It looks like MSFS 2024 hates VRAM and prefers to put everything into shared VRAM first.
2 Likes
The simulator runs normally during the first ten minutes, then the VRAM usage gradually decreases. After about twenty minutes, it only uses around 9 GB out of my 12 GB of VRAM, and everything beyond that gets dumped into shared memory, causing my framerate to plummet.
1 Like
You have two GPUs, one nVidia and an Intel iGPU, and it seems, you are showing the MSFS on a Monitor connected to the iGPU. That causes the heavy usage of the shared memory and the bad performance.
1 Like
How is this known?
All monitor connections are plugged into the NVIDIA graphics card.
I have tested a setup using the internal iGPU and hoped to use its computing power as additional resource. I have two 4k Monitors 27” and had connected one of them to the iGPU for test purposes. What I found out:
- the iGPU was not significantly used as long as both monitors were connected to the nVidia card
- as soon as one monitor was connected to the iGPU, VRAM usage of the iGPU increased (which is the shared memory). I tried for example to place pop-out windows on the second monitor connected to the iGPU while the main simulator window was on the first monitor connected to the nVidia card. This had in the end a very bad influence on the performance. With 2 or 3 pop-out windows the FPS of the simulator dropped far below 25 FPS.
- I also tried to show the main MSFS Window on the second monitor connected to the iPGU, in fullscreen as well as in window mode. Main processing was still done on the nVidia GPU, but VRAM usage increased heavily on the iGPU (which meant, shared GPU Mem was increasing heavily).
It looked exactly like the screenshots shown above. In case you are not using the iPGU, deactivate it in the BIOS.
Thank you for this report. We’ve moved your topic into the User Support Hub.
The Bug Reporting Hub is for posting suspected or confirmed bugs that other users are able to reproduce without duplicating an existing bug report.
Using the template or providing all the relevant information about your bug and sim setup is required in order to provide valuable information, feedback, and replication steps to our test team.
If you are not sure if your issue is a bug or need further input from the community, please use the User Support Hub category. If the community can replicate your issue, first search the Bug category to see if there’s an existing topic. If it already exists, contribute to that report. Duplicate bug reports will be closed.
If you believe it is a new report and no duplicate exists, then create a new bug topic using the provided topic template.
All issues caused by or involving third-party addons/mods should be reported to the third-party developer. Assure that no addons/mods are used when reporting issues in Bug Reports.
It does not.
It uses GPU VRAM first.
What is shared VRAM ?
There is no VRAM to share.
The iGPU has no VRAM and can use up to 50% of system RAM.
2 Likes
The System uses only 3-4 GB of 24 GB VRAM.
Shared VRAM is VRAM taken from the CPU RAM. The iGPU uses only shared VRAM. The nVidia Card can use shared VRAM if the dedicated VRAM is full.
There is no shared VRAM.
Task Manager above with FS2024 running.
DPU memory:
Dedicated GPU memory = 18.4 GB of 24 GB = VRAM
Shared GPU memory = 0.5 GB of 31.9 GB = system RAM
GPU memory = 18.9 GB of 55.9 GB = sum of the two above
iGPU memory:
1 Like
Well, as you can see, the iGPU memory is called “Shared” GPU Memory. Shared GPU Memory is Shared VRAM.
Your iGPU currently has nothing to show. As soon as you put Windows on a monitor connected to the iGPU, the shared GPU memory usage will increase. Finally it will look like in #1 of this thread.
Shared GPU memory is Shared GPU memory.
#1 of this thread shows a DGPU with 9.5 of 12 GB VRAM being used.
An iGPU will never look like a DGPU.
It has no VRAM.
VRAM is Video RAM, so the Memory used by a GPU, so the GPU Memory. Its the same. Shared GPU Memory is the RAM used by the iGPU - so shared VRAM.
You are right. But it shows also a high usage of shared VRAM although the dedicated VRAM is not full. This is caused by Windows shown on the monitor connected to the iGPU.
2.8 of 23.9 GB of system RAM is high?
This is my graphics settings file.
UserCfg.txt (4.0 KB)
At that time, I was at LEAL airport (PILOT’S FSG – LEAL) flying the iniBuilds A350-900 (no cabin).
At the beginning, both the VRAM usage (11.7 GB / 12 GB) and the framerate (55–60 FPS with DLSS Frame Generation x2) were good.
After about 20 minutes, when I had finished the pre flight preparations, I had switched the game to windowed mode a few times to shrink the display area and check data from SimBrief and such.
Since the resolution was reduced in windowed mode, the VRAM usage also went down.
However, after switching back to full screen, the VRAM usage could only reach around 10 GB at most, while a large amount of shared VRAM was being used, and the framerate dropped to about 30 FPS.
My PC specifications are:
CPU: Intel Core i9-14900K
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
RAM: 48 GB DDR5-6400
Monitor: Alienware AW3423DW (3440×1440)
Motherboard: MSI Z790 Tomahawk WiFi
Storage: SK hynix Platinum P41 2 TB NVMe SSD
Power Supply: ASUS ROG-STRIX-1000W-GOLD
Perhaps you didn’t quite understand what I meant. From my screenshot, it’s not difficult to see that even though there was still VRAM available, the game prioritized using system memory as VRAM.
Yes. If the iGPU is not used, the shared VRAM usage is close to 0.
And that is, why I think, there is something connected to the iGPU. Otherwise the shared VRAM would not be used, if the dedicated VRAM is not full.
We see several GB of free dedicated VRAM, and several GB of used shared VRAM. As I described earlier, I saw exactly this behavior on my system, when a monitor was connected to iGPU and I tried to show parts of the MSFS on this monitor, either pop-out windows or the simulator main window. The result was a heavily reduced performance, so low FPS.
-
There is no such thing as shared VRAM.
The only VRAM in a PC is in the dedicated GPU VRAM
which is not shared.
The integrated GPU uses system RAM. -
The Task Manger display for the dedicated GPU memory showing 9.5 of 12GB.
It shows what is being used based on what is being displayed.
In this case, only 9.5 GB of VRAM is needed to display the current screen. -
The Task Manager display for the dGPU shared GPU memory.
This is system RAM used when the dGPU VRAM needed for the current screen is exceeded and is also used during data exchange between the GPU and CPU.
2 Likes
And why is the Taskmanager showing it? GPU Memory == VRAM. An iGPU has also VRAM, although it is in the CPU RAM.
Yes. Therefore no reason for the system to use shared VRAM for the dedicated GPU.
The shared VRAM is not only used for the dGPU, but also for the iGPU. Since the VRAM of the dGPU is not full, there is no reason for the system to use shared VRAM for the dGPU, at least not that much. Therefore for me the only logical explenation for the high usage of shared VRAM is the iGPU - in particular Windows on a monitor connected to it.
Believe me - I did a lot of tests with my second monitor connected to the iGPU and to the dGPU, and I saw exactly this behavior.