VRAM Usage

User Support Hub Install, Performance & Graphics
1

This isn’t a bug as such but bear with me.

I have a 2080ti with 11GB of VRAM. Since SU8 (to be fair it could have been the case beforehand too) I’m regularly seeing all 11GB utilised. I note in task manager that there is shared GPU RAM (I assume space on my SSD rather than system RAM) which Windows is utilising, albeit a very small amount much.

Is this normal? I’ve got my texture resolution set to Ultra, but then I always have had.

Is this a potential performance issue? Is there anything to be gained by dropping the resolution to High? Does it matter that the VRAM is full?

The game still runs well, but the RAM being full makes me think it must be acting as a bottleneck of sorts.

Cheers for your thoughts!

3

I can’t answer your question directly but I have a 2070 Super with 8GB of Vram and I rarely see it using more than about 80% of that.
Are you running with the DX11 or DX12 setting in the sim?

4

DX11, at 3rd party airports, often close to photogrammetry with AIG traffic injected as well.

All of that is the culprit of course. I guess the sim just uses what it has available to it.

5

Thinking back I seem to remember it using more Vram on my system before SU5. I don’t remember it causing any issues when it was hovering around the 100% mark.

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6

Shared GPU memory equals half of installed system RAM. System RAM is much slower to access than dedicated GPU RAM, so game developers should avoid over-committing into it.

Most games suffer from performance issues when VRAM is full, but it ultimately depends on how efficiently (or not) the application manages memory.

7

Interesting.

In theory then, if I drop the texture resolution to High that should take a bit of the pressure off?

Obviously it’s not full all the time, but in the situations it is I fear it’s hurting performance.

8

Texture resolution, render resolution, and terrain pre-caching each affect VRAM usage pretty drastically.

If you don’t have any stuttering issues then I wouldn’t change any settings.

If I reduce terrain pre-caching down from Ultra, I get lower VRAM usage, but also worse performance, so I wouldn’t recommend using anything other than Ultra for that.

9

What resolution are you running? That memory usage seems way too high. I’m usually using no more than 8GB since SU5 (was higher before). I have widescreen at 5120x1440 and use the default “ultra” settings. There may be something else going on with your system.

10

3200x1800

As I said, it’s not all the time, but certainly around intensive scenery areas I’m seeing it maxed out. I’d also say I’ve noticed more RAM being used post SU8 too. It’s fine, I’ve got 32GB, but I’ve seen it as high as 26GB in intensive areas.

I should add, I’m sure if I ran the sim in it’s out of the box state the VRAM usage would be low, but then the experience would be a wilting shadow of what I have now. QED.