[SOLVED] "Out of memory"

I just wondered that my new nvidia 1060(6gb) gonna give me hazzle free game play.
Soon I was trapped in "Out of memory" messages. Made me think, may be 16gb would be less for game. But I did a l'il hunting for what is eating the RAM. Surprisingly, there was the VRM and RAM haven't been used upto the mark.
I further kept trying different solutions and came to know the ssds disables page file in windows to increase the ssd's life spawn.
Next step was to definitely try having a pagefile set manually in windows. I set pagefile size to automatically managed by windows.
I launched the game, launched browser, opened half a dozen tabs of YouTube and, game was running fine.
Managed to stream long past an hour even.
Conclusion :
Even if u have game on ssd, enable pagefile(or virtual memory) in windows.

How to setup pagefile:
https://www.geeksinphoenix.com/blog/post/2016/05/10/how-to-manage-windows-10-virtual-memory.aspx

last edited by chraso

I'm good with 6gb ram and 10gb virtual memory!

I tried this to fix but it doesn't fix my problem, which is the game crashing on startup

"Your log files shows "DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG" which means your graphics driver froze or has not been able to respond in time."

@blqqd
can you tell the scenario and system specs?

https://forums.focus-home.com/topic/34358/game-crashes-on-startup-computer-far-exeeds-requirements
http://speccy.piriform.com/results/5JSIe34HpwH2Vw4ds0WBC2o
I had over 150 hours during beta, than after an update but before official release the game just stopped working
Check out my post

last edited by BLQQD

@blqqd
from your specs, i doubt 2 things
1 your ram is 2133(ddr4?)
2 your gpu has less ram(3gb?)

though they are at par for minimum config though.
I can suggest few things
1 is to try moving your game files to other of your drives(try all drives if possible)
2 try the game with deleting all ini files and verify it
3 if you have another gpu, try using it(lower the in game resolution)

@chraso
see my updated posted about my specs, speccy is odd

GPU:
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Turbo 11GD, GV-N108TTURBO-11GD
RAM:
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C15 Desktop Memory Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B3000C15)

I have already tried all but a 2nd GPU, which I dont have.

last edited by BLQQD

@chraso

You are saying that even if I have a ssd d drive I should use the hdd c drive where windows is installed as my virtual memory instead of using the ssd where game and steam is installed?

Also would you let windows choose size or set it according to link suggestion min 1,5xRam and max 3 x Ram?

Just trying out different settings as game is unplayable on MSI ge70 in pvp due to low fps, pve is fine as I don’t care if getting owned there..

You can use pagefile file even if you are on ssd.
You can leave the size on windows to manage automatically.
What is your current pc specs and how much fps u get on it?

last edited by chraso

@chraso
I know all that I read the link. Was just not sure what you meant. Which drive to use for virtual mem is not obvious as it lowers lifetime of ssd according to link, but if that applies on newer ssd hardware and how much it affects ssd lifetime was not specified. I'll stick to hdd unless finding more info. Also setting pagefile manually is okey when u have ram 8gb or lower from what I understood, which I guess would lower strain on system (min 1,5xRam and max 3 x Ram).

I have read up on the topic and spoken to two skilled programmers yesterday. Virtual memory should not be on your ssd year 2014 article, have not seen any article that contradicts this, but may be different on a brand new ssd I dont know, but would not gamble unless you wanna risk hardware damage - Source:
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2840886/if-windows-virtual-memory-is-too-low-you-can-increase-it-but-there-are-trade-offs.html

Virtual memory should be managed by windows: Dont force it lower than recommended, and the recommended storage size is arbitrary in a sense that windows often need a lot more than what the suggested size is set to in the suggestion section of your system tab - Again let windows manage it.

If you allocate virtual memory because you want a better gaming experience you will most likely be disappointed because allocating more virtual memory manually will slow your system down! Virtual memory is much slower than RAM and windows do not have a smart system where it will first use up your real RAM and then only fill up the virtual memory after, but trying to keep to only real RAM - > That means processes unsuitable/ too heavy for virtual memory will be handled by virtual memory even if it should not, and therefore slow down your system - Source both the two programmers I spoke to (january 2019) and the link above.

Why virtual memory at all?
Windows use it when necessary to avoid system failure and it may also be convenient for people only managing editing of large video files - > In other words, it is not a good tool for gamers=)

TLDR:
Let windows manage virtual memory.
Don't allocate virtual memory to an SSD drive.
Virtual memory makes your game run slower, not faster.

But I need more RAM?
Buy it. There is no shortcut.

last edited by Pacalis

@pacalis

Why virtual memory at all?
Windows use it when necessary to avoid system failure and it may also be convenient for people only managing editing of large video files - > In other words, it is not a good tool for gamers=)

This is vague and a huge understatement and also suggest that you should not use it which contradicts with everything else you've said in your reply.

Virtual Memory serves several functions one of which you did not mention and that is allocating Video RAM into Virtual Address Space rather than having it being allocated into Physical Address Space (aka system RAM) which is absolutely crucial as it makes your entire RAM accessible for use (see the very OP you are replying under).

@arc

I say it should be managed by windows and that windows use it to prevent system failures, that is not suggesting disabling it completely. Its not an attempt at writing a comprehensive guide if that is not obvious.

