Integrated Graphics Memory Relation With App's Memory

[RSkor]

We're looking into a problem with our 32bit application running out of memory with certain Intel cards. We're pretty sure we're just using up too much memory, and the information on this page helps us confirm that: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000020962/graphics-drivers.html

What we'd still like to know is how the Intel integrated graphics card's memory usage interacts with our apps memory usage.

1) Is that dedicated graphics memory part of our app's virtual address space?

2) Would the driver ever make a copy of a texture that lives outside of that graphics memory, like how some dedicated cards have a copy in sys memory and in vram?

3) Are any of the allocs from (1) or (2) are in our app's virtaul space, would it count toward our app's commit size as seen in task manager/proc exp?

thanks!

[AlHill]

What is your processor model number?

What version of windows 10 are you using? 1903?

What is the model number of your device/motherboard?

Doc

[RSkor]

The most prominent setup across our affected users is the HD3000 on Windows 10, 64-bit. We don't have info about what build, but for sake of discussion let's assume they're up to date and have 1903.

We don't have good info on what cpu/motherboard they're using, either. My personal machine that I'm using has an intel i7-7700K, with an HD630. The mobo is an Alientware Aurora R6.

When I'm using my dedicated video card, Proc Explorer shows up to 800-1000MB of memory being used by the card's VRAM. When using my HD630, there is no number shown as expected, and our processes commit/working set numbers go up by about that much. So, with that we suspect that the HD630 is using our app's memory space, but we'd like an expert opinion on the matter.

[AlHill]

First, HD3000 graphics are not supported on Windows 10, so you are using the Microsoft generic driver.

Second, the version is very important, and many corrections/fixes have been made, especially regarding graphics. We cannot assume a version.

The HD630 is pretty far away from HD3000. You will need to be more specific. If you are having problems in an area of graphics that wide, I would be more prone to look at your application.

Doc

[RSkor]

We're certain the problem is in our app no matter how you look at it, we're asking for some more info to help us figure out how far away we are from fixing it (do we need to reduce our memory usage by a bit, or by a lot?). We didn't realize the HD3000 wasn't supported for Windows 10, that's a pretty important piece of info, thank's for pointing that out!

If specifics are needed to answer those questions, let me ask a more general one: Have any Intel drivers been known to use an apps memory space for the graphics card's memory so that it would be counted toward the app's commit/working set numbers?

I can only give specifics for my setup:

* Intel HD630, Intel Driver 22.20.16.4771 (latest one Windows finds, Intel Driver & Support Assistant

I think is warning against me installing a different one).

* Device Id: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_5912&SUBSYS_07DB1028&REV_04\3&11583659&0&10

[David_V_Intel]

Hello RSkor,

Thank you for posting on the Intel ® communities.

Is the issue present in the setup with Intel® HD 630? To answer your question, there have not been reports of this occurring.

Please let me know so I can assist you further

David V

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[RSkor]

We haven't seen a crash with the HD 630, though we do see an increase in our apps working set with it. The HD3000 was by far the most prominent card in crash reports, but there were others like the UHD 620 and the HD 5500. We don't have data that tells us what driver our users are using, unfortunately.

We've reduced our memory footprint enough to give our Intel users enough space for a reasonable amount of time. Out of memory crashes are not a primary concern for us anymore, but we'd still appreciate knowing some details on how the driver allocates and contributes to our working set if possible (the original 3 questions).

Thanks for the help!

[David_V_Intel]

Hello RSkor,

Thank you for your response.

In this case, if you need more assistance, please post your inquiry in our Intel ® Developer Zone forums for further tips and assistance with the development of your application. Please refer to the link below: 

https://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/developing-games-and-graphics-on-intel

David V

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel