GTX 970 VRAM allocation bug

It does not show system memory. I have 16GB of ram and it only shows 12gb. In my case, it looks like it shows free system memory as I have 12GB free....

 

We are comparing it to other 970s yet no other 980s. Seems normal compared to others.


more shader / texture units.....???

 

No that test dont use shaders at all.it looks like GTX970 is not 256bit card at all.

btw aida64 underclock memory so both GTX980 and 970 running memory on 6Ghz.

I have also GTX970 and i have this memory allocation problem in games.
And i know 8 more people on czech forum who have same problem.
Its similar to GTX660TI

 

The memory configuration of the 970GTX and 980GTX is exactly the same.

Try to play the specific games where you see this phenomenon with the latest drivers and with the 970GTX release drivers. Previous posts suggest this memory allocation thing was introduced somewhere along driver changes.
It's not impossible to use 4GB on the 970GTX, but the observed change seems real: http://www.overclock.net/t/1514085/official-nvidia-gtx-970-owners-club/9600#post_23321222

 

Hmm. I'm going to have to check on this when I get home. I've not really thought anything of it until now, but I don't think I've ever seen FC4 go above 3.5g with 3-way 970's pushing 5760x1080 with mostly max setting (No AA (FXAA on in NVCP), No MB, Fur on, no tree relief). I'm doubting any kind of bottleneck in my system...

 

the gtx 980 is also 256-bit

 

Probably driver issue

 

970 and 980 in the same pc with all the same - drivers, windows, cpu etc...

 

The gtx980 is probably a true 256bit card, whereas GTX970 might be 224bit under the hood.

So a few things, memory burner in msi kombuster. Ran it, the test loaded just fine at 3979mb vram usage.

Another interesting thing, VRAM allocation in Nvidia Inspector. If you set it to 2, aggressive, going beyond 3627mb VRAM will degrade performance, tested SoM. It uses 3100mb in main menu compared to 2400mb prior to it, however gameplay stays at 3600 range, pretty stuttery. Same with ACU. 8x MSAA should use 3900+ yet it uses 3627mb with aggressive vram allocation, causing 10fps (it should run at ~20fps so 50% loss in performance).

Test #2. Opened ACU in normal VRAM allocation mode. Selected 8x msaa, vram usage went to 3979mb. Set it back to Off, VRAM dropped a little to 3850mb and stayed in that range, didn't move. Did not notice any degradation in performance.

My conclusion is that probably the 970 is a true 256bit card, but there are driver and most probably application issues as well. Damn I wish I had a 980 to test.

Can any 980 user share a screenshot of 4000mb allocated in Shadow of Mordor at 1080p using ultra textures?

 

http://abload.de/img/wd2mfjpy.jpg - WD GTX 980
http://abload.de/img/wd2ebur2.jpg - WD GTX 970

- same pc, same scene, same drivers etc., memory allocation is different (3900 vs 3600).

And- after start game (application) WD eat all vram on 980, but only around 3500 on 970.

 

I can reproduce this issue in Hitman: Absolution.
Once more than 3.5GB get allocated, there is a huge frametime spike.
The same scene can be tested to get reproducible results.
In 4k, memory usage stays below 3.5GB and there is no extreme spike. But in 5k (4x DSR with 1440p), at the same scene, there is a huge fps drop once the game wants to allocate 2-300MB at once and burst the 3.5GB.
It happens in the tutorial mission when encountering the tennis field.
uke2:
With older driver (344.11 instead of 347.09), memory usage is lower, but you can enable MSAA to get high VRAM usage and thus be able to reproduce by 100%.

Could a GTX 980 owner test this?

 

GTX980 http://abload.de/img/farcry4_2015_01_10_19f1ym3.jpg
GTX970 http://abload.de/img/farcry4_2015_01_10_23diuev.png

GTX980 http://abload.de/img/farcry4_2015_01_10_1910a3l.jpg
GTX970 http://abload.de/img/farcry4_2015_01_10_232ik3k.png

By Headd, thanx for that work...

 

I dont mind having a 3.5Gb card, but what pisses me off is nvidia lying to us.

 

Who said it only has 3500MB ? I've seen games using more than 3700MB.

***Edit: MSI Kombustor uses 3983MB of Vram in GPU memory burner 3072MB.So i guess i'm fine.

 

No, you are not, because performance will suffer anyway. My VRAM gets above 3.5GB too. Hitman: Absolution runs badly despite of this.
I also observed worse performance in Ryse and AC: U when more than 3.5GB is used, but it's not as well reproducible as Hitman: Absolution.

It's a fact, however, that performance suffers once more than 3.5GB is allocated and often it's getting more worse the higher you get above 3.5GB.

 

I noticed that when running Skyrim with a lot of mods the vram usage on my GTX 970 was always close to 3570Mb. Some times lower, depending on the level, but never higher.
I just thought the reason for that was that the game didn't need more vram.

After reading these reports about other people seeing the same vram limitation, I started to wonder that theres was something wrong.

I tried installing Shadow of Mordor, set it on Ultra and run the benchmark at 1080p. The vram usage was about 3570Mb. Then I tried running the game at 4k, and got a vram usage of about 3580mb. This was really strange.

But I do know that my GTX970 does have 4GB of vram and is able to use it.
I tried running Skyrim with the same mods, at 4k and got a vram usage of 4Gb.
I also tried running Shadow of Mordor at 7680*4320 and got a vram usage of 4Gb.

It's really weird. The vram is there and can be used, but only in extreme cases it is used. I've seen GTX 980 running shadow of mordor at 1080p with ultra settings, using the full 4Gb, as it should.

There's probably some problem with the GTX 970s, either on the drivers, bios, or something, that prevents it from using vram as it should.

I would like to see an explanation from nVidia on this.

 

Yeah i also playing skyrim with mods and Vram usage is only on 3500-3600MB.I playing in 1920x1080.
Then i tried forse 8xMSAA+8xTRAA and Vram was still on 3500-3600MB and game start lagging because low Vram!!!
Its really strange.

 

TrSSAA usually doesn't require further VRAM compared to MSAA.
Skyrim has vsync always enabled, so you should either force vsync off while testing for stutter or you should have enough power to maintain your monitor's refreshrate in fps.

 

With skyrim, its not a driver issue. ENB can override Driver Memory Management. I'm starting to think its just how this card is built.

I called the shop I took the card from, its been a little over a month but they'll happily refund me.

 

I made a video comparison of this issue in Hitman: Absolution.
It's 5k with and without 2xMSAA:
http://www52.zippyshare.com/v/YM4Nm4sK/file.html