This could be a real problem for Linux users
Updated: Feb 23, 2024 2:13 pm
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Steam is widely celebrated as one of the best PC gaming platforms and its popularity is unmatched, but it apparently doesn’t come without problems. One user on Reddit has reported an issue causing massive VRAM leaks (memory leaks) when resizing a Steam window. This has been demonstrated to occur on the current release version of Steam on Linux.
A memory leak can occur for a number of reasons and it will massively affect the performance of your PC as your GPU has its available memory eaten up by a single program. For something that is relatively lightweight like Steam, this kind of memory usage is not necessary, so we hope for a fix in the near future.
Potential for VRAM leak when resizing Steam window on Linux
Like we mentioned, this problem seems to be exclusive to Linux operating systems on the current stable release version. If you’re a Windows or Mac user, this doesn’t seem to be the case – so no worries there. User u/NoiseSolitaire reported this issue on Reddit and presented their evidence in video form. We can see a massive spike in GPU memory (VRAM) usage when resizing a Steam window, which then abruptly cuts off as soon as Steam is shut down.
One user commented that they were unable to reproduce the problem using a AMD RDNA2 GPU (the same kind used on the Linux-based Steam Deck), so this may be associated with Nvidia graphics card owners or other particular hardware.
A demonstration of high GPU memory usage when resizing Steam window (source: u/NoiseSolitaire)
Am I affected by this VRAM leak?
While this doesn’t seem to be affecting a wide amount of users from what we know so far, it could be something that many people simply haven’t noticed, especially if you generally leave Steam in fullscreen. If you notice your PC gradually slowing down when resizing your Steam windows, this memory leak bug could be the cause.
To check VRAM usage on Linux, the best way is to use a command such as htop to monitor resources such as VRAM. If you’re using Ubuntu, then the System Monitor should come pre-installed. On Windows, you can check VRAM by opening the task manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and navigate to the GPU tab on the left where memory usage is displayed. For Mac, you can view GPU activity in the Activity Monitor app or download software such as iStat Menus to monitor this.
