Gpu memory usage higher then the actual gpu

[WolfOfValhalla]

idk how to discribe this but ill try my best as its very weird to me ,so i recently update my graphics driver ,and ever since then my gpus been running cooler in addition while gaming im noticing my gpu memory is being used more then the actual gpu? this is normal ? ive had this setup for 2years and i aint noticed any problems like this ,i used ddu about a hour prior to making this post to uninstall and reinstall the graphics driver but im getting the same thing ? any ideas? ,is it software or hardware related ? the screenshot provided is exactly what it was doing while i was gaming ,after using ddu to uninstall and reinstall the graphics driver ,i have not noticed a preformance decress in my games at all they all run perfectly fine still ,same fps as before so this has me clueless , the gpu is a RTX 3060 ti (nivida) and the cpu im using is a i7 12700kf ,im also using 32 gb ddr4 ram 

[WereCat]

I don't understand what's the issue?

Most games these days can easily use 8GB of VRAM and usually even more.

[WolfOfValhalla]

2 minutes ago, WereCat said:

I don't understand what's the issue?

Most games these days can easily use 8GB of VRAM and usually even more.

the issue is ,im using the same setup ive been using for 2+ years on the exact same games and not once has it done things usally the gpu usage is higher then the vram for me

 

[WereCat]

Just now, WolfOfValhalla said:

the issue is ,im using the same setup ive been using for 2+ years on the exact same games and not once has it done things usally the gpu usage is higher then the vram for me

 

If you want higher GPU usage use higher graphics settings. VRAM usage and GPU usage are two completely different things.

If you're running out of VRAM then your GPU usage will drop because it's waiting for data to get swapped in and out of VRAM and will result in performance or graphical issues.

If you're not running out of VRAM then simply these two metric are completely unrelated.

[WolfOfValhalla]

4 minutes ago, WereCat said:

If you want higher GPU usage use higher graphics settings. VRAM usage and GPU usage are two completely different things.

If you're running out of VRAM then your GPU usage will drop because it's waiting for data to get swapped in and out of VRAM and will result in performance or graphical issues.

If you're not running out of VRAM then simply these two metric are completely unrelated.

but im not seeing any performance issues at all? 

[WereCat]

1 minute ago, WolfOfValhalla said:

but im not seeing any performance issues at all? 

Then you have no issues.

[WolfOfValhalla]

1 minute ago, WereCat said:

Then you have no issues.

ohhhh ok ,thank you , i know it seemed stupid but i spent all morning researching before coming here ,my bad 

[KnoT]

Is that VRAM usage idle/just desktop?

if so using 98% of VRAM in just desktop there is something wrong

[WolfOfValhalla]

6 minutes ago, KnoT said:

Is that VRAM usage idle/just desktop?

if so using 98% of VRAM in just desktop there is something wrong

.not doing that on desktop ,thats while gaming the screenshot you see is exactly what its going while im playing a game that ive been playing for 2+ years since i built this pc

 

Edited March 15 by WolfOfValhalla

[KnoT]

7 minutes ago, WolfOfValhalla said:

.not doing that on desktop ,that's while gaming the screenshot you see is exactly what its going while im playing a game that ive been playing for 2+ years since i built this pc

 

Then thats normal, 8GB of VRAM in 2025 is not a lot.

[CatTNT]

if you notice no issues and this happened after a driver update, then it's probably more accurate or using a different measurement/ measurement system. Don't forget that the GPU can use "shared GPU memory" which for me is 32GB total, while the GPU only 16GB of VRAM, I assume it taps into 16GB of normal RAM if it needs to. Usually a program will crash after exceeding your VRAM without ever using shared RAM, i don't really know what exactly uses shared RAM. 

