Alan Wake 2 on RTX 4070Ti massive frame drops

[dgianstefani]

Could you explain what you mean, please?

He's implying that a single game notorious for VRAM usage, played at 4K DLSS, means that the 12 GB naysayers were right all along. Despite said 12 GB cards outperforming their 16 GB AMD competition overall.

Excerpt from Wizzard's most recent GPU review:

Also I did an system upgrade to Ryzen 7800x3d while i was playing AW2 and after that at least I had no problems anymore. Still had to hold me back with the game settings but no breakdown to unplayable anymore.

What are your system specs?

Besides, it seems OPs problem was resolved by a CPU upgrade, so the assumptions regarding VRAM as to why single digit FPS, were most likely wrong.

RT is pretty heavy on CPU so that fits better anyway.

 

[Jamie John]

He's implying that a single game notorious for VRAM usage, played at 4K DLSS, means that the 12 GB naysayers were right all along. Despite said 12 GB cards outperforming their 16 GB AMD competition overall.

Excerpt from Wizzard's most recent GPU review:

View attachment 336415

Ok, thank you. So is this just something I can expect with a 12GB card, then, even if I'm playing the game at 1440p (not 4K) and then DLSS set to Balanced? I haven't seen any one else on the internet mention this issue, apart from the OP of this thread. There's talk of frame drops, but not the absolute tanking and chugging that I'm referring to. It's as if the game is dying.

This is a video of it I captured last night:

https://youtube.com/shorts/f6utmAwRZt0?si=ZlKR4gO0TLcR-lU_

It's absolutely fine, 80fps, then it just completed shits the bed all of a sudden without warning. It's not an especially intense part of the game, either.

 

[dgianstefani]

Ok, thank you. So is this just something I can expect with a 12GB card, then, even if I'm playing the game at 1440p (not 4K) and then DLSS set to Balanced? I haven't seen any one else on the internet mention this issue, apart from the OP of this thread. There's talk of frame drops, but not the absolute tanking and chugging that I'm referring to. It's as if the game is dying.

This is a video of it I captured last night:

https://youtube.com/shorts/f6utmAwRZt0?si=ZlKR4gO0TLcR-lU_

It's absolutely fine, 80fps, then it just completed shits the bed all of a sudden without warning. It's not an especially intense part of the game, either.

No. Because the OPs problem was a CPU bottleneck, not his GPU.

Sounds like you have an issue with your PC or your software. Try a clean install of Windows and some debloating. Maybe you're overheating, or your power supply isn't strong enough. No way for us to know over the Internet, but there's steps you can take to identify the issue.

Could have also been a running out of RAM problem if with the platform upgrade OP installed more system memory.

 

[Vayra86]

Ok, thank you. So is this just something I can expect with a 12GB card, then, even if I'm playing the game at 1440p (not 4K) and then DLSS set to Balanced? I haven't seen any one else on the internet mention this issue, apart from the OP of this thread. There's talk of frame drops, but not the absolute tanking and chugging that I'm referring to. It's as if the game is dying.

This is a video of it I captured last night:

https://youtube.com/shorts/f6utmAwRZt0?si=ZlKR4gO0TLcR-lU_

It's absolutely fine, 80fps, then it just completed shits the bed all of a sudden without warning. It's not an especially intense part of the game, either.

if you run out of framebuffer your FPS will momentarily have heavy drops, and stutters. If you run out of CPU perf similar things can happen, but generally then the game slows to a crawl as well.

12GB is running into these issues frequently if you play at high detail. RT adds another level of weight on VRAM and bandwidth. Lacking bandwidth will create similar behaviour as well. RT also adds to CPU load.

Downplaying VRAM issues has been dgianstefani's forte Ive been warning for literal years about the regression of VRAM and bandwidth relative to the power of the gpu core. Ada takes the cake with that, Ampere also suffers from many cards in its line up having too little in that department.

The 12GB 4070 is on the edge of okay wrt that. The 12GB 4070ti however is badly balanced. A card to avoid. Nvidia is pushing out more 16GB alternatives now which for any upper midrange to high end gpu is really just what you need in 2024. AW2 wont be the last game needing that, but rather one of the first.

Its also worth realizing Alan Wake 2 is a poster child for technologies more so than a game designed to run well at high graphics settings. It is designed to push people to gpu upgrades.

 

[dgianstefani]

if you run out of framebuffer your FPS will momentarily have heavy drops, and stutters. If you run out of CPU perf similar things can happen, but generally then the game slows to a crawl as well.

12GB is running into these issues frequently if you play at high detail. RT adds another level of weight on VRAM and bandwidth. Lacking bandwidth will create similar behaviour as well. RT also adds to CPU load.

