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Video random access memory (VRAM) is dedicated computer memory used to store the
Video random access memory (VRAM) is dedicated computer memory used to store the pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...
s and other graphics data as a framebuffer
A framebuffer (frame buffer, or sometimes framestore) is a portion of random-access memory (RAM) containing a bitmap that drives a video display. It is a memory buffer containing data representing all the pixels in a complete video frame. Modern ...
to be rendered on a computer monitor. This is often different technology than other computer memory, to facilitate being read rapidly to draw the image. In some systems this memory cannot be read/written using the same methods as normal memory; it is not memory mapped
In computer science, a memory map is a structure of data (which usually resides in memory itself) that indicates how memory is laid out. The term "memory map" can have different meanings in different contexts.
*It is the fastest and most flexible ...
.
Description
While a computer has systemRAM
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
, most contemporary graphics cards have access to a dedicated set of memory known as VRAM. In contrast, a GPU which shares system memory has a Unified Memory Architecture
Unified may refer to:
* The Unified, a wine symposium held in Sacramento, California, USA
* ''Unified'', the official student newspaper of Canterbury Christ Church University
* UNFD, an Australian record label
* ''Unified'' (Sweet & Lynch album) ...
, or shared graphics memory
In computer architecture, shared graphics memory refers to a design where the graphics chip does not have its own dedicated memory, and instead shares the main system RAM with the CPU and other components.
This design is used with many integrate ...
.
System RAM and VRAM has been segregated due to the bandwidth requirements of GPUs, and to achieve lower latency since VRAM is physically closer to the GPU die.
Modern VRAM is found in a BGA package soldered onto the graphics card. Like the GPU itself, the VRAM is cooled by the GPU heatsink.
Technologies
*Video RAM (dual-ported DRAM)
Dual-ported video RAM, or VRAM, is a dual-ported variant of dynamic RAM (DRAM), which was once commonly used to store the framebuffer in graphics adapters. Note that most computers and game consoles do not use this form of memory, and dual-port ...
, a specific technology used in the 1980s
* GDDR SDRAM
Graphics DDR SDRAM (GDDR SDRAM) is a type of synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) specifically designed for applications requiring high bandwidth, e.g. graphics processing units (GPUs). GDDR SDRAM is distinct from the more widely kno ...
* High Bandwidth Memory
High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) is a high-speed computer memory interface for 3D-stacked synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) initially from Samsung, AMD and SK Hynix. It is used in conjunction with high-performance graphics accelerators ...
(HBM)
See also
*Graphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobi ...
* Tiled rendering Tiled rendering is the process of subdividing a computer graphics image by a regular grid in optical space and rendering each section of the grid, or ''tile'', separately. The advantage to this design is that the amount of memory and bandwidth is re ...
, a method to reduce VRAM bandwidth requirements
References
{{reflist Types of RAM