldn't leave Riften trough the south gate any more without un-installing grass on steroids before. Mods make things really weird at times...

One monitor is connected to the IGPU R7 with 2GB and the my monitor (I play on) is connected to the dedicated AMD Radeon R9 290X with 4GB.

I wouldn't have noticed if that tool wouldn't have shown only 2GB vram use.

It could be, the cards are in some half baked Dual Graphics mode? I cannot find any setting in the CCC for that.

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Vincent Joe
 
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Post » Thu Sep 04, 2014 11:55 am

Why aren't both monitors connected to R9 290X? Why use IGP in the first place?

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Jessica Lloyd
 
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Post » Fri Sep 05, 2014 2:07 am

The dedicated card has no D-Sub connector and the 'old' monitor no digital. I am going to get an adapter for digital to d-sub... hopefully the desktop will not spread and I can still take screenshots for one screen only.

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Trey Johnson
 
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Post » Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:41 pm

Makes somewhat sense, R9 290X has DVI-D -connectors so neither is using an adapter a possibility.

Using such monitor however, even though it's secondary monitor, makes less sense.

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Deon Knight
 
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