Downplaying VRAM issues has been dgianstefani's forte Ive been warning for literal years about the regression of VRAM and bandwidth relative to the power of the gpu core. Ada takes the cake with that, Ampere also suffers from many cards in its line up having too little in that department.

The 12GB 4070 is on the edge of okay wrt that. The 12GB 4070ti however is badly balanced. A card to avoid.

Its also worth realizing Alan Wake 2 is a poster child for technologies more so than a game designed to run well at high graphics settings. It is designed to push people to gpu upgrades.

"frequently"

Rechecks TPU game testing (all at ultra settings) showing 12 GB cards beating 16 GB AMD cards in every metric.

Its also worth realizing Alan Wake 2 is a poster child for technologies more so than a game designed to run well at high graphics settings. It is designed to push people to gpu upgrades.

Like RT? Where a 7900 GRE is slightly faster than an 8 GB 4060 Ti?

Ok buddy. Analysing the available data and coming to a logical conclusion is "downplaying".

 

[Jamie John]

if you run out of framebuffer your FPS will momentarily have heavy drops, and stutters. If you run out of CPU perf similar things can happen, but generally then the game slows to a crawl as well.

12GB is running into these issues frequently if you play at high detail. RT adds another level of weight on VRAM and bandwidth. Lacking bandwidth will create similar behaviour as well. RT also adds to CPU load.

Ok, thanks.

If I was running the game at high settings constantly then I'd understand the connection, but I get this behaviour regardless of what settings the game is on. I tried it at 1080p on low with RT off and DLSS set to Performance and still encountered it. FPS of 150 or more and then suddenly it bottoms out, like in the video above.

I just find it difficult to understand that, if this is a widespread issue, why it hasn't been commented on by Digital Foundry and the like. It makes me think it's very specific to my PC, but it's difficult to troubleshoot.

I'm going to clear out all the video drivers as I mentioned using DDU. If that doesn't work then I'll try a Windows reinstall. If *that* doesn't work then I'm uninstalling the sodding game as life's too short and I feel like I've spent as much time faffing about with settings as I have actually playing the damn thing!

 

[Vayra86]

"frequently"

Rechecks TPU game testing (all at ultra settings) showing 12 GB cards beating 16 GB AMD cards in every metric.

Ok buddy. Analysing the available data and coming to a logical conclusion is "downplaying".

Wow youre fast! Damage control? Hilarious

 

[dgianstefani]

Wow youre fast! Damage control? Hilarious

Got any data to back up your quips?

No?

Ok, thanks.

If I was running the game at high settings constantly then I'd understand the connection, but I get this behaviour regardless of what settings the game is on. I tried it at 1080p on low with RT off and DLSS set to Performance and still encountered it. FPS of 150 or more and then suddenly it bottoms out, like in the video above.

I just find it difficult to understand that, if this is a widespread issue, why it hasn't been commented on by Digital Foundry and the like. It makes me think it's very specific to my PC, but it's difficult to troubleshoot.

I'm going to clear out all the video drivers as I mentioned using DDU. If that doesn't work then I'll try a Windows reinstall. If *that* doesn't work then I'm uninstalling the sodding game as life's too short and I feel like I've spent as much time faffing about with settings as I have actually playing the damn thing!

Fill out your system specs so we can help you.

 

[Vayra86]

Ok, thanks.

If I was running the game at high settings constantly then I'd understand the connection, but I get this behaviour regardless of what settings the game is on. I tried it at 1080p on low with RT off and DLSS set to Performance and still encountered it. FPS of 150 or more and then suddenly it bottoms out, like in the video above.

I just find it difficult to understand that, if this is a widespread issue, why it hasn't been commented on by Digital Foundry and the like. It makes me think it's very specific to my PC, but it's difficult to troubleshoot.

I'm going to clear out all the video drivers as I mentioned using DDU. If that doesn't work then I'll try a Windows reinstall. If *that* doesn't work then I'm uninstalling the sodding game as life's too short and I feel like I've spent as much time faffing about with settings as I have actually playing the damn thing!

You can test this by running other CPU heavy games. Similarly for high vram games with low cpu load. Then you can prob pinpoint the issue. But if your gaming is fine elsewhere, just delete AW2 and move on. Clean install is always a good idea.

 

[Jamie John]

Fill out your system specs so we can help you.

