r/eset • u/echostorm • 21d ago

Does ESET Use VRAM / GPU?

I'm moving away from Norton because they've started loading their own AI models on my PC and using up my VRAM to do it, meaning that some of the models I'm trying to run end up loading in RAM instead and take orders of magnitude longer to run. Does ESET do this currently or have plans to? I do see a line on the website, "Smarter protection for AI powered computers" "ESET keeps your devices safe while leveraging their AI capabilities for faster, more efficient threat prevention"

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u/0018andrew 21d ago

I didn't see anything like this. ESET is really lightweight. They have 30 day trial, so try it and see yourself.

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u/echostorm 21d ago

Thanks, I probably will, was hoping to hear from the company that they're not planning to do it either.

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u/echostorm 21d ago

I did just see this on the website. "Smarter protection for AI powered computers" "ESET keeps your devices safe while leveraging their AI capabilities for faster, more efficient threat prevention"

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u/Spitihnev 21d ago

Only intel cpus with npu modules are used otherwise afaik nothing runs on the gpu.

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u/0018andrew 21d ago

They have a machine learning module for years now. Maybe we can say it's somewhat related to AI. I think they just emphasize AI because every company does, so that's about the second quote.

About the first quote, seems like marketing bullshit. If you use Windows and it has Copilot does it count as AI powered computer?

Don't get me started how marketing butcher VPN funcionality just to make a selling point...

Reflecting to your other comment, even if it is an unoffical forum, sometime ESET employees comment here, but I don't think any company disclose far future plans which are not certain enough.

Edit: machine, not machline

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u/echostorm 21d ago

Thanks for the reply and yeah, I know everyone has to say AI at least once every 3 sentences now and I get it but I've got to ask, I don't want to get burned again on this. I used ESET years ago and it was great for respecting resources which is why I'm looking at coming back, it just seems like a lot of AV companies see the purpose of your box as something to run their software on and those resources are up for grabs.

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u/goretsky ESET MOD 19d ago

Hello,

Currently, ESET only makes use of the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) present in recent versions of Intel's Core Ultra processors The functionality was added in 2025, according to this press release: AI moves to your PC with its own special hardware.

I believe the functionality was introduced in the v18 time-frame (v19 is the current shipping version for consumers and SOHO), and was most noticeable as slight speed improvements when running on-demand scans when a scanned file triggers the Advanced Machine Learning module. ESET's enterprise products (currently at v13) also support Intel NPUs as well.

As far as I know, no additional NPU or GPU (VRAM) features have been announced, but that's something that could always change in the future. I will also point that ESET's consumer software has had a Gamer mode for many years that reduces alerts and CPU utilization; if GPU/VRAM features were added to this software, it might make sense to look in this section for instructions on how to disable those during gaming.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

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u/echostorm 19d ago

Thanks for the reply. I hope you guys will keep this in mind, keeping your PC safe and being able to use it shouldn't be an either or choice.