Knowing your VRAM specs can become very important when you want to run some heavy graphics on your system. Other than that, if you are getting errors linked on VRAM or facing trouble while running heavy graphic-intensive software, you might need to upgrade your video RAM. And to upgrade your VRAM, here’s how to check VRAM amount that you currently have on your Windows 10 system.
How Much VRAM Is Required For Gaming And Video Editing?
- For Older Games: If you prefer playing the older version of games, 1 to 2 GB VRAM is good enough. It will perform better than integrated graphics. However, this is not useful for the latest versions of games, 3D stuff, complex graphics designing, and video editing.
- For Mid-Range Games And Video Editing: 3 to 6 GB VRAM. If you are playing games that have a high setting, you need to go higher than 3 GB. Even 4 GB VRAM will face issues while dealing with 1080p graphics. So, 6GB RAM is the very best if you play modern games that have an ultra setting and high-grade video editing.
- For High-End Games and Video Editing: 8GB or above. If you want to play the latest games or all the newer versions, you need a VRAM of 8GB or higher. This will be very comfortable with 4K resolution games even if it is in the Ultra setting. Needless to say, it performs well for video editing too.
What Is Meant By VRAM?
Video RAM or VRAM is a special RAM that is used in the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) of your computer. It is quite similar to the usual RAM but works for the GPU. It is a very important part of your computer’s memory since it plays a critical role in displaying images and other graphics-related processes.
Why Should You Know How Much VRAM You Have?
If you are into gaming or video editing, you might already know how important it is to know your system’s VRAM. A lot of games require a high amount of VRAM to run properly on your computer. Moreover, activities such as video editing need good graphics on your computer’s part.
VRAM is a vital component of your system because it is responsible for accommodating complex graphics on it. Knowing how much VRAM your computer has will let you know how well and useful your graphic card is.
How To Check Your VRAM In Windows 10?
Given below are a couple of ways to know how much VRAM you have on your system:
- Check VRAM Via Display Settings
- Check VRAM Using The DxDiag Tool
- Check VRAM Through CPU-Z
Method #1. Check VRAM Via Display Settings
Using the display settings is an efficient method to know how much VRAM you have. Also, it is pretty easy and hassle-free. So, it is recommended that you keep this solution as a first preference. Follow the steps given below to check your VRAM using the display settings:
- Right-click anywhere in the empty space of the desktop and select Display settings from the dropdown menu.
- A pop-up window will come up, choose the “Advanced display settings” option from the bottom right corner.
- Choose the “Display adapter properties.”
- Now, you can mark the checkboxes of all the VRAM details you want to see. This will be available next to “Dedicated Video Memory.”
- Mark the checkbox next to the Adapter information and then, choose OK to close the window.
Method #2. Check VRAM Using The DxDiag Tool
DxDiag or DirectX Diagnostic Tool is a Windows tool and can help you know about the internal specs of your system. This is one of the easiest and best ways to check your system’s VRAM. Follow the steps given below to know how to use the DxDiag utility and check how much VRAM your computer has:
- Press the Windows + R keys and enter DxDiag in the Run utility. Hit the Enter key.
- Wait till the DxDiag tool loads
- Go to the Display tab.
- Here, you’ll get all the details about your Graphic card on your computer.
- Click on Exit to close the DxDiag window.
Method #3. Check VRAM Through CPU-Z
CPU-Z is a free third-party app that is fully compatible with MS Windows and Android OS. It collects information about a couple of primary components of the computer system.
Keep in mind that CPU-Z will give you a precise calculation about how much RAM your computer has. Besides giving you all the integrated VRAM details, it also gives you every small bit of information about a VRAM. Follow the steps given below to check VRAM using the CPU-Z tool:
- Download CPU-Z on your computer and install it.
- Launch the app and give it a couple of minutes to CPU-Z for detecting your system’s graphic card.
- Go to the “Graphics” tab and you will get all the information collected by CPU-Z about the GPU which includes the VRAM as well.
How To Check VRAM Usage?
- Right-click on your Taskbar and choose the Task Manager option
- Go to the Performance tab
- Choose the GPU box located there.
- In case your system has 2 GPUs, click on GPU1 to check out VRAM’s memory usage. You need to pick GPU1 because graphics card and video card memory usage are shown separately.
Other than that, you can also check out the version, data, and shared memory.
How To Check VRAM On Windows XP Computer
- Right-click on an empty space on the desktop
- Click on “Properties.”
- Choose the Settings tab and select the Advanced settings option
- Go to the Adapter tab
- Now, in the Adapter Information field, you will find details about your system’s GPU memory including the VRAM in the Memory Size section
How To Check VRAM On Windows 7, 8, And Vista
- Type in Control Panel in the Windows search bar and open Control Panel
- Click on Appearance and Personalization and then on Adjust screen resolution
- In the Screen Resolution page, click on Advanced Settings
- Now, a dialog box will come up, click on the Adapter tab
- From the Adapter Information section, you will find the Dedicated Video Memory along with the Total Available Graphics Memory on your system.
How To Check VRAM On Mac OS
- Click on the Apple icon from the top-left corner to open the Apple menu.
- Select the About This Mac option
- Navigate to the Graphics line which will give you how much VRAM you have on your MacOS system.
How To Check VRAM On Linux
- Enter the command “lscpi” and run it
- In the result section, look for VGA Compatible Controller
- Note down the number at the beginning of this line. It will be in the following format XX:XX.X.
- Run the lspci command once more. This time with -v -s domain-id
- Search for prefetchable memory. Here, you will get how much VRAM your Linux device has.
Conclusion
If you were wondering how to check VRAM on a Windows 10 computer, this article should be helpful to you. You can use the built-in tools of your computer to check how much VRAM you have or you could also download a third-party application to do so.