GPU using only 240mb of dedicated memory

[crawoo145]

Hi I currently have a laptop with a gtx 660m gpu with 2048mb of dedicated memory but when under load it only uses a max of about 250mb ram. Whilst playing games it will frequently overheat and my laptop will shut itself down is there any reason for it to be using this little memory as surely using more would decrease the workload.

Also I have updated any drivers with clean installs, reapplied thermal paste to try to alleviate the heat issue, cleaned the chassis out. I have also made use nvidia card the global setting to no avail.

 

[ubuysa]

Firstly, shutting down because of overheating is not normal - especially if it's doing this "frequently". Are you sure the fan(s) are running? Do you have it on a cooling stand? Is there ample airflow around (and underneath) it?

Secondly, using more RAM would not decrease the workload it would be more likely to increase it. The only reason for keeping data in RAM is so that the CPU/GPU can operate on it, the more data kept in RAM the faster the CPU/GPU can operate (and the hotter they will get). It may indeed be that the reason you see so little RAM used by the GPU is because it's getting hot and being slowed down.

Your problem is overheating, I rather think the GPU RAM usage is a red herring........