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MSI Afterburner can now display per process VRAM!

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Darktalon

Darktalon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,266
Kansas
Nov 17th 2020: Per Process VRAM Monitoring now is supported internally, and works in all games.

  1. Install MSI Afterburner 4.6.3 Beta 4 Build 15910 from over here.
  2. Enter the MSI Afterburner settings/properties menu
  3. Click the monitoring tab (should be 3rd from the left)
  4. Scroll down the list until you see "Memory Usage \ Process".
  5. Use the checkmarks next to it to enable tracking.
  6. Click show in On-Screen Display, and customize as desired.
  7. ???
  8. Profit

Edit: Nov 7th 2020 - newest beta links.
Edit: Nov 17th 2020 - newest beta links and many guide steps are no longer needed.
 
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Darktalon

Darktalon

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Oct 27, 2017
3,266
Kansas
A7m4BY6.png
 
copelandmaster

copelandmaster

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,940
Well that's convenient. Somebody needs to let reviewers like Hardware Unbox and Gamers Nexus know before the 20GB cards come out and they drop a bunch of "you don't need this" / "you need this" takes without properly updating their tools and potentially misinforming their audiences.
 
Lashley

Lashley

<<Tag Here>>
Member
Oct 25, 2017
60,078
copelandmaster said:
Well that's convenient. Somebody needs to let reviewers like Hardware Unbox and Gamers Nexus know before the 20GB cards come out and they drop a bunch of "you don't need this" / "you need this" takes without properly updating their tools and potentially misinforming their audiences.
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You really think of all reviewers those 2 are not going to find out about this and misinform their audience?

C'mon
 
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Darktalon

Darktalon

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Oct 27, 2017
3,266
Kansas
I sent a tweet to Gamers Nexus, Digital Foundry, Hardware Unboxed, JayzTwoCents, TechPowerUp, Paul's Hardware, PC Perspective, and Igor's Lab.
 
Kaldaien

Kaldaien

Developer of Special K
Verified
Aug 8, 2020
298
Darktalon said:
I sent a tweet to Gamers Nexus, Digital Foundry, Hardware Unboxed, JayzTwoCents, TechPowerUp, Paul's Hardware, PC Perspective, and Igor's Lab.
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Wow, you've been busy :)

I'd say those are the parties who most need to know this and probably in the correct order too. Steve from GamersNexus would be a dream contact for me, much respect his focus on technical accuracy.


My gripe with memory reporting in Afterburner has always been that FPS is per-process, and this leads people to believe if they see a stat titled VRAM that it is referring to the currently running process. Nothing that claims to be a framerate monitor would add up the frames drawn by every piece of software on your system and call that your FPS, so per-process memory reporting on an in-game OSD is kind of expected.
 
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Kaldaien

Kaldaien

Developer of Special K
Verified
Aug 8, 2020
298
D'oh, this still is not quite the same technique that Special K uses, but it does represent an improvement. To really critically analyze this, I would need to go back and test on an SLI-based system (which I no longer have). The thing that tends to separate the measures of graphics memory is whether they are correctly abstracted down to the individual GPU or not. Judging by the amount of over-reporting in Afterburner's approach, I suspect it does not have per-GPU granularity the way that DXGI budgets do.
 
Mecha Meister

Mecha Meister

Next-Gen Guru
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,805
United Kingdom
This is great to see, MSI Afterburner is one of my favourite pieces of software for monitoring system information and game performance, I look forward to testing many games with this!

Kaldaien said:
D'oh, this still is not quite the same technique that Special K uses, but it does represent an improvement. To really critically analyze this, I would need to go back and test on an SLI-based system (which I no longer have). The thing that tends to separate the measures of graphics memory is whether they are correctly abstracted down to the individual GPU or not. Judging by the amount of over-reporting in Afterburner's approach, I suspect it does not have per-GPU granularity the way that DXGI budgets do.
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I love your work, many thanks for creating Special K!
 
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Darktalon

Darktalon

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Oct 27, 2017
3,266
Kansas
Just to be clear, you can customize how your OSD looks, for my picture, I labeled them separately like that to show them off without confusion.
 
Hong

Hong

Member
Oct 30, 2017
776
So "GPU Dedicated Memory Usage \ Process" is the amount of VRAM being used by the particular proces being run? In this example: 6GB is available and FS2020 uses roughly 4GB?
 
.exe

.exe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,268
Neat! I don't see myself being able to understand what it all means, but if it makes for better analysis by others, that's great.
 
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Darktalon

Darktalon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,266
Kansas
Hong said:
So "GPU Dedicated Memory Usage \ Process" is the amount of VRAM being used by the particular proces being run? In this example: 6GB is available and FS2020 uses roughly 4GB?
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Correct, I am using a 980 Ti with 6GB available. And near 4GB is being used by FS2020, as confirmed by both the developer overlay and the gpu dedicated memory usage \ process.
 
pksu

pksu

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,241
Finland
Cool to see Unwinder still developing the app. I remember using RivaTuner to unlock shader pipelines on a 6800 GPU.
 
