Bad memory sizes from GPUZ

[Jonathan Sachs]

I just installed GPUZ under Windows 7 Professional and tried to use it to get the memory size of my current graphics card, an EVGA GeForce GTX 275. It says "0 MB."

I know that many utilities that purport to tell the size of graphics memory are inaccurate because they don't find all of the adapter's memory and/or include system RAM that the card is using. But 0 MB isn't just wrong; it's "not even wrong"!

Is this a known problem or limitation? Is there a workaround?

 

[MrGenius]

GeForce graphics drivers installed?
http://www.geforce.com/drivers

 

[Caring1]

Check in the BIOS if the GTX 275 is recognized as installed, as mentioned you may need to install drivers.

 

[newtekie1]

A screenshot would be helpful.

 

[Jonathan Sachs]

Driver installed: yes.

I've moved on to some other activities (with different hardware), and it will be a few days before I can put this card back in the machine. I'll post one then.

 

[Vayra86]

Driver installed: yes.

I've moved on to some other activities (with different hardware), and it will be a few days before I can put this card back in the machine. I'll post one then.

Isnt there a sticker on the back of the card with the model/unit code? It should tell you the memory size like '1G' or some sort

 

[Jonathan Sachs]

This took longer than I expected because the problem was more complex than I thought. I was getting strange results partly because my Windows system was unstable. I ended up having to do a fresh install before I could proceed.

I'm now working with a different adapter (a GeForce 8800 Ultra), but I have the same problem with it, so I think we can proceed from where we were.

When I had a stable system again I found that nvidia-smi (NVIDIA's command line utility roughly equivalent to CPU-Z) reported that it could not get information from the card. This appears to be a driver problem, although the driver seems to be working perfectly in other respects. The Linux version of nvidia-smi has no such trouble. I suspect that whatever is upsetting the Windows version of nvidia-smi is also causing CPU-Z to report 0 MB of RAM. If anyone can confirm this and/or suggest a fix, I'll be grateful.

I've uploaded a GPU-Z screen shot (see next message), and I have a couple of text captures from nvidia-smi, which I'll copy below.

nvidia-smi from Windows:

C:...>"C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVSMI\nvidia-smi"
NVIDIA-SMI has failed because you are not:
a) running as an administrator or
b) there is not at least one TCC device in the system

(Yes, I am running as administrator. This is an experimental system, and the only account I've defined on it is an administrator account.)

nvidia-smi from Linux:

Tue Apr 11 01:43:28 2017
+------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 340.102 Driver Version: 340.102 |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
| 0 GeForce 8800 Ultra Off | 0000:01:00.0 N/A | N/A |
| 60% 56C P0 N/A / N/A | 197MiB / 767MiB | N/A Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Compute processes: GPU Memory |
| GPU PID Process name Usage |
|=============================================================================|
| 0 Not Supported |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

[Jonathan Sachs]

Follow-up: after I uploaded the preceding message I discovered that the editor garbled the image's URL, and when I tried to fix it the editor refused to let me because it thought the corrected URL is "spam-like or contains inappropriate elements." I'll delete the link from the message and give the URL here as plain text:

 

[Mussels]

Do the nvidia drivers themselves detect the memory correctly?

Help->System information

 

[jaggerwild]

Wait, you bought a video card not knowing the memory size? Now you want to use a 2017 utility to tell you what your 2007 GPU has? You'll need an older version of GPU-Z to make it work.

 

[Jonathan Sachs]

jaggerwild, your question isn't really on the line between problem and solution, but I'll add some background. I didn't "buy a card" at all. I need to test a large number of cards over a long period of time, and I'm trying to put together an effective toolkit for doing so. High on my list of objectives is not having to boot both Windows and Linux to test each card. I hope it makes more sense now.

It doesn't seem sensible to me that the current version of GPU-Z should be unable to handle a graphics adapter from 2007. Computers are supposed to be better than people at remembering things; my wife is always telling me how bad my memory is, and even I remember 2007!

Seriously, if GPU-Z is limited in that way, it's not a candidate for my toolkit. If I have to research how old a card is to decide what version of GPU-Z to use (after using a tool to identify the card so I can research how old it is), it's not a suitable tool. But I'm skeptical that that is the case.

 

[Mr.Scott]

If I have to research how old a card is to decide what version of GPU-Z to use (after using a tool to identify the card so I can research how old it is), it's not a suitable tool. But I'm skeptical that that is the case.

Unfortunately, that is what you have to do.
We have to do it for both GPUz and CPUz when we bench older hardware.

 

[dorsetknob]

It doesn't seem sensible to me that the current version of GPU-Z should be unable to handle a graphics adapter from 2007. Computers are supposed to be better than people at remembering things; my wife is always telling me how bad my memory is, and even I remember 2007!

The Program has small built in Database (@W1zzard can confirm this)
and in order to keep program as small as Practicably possible each update will drop some Data ( from Earlier Cards )

I'm trying to put together an effective toolkit

Your software Toolbox should contain different Versions to allow for this
Not every System you work on will be the new'est or latest hardware
so for Older hardware you need period Suitable Software

 

[GoldenX]

Try with AIDA64, GPU Shark, GPU Caps Viewer, any other similar software.

 

[W1zzard]

The Program has small built in Database (@W1zzard can confirm this)
and in order to keep program as small as Practicably possible each update will drop some Data ( from Earlier Cards )

Not dropping anything, never have, never will. The database is for properties which can not be read from hardware like release date, transistor size. Which are all showing fine btw.

Always use the latest version of GPU-Z.

No idea why people here are spreading completely wrong information

 

[Mr.Scott]

Always use the latest version of GPU-Z.

No idea why people here are spreading completely wrong information

I'm sorry, but it's fact that GPUz does not work on some of the older hardware. It hasn't for a while, and gets progressively worse with each new version. Right now, on the newest version, It crashes on launch on old hardware, and when it does read, it is not always correct.
So much so that HWBot is looking for an alternative software to use, which is a shame because GPUz has been a staple there for a long long time.

 

[jaggerwild]

Not dropping anything, never have, never will. The database is for properties which can not be read from hardware like release date, transistor size. Which are all showing fine btw.

Always use the latest version of GPU-Z.

No idea why people here are spreading completely wrong information

Sorry, I assumed that is what happened. Wasn't trying to spread any rumor!!

 

[W1zzard]

I'm sorry, but it's fact that GPUz does not work on some of the older hardware. It hasn't for a while, and gets progressively worse with each new version. Right now, on the newest version, It crashes on launch on old hardware, and when it does read, it is not always correct.
So much so that HWBot is looking for an alternative software to use, which is a shame because GPUz has been a staple there for a long long time.

Report the issues and I'll get them fixed.

Is an older version reading your card correctly?

Which hardware does it crash on?

 

[Mr.Scott]

Report the issues and I'll get them fixed.

Is an older version reading your card correctly?

Which hardware does it crash on?

I'll message you. There is quite a bit of information.
Thank you for responding.

 

[W1zzard]

Works for me.

Installed Windows 7, installed NVIDIA drivers (make sure to select the right card from the dropdown on the website), ran GPU-Z

 

[Mr.Scott]

Older than that. We're talking cards from 2000 to GF7, and XP support. Anyhow, I passed this on to the HWB reps. They will be in contact with more info than I can give.
Once again, Thanks for at least giving me audience. I hope it can be worked out.