How to fix VRAM spikes on Gainward RTX 5070 Ti Storm OC?
The VRAM management here is a joke. I have 16GB, but in certain planetary scenes, it spikes to 15.8GB and just freezes. The Gainward Storm cooling is actually decent, keeping the core at 58-63℃, but the memory controller just gives up when it hits the ceiling. I tried lowering all the settings, but the game looked like a pixelated mess from a decade ago, which was just depressing. Instead, I went into the driver panel and hard-capped the max frame rate to 60 FPS and manually expanded the Windows page file to 32GB to give the VRAM some breathing room. According to the logs, peak VRAM usage dropped from 15.8GB to around 13.4-14.1GB, and those infuriating micro-stutters finally stopped. I did notice a 5ms increase in input lag after capping the frames, but disabling V-Sync brought the feel back to normal. VRAM temps are stable at 72-77℃, power draw is 210-230W, and fans are steady at 1400-1600RPM.
