The Last of Us may fail to run because of the error “you don’t have enough system and video memory to start the game” on a PC. Do you have an idea how to fix the insufficient memory in The Last of Us Part I? Don’t fret and try some solutions here to resolve it.

The Last of Us Part I Insufficient Memory

The Last of Us is an action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2013. Its remake, The Last of US Part I came to Windows Users in March 2023. Like other games, it may have some issues and one serious is that insufficient memory blocks you from opening it on a PC.

Also read: The Last of Us PC – Release Date, Platforms, and Requirements

In detail, the error “Insufficient Memory you don’t have enough system and video memory to start the game” appears on the computer screen when launching it.

This game requires you to have at least 16GB of RAM and 4GB of VRAM (video card RAM). Make sure your PC meets these requirements. If not, you get such an error. Sometimes the device meets its requirements but the issue still happens, so how can you resolve it? Find solutions below now.

#1. Increase Virtual Memory

Virtual memory refers to a memory management technique in the Windows operating system, temporarily transferring data from RAM to disk storage to compensate for physical memory shortages. It allows you to operate applications that are larger than the main memory.

To get rid of The Last of Us Part I insufficient memory error, try to increase virtual memory by taking these steps.

Step 1: In Windows Search, type in advanced settings and hit View advanced system settings.

Step 2: Under the Advanced tab, click Settings from Performance.

Step 3: Navigate to Advanced > Change.

Step 4: In the Virtual Memory window, untick Automatically manage paging file size for all drives. Then, check Custom size and input the values for Initial size and Maximum size according to the physical RAM.

Tips:
It is recommended the initial size should be 1.5 times the amount of the total memory while the maximum size should be 3 times the size of the total memory. For example, if you have 16GB of RAM, the initial size would be 16 x 1.5 x 1024 = 24576MB.
increase virtual memory in Windows 10

Step 5: Save the changes and then launch your game to see if the error “you don’t have enough system and video memory” disappears.

#2. Free up RAM with MiniTool System Booster

As the error says, you don’t have enough system and video memory to start the game, thus one solution you should consider is releasing some memory space on your PC. To do this, try to disable background apps that use many system resources, clean out some caches, uninstall unnecessary applications, etc. Here we highly recommend MiniTool System Booster, PC tune-up software, to implement these tasks in a breeze.

In freeing up RAM, MiniTool System Booster does wonders. Want to give it a try on your PC? Install it by downloading it via the button below.

MiniTool System Booster TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1: Launch MiniTool System Booster on your PC to enter the Performance interface.

Step 2: Choose Deepclean and hit START CLEAN to perform 7 cleanup tasks. To free up RAM, don’t skip Memory Mechanic.

Tips:
To know details about 7 cleanup tasks, refer to this guide - How to Clean up PC to Free up Space? Run MiniTool System Booster.
clean up PC with MiniTool System Booster

Step 3: Hit RUN MEMORY MECHANIC to clear up some RAM space by closing old memory-intensive tasks.

MiniTool System Booster Memory Mechanic

Step 4: Go to disable intensive tasks that may run in the background, taking up much memory and resulting in the error “you don’t have enough system and video memory to start the game” in The Last of Us Part I. For this, head towards Toobox > Process Scanner, then hit Scan now and click Terminate Process to end the intensive tasks one by one.

MiniTool System Booster Process Scanner to disable intensive tasks
Tips:
To uninstall many used applications, click Advanced Uninstaller. To end startup items, hit Startup Optimizer.

Step 5: Besides, enable RAMJet under LiveBoost to clear out old caches when more RAM is needed to make RAM available.

enable RAMJet in MiniTool System Booster to clean RAM caches
Tips:
Apart from using MiniTool System Booster, there are many ways to free up RAM. Just refer to this guide - How to Free up RAM on Windows 10/11? Try Several Ways.

#3. Run The Last of Us Part I on a Dedicated Graphic Card

This way only applies to the PC with dedicated and integrated graphics cards. The Last of Us Part I insufficient memory error is likely to occur when you run the game on an integrated GPU rather than the main dedicated GPU.

So re-configure the graphics preference settings:

Step 1: Press Win + I to open Settings and go to System > Display.

Step 2: Click Graphics settings > Browse, go to the installation directory of this game, and choose the launcher.exe file.

Step 3: Once added, choose that file and hit Options, tick High performance, then save the change.

tick High performance for graphics preference

#4. Update Graphics Card Driver

“You don’t have enough system and video memory” sometimes happens due to an issue with your graphics card driver. Reinstalling or updating it will help a lot.

To uninstall and reinstall the driver, right-click on the Start button and choose Device Manager. Then, expand Display adapters, right-click on the graphics card driver, and choose Uninstall device. Visit the official website of AMD or NVIDIA, download the latest GPU driver, and then use the installer to finish the installation.

To update the GPU driver, right-click on your video card in Device Manager and select Update driver. Then, follow the on-screen wizards to complete the update.

Final Words

That’s all the information on how to fix insufficient memory in The Last of Us Part I on a PC. Give them a try if you don’t have enough system and video memory to start the game. Hope you can enjoy your game smoothly.

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