970 GTX disable slower memory

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ViviTheMage

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Dec 12, 2002
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I was wondering if this was possible yet? I get random painting when I play some games, and I feel like it might be related to the GPU load without any scientific proof. It only starts after 2-3 hours of gaming. It also eventually goes away.
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
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I was wondering if this was possible yet? I get random painting when I play some games, and I feel like it might be related to the GPU load without any scientific proof. It only starts after 2-3 hours of gaming. It also eventually goes away.

It's not unusual for games to become unstable if played too long, because of bugs that leak system memory and Windows resources, as well as C/C++ issues like "heap fragmentation" where the unused memory gets broken up into smaller pieces and eventually asking for a big piece of RAM fails.

Next time this happens, exit the game then restart it immediately. Do you still get the graphics glitches?
 

lehtv

Elite Member
Dec 8, 2010
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if you disabled the slower memory, it'd just use system memory insteas, which is even slower
 

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
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if you disabled the slower memory, it'd just use system memory insteas, which is even slower

Better yet, is there a way I can check GPU memory usage?

I still get the problem after restarting the game. I also killed off anything using memory. I also have 32GB of memory, so I can't imagine CSGO (problem game at the time) was causing it, haha.
 

AnandThenMan

Diamond Member
Nov 11, 2004
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if you disabled the slower memory, it'd just use system memory insteas, which is even slower
This is not an accurate representation of how a game engine works. Memory usage will only spill into system RAM if the game engine has no choice. Put another way, a 3GB card can be smoother than a 3.5+0.5 card because the engine is scaling to use available video RAM. When the last 0.5 block of vid RAM is horribly slow the game engine doesn't know this, so the game will potentially hitch and pause.

The short version is segmented memory is a bad piece of architecture and should never be used.
 

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
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This is not an accurate representation of how a game engine works. Memory usage will only spill into system RAM if the game engine has no choice. Put another way, a 3GB card can be smoother than a 3.5+0.5 card because the engine is scaling to use available video RAM. When the last 0.5 block of vid RAM is horribly slow the game engine doesn't know this, so the game will potentially hitch and pause.

The short version is segmented memory is a bad piece of architecture and should never be used.

I think we know this now, but is there some software I can run that will spit out current GPU memory utilization so I can see if that is indeed the issue?
 

tential

Diamond Member
May 13, 2008
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This is not an accurate representation of how a game engine works. Memory usage will only spill into system RAM if the game engine has no choice. Put another way, a 3GB card can be smoother than a 3.5+0.5 card because the engine is scaling to use available video RAM. When the last 0.5 block of vid RAM is horribly slow the game engine doesn't know this, so the game will potentially hitch and pause.

The short version is segmented memory is a bad piece of architecture and should never be used.

But that's why the card is usually stuck at 3.5GB. So that it doesn't use that .5 GB unless it absolutely has to.
 

Dankk

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2008
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I was wondering if this was possible yet? I get random painting when I play some games, and I feel like it might be related to the GPU load without any scientific proof. It only starts after 2-3 hours of gaming. It also eventually goes away.

Can you explain what you mean by "random painting"? if you're getting graphical artifacts/corruption, then something's wrong with your card or drivers.
 

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
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Can you explain what you mean by "random painting"? if you're getting graphical artifacts/corruption, then something's wrong with your card or drivers.

basically it slows down, almost as if it's painting each line.... just very quickly. Maybe it's what people call screen tearing?
 

kasakka

Senior member
Mar 16, 2013
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This is not an accurate representation of how a game engine works. Memory usage will only spill into system RAM if the game engine has no choice. Put another way, a 3GB card can be smoother than a 3.5+0.5 card because the engine is scaling to use available video RAM. When the last 0.5 block of vid RAM is horribly slow the game engine doesn't know this, so the game will potentially hitch and pause.

The short version is segmented memory is a bad piece of architecture and should never be used.

The 970s segmented memory in my experience works perfectly fine in anything except Shadow of Mordor (a game where the developer recommends 6 GB for ultra textures). While the drivers try to keep it all at 3.5 GB, on some games it happily goes slightly over without causing any issues.

While Nvidia should've been honest about it, in my experience so far it has not been a real issue in any way.

CS:GO, unless it has memory leaks or you play at 4K+ with all the antialiasing you can find, will most likely never hit even 3 GB VRAM. I'd look at the your CPU/GPU temps instead if the problem manifests after extended play.
 

Techhog

Platinum Member
Sep 11, 2013
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This is not an accurate representation of how a game engine works. Memory usage will only spill into system RAM if the game engine has no choice. Put another way, a 3GB card can be smoother than a 3.5+0.5 card because the engine is scaling to use available video RAM. When the last 0.5 block of vid RAM is horribly slow the game engine doesn't know this, so the game will potentially hitch and pause.

The short version is segmented memory is a bad piece of architecture and should never be used.

