8gb 980, some games say I have 4gb vram

[SPFINATOR1993]

Hey guys, quick question.  I have an 8 gig gtx 980 in my Sager notebook.  I am a bit confused by what some games and other programs say about my rig.  Some games, the most notable one in my mind is GTA 5, say that I have only 4 gigs of VRam.  Why does this happen and if in the game settings, I go higher than 4gb of VRam usage (unlikely, I know.  But just curious) will I see any negative effects?  

My rig specs:

Sager NP 9870-s

CPU:  6700k @ 4.4ghz

GPU:  GTX 980 8gb non overclocked (yet)

RAM:  32 Gb dual channel ddr4

Storage:  All 850 evo's  2 250gb m.2 in raid 0 and 2 1tb in raid 0.

 

Thanks for the support folks.

[TheRandomness]

Wtf 8GB 980s don't exist.

[Curufinwe_wins]

Just now, TheRandomness said:

Wtf 8GB 980s don't exist.

yes they do on the mobile market...

 

You can also get 6GB 970m.

[TheRandomness]

1 minute ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

yes they do on the mobile market...

 

You can also get 6GB 970m.

But whhhyyyyyyyyyyy....

[SPFINATOR1993]

Mine is a full desktop 980 chip.  Not a 980m.  But that's besides the point.

 

[Curufinwe_wins]

Just now, TheRandomness said:

But whhhyyyyyyyyyyy....

Mobile markets are often a spec race, so having a 8GB 980 is a selling point over a 4GB model. Oh and they can use the same number of memory ic's because higher capacity ic's are now available.

[MadyTehWolfie]

2 minutes ago, SPFINATOR1993 said:

Mine is a full desktop 980 chip.  Not a 980m.  But that's besides the point.

 

Then no it doesnt have 8gb of ram and its best you put that idea out of your head tbh.

Edit: Didn't see it was from a sager notebook.

[SPFINATOR1993]

http://www.sagernotebook.com/customize.php?productid=957

 

Scroll through and take a look.

 

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 minute ago, MadyTehWolfie said:

Then no it doesnt have 8gb of ram and its best you put that idea out of your head tbh.

actually it does...... peeps are so dumb sometimes...

 

The mxm 980 comes in both 4GB and 8GB variants.

[Real_PhillBert]

2 minutes ago, MadyTehWolfie said:

Then no it doesnt have 8gb of ram and its best you put that idea out of your head tbh.

There actually was/is GTX-980 non M mobile chips that do have 8GB of VRAM

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_900_series

[Curufinwe_wins]

3 minutes ago, SPFINATOR1993 said:

Mine is a full desktop 980 chip.  Not a 980m.  But that's besides the point.

 

It is a MXM module 980, which is different than the 980m but also is available in different capacities than the non-mxm desktop 980.

[Simon771]

Well use GPU-Z and it will tell you how much exactly do you have.

[MadyTehWolfie]

1 minute ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

actually it does...... peeps are so dumb sometimes...

 

The mxm 980 comes in both 4GB and 8GB variants.

See my edit please. I edited it while you were typing.

[MilfShake]

.

[SPFINATOR1993]

1 minute ago, MadyTehWolfie said:

See my edit please. I edited it while you were typing.

I just got a chance to see it.  I was pretty sure the mxm 980 did have the two variants.  

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 minute ago, MilfShake said:

Didn't you read the guy above said that only mobile chips have 8gb ram? The link you gave is a notebook lol

And his system is A NOTEBOOK JESUS FUCK PEOPLE NEED TO READ THE ORIGINAL POST!

[SPFINATOR1993]

When I customized the system online when I ordered it, the 8gb chip was the only option on the website for the mxm 980.  So why do some apps show that I only have 4gb of vram?

[MadyTehWolfie]

1 minute ago, SPFINATOR1993 said:

I just got a chance to see it.  I was pretty sure the mxm 980 did have the two variants.  

Not sure to be honest if you have a game like gta or use a software program you can check on this yourself and know for sure.

[SPFINATOR1993]

1 minute ago, MadyTehWolfie said:

Not sure to be honest if you have a game like gta or use a software program you can check on this yourself and know for sure.

I am 100% positive that it is an 8gb card in the system.  I've confirmed that with Nvidia inspector and Gpu-z.  I wonder why this happens....  Thanks for the assistance, patience, and understanding.

[PlayStation 2]

6 minutes ago, SPFINATOR1993 said:

I am 100% positive that it is an 8gb card in the system.  I've confirmed that with Nvidia inspector and Gpu-z.  I wonder why this happens....  Thanks for the assistance, patience, and understanding.

Maybe an issue with the games and the drivers?

Dunno what else to say.

 

Also, it's fucking amazing that no one but one person outside of the OP knows that he's talking about a laptop.

[othertomperson]

17 minutes ago, MadyTehWolfie said:

Not sure to be honest if you have a game like gta or use a software program you can check on this yourself and know for sure.

GTA is a bad example. It insists my GTX 970 has 8GB. I can only imagine it is seeing the SLI and adding them together.

[Centurius]

45 minutes ago, SPFINATOR1993 said:

When I customized the system online when I ordered it, the 8gb chip was the only option on the website for the mxm 980.  So why do some apps show that I only have 4gb of vram?

Perhaps the apps only look at the GPU which they would recognize as having 4GB rather than the actual amount installed for the MXM. If this is the case you could likely safely exceed the max ram apps list.

[SPFINATOR1993]

5 hours ago, othertomperson said:

GTA is a bad example. It insists my GTX 970 has 8GB. I can only imagine it is seeing the SLI and adding them together.

That's quite bizarre.  Funny, but definitely bizarre.

[SPFINATOR1993]

4 hours ago, Centurius said:

Perhaps the apps only look at the GPU which they would recognize as having 4GB rather than the actual amount installed for the MXM. If this is the case you could likely safely exceed the max ram apps list.

That's what I had thought.  But I wasn't sure if exceeding that would cause any funny issues in the games.  Thanks!

[Bouzoo]

I'd personally use Riva Tuner while in game and see what it reports. Quite interested if games that see only 4GB can use more. If they can, nothing to worry about.