How to increase Graphics Card Shared Memory

[Marco Wittwer]

Hi
Is there a way, how to managed the shared memory size of the GPU of my Surface Pro 3 i7?
In Bios I cannot find a such setting.

Thank you
Marco

 

[daniielrp]

Pretty sure there isn't.

 

[Liam2349]

This isn't something you can change, and it's not something you would want to.

It's a tablet, not a gaming rig, and more memory to the GPU won't help it to play games.

 

[TeknoBlast]

Dont understand the need in trying to make the SPro a gaming rig. I understand it has as some power, but not enough to replace a desktop gaming rig or even play some heavy GPU-intensive games.

 

[surfdock]

Intel Haswell processors, like those in the Surface Pro 3, support up to 1.7GB of shared graphics memory.

For example: http://ark.intel.com/products/75122/Intel-Core-i7-4770-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_90-GHz

Certain UEFI/firmware/BIOS from other PC manufacturers like Dell and HP allow you to set the minimum reserved RAM (carve-out) such as 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB etc. however, this setting has no bearing on the maximum. Typically setting the minimum carve-out is best for overall performance as then the OS and applications can determine whether it is better to use that RAM for graphics purposes or general purposes.

If your applications are hitting memory errors on Intel Haswell, there may be other workarounds available, but you'll have to be more specific to allow others to help.

 

[Liam2349]

Intel Haswell processors, like those in the Surface Pro 3, support up to 1.7GB of shared graphics memory.

For example: http://ark.intel.com/products/75122/Intel-Core-i7-4770-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_90-GHz

Certain UEFI/firmware/BIOS from other PC manufacturers like Dell and HP allow you to set the minimum reserved RAM (carve-out) such as 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB etc. however, this setting has no bearing on the maximum. Typically setting the minimum carve-out is best for overall performance as then the OS and applications can determine whether it is better to use that RAM for graphics purposes or general purposes.

If your applications are hitting memory errors on Intel Haswell, there may be other workarounds available, but you'll have to be more specific to allow others to help.

I just want to put it out there that the 4770 is a much more capable CPU than the ultrabook CPUs you find in the Surface line.

 

[surfdock]

I just want to put it out there that the 4770 is a much more capable CPU than the ultrabook CPUs you find in the Surface line.

Indeed. Intel doesn't even specify the max graphics ram for the mobile series processors like: http://ark.intel.com/products/76308 but I believe it is still 1.7GB on those too.

Related is the WHQL requirement for memory on MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/jj128256.aspx
See: "System.Fundamentals.Firmware.HardwareMemoryReservation" if you want to understand the rationale and requirements for limiting the default memory reservation in Windows.

 

[Hingle McKringleberry]

The application will use what it needs.

 

[GreyFox7]

What did you have in mind? Limiting the memory used or increasing the memory used.
Generally it's dynamic and will adjust according to the need.

 

[silkrooster]

I have found a bug or I think it is anyway. If you run photoshop and illustrator at the same time, you will get an error low on video card memory. Both apps require 512MB of video ram. When you restart the surface and run only photoshop for example in its system information it will show more than a GB of video ram (sorry I don't recall the exact number, just that it is enough to handle both)
I believe this is an Adobe bug in that it is not dynamically handling the video ram.
Most apps that use GPU for rendering will require a fair amount of video ram.
So this is not always a gaming issue.