While all of this is true, there's a little more to the situation. The game actually sees the 970 as a 3.5GB card until it needs more. I saw a video about the situation, and the results strongly imply that this is the case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6k55epUBCE

It's still stupid, but it definitely explains why it wasn't noticed right away.
 
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fixbsod

Senior member
Jan 25, 2012
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Regardless of how the 970 handles memory requests / memory budgeting, it sounds like the OPs issue is not related to the 970's memory -- graphics corruptions ?? Is your card oc'd or overheating ? Do other games give you corruption? Can you explain more.
 

Dankk

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2008
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Regardless of how the 970 handles memory requests / memory budgeting, it sounds like the OPs issue is not related to the 970's memory -- graphics corruptions ?? Is your card oc'd or overheating ? Do other games give you corruption? Can you explain more.

Yeah, this sounds like it's unrelated to the 970 memory thing, and more like there's a deeper problem with OP's computer or something wrong with the software he's using.

basically it slows down, almost as if it's painting each line.... just very quickly. Maybe it's what people call screen tearing?

So basically when you play a game, the framerate gets gradually worse and worse after a couple hours?

If it's happening with multiple different games, I would try using DDU to wipe your old graphics drivers and do a clean re-install of the newest ones.

Maybe while playing your games, have Windows Task Manager open, and when the slowdowns begin, check to see if there's any background programs or processes that are pegging your CPU usage or memory usage. A rogue program hogging all of your computing power could be the source of the issue.
 

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
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Haha, I've done the basics, which is why I am wondering if I can watch GPU load, so i'll try GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner and see if that picks it out. If not, i'll troubleshoot something else.

When the issue starts, I close everything I have open that isn't the game, leave TM up, and watched processor/memory usage and it's acceptable. IE 30% cpu usage, 28GB or so of memory free, etc.

It has only recently started, but I have yet to have a lot of 3+ hour game sessions since getting my new computer up a few months ago. Granted, the first few weeks were 2 days LANs and the issue didn't come up. I am going to guess it's CSGO's fault.

If I get some time, i'll try another game, and stare at GPUZ or MSI afterburner.
 

flexy

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
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No offense - but it seems to me you have "some" problem which could be because of 1000s of reasons and you're randomly guessing a thing "what it could be"..but in this case the 3.5GB memory issue with the GTX970 is very likely unrelated.

Even IN those scenarios where the 3.5GB memory problem would appear it's more a subtle thing, micro stutters etc. and not necessarily noticed by most people. (It obviously took some time until this came even to light...)

I am just saying this since recently I come across a lot of threads on various forums where people have "some kind of problem" and then a pre-conceived idea what the cause of it allegedly would be...except that there is often nothing backing those claims.

Like those people who write in forums that they have stutters and whatever issues because of throttling etc. ..and worse, people who provide others with some "solution" based on a problem which doesn't even exist.

As for your problem...difficult to say WHAT causes it. Need more info, what games, where and when it happens etc. and your exact system configuration, OS, board etc., PSU...
 
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Ed1

Senior member
Jan 8, 2001
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Haha, I've done the basics, which is why I am wondering if I can watch GPU load, so i'll try GPU-Z or MSI Afterburner and see if that picks it out. If not, i'll troubleshoot something else.

When the issue starts, I close everything I have open that isn't the game, leave TM up, and watched processor/memory usage and it's acceptable. IE 30% cpu usage, 28GB or so of memory free, etc.

It has only recently started, but I have yet to have a lot of 3+ hour game sessions since getting my new computer up a few months ago. Granted, the first few weeks were 2 days LANs and the issue didn't come up. I am going to guess it's CSGO's fault.

If I get some time, i'll try another game, and stare at GPUZ or MSI afterburner.

check MSI AB or GPU-Z , make sure your gpu usage is above 55% or so at least .
What can happen on older games is they don't load the GPU enough and some have issues where GPU down clocks to low clocks and can make game feel slow .
So check clocks for steady rate and decent amount with high GPU% .

If you do find usage down and your fps are high , add 2x, 4x AA to get load up .
 

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
36,189
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No offense - but it seems to me you have "some" problem which could be because of 1000s of reasons and you're randomly guessing a thing "what it could be"..but in this case the 3.5GB memory issue with the GTX970 is very likely unrelated.


Of course I am guessing at this point. No errors are being thrown, I just know the symptom, ha. I'll keep working with it when I get a chance.
 

Dribble

Platinum Member
Aug 9, 2005
2,076
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I am pretty sure the nvidia drivers deal with the extra .5G differently, you don't need to manually disable it. I have yet to see a review of games where anything can be proved about it slowing down the card - it's just a lot of fanboy hype fanned by lovers of the red camp so far.
 

therealnickdanger

Senior member
Oct 26, 2005
987
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I am pretty sure the nvidia drivers deal with the extra .5G differently, you don't need to manually disable it. I have yet to see a review of games where anything can be proved about it slowing down the card - it's just a lot of fanboy hype fanned by lovers of the red camp so far.

You're giving the red camp too much credit. It was disruptive enough for me to return my 970 and I blame only the green camp for that.
 
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