Resource Usage

[khrmax]

Hey I recently noticed that under the Graphics screen in GTAIV (retail PC-DVD) the (memory) Resource Usage says "498mb". Isn't this the amount of VRAM that GTAIV uses? I have two 512mb video cards so isn't this incorrect? I don't have horrible lag but there is still a lot of frame stuttering with almost all settings at "Medium" & 1920x1200 resolution...

 

Specs:

Alienware M17

Vista x64 + SP1

intel duo T9400 2.53Ghz

4.00GB RAM

ati mobility radeon hd 3870 512mb (x2 w/ crossfirex)

 

also, what "-memrestrict" command should I use (if any)? the 512mb card number? the 1gb? any other essential command lines?

 

sorry, if this has already been covered but I was not able to find any poster with a problem close to mine via the search.

 

& thanks in advanced for assistance.

Edited January 4, 2010 by khrmax

[cacarla]

GTA IV doesn't support crossfire/SLI. Even if you have 2 cards totalling upto 1GB the game considers just one GPU which has a VRAM of 512MB. That's why it lags/stutters.

 

 

memrestrict 262144000 MED TEXTURES (512M Video Cards)

-memrestrict 293601280

-memrestrict 314572800

 

Use the above command lines. Try the first and if it still stutters then go for the second and so on.

[khrmax]

GTA IV doesn't support crossfire/SLI. Even if you have 2 cards totalling upto 1GB the game considers just one GPU which has a VRAM of 512MB. That's why it lags/stutters.

wow, that's... lame.

 

 

the "-memrestrict" command did not help much. is there any way to force more 512mb of accessible VRAM?

[truehighroller]

 

GTA IV doesn't support crossfire/SLI. Even if you have 2 cards totalling upto 1GB the game considers just one GPU which has a VRAM of 512MB. That's why it lags/stutters.

wow, that's... lame.

 

 

the "-memrestrict" command did not help much. is there any way to force more 512mb of accessible VRAM?

That's not true because I have a 1GB 4870 and my game lags with this new patch but not any other patches so you tell me what is wrong there... As far as the whole video card total memory thing goes no game sees the extra video cards memory as being part of the total video card memory available. That is just how Crossfire and, SLI work.. You do get a boost from using Crossfire in this game. I have tested it to see if you do or not and you get like a 4 - 6 FPS boost with this game. I just sold my other 4870 1GB to a friend of mine and now only have this one.

 

 

Yes you can do a commandline.txt with a command inside of it in the root of your game folder to force more memory to be available. I don't know it though because when I started getting close to trying that after this latest patch, I just quit playing instead.

Edited January 6, 2010 by truehighroller

[khrmax]

truehighroller, i don't think i understand your post.

[mkey82]

It's simple, you are running on a very high resolution with not that fast GPU. It's a laptop, 3870 mobility, come on.

[khrmax]

Okay, how about some helpful posts? This laptop's dual GPU system works fine for all other games at the same resolution, and in GTAIV there is only 10FPS increase when running at 800x600. I didn't think the question was that complicated but I'll restate it:

 

On the GTIV graphics tab it says "Resource usage: 498mb", which would suggest that GTAIV is only using one of the two ATI 3870 512mb GPUs. Does GTAIV support crossfire/SLI? And if not, what tweaks are available to take advantage of the GPU not being used and/or it's VRAM.

 

Also, I've heard you can use RAM as VRAM; is this true? Could I do this on my system?

 

Spec again;

Alienware M17

Vista x64 + SP1

intel duo T9400 2.53Ghz

4.00GB RAM

ati mobility radeon hd 3870 512mb (x2 w/ crossfirex)

[mkey82]

Your simple question has already been given a simple answer: GPU memory does NOT stack up in neither SLI nor CF. If you have two 512 MB cards, the total VRAM amount available to BOTH cards will be 512 MB. The memory does NOT add up. This is how this technology works, both cards render the same sh*t so they both need their respective VRAM.

[khrmax]

Okay, thank you for clearing up how crossfire/SLI works. Is there anything else I can do to speed up my system for GTA?

[mkey82]

Have you tried disabling CF?

[khrmax]

No, I haven't. How would that help? Do you also suggest turning of features like Adaptive-Anti-Aliasing or Catalyst AI?