Running out of video memory

[I3reeze]

Hey all,

I do apologize that this thread will be a little video game oriented, but this is the only way I've found this error pop up. So here goes:

I've been playing Dirty Bomb (beta) lately and I've recently been getting issues regarding an error: "Ran out of video memory! Exiting...". I then cannot actually open any other screens, but I see the Windows overlay with the start button and open applications and whatnot, but with a completely black screen otherwise. I have to restart or sign out and sign back in to stop it. I've also been feeling extremely jittery/teleporty in CS:GO while also keeping a solid FPS (60 to 200). I assume these issues are both related if my GPUs are indeed maxing out and not clearing their VRAM.*

*Note: I don't actually fully understand how VRAM works; I picture it as filling up with information and then draining the oldest data to fill up with newer data.

Here are my specs:

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (Purchased For $388.13)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H110i GT 113.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (Purchased For $129.99)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Extreme4 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (Purchased For $232.89)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (Purchased For $210.98)
Storage: Transcend MTS600 512GB M.2-2260 Solid State Drive (Purchased For $223.99)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $66.68)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $66.68)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 8GB Vapor-X Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) (Purchased For $482.90)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 8GB Vapor-X Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) (Purchased For $482.90)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $109.99)
Power Supply: Corsair 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $205.35)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For $21.00)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 60Hz 27.0" Monitor (Purchased For $440.00)
Other: Code Keyboard (Purchased For $169.88)
Other: Windows 8.1 64 Bit (Purchased For $15.00)

I run two Sapphire R9 290x cards in Xfire.

Also, I had an issue getting my PC to boot up a while ago and found that it was either a Mobo issue or RAM. I got it working by rearranging my RAM sticks (literally placing them in a different order) so I'm also thinking this could be a regular RAM issue, though once again, I don't know how to test this. My System window (Control Panel > System and Security > System) says 16 GB, which should be correct, but I don't know if that's real time or just what was installed originally. (Easy to test, I now realize)

Would anyone be able to tell me how to test my GPUs VRAM?
Test RAM sticks?
Any other possible issues which I haven't considered?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Kawaii Penguin]

You seem to have optimal Memory ( 16GB is actually a little overkill ), so it mustn't be that.
Perhaps the memory you allocate for the game is low, I don't particularly play Dirty Bomb much but I suggest finding a way to allocate more memory.
Also, jittery/teleportiness on CS:GO is typically a networking issue. If your network is good and you still have the issue, I can't do much other than saying to allocate more memory. In rare cases jittery on CS:GO isn't a network issue.

I know NOTHING of Vram, but it sounds like a pest from the start.

Since you're running Win8.1, go to your Task Manager and look for the "Memory" and its percentage while playing the game. If its constantly capping out, you may be looking for an upgrade or some form of fix. An upgrade is rather unlikely though since you're running a jesus computer.

By the way, I love your rig. So OP.
~Fellow Gamer

 

[k1114]

You can check vram usage in gpuz or msi afterburner or a couple other ones.

 

[I3reeze]

@k1114 I've been using both of those programs for a while, but my issue is that I can't see them when the game stops working. The black screen keeps me from seeing any other windows and once I restart or sign out, they're closed, of course. Would you be able to tell me how to export the logs from msi afterburner to excel? I thought i'd done it once a while ago, but I haven't been able to find an option for that.

@Kawaii Penguin I don't know how to would allocate memory/VRAM to a particular application. I know I could set that application's priority to high right away, but I don't know if that does what we're hoping for. And I do realize that the CS:GO issues are regularly network related, but with my ping around 70 and fps around 180, as well as no complaints of lagging from friends I'm partied with, I really don't know what to make of it.

 

[k1114]

Can you still see the graphs? Right above the graph, it says max. But you can save logs from settings. On the monitoring tab is a checkbox to log history to file.

You can't allocate ram or vram.

 

[I3reeze]

@k1114 Yeah I can see the graphs. I can also log the graphs but I can't really read them easily with the graph packing in a long period of data at a time. It'd be nice if i could have some numbers to sort too. And I didn't know of any RAM/VRAM allocation methods so I figured that wasn't a thing, but he said "allocate more memory" which wouldn't be needed for game file space, but I thought I may just be unaware.

 

[k1114]

You don't need to look at the graph. Right above it has numbers for min and max.

 

[I3reeze]

Well, I played for a few hours yesterday. One session with one GPU, a second session with the other GPU. I didn't have any issues and I didn't see my memory maxing out at all; more like 36ish%. I'm going to try again tonight, once with one GPU, again with second GPU, and again with both GPUs. Maybe it just doesn't have code to deal with multi-GPU setups.

 

[I3reeze]

@k1114 I have found a very big issue. When playing Dirty Bomb, MSI Afterburner reads that my Pagefile usage is around 10000+, maxing at 12602. My average is 5600. I can see why it says I'm running out of video memory, though I don't understand why this is happening. My cards have 8GB of dedicated VRAM. Is there something wrong with my RAM that is causing all this pagefile usage? How do I fix it?

Thanks for your help.

 

[k1114]

Ram and vram usage? The game may just be poorly optimized. It is in beta.

 

[I3reeze]

Okay so I'm aware that it's in beta and that it's poorly optimized. But this error isn't very common, meaning not everyone's getting it (or at least not reporting/complaining about it). So since my pagefile usage is high, is that actually a RAM issue instead of a VRAM one? Should I be looking at my RAM sticks?

I won't do anything until I've tested the usage in other games, but I'm so quick to jump to a RAM issue because of my issues with them in the past.

 

[k1114]

Vram pages to ram which pages to hdd. It's all just a trickle downstream. So it's still not clear. It says you ran out of video memory though.

 

[I3reeze]

Yeah it says "video memory" but I feel like that may be an exception which the program throws regardless of what memory source is having issues. Or perhaps the video memory is indeed the root problem and it just trickles down to RAM and HDD which is why I see it in the Pagefile usage. I don't really know enough about this to understand why it's happening or how to fix it. I can't imagine that my actual VRAM/RAM is being completely filled up.

Oh, important note: MSI Afterburner showed that my Memory was completely full. As in the graph shows it just stuck to the roof while in game and dropping back down to normal afterwards.

 

[k1114]

Msi ab doesn't adjust the graphs to how much you have. You have to do that yourself or just look at max number to see if it was actually full.

 

[I3reeze]

What I meant is that it's way above average. Stuck to the roof as in at least double the normal usage (I don't remember the actual numbers). So even though it probably wasn't completely full, it was getting close.

 

[I3reeze]

Here's an image of what happens when I close dirty bomb: http://i.imgur.com/PnNcUyG.png
It takes nearly 7000MB just being open (Chrome takes about 1000MB, fyi). I don't know if that's something wrong with the game or if my system is holding onto too much info all the time.

 

[k1114]

You said it takes 7gb but ram usage is only 6gb max? You have spare ram so then it's paging for no reason and you are running out of vram. That game is seriously leaking all over the place getting that high and it's doing something wonky to windows. It's the game and this is out of your hands.

 

[I3reeze]

Damn.. yeah I sorta thought that. I've read other people saying it may be a driver error (just general drivers, nothing in particular) so I might look into that. Here's the usage when it gives me the black screen: http://imgur.com/H3a74f0