How much "Dedicated Video Memory" prior to purchase?

[AColl9]

Ok...after searching on Dell.com and Intel.com, I have been unable to find the "Dedicated Video Memory" specs for Intel i7-4510U Dual Core Processor or any other processor!

I just would like to know if it is at least 512 mb of Dedicated Video Memory to use the 3D features of Adobe's Creative Cloud apps (Photoshop CC 2014 and Illustrators CC 2014), this would be very helpful.

Thanx,

ALCi

[Silvia_L_Intel1]

Hello ALCi, thanks for joining the Intel community.

The maximum graphics limits supported by the Intel HD Graphics Driver will depend on the processor

Second, third and fourth generation processors support up to 1.7 GB of dedicated video memory. However on tray processors, this will be limited by the system manufacturer.

Additional information could be found at the following FAQ http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-033984.htm Graphics Drivers — Graphics Memory FAQ For Microsoft Windows 8 and 8.1*

Regards,

[AColl9]

Here's my Processor specs when I right click on my background, select Screen Resolution and clicking Advanced Settings according to your FAQ link:

As you can see, the Dedicated Video Memory is "0mb" and I need at least "512mb".

[Silvia_L_Intel1]

I would recommend you to contact Dell. You can also check if you system needs a BIOS update.

Something very important is that "dedicated video memory" cannot be 0MB.

[AColl9]

On the contrary Sylvia, from my above screenshot...I have 0mb of dedicated video memory. As far as contacting Dell, that has been done, and after finding the problem of no mbs of the aforementioned memory perimeters, they suggested I contact Intel.

Now, all I want now is the know which processor with graphics adapter has at least 512mb in dedicated video memory, so I can purchase another laptop that may utilize the 3D features in Photoshop CC 2014!

[Silvia_L_Intel1]

Antyonne, note that the Intel® graphics controllers uses shared memory that is taken from the RAM memory installed on your computer.

The feature that sets the amount of memory that is used for video is called Intel® Dynamic Video Memory Technology and this will make the graphics controller only to use the amount of RAM memory that it requires to run the different applications or software's.

I am afraid to say that there is no way to preset this to a specific value; however, you can limit the maximum memory that it can take only. You will see this option usually in BIOS and you will have 3 options, 128MB, 256MB and maximum DVMT. Other values can be found as 512MB, etc but this depends on the motherboard manufacturer and the amount of RAM memory installed on your computer.

[AColl9]

*sigh Again Sylvia...thank you for ALL of your assistance. I just want to make sure that I'm not going to purchase another laptop without the right dedicated video specs.

So I ended up just having to go into Best Buy, in which I've found that Intel really is not a company for graphics and video editing anyway! (which really is all I was trying to find out!)

After checking their whole collection of laptops, by right-clicking on their wallpaper, choosing screen resolution, and choosing advanced settings, only the laptops nvidia and amd processors, had an actual "dedicated graphics/video memory" of 512 mb or better!

I do love the way you broke the DVMT down, however, I just can't take a chance or purchasing another laptop that I can't know those the specific dedicated graphic/video memory prior to purchase!

[Silvia_L_Intel1]

You're welcome Antyonne. I really hope you'll get the best option for your project

[JEFFREY_F_Intel]

you don't need "Dedicated" memory for graphics and video applications to run; "Shared" graphics memory is available.

On integrated graphics, essentially all memory is allocated from the total pool of system memory for graphics use dynamically as it needs it. The driver can typically allocate up to ~1.7GB or so for graphics use.

The BIOS will pre-allocate a chunk of memory to store some key bookkeeping stuff for the driver (e.g. graphics page tables, region for context save/restore during power gating) - this really only needs to be about ~32MB. After the driver uses what it needs out of that pre-allocated chunk and reports anything left over was reported to the OS as "dedicated" memory. In the old days the BIOS used to steal 128MB or more and some BIOS versions offered options to pre-allocate more (256, 512). The downside of preallocating this memory is that the OS can't use it for any other purpose (Excel, Chrome...)

Instead, it is generally better for the driver to dynamically allocate the memory for frame buffers, video playback, plus all the vertex buffers, shaders, textures, etc in games. At Microsoft's request Intel has steadily been reducing how much is preallocated at boot. As of the most recent products this was dropped to 32MB and there really wasn't left over for OS use. As such, recent products will show "zero dedicated".

Nearly all apps will run just fine. Ignore the "min spec" on the application labels -those are there for discrete GPUs only where the "dedicated" memory is required for correct functionality and reasonable performance....

There are a few that don't are apps that incorrectly assume they need "dedicated" memory and query for that parameter. Intel is investigating a workarounds for these.