Elden Ring is a highly praised open-world role-playing game that’s really being lauded for its intensity, diversity, and well…the fact that it’s just an awesome game.
On public forums like Reddit, there seem to be only two main topics: how great the gameplay is and how the game can quickly consume a computer’s resources.
One quick look at the PC or laptop requirements to run Elden Ring and you’ll immediately realize that the game might not be played in your common run-off-the-mill PCs. In fact, some people have tested trying Elden Ring on an 8 GB RAM and realized that it was not a good experience by any means.
What if you are actually using the right amount of RAM but, for some reason, the game still gobbles it up?
In this article, we have some tips on how to allocate more RAM to Elden Ring. It obviously doesn’t actually increase the physical capacity of your RAM but these tips may help you have a better experience when playing Elden Ring.
Retrofit your game settings
We all know that, apart from a game’s requirement, one of the things that can really affect performance is how you set up the game.
The rule of thumb is fairly simple: always make sure your settings are parallel to the gear that you have. Obviously, cranking maximum quality should also mean having a maximum processor, GPU, and RAM.
But what if you don’t have the best gears money can buy?
There can actually be an interesting mix of in-game settings that would still let you play a decently nice game. For example, depth of field is something that you can do without. Dropping texture quality even for just one notch improves performance by a few percent. You also ought to retain high shadow quality because of certain terrain effects.
Close all browsers and applications
Internet browsers use up a lot of RAM. Like, A LOT.
In fact, a single tab of Google Chrome can already be 20 MB! That’s like a 2-minute song or three high-resolution raw photos.
Before you play the game, make sure your browsers and apps are closed; even the idle ones. The best way to do this is by ending the task through your taskbar.
If you can’t be bothered to do that, at least use a different application that is more RAM-friendly. Based on comparisons, Chrome is the worst out of all the browsers in the market. Surprisingly, Microsoft Edge comes out on top with Opera trailing by. Gone are the days when Internet Explorer was a meme.
Run EldenRing.Exe on High Performance Mode
Even with a top-notch gaming PC, some players have reported serious performance issues while running Elden Ring. The game patches aren’t helping either.
Thankfully, there was an observation from these same players that could possibly help better RAM allocation and overall game performance.
Forcing Elden Ring’s executable file to run on high-performance mode might just do the trick.
To do this, you have to exit the game first. Then, search for the Windows Graphics Settings. In the drop-down menu, opt for “Desktop App”. Browse EldenRing.Exe and set it to high performance.
Disable apps that contribute to stuttering
There aren’t specific apps that negatively affect the RAM for literally every game.
Oftentimes, finding bad apps can be an arduous task of looking, experimenting, and having hits or misses.
Based on our observation, audio apps are the most prone to affecting the game negatively.
For Elden Ring, it seems to be the “Microsoft Device Association Root Enumerator” which causes stuttering in the game.
To disable this, open the Device Manager by either searching for it on the Windows bar or pressing the Windows Button + x. Go to “Software Devices”, right-click on the Microsoft Device Association Root Enumerator, and click “Disable Device”.
Disable Steam overlay
Steam’s overlay can be useful but it’s also incredibly RAM-consuming.
Unless you have some very specific uses for it, we suggest totally disabling Steam overlay altogether. Just use a mobile device for web searching.
To disable Steam overlay, click on the “Steam” option in the upper left-hand side of the Steam window. On the drop-down menu, click on “Settings”. A pop-up menu should appear. On the side menu, click “In-game” and then uncheck the “Enable the Steam overlay while in-game”.
Switch to borderless window mode
Each player has their own preference when it comes to game visuals. One of the most important things that gamers consider is whether to use full screen or not.
In the case of Elden Ring, the game is automatically set in full screen. Some players have found that putting the game in borderless window mode helps.
We’re going to be honest, this solution doesn’t actually make a lot of sense. Usually, performance decreases in borderless window mode because it will take up more VRAM. However, Elden Ring gamers have literally noted a significant improvement in the game’s performance when they did this.
We do have a theory though. Elden Ring was also noted to have high CPU usage but surprisingly low GPU usage. Since borderless windows expend a lot of VRAM, it might be sort of forcing your GPU to work more.
