Re: Apex Lagging but no FPS Drop

@KeoniFRFX To first answer the other question. You can't set ram usage, this is coded automatically into the game and it allocates memory based off of how much ram it requires for different tasks. If you're saying Apex Legends itself is using 5GB of ram, yes that is extraordinarily high. When I use only about 3.4GB or so at 1440p about medium settings. As far as I know to my knowledge this occurs due to this factor: System RAM is shared with your GPU in case you run low or out of VRAM, which could cause Apex to show it is using more ram to compensate for the VRAM running out which would cause your game to lag due to System RAM being a lot slower than VRAM. When this lag occurs you can actually go to task manager and the performance tab and click your GPU within the list shown and view the "Dedicated" GPU memory in that list, and you'll see "Dedicated GPU memory X/X". The right number is the VRAM your card has which based off the DXDIAG file is 5,991MB or 5.9GB. Since you have a dual monitor setup and wall paper engine you will use more VRAM than normal on those features. Monitor the VRAM to make sure that isn't the issue, and limit GPU intensive applications while playing Apex.

@KeoniFRFX You can check the VRAM usage in task manager like I stated earlier by looking at the "Dedicated GPU memory". Check it first before even running the game to see what it says. On my system I only use about 0.5GB on the desktop with my web browser open.

@KeoniFRFX I would start the game and recheck VRAM when it starts lagging. Other factors can affect VRAM usage as well. Including overlays such as the NVIDIA etc. And each setting in-game will increase VRAM usage as well. Texture budget and screen resolution are just typically the two most intensive ones.

@OoShellshock@EA_Darko Okay, I did some experimenting and this is what I found. I was in the firing range just moving around and shooting guns taking note of my hardware performance. When the game was stable, my vram usage was around the 3.4 GB to 4.5 GB, under 5.0 GB is what's important. My RAM was around 3,500 MB. When I did start lagging while keeping track of my performance, I noticed that my GPU utilization was at 100% every time I started to lag. Every time my GPU utilization hit 100%, boom, frame drop, stuttering, everything you don't want to see. My VRAM usage was consistently at 5.0 - 5.1 GB. While my GPU utilization was at 100%, my RAM was gradually rising from 3,500 MB to 4,500 MB, slowly. Every time I alt-tabbed out of the game however, my GPU utilization would go down to around 80, and RAM would go back to a stable 3,500 MB. After alt-tabbing back in and playing for a little more, it started to lag again and repeat the same signs as said before. What should I do in this situation, and what could be the problem? Quick Edit: I read online that maybe on start up with steam, you are able to cap the frame rate to a certain number. This is so the GPU doesn't throttle itself to go any higher, though I don't know if this will do anything. If you guys have any other suggestions I'll do them but I'll wait for a reply from you two before going on and try capping the frame rate. 

@KeoniFRFX That's interesting. What are your settings exactly? Resolution etc. Your VRAM is pretty high. It's normal for a game to drop in utilization when you alt-tab out due to the game no longer being rendered. Some games render in the background however, but Apex doesn't.

@OoShellshock I'll add two images displaying all of my settings, but in short my resolution is 1920 x 1080 on borderless windowed. The rest of my video settings are in the images in this post. 

@KeoniFRFX With those settings, my vram usage I believe stays around 2.3GB. 5.1GB is incredibly high especially for those settings. I would experiment with disabling things like wallpaper engine, disabling the second monitor etc. You could be seeing 5.1, but your system could be using system ram to help from up some GPU memory and you could actually be going over. But that's a guess, I don't have a way to make my GPU purposely go over VRAM usage to test that (I have 8GB VRAM). Try and get it down to about 3GB or so.

@KeoniFRFX I'm still testing the game. It doesn't stay at 2.3 like I thought, overtime it goes up to about 4GB.

Hey @KeoniFRFX good to see that it appears that you are getting to the bottom of the issue. 

It's important to remember that high Vram usage isn't necessarily a bad thing and if the game requires more ram than your Vram then you can see issues with frame rate drops as it is using system memory resulting in it having to shift things like texture between Vram and ram. 

Darko 

Hey @KeoniFRFX if your Vram is below the minimum the game requires to run then it will use your system ram also. If seeing an issue with lagging then the best thing to do is to lower all settings and resolution.

Darko 

@KeoniFRFX The typical only reason a game would use more RAM than normal is if you run low on VRAM and the game compensates by using more RAM. Or there could be a memory leak in the game's coding, which is very doubtful. I don't experience this issue however, but it could be related to specified hardware such as GPU. What you could do is type "advanced system settings" in windows search and then open "settings" under performance and click "Change" under virtual memory. If you have an SSD, I would recommend you to set the paging file to it and make sure it's system managed. Also delete and freshly install the newest GPU driver. When I play I haven't seen the game go over about 3.5GB RAM usage. But I have a 8GB GPU, and the VRAM isn't close to being used up. Make sure your RAM isn't at about 90% as well.