Video random-access memory

"Video RAM" and "VRAM" redirect here. For the dual-ported dynamic RAM type, see Dual-ported video RAM.

Video random-access memory (VRAM) is dedicated computer memory used to store the pixels and other graphics data as a framebuffer to be rendered on a computer monitor.^[1] It often uses a different technology than other computer memory, in order to be read quickly for display on a screen.

GDDR5X SDRAM on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card

Relation to GPUs

Independent system RAM and video RAM

Unified memory

A GPU die surrounded by VRAM chips

Many modern GPUs rely on VRAM. In contrast, a GPU that does not use VRAM, and relies instead on system RAM, is said to have a unified memory architecture, or shared graphics memory.

System RAM and VRAM have been segregated due to the bandwidth requirements of GPUs,^[2][3] and to achieve lower latency, since VRAM is physically closer to the GPU die.^[4]

Modern VRAM is typically found in a BGA package^[5] soldered onto a graphics card.^[6] The VRAM is cooled along with the GPU by the GPU heatsink.^[7]

Technologies

• Dual-ported video RAM, used in the 1990s and at the time often called "VRAM"
• SGRAM
• GDDR SDRAM
• High Bandwidth Memory (HBM)^[8]

See also

• Graphics processing unit
• Tiled rendering, a method to reduce VRAM bandwidth requirements^[9]