Uncertain about "above 4G decoding"
Uncertain about "above 4G decoding"
I checked the details about the setting and found out what it means. Since you have a GTX 1080 with 8GB RAM, enabling above 4G decoding might not be necessary unless you're using a specific game or feature that benefits from it. It’s probably better to stick with the default settings unless you’re sure they’ll improve performance.
Above 4G decoding doesn’t prevent using systems with more than 4GB RAM. It’s mainly about compatibility with older 32-bit programs and hardware. You don’t need it unless you have powerful GPUs or similar components. Solid-state drives and SSDs also don’t affect this.
It seems the discussion is about needing more than four GPUs for 4G decoding. The reference mentions enabling this for six workstations using a single tower, which had six GPUs.
I checked recent sources to look for a clearer explanation. It seems they used to recommend enabling it only when you had multiple graphics cards or PCIe devices with memory. With modern GPUs offering 12GB to 24GB of onboard RAM, that makes sense now—shouldn’t it be activated for better performance? Otherwise, how do you allocate the main GPU memory within the 4GB address range when the card itself holds 6.8, 11, 12, or even 24GB?
None is listed on consumer boards. It seems your motherboards from the past decade consistently included this BIOS/UEFI feature.
It seems advanced 4G decoding is required to access "SAM" on the newest AMD NAVI GPU, offering up to 11% better game performance.