Increasing VRAM for iGPU on Acer Nitro V14 ANV14-61-R97L

Model: ANV14-61-R97L
Date: 2024/08/25

I own an Acer Nitro V14 with 64GB DDR5-5600MT/s RAM (originally 32GB). While my laptop includes an RTX 4050, its limited 6GB VRAM often causes performance issues in OpenGL-based games, where more than 8GB of VRAM is required. In these cases, the integrated Radeon 780M GPU would handle the workload better through shared system memory, but it is restricted to only 2GB of dedicated VRAM.

I have attempted to increase the VRAM allocation to 8GB using the extended BIOS (v.1.05, 2025/03/25) options (FN + Tab), but the setting resets upon restart. Is there a way to force the 8GB allocation permanently? Or is there a BIOS/system limitation preventing this adjustment?

Thank you in advance for your support.

[Edited the thread to add model number to the title]

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Sharanji

@PhiliWeb85

Even if BIOS shows a cap of 1–2GB, Windows can dynamically allocate more VRAM from system memory when required up to 8GB or more. You cannot force 8GB fixed VRAM unless the BIOS explicitly allows it and very few do. Increasing VRAM doesn’t always improve performance. The iGPU is still limited by shared memory bandwidth and CPU power.

This behavior is likely due to a BIOS or firmware-level limitation, where the system enforces a cap on manually pre-allocating more than 2GB to the iGPU. It has set a hard-coded limit in the firmware for iGPU allocation especially in hybrid GPU setups. You need to revert any override beyond a validated maximum to avoid system instability or power management issues.

if your changes revert after reboot, The setting is only temporarily modified at runtime, not saved to NVRAM. Or the BIOS/firmware sanity-checks on boot and forcibly resets out-of-bounds values.

One workaround is you have to rely on Windows’ Dynamic Shared Memory Allocation. While you can’t force a static 8GB allocation, Windows can dynamically allocate up to ~16GB to the iGPU as needed — depending on system RAM and usage. This dynamic allocation is invisible to some tools dxdiag still shows only the fixed portion, but OpenGL or DirectX applications can utilize it.

You can optimize this by disabling the dGPU in Device Manager only when running OpenGL workloads that benefit from the iGPU (this lets the system focus all GPU-related system memory access through the Radeon 780M.

PhiliWeb85

The issue is that older OpenGL games do not recognize shared memory, regardless of Windows' dynamic allocation. They only detect the dedicated VRAM of 2GB, causing them to either fail to load or use very low-resolution textures, which negatively impacts performance due to excessive data clearing and writing.

I also have several handheld PCs where it’s easy to allocate 8GB or more to the iGPU via the BIOS. Additionally, I use mini gaming PCs with 64GB RAM, allowing me to assign up to 16GB of dedicated VRAM to the iGPU through the BIOS. Even then, 48GB remains for the system, with half of that available as shared memory for the iGPU.

In this setup, Windows can dynamically allocate up to 24GB to the iGPU when needed, with around 20GB actively used in some heavy OpenGL games (16GB dedicated + 4GB shared).

So, yes, I need a solution to my VRAM problem. Maybe it’s a bug, or perhaps I’m missing a BIOS setting, as the options are extensive.

AnhEZ28

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1335912#Comment_1335912

Which game are you referring to?

The Radeon 780M does not perform as well as the RTX 4050, so even if you allocate more VRAM for it, the performance is almost the same.

PhiliWeb85

@AnhEZ28

I know that the RTX 4050 can handle workloads faster, but its instability due to having only 6GB of VRAM causes fluctuating frame rates—120 FPS, then 8 FPS, then 60 FPS, then 4 FPS—which disrupts the flow, especially in non-DX games.

In contrast, the Radeon 780 provides a consistent frame rate of 20 to 60 FPS in older OpenGL titles, without sudden drops. However, as I mentioned, some programs and games fail to recognize the availability of shared memory, which becomes a limitation.

I suspect I might be seeking advice in the wrong place for BIOS settings or figuring out what I'm doing wrong. The BIOS interfaces I've previously worked with were always simple and straightforward, but the advanced BIOS from Acer feels massive and overwhelming. I worry I might be overlooking a critical setting to enable 8GB of VRAM. There's a menu where I can select values from 128MB to 16GB, but even when I choose 8GB and save the setting, it doesn't persist—Windows 11 still displays only 2GB of VRAM.

And when I go back to BIOS, it is back on AUTO.

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