Interesting stuff about videomemory usage

I made a little database of videomemory usage under 3dmark06s canyon flight test. I let the test run for about 5 seconds and remembered the value that rivatuner gave me for local videomemory usage. I did this with various different resolutions and antialiasing/anisotropic filtering settings. Here are the results (in MB):

Canyon flight:

320x240 NAA/NAF: 202.1
320x240 2AA/NAF: 204.1
320x240 4AA/NAF: 206.0
320x240 8AA/NAF: 209.7
320x240 8AA/8AF: 209.7
320x240 8AA/16AF: 209.7

640x480 NAA/NAF: 206.8
640x480 2AA/NAF: 214.3
640x480 4AA/NAF: 220.9
640x480 8AA/NAF: 235.0
640x480 8AA/8AF: 235.0
640x480 8AA/16AF: 235.0

800x600 NAA/NAF: 210.9
800x600 2AA/NAF: 222.8
800x600 4AA/NAF: 233.3
800x600 8AA/NAF: 255.6
800x600 8AA/8AF: 255.6
800x600 8AA/16AF: 255.6

1024x768 NAA/NAF: 215.3
1024x768 2AA/NAF: 233.8
1024x768 4AA/NAF: 251.8
1024x768 8AA/NAF: 287.6
1024x768 8AA/8AF: 287.6
1024x768 8AA/16AF: 287.6

1280x1024 NAA/NAF: 225.0
1280x1024 2AA/NAF: 255.0
1280x1024 4AA/NAF: 285.0
1280x1024 8AA/NAF: 345.0
1280x1024 8AA/8AF: 345.0
1280x1024 8AA/16AF: 345.0

1600x1200 NAA/NAF: 237.2
1600x1200 2AA/NAF: 281.8
1600x1200 4AA/NAF: 326.2
1600x1200 8AA/NAF: 415.5
1600x1200 8AA/8AF: 415.5
1600x1200 8AA/16AF: 415.5

1920x1200 NAA/NAF: 244.7
1920x1200 2AA/NAF: 298.1
1920x1200 4AA/NAF: 351.5
1920x1200 8AA/NAF: 458.3
1920x1200 8AA/8AF: 458.3
1920x1200 8AA/16AF: 458.3

2048x1536 NAA/NAF: 259.3
2048x1536 2AA/NAF: 331.3
2048x1536 4AA/NAF: 403.4
2048x1536 8AA/NAF: 547.5
2048x1536 8AA/8AF: 547.5
2048x1536 8AA/16AF: 547.5

2560x1600 NAA/NAF: 277.4
2560x1600 2AA/NAF: 371.1
2560x1600 4AA/NAF: 464.9
2560x1600 8AA/NAF: over 618.7 (max)
2560x1600 8AA/8AF: over 618.7 (max)
2560x1600 8AA/16AF: over 618.7 (max)

NAA= No antialiasing NAF= No anisotropic filtering

This test (like all graphics tests in 3dmark06) seems to be opimized for 256MB video cards just like most modern games, so I think these results apply rather well for most modern games too.

Few things that I found interesting:

-Raising just the resolution doesnt increase videomemory usage much at all!
-The lower the resolution, the less impact antialiasing has on memory usage.and vice versa
-Anisotropic filtering has no affect what so ever on videomemory usage
-2560x1600 and 8xAA more than triples the videomemory usage compared to lower resolutions without antialiasing


I don't know how much information value this really has, but it was fun testing anyway.

Damn nice findings. I think this would come in handy in keeping your memory on the card. I mean not letting it go over the physical memory of your graphics card...


Some one was bored

Interesting to note.. AA is a memory hog.

what happens when you exceed your video memory? i have a 1900gt with 256M and i usly run at 16X12 4AA and 8AF(HQ)

I think if you exceed it it will use the slow system memory. (slow compared to video card mem)

Yes, it continues using system memory for videomemory. And yes, that is alot slower than local onboard videomemory.

i only have 1.5 gigs of ram so what happens when i exceed my video mem and system mem does it use pagefile? so the smart thing to do is make sure i dont exceed my video mem?