'''VRAM'''<ref name="urlHow Much VRAM Do You Need For Gaming? [2021 Guide]">{{cite web |url=https://www.gamingscan.com/how-much-vram-do-i-need/ |title=How Much VRAM Do You Need For Gaming? [2021 Guide] |format= |work= |accessdate=}}</ref><ref name="urlWhat is VRAM? - Technipages">{{cite web |url=https://www.technipages.com/what-is-vram |title=What is VRAM? - Technipages |format= |work= |accessdate=}}</ref> is a common abbreviation for '''Video Random Access Memory''', which is the dedicated memory a [[GPU]] uses to store and access the [[pixel]]s and other graphics data rendered on a computer monitor. It was invented by [[Texas Instruments]] in 1983.<ref>{{cite book|title=Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice|last1=Foley|first1=James D. |last2=van Dam|first2=Andries|last3=Feiner|first3=Steven K.|last4=Hughes|first4=John F.|publisher=[[Addison-Wesley]]|year=1997|isbn=0-201-84840-6|page=859|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Computer_Graphics/-4ngT05gmAQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=vram&pg=PA892&printsec=frontcover}}</ref> This is often different technology than other computer memory, to facilitate being read rapidly to draw the image. In some systems this memory cannot be read/written using the same methods as normal memory; it is not [[memory mapped]].
The term "VRAM" sometimes means a specific technology used in the 1980s to implement it, [[Video RAM (dual-ported DRAM)|dual-ported DRAM]].
==See also==
* [[Video RAM (dual-ported DRAM)]], a specific technology used in the 1980s
