Video memory - vRAM or main memory?

Discussion in 'Installation and Configuration of Parallels Desktop' started by RobertL11, Nov 15, 2016.

  1. RobertL11

    RobertL11 Junior Member

    Messages:
    11
    I'm ordering a new MacBook Pro and was wondering if I should upgrade the discrete video card vRAM to 4GB.

    Does Parallels Desktop will use the video card vRAM for the VM or will it use the main memory? If this matter, my VM are Windows XP and macOS.
     
    RobertL11, Nov 15, 2016
    #1
  2. Guna@Parallels

    Guna@Parallels Parallels Support

    Messages:
    433
    Hi @RobertL11,
    Guest OSes in Parallels Desktop have no access to physical graphics cards present in a Mac. Instead, Parallels Display Adapter driver (which is part of Parallels Tools installation) interfaces with virtual hardware and provides 3D acceleration features. Check this out!
     
    Guna@Parallels, Nov 15, 2016
    #2
  3. RobertL11

    RobertL11 Junior Member

    Messages:
    11
    Ok, but does Parallels Display Adapter driver use video card memory or main memory?
     
    RobertL11, Nov 15, 2016
    #3
  4. PaulChristopher@Parallels

    PaulChristopher@Parallels Product Expert Staff Member

    Messages:
    3,158
    Hi RobertL1,
    When your virtual machine runs, by default it tries to lock all the memory assigned to it from the Mac RAM. However your virtual machine runs on top of the OS X, so we need to make sure the OS X is always provided with efficient memory amount to run with no glitches. It was concluded the OS X should always have access to some significant amount of RAM installed on the Mac.
    The amount of memory your virtual machine will use can be divided into 3 parts: - the virtualization overhead: uses only about 8-9 % of the total amount of RAM assigned to the virtual machine, however, it is always stored in the Mac physical RAM. - the "main" memory, which works as RAM as such inside the virtual machine: configured in the virtual machine configuration -> Hardware -> CPU & Memory. - video memory: Hardware -> Video (Graphics). Please check out this article for RAM management in Parallels Desktop.
     
    PaulChristopher@Parallels, Nov 15, 2016
    #4

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