BeI

BeI

Member
Dec 9, 2017
5,988
Cool option that might let me see if Warzone really is eating all my 1060's VRAM or not. I also really appreciated a recent-ish addition where you could add multiple fps cap hotkeys.
 
Kaldaien

Kaldaien

Developer of Special K
Verified
Aug 8, 2020
298
Hong said:
So "GPU Dedicated Memory Usage \ Process" is the amount of VRAM being used by the particular proces being run? In this example: 6GB is available and FS2020 uses roughly 4GB?
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It's not quite equal to that, but it's limited to memory that has been reserved by the current process, which is massively more useful when you are collecting the data for the purpose of determining a single game's requirements.

The system-wide numbers are not terribly helpful because the driver can page all that memory out and the penalty for having that number exceed VRAM total ranges from none at all to complete VRAM <---> System RAM thrashing. The reason I opted to measure VRAM using DXGI budgets is because they are defined by:

1) Current Usage
2) Budget

When you measure VRAM that way, the only question that needs answering is: 'Is Current Usage <= Budget'? If that comes back true, your application fits entirely in the VRAM the driver has acquisitioned for it to use. The second 'Current Usage' goes above 'Budget', you have run out of VRAM and you're in real trouble.

Budget grows and shrinks dynamically, it's an accurate measure of "oh @#$%, I don't have enough VRAM for my game." What is now in MSI Afterburner is an improvement, but you would still be better off if the measurement being taken here were Current Usage / Budget.
 
Tora

Tora

The Enlightened Wise Ones
Member
Jun 17, 2018
8,641
Warzone:
1440p: 6.3GB
2160p: 5.9GB???

AC Odyssey:
1440p - 4.9GB
2160p - 5.7GB

Control:
DLSS (1440p with an internal render of 960p) - 5GB
1440p - 5.8GB
2160p - 6.6GB

Persona 4 Golden (Just to see how accurate this is)
1440p - 450MB

All tested with max settings.

I guess that's good to know? I wonder how much next gen games will use then
 
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Darktalon

Darktalon

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Oct 27, 2017
3,266
Kansas
If I could ever actually purchase a new graphics card, I would be posting all sotets of statistics. I can't wait to see what people come up with that will have a 3090.
 
neoak

neoak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,265
copelandmaster said:
Well that's convenient. Somebody needs to let reviewers like Hardware Unbox and Gamers Nexus know before the 20GB cards come out and they drop a bunch of "you don't need this" / "you need this" takes without properly updating their tools and potentially misinforming their audiences.
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Gamers Nexus misleading?

That'd be a first.
 
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Darktalon

Darktalon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,266
Kansas
Example of how VRAM fragmentation, or open programs can drastically affect reported VRAM usage.

Pay attention to MEM line:
1st number is the total system vram allocated, the # most people are used to. 3367MB (Chrome alone is using over a GB in the background)
2nd number is per process, this is from hearthstone, its using a measly 280 MB.
3rd number is shared vram, 82 MB, not much to explain here.

If I were to restart my computer and close all the open programs in the background, I would have the 1st number much much closer to how much Hearthstone is actually using.


Yx3EPuA.png
 
Kaldaien

Kaldaien

Developer of Special K
Verified
Aug 8, 2020
298
BTW, here's why I really think that DXGI budgets are a better metric.

JFCoUM4.jpg


SK tracks the "high watermark" for memory allocation, as well as the number of times the driver has informed the game that VRAM budget has changed and that the game should stop allocating memory for a while.

Most graphics engines are blissfully unaware that feature exists, and they will allocate resources up to and beyond their budget, and _this_ is when you emphatically have a game that needs more VRAM than you have available. Keeping a tally of the number of times the driver changed the budget as well as the the maximum amount the game has gone over its budget by is far more useful than measuring general allocation stats.

This does require using DXGI, however, and Unwinder seems convinced that D3DKMT is just as good. I'm not :-\
 
Dolce

Dolce

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,252
I dunno who all these other tech YouTubers are, I am just waiting for Budget-Builds Official to use it.
 
elelunicy

elelunicy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
175
Nice. Here is some of my VRAM usage numbers with the 24GB 3090. I always thought it's funny that people are like "You should buy cards with more VRAM because games 3-5 years from now are going to need it!" when in reality some 3-5 year old games can use just as much VRAM, especially since those old games are not that hard to run even at very high resolutions.

