Windows 10 strikes again. It uses quite a bit of GPU VRAM for its own internal needs. Here is the list of possible solutions in order of increasing dificullty:
* You have to add the following command-line options in order to minimize VRAM usage: -rvram -1 -eres 0
* Usually Windows 10 grabs memory only from the GPU that is connected to a display, so connect your display (or the display plug) to the iGPU of the motherboard (if you are using Intel motherboard). On multi-GPU rigs, you can also put an old (unusable for mining) GPU and connect the display to it.
* The heavy-duty solution is to switch to Linux but it has its own problems. This will buy you about 5-9 additional months of operation until the DAG grows too big to fit in 4 GB VRAM.
Note for Linux users: the latest AMD Linux driver (19.30-855429) is not supported by PhoenixMiner 4.5c. For now, stick with 19.30-838629. We will release 4.6 shortly (in a week or two), and it will contain some goodies for Linux, including advanced hardware stats, and hardware control for AMD cards.
-rvram -1 -eres 0 ==> only last about a week not 5-9 additional months and is no longer working.
Please HELP! Yes, these options won't buy you much time. We never said that - if you read the original message, the best solution is to use Linux, which doesn't hog GPU memory like Windows 10 does. However, we recognize that this may be quite impractical, especially if the machine is not a dedicated mining rig. So, your best bet is to either use the integrated GPU (if you are using an Intel CPU) as primary GPU (i.e. connected to a display), or "sacrifice" one of the GPUs and use it as primary GPU, and run the miner on the rest, which shouldn't be affected by the problem.
comes to the rescue each time Phoenix miner having problems with 4GB cards.
The rest...still mining with Phoenix (8GB cards).