Tips on saving video ram?

[xerb]

I currently have a Sapphire Radeon 4870 with only 512mb video ram.

Do you guys have any tips on reducing the usage of video ram so that I can maximize performance while in game such as Battlefield 3?

How much Video Ram will I save by turning off Windows Aero and is it worth it?

System Specs:
Phenom 955 3.4 GHZ
Radeon 4870 512mb
8GB Ram
600w Power supply
22 inch Viewsonic Monitor (1920x1080 res)

 

[rolli59]

The only way is to lower details like shadows and such. In Game with Aero not displaying on screen, then it is not using your Vram.
And of course resolution.

 

[esrever]

lower textures and AA is the best way to reduce vram use.

 

[photonboy]

Agreed.
I would definitely not go above 1600x900 with that setup but really it's just a matter of experimenting such as:
- choose the pre-configured LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH settings (if they exist), then
- choose your resolution (1600x900 or lower likely)
- run FRAPS with VSYNC OFF while tweaking
- further tweak Shadows, Bloom, AA etc to meet a comfortable frame rate

RadeonPro:
With a lower-end card you may wish to experiment with DoubleVSYNC:
1) Tweak your game until you get about 35FPS with rare or no drops below 30FPS
2) close the game
3) Open RadeonPro and add the game EXE file
4) choose "Tweaks" -> Always ON (Double VSYNC)

If it works for the game it will SYNC to a refresh half that of normal, such as 30FPS to avoid tearing and maintain a solid 30FPS.

You just have to try it and see for yourself if it helps you.