It is not a good tool for gamers in the sense that if your pc can not run the game it is either due to your pc having too low specs or the game needing more optimization. When I first read the thread I thought allocating more virtual memory could be a solution for many gamers, and since I got that impression it was natural to share this if someone else dropped by the thread and got the same impression as me. I already tried allocating more virtual memory when playing RS2V and it made it slower, while just playing that game on lower graphics settings made it run smooth - I know NWI is already working on lowering the minimum system specs, and it is probably smarter to wait for that for most gamers with medium rigs than being deluded to thinking its some windows settings that is set wrong, as it can make problems when playing other games as well if you start increasing your pagefile manually for a lot of rigs.

last edited by Pacalis

@pacalis

I say it should be managed by windows and that windows use it to prevent system failures, that is not suggesting disabling it completely.
When I first read the thread I thought allocating more virtual memory could be a solution for many gamers

Yes in your whole post except the important part i quoted, again, you are contradicting yourself, that was my point. This part suggest that Virtual Memory is not useful, ergo you should disable it, while the rest of your post says "do not touch it".
It gives wrong impression to those who have no clue what it is, the same way you took wrong impression from OP again because you do not understand the implication of it.

Simply put you did say that it is not useful for gamers while it's more useful for gamers than for anybody else these days.
Say you have 11GB VRAM GTX1080Ti and 16GB of RAM. Not having 11GB of Virtual Memory means that 11GB of VRAM eats 11GB of RAM, thus leaving 5GB of system RAM usable for system and apps (it's slightly more complicated but it'll do as an example).

@arc

Ah, that was not my intention but it could be misleading.

The programmers I spoke to said both [windows system and game developers don't make it so that the virtual memory is used in a smart way be prioritizing the use of RAM for the heavy lifting then using only virtual memory for the less demanding task]. So in the example you provide dedicating more virtual memory in

Windows advanced system settings (...) -> performance options advanced tab, virtual memory section change button,

will in itself not be a solution to increase the virtual memory manually, but rather keep the option system managed size checked, as the effect of increasing the page file manually will lead to windows operating like it has a larger size of actual RAM without prioritizing correctly as mentioned in the brackets above.

So if you are editing a large video clip it is not a problem to use virtual memory/paging file (above the standard settings) because it is a task you can do without it necessarily needing to go fast , but if you are gaming, you would want the heavy performance tasks to be handled by actual RAM and not by virtual memory because if not the game will perform at a much slower speed. -> In that sense, virtual memory is not suited for gamers in the sense that they are better of leaving the settings on windows default, but in no situation disable it as that would be a catastrophe for your computer.

So from your example with 11GB VRAM GTX1080Ti and 16GB of RAM, my limited understanding on computer hardware from what I have read suggests that it will not be a case where you take 16GB - 11 GB = 5GB . It uses the GPU VRAM as storage itself meaning it will ideally need more than 11GB of VRAM to start using RAM and that how efficiently it does this is dependent on the software.

The rest of this post is a quote from Quora which seems relatable to your example:
(the bold text adrees what I meant)
Quote from https://www.quora.com/How-much-RAM-does-a-GTX-1080ti-Founder-Edition-use:
"How much RAM does a GTX 1080ti Founder Edition use?
1 Answer
Dino Orucevic
Dino Orucevic, A huge PC enthusiast. Both figuratively and literally.
Answered Oct 7, 2017 · Author has 259 answers and 1m answer views

I’m having a hard time understanding this question. Graphics cards don’t consume RAM out of the blue, the software you are going to be using will consume RAM. The Graphics card does, however, include its own dedicated RAM (Referred to as VRAM). The amount of VRAM included is often found in the name, such as “MSI GTX 1060 G6”, which says “6GBs of VRAM”.

How much VRAM/ RAM will software consume?

This is entirely dependent on the software you’re going to use. For example: Spotify might consume 100MBs of RAM while Davinci Resolve will consume up to 8GBs of RAM.

VRAM is only going to be consumed when your graphics card is working on something; Like a game, where the graphics card constantly has to make what you see on-screen, and to make it, it needs to store the information for said game, such as textures.

What if I need more VRAM than my GPU has?

Let’s say you’re playing GTA 6 and you max all the details out, but oh no, your game is trying to utilize 12GBs of VRAM, and your GPU only has 11GB. If that’s the case, the information needs to be stored somewhere. This information will be put in the RAM of your system. Because the RAM is further away from the graphics card, and it’s MUCH slower, you will experience frame drops.

Do I need a specific amount of RAM for this GPU?

If you look at the back of the box for your graphics caard it will have “requirements” there, such as “8GBs of RAM required”, this is just their recommended amount of RAM. A gaming card will often have 8GBs of RAM recommended as most gaming systems should have that amount of RAM, but it’s not outright required to run said card.

Summary

The graphics card does not use any RAM unless a game/ program requires so much VRAM that it exceeds the amount of information your GPU can store in its own VRAM and needs to store some data on the system RAM. Even the drivers won’t use a lot of RAM. It’s the application you’re using which will utilize RAM/ VRAM, not the graphics card itself.

EDIT:
There is different ways graphics chips may use system RAM:
Another quote from http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/377132-33-difference-shared-dedicated

-Graphic chip external to the CPU will have a very small amount(if any) of dedicated memory that only it has access to. It will try to reserve a chunk of system motherboard RAM for its use (BIOS settings will determine the size)

  • Graphics chip internal to the CPU, will have access to some of the CPU's very,very high speed memory, then get further memory from the system RAM on the motherboard.

  • Graphics memory on a external card, is very high speed memory that only the graphics card gets to use. dedicated memory.

so:

  • Shared system memory: basically the operating system shares its slower RAM in the motherboard SIMM slots with the graphics chip.

  • Dedicated graphics memory: the graphic hardware has memory only it can use

  • System memory: areas of memory that only the Operation system can use.

Last case:
So in some cases (depending on your hardware) you may increase video RAM by dedicating more virtual memory, but I am not sure whether this is a good idea yet performance wise. Input would be appreciated:
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/video-ram-windows-10/

last edited by Pacalis