They're in the Reddit post I posted previously, but here you go:

GPU: RTX 4070ti - 12GB VRAM - no o/c

CPU: AM5 5800X35, no o/c

Motherboard: ASROCK B450M Pro4

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x 8GB)DDR4 3200 , no o/c

PSU: Corsair RM650x 80 PLUS Gold 650 W

Operating System & Version: Windows 11, upgrade from W10

GPU Drivers: 551.61 (latest driver as of 25/224) - clean install

 

[dgianstefani]

They're in the Reddit post I posted previously, but here you go:

GPU: RTX 4070ti - 12GB VRAM - no o/c

CPU: AM5 5800X35, no o/c

Motherboard: ASROCK B450M Pro4

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x 8GB)DDR4 3200 , no o/c

PSU: Corsair RM650x 80 PLUS Gold 650 W

Operating System & Version: Windows 11, upgrade from W10

GPU Drivers: 551.61 (latest driver as of 25/224) - clean install

16 GB of RAM is the issue. Get a 2x16 kit of 3600/3800 MT.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

Downplaying VRAM issues

Starting with Pascal, GPUs have had quite the orders of magnitude more VRAM than they could realistically use at 30+ FPS, let alone 60+. Both Turing and Ampere haven't had a reason for VRAM capacity improvements, with 3070 Ti being the exception. Ada is thoroughly overpriced but not because of relatively weaker VRAM but because of low FPS per $ improvements.

12 GB VRAM is enough at 1440p. It's also enough at 4K in most games:

What we need is not ballastic VRAM, what we need is AMD/Intel/whoever making better GPUs than NV. Which is not happening and not about to happen.

 

[Denver]

"frequently"

Rechecks TPU game testing (all at ultra settings) showing 12 GB cards beating 16 GB AMD cards in every metric.



Like RT? Where a 7900 GRE is slightly faster than an 8 GB 4060 Ti?

Ok buddy. Analysing the available data and coming to a logical conclusion is "downplaying".

How does a quick Benchmark of a few minutes represent what will happen during gameplay lasting dozens of hours, in addition to the graphical defects that occur with the lack of vram?

You guys often paint discussions framed as AMD versus Nvidia, but perhaps the more important question is why Nvidia tends to include relatively less VRAM in GPUs despite their high raw performance. Even if this doesn't currently cause issues in games, it's worth questioning. Nvidia's dominance in the gaming market could influence the quality of textures that developers target. So one point explains the other.

 

[Vayra86]

Starting with Pascal, GPUs have had quite the orders of magnitude more VRAM than they could realistically use at 30+ FPS, let alone 60+. Both Turing and Ampere haven't had a reason for VRAM capacity improvements, with 3070 Ti being the exception. Ada is thoroughly overpriced but not because of relatively weaker VRAM but because of low FPS per $ improvements.

12 GB VRAM is enough at 1440p. It's also enough at 4K in most games:
View attachment 336424
What we need is not ballastic VRAM, what we need is AMD/Intel/whoever making better GPUs than NV. Which is not happening and not about to happen.

4GB on top of 12GB isnt going 'ballistic', it is giving a GPU a longer life than a couple of years. Pascal was perfectly balanced that way. It wasnt overkill at all. When I pushed over 8GB in Total War, I was still pushing 50 FPS on a GTX 1080.

Similarly, Maxwell's doubling to 4GB-6GB was also long overdue. It was needed to keep pace with the PS4.

Not sharing your perspective on this.
Also Ive never even once mentioned AMD. This isnt a green vs red discussion to me, I want Nv to give more GPU for their astronomical pricing.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

Also Ive never even once mentioned AMD. This isnt a green vs red discussion to me

Not for me either. My point is non-NVIDIA GPUs aren't competitive enough so we're seeing an extremely cut-down 4070 for 600 bucks instead of this GPU being sold for much more reasonable 430ish dollars. At 600 USD, 12 GB is "meh," whereas at $430, this is a pretty much respectable number. So it's not about VRAM amounts limiting the GPUs, it's about the GPUs being generally overpriced. Not as much as 2 to 6 years ago but still.

perhaps the more important question is why Nvidia tends to include relatively less VRAM in GPUs

Probably because it's business as usual and they can easily get away with that. You don't need to provide hefty VRAM if your GPUs are generally superior or on par with the competition, notably less popular one.

How does a quick Benchmark of a few minutes represent what will happen during gameplay lasting dozens of hours

In no way it does, yet having 12 GB is fine (unless you hunt maximum fidelity and play at 4K or a higher resolution) and 16 GB is plenty even at 4K. I'm talking long, drawn out gameplays at this point.

 

[Vayra86]

Not for me either. My point is non-NVIDIA GPUs aren't competitive enough so we're seeing an extremely cut-down 4070 for 600 bucks instead of this GPU being sold for much more reasonable 430ish dollars. At 600 USD, 12 GB is "meh," whereas at $430, this is a pretty much respectable number. So it's not about VRAM amounts limiting the GPUs, it's about the GPUs being generally overpriced. Not as much as 2 to 6 years ago but still.

Probably because it's business as usual and they can easily get away with that. You don't need to provide hefty VRAM if your GPUs are generally superior or on par with the competition, notably less popular one.

