Definition: VRAM (pronounced “vee ram”) stands for video random access memory or video RAM. It is a particular type of memory used on some video adapters to speed up the display of images on the screen. VRAM costs more than regular RAM (DRAM, dynamic RAM), but it does make the screen snappier. VRAM is the random access memory which is used to store the image and video data which is being displayed by the computer, or you can say that it will serve as a buffer between the CPU (Central Processing Unit) and video card.
When the screen displays the image, firstly the processor reads the image and then the image data written on to the VRAM. After this, the RAMDAC, i.e., RAM Digital-to-Analog converter will convert the data into analog signals, and it will send that data to display.
VRAM is more expensive as compared to the typical RAM. Sometimes, VRAM also referred to as a frame buffer. Also, VRAM chips are dual-ported and can be accessed by different-2 devices at the same time.
Whichever type of RAM your video adapter uses, the amount of memory determines how many colors you can see on the screen: the more video RAM you have the more colors your monitor can display and the higher the resolution will be.
We’ll be covering the following topics in this tutorial:
Types of VRAM
Different types of VRAM are available, and explained as follow:
SGRAM
SGRAM stands for Synchronous Graphics RAM. This RAM works according to the synchronization of the clock,and it is also inexpensive. It handles the image data more efficiently.
RDRAM
RDRAM stands for Rambus Dynamic RAM. Its name is because of its developer Rambus. It also contains a Rambus bus due to which the speed of data transfer gets increased.
WRAM
WRAM stands for Window RAM. It has more bandwidth, less cost, and high-performance as compared to the standard VRAM.
MDRAM
MDRAM stands for Multi bank Dynamic RAM. The developer of MDRAM is MoSys. Its performance is also high and less expensive as compared to the standard VRAM. In MDRAM, the memory divided into several parts consisting of 32KB each and each of these components can access individually.
Uses of VRAM
• VRAM used for gaming applications
• It also used for workstations.
• VRAM used for the easy loading of complex textures and 3D structures.
• It usually displays the images of higher resolution, but sometimes you can require higher VRAM for higher resolutions for easy loading of an image.
• It also used for graphics processing applications.
Difference between RAM and VRAM
| RAM | VRAM |
| RAM is the volatile memory | VRAM is virtual memory. |
| It is your system’s memory. | It is your GPUs (Graphic Processing Unit) memory. |
| It is less straightforward as compared to VRAM. | It is simpler. |
| It is larger than VRAM. | The memory of VRAM is less. |
Dinesh Thakur holds an B.C.A, MCDBA, MCSD certifications. Dinesh authors the hugely popular