Increasing shared VRAM on Intel HD Graphics 3000

Hello,
Question about MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) with Intel HD Graphics 3000. I upgraded RAM with 16GB, and wonder if it is possible to allocate more then 512 MB of system memory for shared VRAM. Now system profiler shows 512 MB shared VRAM, the same like it was with 8 GB RAM before the RAM upgrade.
"About integrated video on Intel-based Macs" topic (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3246) mentions MBPs with 8 GB of RAM only.
Thanks!

HI M,
On a Windows machine, you can go into the BIOS and change RAM allocation.
I have found nothing to suggest the same is true on a Mac. It appears it is controlled in ROM, and unless Apple makes a firemware upgrade, it is what it its. Which begs the question, what is it?
Given that the article you cite states the VRAM allocation goes from 256MB to 512MB by increasing RAM from 4GB to 8GB in one example, it would seem that amount might go up to 1GB VRAM with 16GB of RAM. As you're probably aware, Apple bases everything on RAM available at time of production of the Mac, and never goes back to change specs as RAM density increases, so it may also be "locked in" at 512MB for 8GB.
Bottome line: It's possible the base VRAM available may indeed go up as needed on your Mac, but that's far from certain. There is information out there on the internet suggesting this "as needed" theory, so you may want to do further searching reading and see if you can find that needle in a haystack.

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hi freinn,
Welcome to Lenovo Community Forums!
This is on Auto by default.
The amount of memory shared to your graphics is dependent on how much RAM you have. Also even if you max out the RAM capacity there will no big jump on the shared memory just few MBs will be added
The Manual is not available even if there is an updated BIOS.
Even if a Manual option is available still you can only share the same maximum as the one on Auto. Not a big jump.
i hate to say it but that's how it will be
Hope this helps
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System reporting 512MB of VRAM for Intel HD Graphics 3000

Hi,
I just notice in the System Profiler my MacBook Pro is reporting 512MB of VRAM although the Apple claims it would have up to 384MB. Do you think it is correct?

If you go through the spec http://support.apple.com/kb/SP620?viewlocale=en_US
go down to the end (section 5)
"Memory available to Mac OS X may vary depending on graphics needs. Minimum graphics memory usage is 384MB."
So its normal and correct

Intel HD Graphics 3000 Shared Up 128MB

Hi
I got e new Macbook 13" with Intel HD Graphics 3000 & Lion.
I upgraded the RAM from 4GB to 8 GB RAM.
Why my Intel HD Graphics 3000 have 128MB Ram and dont shared up?
The Problem are Virtual Box... i can only use 128MB Video RAM.
What i can do to share 128MB+?
Regards
Pascal

You don't, you don't have a video card in the 13", it's all Intel HD integrated graphics that scores a lousy 11 points on Cinebench. It's basically a MacBook in graphics performance, no 3D games.
If you want to run virtual machine software and another OS or two (or three or more with more RAM), you needed a 15" or better that scores 30-45 on Cinebench.

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I will try to take a video.
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Last edited by dezza (2012-10-12 08:34:26)

I think I found a fix, haven't tested thoroughly yet though ... Since I reinstalled StarCraft 2 and deleted my .wine directory, the registry keys for graphics tweaking was also gone.
I re-created:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\Direct3D]
"DirectDrawRenderer"="opengl"
"Multisampling"="disabled"
"OffscreenRenderingMode"="fbo"
"PixelShaderMode"="enabled"
"RenderTargetLockMode"="readtex"
"StrictDrawOrdering"="disabled"
"UseGLSL"="disabled"
As told here:
http://wiki.winehq.org/UsefulRegistryKeys
NOTE: UseGLSL is special and is only needed for video cards like mine (Intel HD Graphics 3000) that forces s3tc like explained here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/St … r_Problems
And it seems to work ...
I think I have to remove VideoMemory all together, because my StarCraft 2 has crashed 2 times now complaining about low video memory - so it's better with an OpenGL auto-detection of vram or if the problem persists a much larger value.
Last edited by dezza (2012-10-12 08:30:18)

HT203254 Macbook pro 15. Intel HD Graphics 3000/ AMD Radeon HD 6490M. Screen seems 'solarized'/pixellated at startup. disappears after 30 minutes. Any idea of cause and cure?

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Chipset Model:          AMD Radeon HD 6490M
Type:          GPU
Bus:          PCIe
PCIe Lane Width:          x8
VRAM (Total):          256 MB
Vendor:          ATI (0x1002)
Device ID:          0x6760
Revision ID:          0x0000
ROM Revision:          113-C0170H-521
gMux Version:          1.9.23
EFI Driver Version:          01.00.521
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Main Display:          Yes
Mirror:          Off
Online:          Yes
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You said the magic words: Still under extended warranty. Take it in for evaluation and repair. That is not a normal situation. The display should not have to 'warm up'.
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I have upgraded my MacBook Pro 15 late 2011 to 8Gb RAM, now when I go to about this mac in it more info it doesn't show AMD graphics card as it used to before, it just show Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB is that a problem that I need to worry about?

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Some Mac's when the RAM is increased the Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics will bump itself up to the higher video RAM it takes, this seems to be what occured.
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r_stiltskin wrote:
Also, I don't see anything in the sales information about the graphics being "switchable". If I get the Radeon, would it still have the Intel hd graphics 3000 built-in, and if so, would the choice graphics engine be switchable in the bios settings?
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Hold the command shift and 4 keys down, draw a box around what your seeing and upload the desktop image in your post response here.

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Hi!
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Last edited by Dronte (2011-09-18 08:40:36)

I've looked through the xf86-video-intel and found a function there
static void
intel_output_backlight_set(xf86OutputPtr output, int level)
struct intel_output *intel_output = output->driver_private;
char path[BACKLIGHT_PATH_LEN], val[BACKLIGHT_VALUE_LEN];
int fd, len, ret;
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Last edited by Dronte (2011-09-12 21:01:03)

Increasing shared VRAM on Intel HD Graphics 3000

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