Is it possible to use RAM as VRAM?

[Kaas0001]

Genuinly a stupid question, i know

But I was just wondering IF it could be done. 

 

I thought of it because I run a GTX 750 with only 1 (yes, ONE) gig of VRAM

When the pandemic started and Warzone came out, I couldnt even run it because I had too little VRAM (2 GB required)

 

So now that I see Warzone 2, and I recently did a small upgrade from 8 to 16 GB of RAM and just wondered IF it is possible

[ewitte]

Windows is designed to pull from RAM if it needs to with a hit of 80+ percentage off of your FPS.

[Eigenvektor]

Technically yes. Windows will already use RAM as a fallback if you run out of VRAM. But it's similar to using the disk for paging if you run out of RAM. It's much slower for the GPU to work with memory that's external to the GPU, with much higher latency, so it's more about not crashing and less about getting acceptable performance. In other words, it's not something you want to happen.

[Mark Kaine]

its a automatic thing and you can allocate ram to igpus, but the way you want to do it doesn't work for dGPUs there's no (none automatic) option for that in windows (or otherwise) 

so tldr:

17 minutes ago, CheeseOnion said:

IF it is possible

absolutely,  if you have an iGPU.

 

15 minutes ago, ewitte said:

with a hit of 80+ percentage off of your FPS.

fantasy number?

[YoungBlade]

There may be ways to mod the game files into thinking that your GPU has more VRAM, and as mentioned above, Windows will then push game assets into system memory, but the result won't be pretty. "Stutterfest" would be putting it lightly if your card had an equal amount of data in system RAM as in VRAM.

[YoungBlade]

You can occasionally find RX 570/RX 580 cards selling on eBay for under $50. If you're strapped for cash but have patience, that would probably be a solid upgrade for you.

[Mister Woof]

Well that's actually what happens if your GPU doesn't have enough VRAM. When your GPU runs out of VRAM, you end up swapping to system memory and then page file. And then your FPS takes a poop.

[Kaas0001]

I did not know the CPU already did that

SInce I got that message, you know

 

But thank you all for your insights

[Kaas0001]

10 hours ago, YoungBlade said:

You can occasionally find RX 570/RX 580 cards selling on eBay for under $50. If you're strapped for cash but have patience, that would probably be a solid upgrade for you.

Yeah, I' m looking around for a small upgrade, already asked and I believe the GTX 1650 should also be fine

[Ebony Falcon]

In the nvidiot driver go to info and it says how much is shared 

[ewitte]

On 2/15/2023 at 1:37 PM, Mark Kaine said:

 

fantasy number?

Not everything is meant to be literal.  It was to show what to expect.  If you want real numbers.  After I went to 4k I had a hand full of titles that didn't work well with 10GB of VRAM on my 3080.  In those titles I would get 5-10fps, reduce settings that only effected textures brought it over 60fps.  If you actually run over VRAM you will lose a massive amount of performance.  Sometimes it is just listing "allocated" in which case there will possibly be some stuttering/buffering but the hit will not be as dramatic.