Problem with VRAM

[Qwyc.]

Recently my fps has been dropping a lot. I checked and my vram's storage has been maximising (8100mb)during playing games when it should not. I tried overclocking my vram, overclocking my gpu on AMD. I don't know much about pc hardware but my friend who knows a lot could not figure out why. How do I get my VRam storage to drop down? Help will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Oussebon]

What games does this happen in?

What you tried benchmarking your system using the free Timespy benchmark (a part of 3DMark)?

3DMark on Steam

3DMark is for gamers, overclockers and system builders who want to get more out of their hardware. With its wide range of benchmark tests, 3DMark has everything you need to test your PC's performance.

store.steampowered.com

Use "download demo" to get the free version.

Can you link to a score?

My instinct would be to do a clean installation of Windows. i.e. create a bootable installation media:

Download Windows 10

Boot from the media. Do a custom/advanced installation, delete all partitions on the OS drive, and then install Windows.

This wipes out what's on the drive, so back up any key data first / take an image of the drive with free software like Macrium Reflect.

Allow Windows to handle all driver installations, except for the GPU driver which you may want to source yourself directly from the AMD website.

Do not install any software except for a mainstream game client e.g. Steam, and a game to test performance.

This would (largely) rule out other software or an OS/configuration/driver causing an issue.

 

[Zoid]

You say this occurs while playing "games" plural, so this probably won't matter much, but what games? Some games have options to uncap VRAM usage and allow games to use as much as you have (like a full 8GB for example). If this is happening over multiple games then I'm sure that's not the issue but it's worth asking.

 

[Qwyc.]

Wow, thank you so much, I'll try these and come back with the result. Also this happens in Rainbow Six Siege and Fortnite but these are the only games I play.

 

[Qwyc.]

By the way I forgot to say, my screen has been blacking out for no reason. I also have a 144hz monitor but I sometimes play on higher fps. I don't know if this is relevant but just in case.

 

[Qwyc.]

I don't know much about computers, can you explain how to do that Oussebon?

 

[Oussebon]

You need a USB stick

Go to the download Windows link I posted above.

Download the media creation tool, and get it to set up the installation media on the USB stick - you may need to tell it to prepare an installation for 'another computer'.

Then, clean install Windows: https://www.groovypost.com/howto/clean-install-Windows-10/

I say again, you'll lose everything on the SSD, so make sure to back up data to another device / cloud storage first.

 

[Qwyc.]

Is there another way to do this? I don't have a usb stick and can't get one since I can't go out. Do you think I might have damaged the hardware?

 

[Qwyc.]

Recently, I noticed that my FPS had been dropping a lot in Fortnite. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't, sometimes dropped only in pubs. So while playing I checked on the AMD and turns out for some reason my VRAM clock speed is too high. I bought my PC a few months ago and all the hardware is relatively new. I don't know much about computers and I've been trying to fix this on my own for two weeks now. This is making me crazy, help will be appreciated!

 

[Oussebon]

It's unlikely, and doing a clean install is one of the quickest ways to help establish that. If the problem magically goes away, you can be fairly confident it wasn' hardware.

Order a USB stick online, lots of places sell them.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@Qwyc. So here's a weird thing. I assume you have a Radeon 5700/XT?

I just got an out of memory error and a BSOD while trying to launch a game while Ive had the Radeon metrics running for a while. Never used Radeon metrics before and I dont remember my last BSOD (Blue Screen of Death)

Are you running the Radeon metrics monitoring? It seems to have some kind of memory leak, at least sometimes.

If you are turn it off from the Radeon software (Settings>General>Show Metrics Overlay) or using Ctrl+Shift+O and see if it helps. Also set everything else back to defaults, you shouldnt be trying to overclock your way out of a problem.

 

[Qwyc.]

I have a Radeon 5700/Xt 50th Anniversary but I never had that setting on.

 

[HBZK100]

That vram thing could be a memory leak? idk. But with the other issues you are having, i bet it's driver related.

Run DDU, and reinstall the latest adrenaline drivers. Hope that works for you.

FYI, allowing windows to handle all drivers except for the GPU isn't the best idea for new systems. Usually, if your computer is 1-3 years old, you still want to get chipset, networking and audio drivers from the motherboard manufacturer's website. (in AMD's case, get graphics AND chipset drivers from their website.)

@Qwyc. Disable the Windows Game Bar in Settings. That has caused issues with game crashing for many people.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

In my case the Radeon metrics was showing VRAM maxing out and system RAM creeping up on desktop. I ignored it because I figured broken AMD software. When I launched a game it gave an out of memory error and then BSOD. Driver reinstallation fixed it, never had a problem before, and has been rock solid since reinstalling driver fresh. Only thing I did different was enable the Radeon monitoring software to try it out.

Reinstalling driver from a fresh download is a very sensible recommendation. I'd say that DDU is redundant these days, but some people still like it and it doesnt hurt.

Other suggestion for OP, make sure all the Radeon Chill, Enhanced sync etc is turned off (set graphics profile to 'Standard'), theyve cause me problems in the past.

 

[HBZK100]

In my case the Radeon metrics was showing VRAM maxing out and system RAM creeping up on desktop. I ignored it because I figured broken AMD software. When I launched a game it gave an out of memory error and then BSOD. Driver reinstallation fixed it, never had a problem before, and has been rock solid since reinstalling driver fresh. Only thing I did different was enable the Radeon monitoring software to try it out.

Reinstalling driver from a fresh download is a very sensible recommendation. I'd say that DDU is redundant these days, but some people still like it and it doesnt hurt.

Other suggestion for OP, make sure all the Radeon Chill, Enhanced sync etc is turned off (set graphics profile to 'Standard'), theyve cause me problems in the past.

Agreed, DDU is overrated. But with how many issues the OP is having, i thought it might be worth it...

Even on the Nvidia side, i'll get the super rare issue where enabling an overlay via GeForce Expereince can cause some issues too.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Its a weird one, the other thought I had was that somehow OP had enabled Virtual Super Resolution and was upscaling everything to 8K by accident or something. The reason I jumped in all excitable like, was I have never come across VRAM maxing out for no reason either personally or anywhere else (at least that I remember). So when it happened to me I thought of this thread immediately.