Running out of RAM but using barely any GPU memory

[Phrud]

Hi,
I have recently reinstalled Planetside 2 after buying a new graphics card and have had it crash on numerous occasions due to overloading my 3.6gb RAM. On checking MSI Afterburner for my graphics cards stats it says the memory being used is only around 200 mb so am I mistaken for thinking this can be used to help the RAM out or is there a way to enable that.
Thanks in advance.

 

[JOHNN93]

the ram on your gpu is used to store textures so that the gpu can process and output video later on.
so no you can not use it as memory for your cpu because it is used for the processor on the gpu.

 

[f-14]

you are mistaken. video ram can not be harnessed for system ram
i do not remember the system requirements for that game, but i believe you require 4GB of ram and that requires a 64-bit OS... like i said i do not remember, i could be mistaken also.

you can try enlarging the swap file to 6 GB but your game play will be really choppy when the system requires grabbing data from the swap file on the drive.

go this this site and select your parts and game and it will tell you if you can run it.
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/

 

[Phrud]

Ah ok, so basically the GPU memory is not going to cover it then?

 

[pm4]

No GPU memory cant be used as RAM. For games you need both as they use both classic memory and also memory on gpu card.
To matter of OS if you use 32 bit system, it allow only 4GB of memory in total. That mean SUM of all memory in system which includes RAM and also graphic memory. So if you would have 4 gb ram and 1 gb memory on GPU you would see only 3GB in OS system as 1 gb would be reserved for GPU. (actually little less as there are also some other smaller memories which are included in that 4gb limit).

It may help if you post your system information
motherboard, ram, gpu you bought and OS.

 

[Phrud]

Okay here are my specs,

Processor: Intel Core i5-3570 CPU @ 3.40GHz
Installed memory (RAM): 4.00 GB (3.49 GB usable)
GPU: 2.1 GB Sapphire R7 260x
OS: 32-bit Windows 7

Is there any way of optimising the RAM I have as according to http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/ I am only about 0.3 GB under for RAM?

 

[junkeymonkey]

I don't mean to nose in here but your saying that you start with 4gb of system memory the card no matter what memory in on it is still going to take 1gb of that system memory and also the os is taking about 1.5gb of system memory then what ever backgroung stuff is chewing on lest say500mb of system memory in the end you may only end up with 2 of the 4 gb you started with to run on?? [ for windows this sounds about right] ???

 

[pm4]

Okay here are my specs,

Processor: Intel Core i5-3570 CPU @ 3.40GHz
Installed memory (RAM): 4.00 GB (3.49 GB usable)
GPU: 2.1 GB Sapphire R7 260x
OS: 32-bit Windows 7

Is there any way of optimising the RAM I have as according to http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/ I am only about 0.3 GB under for RAM?

You basic problem is OS. You got total of 6 GB memory in system but your OS can see use only 4 of it. If you see 3.49 as usable memory that mean about 0,5 GB memory is usable on GPU which lower it's performance and may cause lot of other problems.

Best bet is to upgrade to 64-bit windows 7. Your windows 7 key should be usable for both 32 and 64 bit version and I think you can somewhere from official sites download also copy of installation DVD to burn it and use.
Maybe someone got direct links and can post them for you.

Also I personally would upgrade to 6/8gb memory if your motherboard support it as I do not really feel comfortable with less than 8gb these days. One of reasons is also that you got 2GB memory on your GPU. For gpu to work properly it's recommended that on each GB on gpu you should have GB extra on your ram in addition to normal system usage (dont ask me what exactly that gpu do with memory or why is it). Also this RAM upgrade have meaning ONLY if you also install windows 7 64bit version.

 

[Phrud]

Thanks for the useful, and quick, answers everyone, it seems like upgrading to windows 64 bit is the solution and I have found some RAM optimising programmes from AMD so I will try those. Thanks again.