Need for Speed Payback (3 year old game)

5760x2400 (just below 5k by pixel count) maxed out: 16GB overall VRAM usage, 13GB dedicated process usage

puAIoNh.png


7680x3200 (~25% less pixels than 8k): 22GB overall VRAM usage, 17GB dedicated process usage

Fax1Uza.png


Mass Effect Andromeda (3.5 year old game)

5760x2400 maxed out HDR on: 16GB overall VRAM usage, 11GB dedicated process usage

4wmEwjS.png


7680x3200: 22GB overall VRAM usage, 18GB dedicated process usage

hVxPDAl.png


AC: Syndicate (5 year old game)

5760x2400 Ultra High preset: 14GB overall VRAM usage, 10GB dedicated process usage

1hnzYlM.png


7680x3200: 20GB overall VRAM usage, 15GB dedicated process usage

RaLOFnO.png


AC: Unity (6 year old game)

5760x2400 Ultra High preset: 14GB overall VRAM usage, 10GB dedicated process usage

RYg9zga.png


7680x3200: 20GB overall VRAM usage, 16GB dedicated process usage

xl1EtwV.png
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,131
copelandmaster said:
Well that's convenient. Somebody needs to let reviewers like Hardware Unbox and Gamers Nexus know before the 20GB cards come out and they drop a bunch of "you don't need this" / "you need this" takes without properly updating their tools and potentially misinforming their audiences.
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How did we ever make any informed decisions about anything whatsoever before 2020 honestly
 
Ploid 6.0

Ploid 6.0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,440
copelandmaster said:
Well that's convenient. Somebody needs to let reviewers like Hardware Unbox and Gamers Nexus know before the 20GB cards come out and they drop a bunch of "you don't need this" / "you need this" takes without properly updating their tools and potentially misinforming their audiences.
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Gamer Nexus probably already know. They aren't like game journalists or youtube influencers, this is the type of stuff they love messing with. Buildzoids/Actually Hardcore Overclocking isn't really part of them, but he provides pcb breakdowns for them here and there for big new cards, and at the least he would know about this and make sure Steve knows if Steve didn't know before this thread even went up.
 
NeoBob688

NeoBob688

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,643
Tora said:
Warzone:
1440p: 6.3GB
2160p: 5.9GB???

AC Odyssey:
1440p - 4.9GB
2160p - 5.7GB

Control:
DLSS (1440p with an internal render of 960p) - 5GB
1440p - 5.8GB
2160p - 6.6GB

Persona 4 Golden (Just to see how accurate this is)
1440p - 450MB

All tested with max settings.

I guess that's good to know? I wonder how much next gen games will use then
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Thank you for this!
 
MazeHaze

MazeHaze

Member
Nov 1, 2017
8,591
Can somebody tell me how to make afterburner bigger/scale at high res? I use my PC on my living room TV and no matter what scaling options I use in windows, the afterburner window is so small it's unreadable from the couch. Never been able to find a way around this
 
Max A.

Max A.

Member
Oct 27, 2017
499
MazeHaze said:
Can somebody tell me how to make afterburner bigger/scale at high res? I use my PC on my living room TV and no matter what scaling options I use in windows, the afterburner window is so small it's unreadable from the couch. Never been able to find a way around this
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You mean the on-screen stats like this one?

Yx3EPuA.png


In RTSS you have the 'On-Screen Display Zoom' slider along with other visual options.
 
Max A.

Max A.

Member
Oct 27, 2017
499
MazeHaze said:
No I mean the actual afterburner main interface that looks like a car dashboard.
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In Afterburner go to Settings > User Interface (use the tiny arrows on the right side) at the bottom of the page you'll see the 'Skin scaling' slider.

Personally I use the "Default MSI Afterburner v3 skin - big edition' skin, it doesn't look like a car dashboard and you get more options without searching too much.
 
MazeHaze

MazeHaze

Member
Nov 1, 2017
8,591
Max A. said:
In Afterburner go to Settings > User Interface (use the tiny arrows on the right side) at the bottom of the page you'll see the 'Skin scaling' slider.

Personally I use the "Default MSI Afterburner v3 skin - big edition' skin, it doesn't look like a car dashboard and you get more options without searching too much.
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Thank you!
 
Kaldaien

Kaldaien

Developer of Special K
Verified
Aug 8, 2020
298
Darktalon said:
I'll be getting my 3080 by Friday. I want to start listing usage in popular games.
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BTW, do you have an AMD CPU? I need to reverse engineer NvAPI's PCIe 4.0 status indicator for HW monitoring. I totally expected to just pick up an RTX 3090 and be done with this by now, but I've had the worst luck with pre-orders ;(

At the rate things are going, I won't have a next-gen console or an RTX 3xxx GPU until sometime in 2021.
 
RSTEIN

RSTEIN

Member
Nov 13, 2017
1,871
I think Doom let's you see the impact on ram for each graphical setting. I think ultra everything and 4K is around 5-6gb.
 
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Darktalon

Darktalon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,266
Kansas
Kaldaien said:
BTW, do you have an AMD CPU? I need to reverse engineer NvAPI's PCIe 4.0 status indicator for HW monitoring. I totally expected to just pick up an RTX 3090 and be done with this by now, but I've had the worst luck with pre-orders ;(

At the rate things are going, I won't have a next-gen console or an RTX 3xxx GPU until sometime in 2021.
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Currently have 6700k, when zen3 comes out, im upgrading to that.
 
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