videomälu

Videomälu refers to the memory used by a graphics processing unit (GPU) to hold image data during rendering. It is typically separate from the computer’s main system memory and is optimized for high bandwidth and low latency to support real-time graphics tasks, such as rasterization, shading and texture sampling. The size and speed of videomälu influence texture detail, resolution and frame rates.

Most systems use dedicated video memory (VRAM) on discrete graphics cards. Integrated graphics often share system RAM, forming a unified memory model. Modern VRAM types include GDDR6, GDDR6X and the higher-bandwidth HBM/HBM2. Capacity can range from a few gigabytes on lower-end GPUs to 20 gigabytes or more on high-end cards. Effective performance depends on memory bandwidth, which is affected by memory type, bus width and clock rate.

Videomälu stores several kinds of data: frame buffers that hold the image to be displayed, depth and stencil buffers, texture data used during shading, vertex and index buffers, and various shader resources and constants. It may also cache textures and compressed representations to speed up rendering.

In practice, more videomälu enables rendering at higher resolutions and with more complex textures or larger scenes without relying on slower main memory. If VRAM is exhausted, texture detail may be reduced, resolution lowered, or data streamed from system memory, which can degrade performance. Memory bandwidth and latency also influence frame rates, especially in bandwidth-heavy or compute-intensive workloads.

Overall, videomälu is a central component of a GPU’s performance, with its capacity and bandwidth shaping what a graphics system can render smoothly.