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Sep 20, 2005
Why is there a difference between actual video card memory and the product specification?
- Why is there a difference between actual video card memory and the product specification? TurboCache-based graphics cards have two ways to describe memory in the product specification. First up is the effective memory which means the upper limit of available memory including the dedicated memory on the card. Next is the Local frame buffer which means the real memory on the card. According to NVIDIA’s official technical brief, 512MB of system memory is required for TurboCache technology, and then if there is not enough system memory, TurboCache-based graphics accelerators will intelligently reduce the loan of system memory. For example, TurboCache can deliver an effective 256MB of graphics memory using only 64MB or 128MB of local memory on the VGA card when 192MB or 128MB respectively is being borrowed from the system memory of 512MB or more. However, if the user only installs 256MB of system memory instead of 512MB, the amount of effective graphics memory shown will only be 128MB and not 256MB. Boards with 16MB or 32MB of local memory can deliver 128MB of effective memory when TurboCache borrows 112MB or 96MB respectively from the system memory.
- How does TurboCache technology work?
By allowing the graphics processing unit (GPU) to dynamically share the available system memory, TurboCache upgrades the performance of the graphics accelerator by providing more total graphics memory. That is to say, TurboCache technology dynamically makes additional memory available for graphics usage based on application requirements. 3D gamers are one group of users who would therefore benefit from TurboCache-based graphics accelerators. - Is system performance influenced negatively by TurboCache technology?
Once the application that is using TurboCache technology is closed, the system memory that was allocated for graphics use is then released and made available for system use once again. TurboCache technology balances overall system bandwidth utilization during rendering by intelligently distributing the load between local graphics memory and system memory, and furthermore by leveraging the bi-directional bandwidth of the PCI Express. TurboCache is a perfect solution to smooth over the bottlenecks between the CPU and GPU.
