Nvidia GTX 690 (4GB) Tells me only that it is 2GB! HOW....?

[MoOoTjE-58]

Hello guys,

So I have a videocard. The GTX 690. It runs really good. But recently i noticed that it says it is only at 2GB. Why does it say this. Do any of you know how I can benefit out of the 4GB I have.

 

[chemmajorp53]

The GTX 690 is a card with 2 gpu cores (essentially 2 GTX 680s), each of which has 2GB of VRAM assigned to it in an SLI configuration. There is 4GB of VRAM on the PCB, but each core needs to have the same textures in its own VRAM, so you can only use 2GB per core and therefore 2GB total. Running this card is essentially the same as running 2 GTX 680 2GB cards in SLI.

 

[MoOoTjE-58]

The GTX 690 is a card with 2 gpu cores (essentially 2 GTX 680s), each of which has 2GB of VRAM assigned to it in an SLI configuration. There is 4GB of VRAM on the PCB, but each core needs to have the same textures in its own VRAM, so you can only use 2GB per core and therefore 2GB total. Running this card is essentially the same as running 2 GTX 680 2GB cards in SLI.

So both the gpu cores are working, when i play heavy games, wich makes it eventually 4 gigs right...?

 

[chemmajorp53]

No, I explained why in my last message

 

[MoOoTjE-58]

No, I explained why in my last message

Shit man.. Then I dont really understood what you ment. I am not really a tech guy. You probably told the truth tho.. Thanks anyways man.

 

[chemmajorp53]

Think of it this way, with a guy being a gpu core and the hammer being the VRAM. You have two guys hammering the same nail, each with their own hammer. There are two hammers being used to drive the nail, but only one hammer can be used at a time to hit the nail. The two guys are working independently but performing the same job as one guy, just twice as fast. What you're thinking of is two guys both having the same 2 hammers in each hand, which isn't possible with SLI.

 

[theonerm2]

This is a dual GPU card. It has 2 GPU's and each GPU has access to 2GB of vRAM. Each GPU has to work on the same data so what's stored in the first GPU's vRAM is also in the Second GPU's vRAM. Trust me. You're using the full 4GB but you're using it in a different way than a single GPU would use the RAM.