[WolfOfValhalla]

4 minutes ago, CatTNT said:

if you notice no issues and this happened after a driver update, then it's probably more accurate or using a different measurement/ measurement system. Don't forget that the GPU can use "shared GPU memory" which for me is 32GB total, while the GPU only 16GB of VRAM, I assume it taps into 16GB of normal RAM if it needs to. Usually a program will crash after exceeding your VRAM without ever using shared RAM, i don't really know what exactly uses shared RAM. 

gotcha thanks guys! it had me worried for a bit

 

[WolfOfValhalla]

27 minutes ago, CatTNT said:

if you notice no issues and this happened after a driver update, then it's probably more accurate or using a different measurement/ measurement system. Don't forget that the GPU can use "shared GPU memory" which for me is 32GB total, while the GPU only 16GB of VRAM, I assume it taps into 16GB of normal RAM if it needs to. Usually a program will crash after exceeding your VRAM without ever using shared RAM, i don't really know what exactly uses shared RAM. 

only issue i have is its never done this before ,while gaming rn ,hwid is saying my gpu is only at 50% while my gpu memory is at 98% ,normally aka before this started happening it was at like 95-100% gpu usage and the memory would be maxed as well could it be the graphics driver update started making my gpu run better then it was before? as in more efficently ? so it wouldn't need to used the gpu as much anymore?

[CatTNT]

9 minutes ago, WolfOfValhalla said:

only issue i have is its never done this before ,while gaming rn ,hwid is saying my gpu is only at 50% while my gpu memory is at 98% ,normally aka before this started happening it was at like 95-100% gpu usage and the memory would be maxed as well could it be the graphics driver update started making my gpu run better then it was before? as in more efficently ? so it wouldn't need to used the gpu as much anymore?

The only game I noticed having a massive difference in performance after the newest driver updates was Ark Survival Ascended. Both before and after the update it was using 100% GPU and 15.7/16GB VRAM, but before the update the FPS was terrible, and after the update the FPS is far better, but still unoptimized. So no difference in hardware utilization, but far better performance. 

[WolfOfValhalla]

4 minutes ago, CatTNT said:

The only game I noticed having a massive difference in performance after the newest driver updates was Ark Survival Ascended. Both before and after the update it was using 100% GPU and 15.7/16GB VRAM, but before the update the FPS was terrible, and after the update the FPS is far better, but still unoptimized. So no difference in hardware utilization, but far better performance. 

gotcha but for me its the same across all games im playing atm that i used to ,escape from tarkov ,ark survival ascended ect ,its using less of my gpu now across the board , should i be worried ? sorry if i seem stupid im just making sure 

[CatTNT]

5 hours ago, WolfOfValhalla said:

gotcha but for me its the same across all games im playing atm that i used to ,escape from tarkov ,ark survival ascended ect ,its using less of my gpu now across the board , should i be worried ? sorry if i seem stupid im just making sure 

if temperatures, voltages, and performance is at an expected level, nothing is wrong

[Mark Kaine]

Samsies, MH Wilds uses over 8gb on my 3070 ... I don't see the problem....I sure would like to have Nvidia framegen tho but sooo many mods to install for that ... y i k e s

 

 

6 hours ago, WolfOfValhalla said:

.not doing that on desktop ,thats while gaming the screenshot you see is exactly what its going while im playing a game that ive been playing for 2+ years since i built this pc

 

 maybe the game got updated? Devs love to add bloat "new features" to old games... 

 

 

[WolfOfValhalla]

2 minutes ago, CatTNT said:

if temperatures, voltages, and performance is at an expected level, nothing is wrong

this is what the wats say ,im not on a gam atm so this is fine? im on a 750w psu 

[WolfOfValhalla]

1 minute ago, Mark Kaine said:

Samsies, MH Wilds uses over 8gb on my 3070 ... I don't see the problem....I sure would like to have Nvidia framegen tho but sooo many mods to install for that ... y i k e s

 

 

 maybe the game got updated? Devs love to add bloat "new features" to old games... 

 

 

wilds dont max my 8gb vram ironically