VRAM
Video memory · Dedicated GPU memory · Video RAM
VRAM, or video memory, is the memory on a graphics card reserved for the graphics processor, used to hold the textures, images and other data it works on while rendering a game.
Windows divides the memory a graphics processor can use into two kinds. Microsoft’s DirectX team describes dedicated memory as memory reserved exclusively for the GPU; on a separate graphics card, that is the card’s VRAM. Shared memory is ordinary system RAM that either the GPU or the processor can use when needed.
You can see both on the Performance tab of Task Manager, which has listed each GPU with its dedicated and shared memory since the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update in 2017. The dedicated figure is the one to compare with a game’s requirements.
Games state video memory in different ways. Some list it separately; others fold it into the card’s name, as Black Myth: Wukong does on Steam with “GeForce GTX 1060 6GB / Radeon RX 580 8GB” as its minimum.
For how video memory fits among the other lines of a requirements list, see our guide to reading PC system requirements.
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