In no way it does, yet having 12 GB is fine (unless you hunt maximum fidelity and play at 4K or a higher resolution) and 16 GB is plenty even at 4K. I'm talking long, drawn out gameplays at this point.

Then we agree on that at least

 

[Jamie John]

FAO anyone else with this issue:

I used DDU to clear out my drivers, installed the latest one and did a completely fresh install of the game. I'm not getting the completely horrendous slowdown that I mentioned above, but the game still does the thing where it runs fine for about five minutes and then the frame rate arbitrarily halves. There's lots of people on Reddit with the same problem, some of whom have significantly more powerful components than I, and no official fix yet. See here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AlanWake/s/4GFpvsXTlp

Anyway, I accidentally lost a big chunk of progress when I was experimenting with different save files (the game deleted your quick saves if you start a new save file, FYI, which is infuriating), so I've decided to just abandon the game for the time being. I'll come back to it in a couple of years, maybe on console, once I've sufficiently forgotten the story. It's a shame, as I was enjoying it.

Chalk up AW2 with Dead Space Remake, Jedi Survivor and TLOU Part One as another crappy PC port released in 2023!

Thanks to those of you who made suggestions.

 

[Kipicog]

I play Alan Wake 2 on max settings at 1440p with DLAA, no framedrops at all.

Which DLSS preset?

 

[Chomiq]

If your FPS drops after few hours of playing the game it's not the fault of your GPU VRAM's but the game not managing the VRAM properly which creates some sort of memory leak.

Someone's going to tell me that 24 gigs of VRAM on 4090 isn't enough for Alan Wake 2?

Based on that reddit thread people have been reporting this for at least 4 months and Remedy is aware of the issue.

 

[Jamie John]

If your FPS drops after few hours of playing the game it's not the fault of your GPU VRAM's but the game not managing the VRAM properly which creates some sort of memory leak.

View attachment 336559

Someone's going to tell me that 24 gigs of VRAM on 4090 isn't enough for Alan Wake 2?

Based on that reddit thread people have been reporting this for at least 4 months and Remedy is aware of the issue.

Yes, a memory leak seems to be the consensus. I'm not sure what causes that, or how to prevent it, but Remedy haven't fixed it yet. I've lost progress now due to the save issue I mentioned above and it's put me off playing any more for the time being. If I hear about a fix in the next few months then I might come back to it.

@Kipicog - it's something that only starts once you've been playing the game for about 6-7 hours. My game also ran really well, to begin with, but then this memory leak thing happens. I'm not sure how far into the game you are, but if you've played beyond 7 hours or so then you're lucky to not have been affected!

 

[Kipicog]

12 GB VRAM is not enough for this game at these settings. Try loosening those.

View attachment 319380

You should read up on RAM allocation. Seems you don't know how RAM work.

What a 4090 with 24GB use, is not relevant to a person with 12GB VRAM.

More RAM, higher allocation, always. You can't just compare it 1:1. This is basic knowledge really. TPU says this in multiple tests as well.

And those numbers are native 4K/UHD. Which is even more irelevant, since even 4090 struggle here. Not a single AMD GPU can run Alan Wake 2 maxed out at 4K/UHD with Ray Tracing anyway. Enable Path Tracing and you will see single fps digits with a 7900XTX, so in reality not many people care about native 4K VRAM usage here. The only GPU that does it somewhat fine is 4090 which has 24GB and GPU power is the limiting factor.

Funny how AMD users is interested in Ray Tracing performance numbers suddently, just because it uses more VRAM. Meanwhile not a single AMD GPU can do RT well.

Alan Wake 2 is built around upscaling, like many new games and DLSS/DLAA beats FSR easily. This is why having no DLSS is a con.

Sadly for AMD, more and more games have RT elements, like recent Avatar and more and more games relies on upscaling (which have built in AA and sharpening) instead of implementing 3rd party AA methods that are worse and tanks performance. TAA is horrible in 99 out of 100 games.

 

[Kipicog]

Yes, a memory leak seems to be the consensus. I'm not sure what causes that, or how to prevent it, but Remedy haven't fixed it yet. I've lost progress now due to the save issue I mentioned above and it's put me off playing any more for the time being. If I hear about a fix in the next few months then I might come back to it.

@Kipicog - it's something that only starts once you've been playing the game for about 6-7 hours. My game also ran really well, to begin with, but then this memory leak thing happens. I'm not sure how far into the game you are, but if you've played beyond 7 hours or so then you're lucky to not have been affected!

I completed the game, far beyond 7 hour mark, around 20-25 hours if I remember correct. Not a single stutter, game was running flawless from start to finish.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

You should have had read up on RAM allocation. Seems you didn't know how RAM work.

FTFY.

I did spend some time studying VRAM a week after that post or so.