In computer architecture, shared graphics memory refers to a design where the graphics chip does not have its own dedicated memory, and instead shares the main system RAM with the

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...

and other components. This design is used with many integrated graphics solutions to reduce the cost and complexity of the

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design, as no additional memory chips are required on the board. There is usually some mechanism (via the

BIOS In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the ...

or a

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setting) to select the amount of system memory to use for graphics, which means that the graphics system can be tailored to only use as much RAM as is actually required, leaving the rest free for applications. A side effect of this is that when some RAM is allocated for graphics, it becomes effectively unavailable for anything else, so an example computer with 512

MiB The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

RAM set up with 64 MiB graphics RAM will appear to the operating system and user to only have 448 MiB RAM installed. The disadvantage of this design is lower performance because system RAM usually runs slower than dedicated graphics RAM, and there is more contention as the memory bus has to be shared with the rest of the system. It may also cause performance issues with the rest of the system if it is not designed with the fact in mind that some RAM will be 'taken away' by graphics. A similar approach that gave similar results is the boost up of graphics used in some

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computers, most notably the O2/O2+. The memory in these machines is simply one fast pool (2.1 GB per second in 1996) shared between system and graphics. Sharing is performed on demand, including pointer redirection communication between main system and graphics subsystem. This is called Unified Memory Architecture (UMA).

History

Most early personal computers used a shared memory design with graphics hardware sharing memory with the CPU. Such designs saved money as a single bank of DRAM could be used for both display and program. Examples of this include the Apple II computer, the Commodore 64, the Radio Shack Color Computer, the Atari ST, and the Apple Macintosh. A notable exception was the IBM PC. Graphics display was facilitated by the use of an expansion card with its own memory plugged into an ISA slot. The first IBM PC to use the SMA was the

IBM PCjr The IBM PCjr (pronounced "PC junior") was a home computer produced and marketed by IBM from March 1984 to May 1985, intended as a lower-cost variant of the IBM PC with hardware capabilities better suited for video games, in order to compete mor ...

, released in 1984. Video memory was shared with the first 128KiB of RAM. The exact size of the video memory could be reconfigured by software to meet the needs of the current program. An early hybrid system was the Commodore Amiga which could run as a shared memory system, but would load executable code preferentially into non-shared " fast RAM" if it was available.

External links

PC Magazine Definition for SMA

IBM PCjr information
{{Graphics Processing Unit Memory management ro:Arhitectură cu memorie partajată ru:SMA

History

See also

External links