Is it possible to share graphics ram with system ram?

[Jaakow22]

As the title says is that possible? Because I need another GB of RAM. I have 4 GB (3,5 usable), and 1 GB is used by system and background programs. I have a 2 GB graphics card, when I play modded minecraft I need to allocate 3 GB because otherwise the game does crash soon after launched. So I was wondering if it could be possible to share graphics ram with system ram so I would have 4,5 GB available system RAM because I don't need 2 GB of graphics when playing a very low graphics game.
Please don't confuse this sharing system ram with graphics card.

I may have been unclear so feel free to ask.
Thanks !
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[stormy13]

I could go into a long and drawn out explanation and provide links, but the short and simple answer is that no it is not possible.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Why not use the Crucial utility tool to actually upgrade your ram :/
Crucial.com - The Crucial difference - premium memory

 

[RoasterMen]

It's automatic. When your system needs more video memory, it will ask for a needed RAM to be converted to video ram

 

[Jaakow22]

It's automatic. When your system needs more video memory, it will ask for a needed RAM to be converted to video ram

I don't need more video memory, I need MORE RAM so I asked if video memory could be used as RAM when playing games that don't require much video memory but require more RAM memory.

 

[Sugarcake18]

No there isn't besides just upgrading your memory

 

[TheOneZeata]

I could go into a long and drawn out explanation and provide links, but the short and simple answer is that no it is not possible.

Ya i agree i highly doubt it on a windows OS build, perhaps some custom os? and hax :sarc:

 

[Jaakow22]

Could there be a custom driver that does that? I heard that the problem isn't how to do it but the problem is the latency between VRAM and CPU. Nothing then, I'l leave the thread unsolved if anyone has an idea.

 

[LMiller7]

Using video RAM as system RAM sounds like a nice idea, until confronted by the harsh facts of reality. Many a "great" idea has failed at this point.

The basic problem is that the video RAM is not directly accessible by the CPU. True, it could be accessed with a special driver. But that only solves a part of the problem, the easy part.

You would have some extra fast storage for data. But the system memory manager wouldn't see it as RAM because for most practical purposes it isn't RAM. To use this storage in an efficient way would require major changes to the kernel. Microsoft could implement this if they believed it would significantly improve performance. As Microsoft has not done so it would seem they don't think so. For what it is worth, I agree. For a third party to do this legally would require a special licensing agreement with Microsoft.

Nice idea, but not practical.

What most people do is simply install more RAM.

 

[MagusMagnus]

That would completely defeat the point of a dedicated card, even if it were possible. Save up and get an 8GB kit.

In the meantime, utilize 'ReadyBoost’. That should, at the very least, prevent the system from devouring your HDD by caching to it instead of RAM modules. I would recommend at least a 4GB stick; NTFS. [Ideally, everybody on Win7 64Bit will have at least 8GB DDR3 RAM today, bare minimum. 4GB is just not enough to meet muster anymore, gaming or not - as an aside you can directly blame the ever bloating Flash requirements for that].

ReadyBoost will NOT be as good as actual RAM, but it is good enough for its intended purpose (a band-aid).

 

[RoasterMen]

Only with those 1GB RAM and 2GB benefits from ReadyBoost. ReadyBoost only helps your programs open faster and make it run a bit faster

 

[AddRAM]

It's automatic. When your system needs more video memory, it will ask for a needed RAM to be converted to video ram

I don't need more video memory, I need MORE RAM so I asked if video memory could be used as RAM when playing games that don't require much video memory but require more RAM memory.

No, only the video card (actually the system itself) can use shared system memory, if the motherboard allows it, you can`t take memory from the video card.

You need a better cpu (a Celeron is a piece of junk) and add more memory, if possible.

 

[Jaakow22]

And again the usable RAM size changed, now it is 3,42 not anymore 3,50 GB.
Hmm... could that be because of enabling write caching on my USB flash drives? I enabled write caching because it speeds up file transfer speed. I think that when I enabled caching on one of my flash drives, It required a system reboot and the size of usable RAM changed to 3,42 GB. But the write caching speeds up a lot the transfer speed, at least for me, the same file was copying 4-6 MB/s with write caching disabled, and 13-20 MB/s when write caching enabled.
Any ideas?