DVMT/FIXED Memory

Common Options : 64 MB, 128 MB

Quick Review

Unified Memory Architecture (UMA) is a concept whereby system memory is shared by both CPU and graphics processor. While this reduces cost, it also reduces the system's performance by taking up a large portion of memory for the graphics processor.

Intel's Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT) takes that concept further by allowing the system to dynamically allocate memory resources according to the demands of the system at any point in time. The key idea in DVMT is to improve the efficiency of the memory allocated to either system or graphics processor.

This is where the DVMT/FIXED Memory BIOS feature comes in. It allows you to set the maximum amount of system memory that can be allocated as graphics memory, but only for the Fixed or DVMT operating modes. When the DVMT + Fixed mode is selected, this BIOS feature is grayed out because when in that operating mode, the graphics driver automatically allocates a total of 128 MB of graphics memory.

When set to 64 MB, up to 64MB of system memory can be used as graphics memory.

When set to 128 MB, up to 128MB of system memory can be used as graphics memory.

Generally, you can leave this BIOS feature at the default setting of 128 MB. This setting works well in systems with lots of memory (768 MB or more). But if you have 384 MB or less of system memory, it is highly recommended that you restrict the amount of DVMT memory to 64 MB. Intel's graphics processors are not so fast that allocating huge amounts of memory is going to have any significant effect on their performance.

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