Increase shared VRAM on Macbook Pro running Windows

No

Shredder96 said:

Well, I'll do some research. A flat no isn't exactly helpful buddy.

Click to expand...

Due to Apple's insistence of implementing its own EFI interface and not allowing options to be changed, you likely won't be able change this one.

Shredder96 said:

I am running windows though, if you're referring to mac osx not allowing options to be changed, I do know that windows allows, as long as mac hardware wouldn't restrict it? That's my real question.

Click to expand...

EFI is the underlining software code that controls the hardware. It doesn't matter what operating system you use.

I changed my VRAM the exact same way I would as if I was on a PC that only has Windows.

Windows reports the VRAM change as well. That's like saying you cannot update video card drivers or OC them in Windows. Well, you actually can. However a processor you cannot due to EFI.

As far as I'm understanding the difference between a partition of Windows on a Hard Drive that came with OS X and a Windows PC is that there is no BIOS(Which relates to the Motherboard) to OC the processor. Everything else is the same. Erm actually Fan control is a bit harder as well.

Indeed I was able to change my VRAM on my Windows partition. I put Windows in italics because you said Mac, so I'm starting to think you mean OS X now haha.

But yes, in Windows just right click on Computer in the Start Menu and Select Properties. -> Select Advanced System Settings on the left menu. -> Under Performance, select Settings. -> Select the Advanced tab. Under Virtual Memory select Change. Now check the custom size and set your Initial size and Maximum size press okay, apply, restart computer.

SyncFx said:

Indeed I was able to change my VRAM on my Windows partition. I put Windows in italics because you said Mac, so I'm starting to think you mean OS X now haha.

But yes, in Windows just right click on Computer in the Start Menu and Select Properties. -> Select Advanced System Settings on the left menu. -> Under Performance, select Settings. -> Select the Advanced tab. Under Virtual Memory select Change. Now check the custom size and set your Initial size and Maximum size press okay, apply, restart computer.

Click to expand...

That's not vram, that's the windows pagefile I'm afraid. They're talking about the part of system ram allocated for the integrated GPU to work with. And as everyone has said, it's unlikely this will be easily changeable, as it's managed by EFI CSM, and apple provides no way to tweak any options for this.

Shredder96 said:

Ok. So because of the EFI thing, I wont be able to reallocate the vram to the shared gpu? What is the cap that apple puts on my gpu if I were to install 16gb of ram? It's a 2012 mbp

And I do have windows 7 installed via bootcamp, my partition is about 250gb if that's relevant.

Click to expand...

It runs at 512MB if you have more then 8GB I think

Shredder96 said:

Alright, so if I were to get either 8gb or 16gb of ram, both would have the same graphics performance because of apple's gpu cap?

Click to expand...

Video Ram doesn't do much since you're more limited by your GPU itself then running out of video ram.

It doesn't matter really. Get 16GB since they're very cheap. You're only allowed 512MB shared and your video card can only do so much.

Shredder96 said:

Alright, so if I were to get either 8gb or 16gb of ram, both would have the same graphics performance because of apple's gpu cap?

Click to expand...

I actually have the exact same system as your's and i upgraded my ram to 16GB and it increases the vram to 1024MB... Just so you know the cap is not on 512MB

odmir said:

I actually have the exact same system as your's and i upgraded my ram to 16GB and it increases the vram to 1024MB... Just so you know the cap is not on 512MB

Click to expand...

I have a mid 2012 macbook pro with Intel HD 4000 graphics and 8GB of RAM and windows 8.1 via bootcamp which is only allocating 32MB - yes only 32 megabytes - of system ram to the GPU!!!!! I can run the mac version of a modern game like batman arkham city in OS X with medium to high settings and get great performance whereas the pc version of the same game barely works on the lowest settings and resolution on the windows partition because windows has locked the GPU to only 32MB!!!! And there is no way of changing it!!! I am speechless at the stupidity of this.

jezzanator7w said:

I have a mid 2012 macbook pro with Intel HD 4000 graphics and 8GB of RAM and windows 8.1 via bootcamp which is only allocating 32MB - yes only 32 megabytes - of system ram to the GPU!!!!! I can run the mac version of a modern game like batman arkham city in OS X with medium to high settings and get great performance whereas the pc version of the same game barely works on the lowest settings and resolution on the windows partition because windows has locked the GPU to only 32MB!!!! And there is no way of changing it!!! I am speechless at the stupidity of this.

Click to expand...

The driver clearly isn't working as intended. You can grab the latest Intel HD drivers from Intel's website (which you should really do anyway after installing Windows).

Faking a VRAM Increase​

Open a Registry Editor window by typing regeditinto the Start Menu. Remember that you can mess up your system in the Registry, so take care while here.

Head to the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Intel

Right-click the Intel folder in the left panel and choose New > Key. Name this key GMM. Once you've made it, select the new GMM folder on the left and right-click inside the right side.

Select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name this DedicatedSegmentSize and give it a value, making sure to select the Decimal option. In megabytes, the minimum value is 0 (disabling the entry) and the maximum is 512. Set this value, restart your computer, and see if it helps a game run better.






this helped me on windows 10