3 ms·

If you consider that when you're on the desktop and not running a game, all those gigabytes of VRAM are basically going unused. So it should apply to any system

If you consider that when you're on the desktop and not running a game, all those gigabytes of VRAM are basically going unused. So it should apply to any system with discrete GPU memory, which is surely quite a few systems? I guess those systems correlate with high-end systems with lots of system RAM anyway though...

creshal 10y ago
> So it should apply to any system with discrete GPU memory, which is surely quite a few systems? No smartphones, no tablets, only a small minority of notebooks (not a single macbook, e.g.), none of the business desktop PCs (which are by far the majority, volume-wise), no servers nor workstations (except those that have them installed for GPGPU purposes). The exception are gaming laptops/PCs (and those will need the VRAM for actual gaming) and servers/workstations with dedicated GPGPU cards (which, again, would need the VRAM for GPGPU purposes). That only leaves a few cases where you have beefy hardware and don't use it, which isn't significant enough for OS vendors to bother with. Thirdparty VRAM-as-RAM (or RAM disk) kernel modules / FUSE layers pop up from time to time (this isn't nearly the first), but they never gain any traction. > I guess those systems correlate with high-end systems with lots of system RAM anyway though... Usually VRAM is less than a quarter of the system RAM, or even less. And usually those systems have so much system RAM that they have enough spare to make RAM disks an a valid option.
nickpsecurity 10y ago
Building on creshal's comment, ensuring direct access to it outside of gaming applications could be offered as an extra feature or selling point of those applications. First, it was just a graphics coprocessor. Second, they turned it into a more general coprocessor. Next, it's also extra RAM or cache for whatever we need enabled with flip of a switch or targeted by included library worst case.

creshal 10y ago

> So it should apply to any system with discrete GPU memory, which is surely quite a few systems? No smartphones, no tablets, only a small minority of notebooks (not a single macbook, e.g.), none of the business desktop PCs (which are by far the majority, volume-wise), no servers nor workstations (except those that have them installed for GPGPU purposes). The exception are gaming laptops/PCs (and those will need the VRAM for actual gaming) and servers/workstations with dedicated GPGPU cards (which, again, would need the VRAM for GPGPU purposes). That only leaves a few cases where you have beefy hardware and don't use it, which isn't significant enough for OS vendors to bother with. Thirdparty VRAM-as-RAM (or RAM disk) kernel modules / FUSE layers pop up from time to time (this isn't nearly the first), but they never gain any traction. > I guess those systems correlate with high-end systems with lots of system RAM anyway though... Usually VRAM is less than a quarter of the system RAM, or even less. And usually those systems have so much system RAM that they have enough spare to make RAM disks an a valid option.

nickpsecurity 10y ago

Building on creshal's comment, ensuring direct access to it outside of gaming applications could be offered as an extra feature or selling point of those applications. First, it was just a graphics coprocessor. Second, they turned it into a more general coprocessor. Next, it's also extra RAM or cache for whatever we need enabled with flip of a switch or targeted by included library worst case.