Will upgrading to 8GB RAM increase my Intel HD3000 graphics memory?

kyle1320 · Jul 27, 2011, 04:05 PM

I saw a comment on 8GB of ram I ordered that in the 2011 MBP's on Lion when the system detects 8GB of RAM, it increases the shared memory of the Intel HD3000 integrated graphics to 512 MB instead of the default 384 MB. Is this true? I'm currently waiting for the RAM to arrive, and it'd be nice to know if this will happen, and if it will increase my graphics performance. Thanks

fat jez · Jul 27, 2011, 04:08 PM

yep, it is indeed

kyle1320 · Jul 27, 2011, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fat jez

yep, it is indeed

Cool, would this increase graphics performance?

applefanDrew · Jul 27, 2011, 04:11 PM

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What kind of RAM? I ordered cosair for 50 bucks on amazon.

kyle1320 · Jul 27, 2011, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by applefanDrew

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What kind of RAM? I ordered cosair for 50 bucks on amazon.

Same, Corsair 8GB 1333MHz for $45 after rebate.

sparky1499 · Jul 27, 2011, 04:52 PM

silly question, but does this apply to Snow Leopard too?

fat jez · Jul 27, 2011, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyle1320

Cool, would this increase graphics performance?

I'm not sure on that one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sparky1499

silly question, but does this apply to Snow Leopard too?

Yes, it's not really an OS thing, more of a firmware thing.

Kentochan · Jul 27, 2011, 09:02 PM

On my 2011 base 13" MBP, I went from 384MB to 512MB on the Intel HD 3000 when upgraded to the 8GB RAM (G.Skill).

JH4DC5 · Jul 27, 2011, 09:12 PM

yup. pic for proof

tombubi · Jul 27, 2011, 10:00 PM

That is useful info to know. Thanks.

kyle1320 · Jul 27, 2011, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JH4DC5

yup. pic for proof

Image

Did you notice a boost in graphics performance?

JH4DC5 · Jul 27, 2011, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyle1320

Did you notice a boost in graphics performance?

I haven't noticed any difference. I only ran with 4 gb of ram for a couple days before I upgraded, so I wouldn't be able to give you a good comparison. lol

dsio · Jul 27, 2011, 11:13 PM

It won't increase performance per se, because much like upgrading system RAM, its not a performance improvement but rather a capacity improvement. It will mean that some games like Starcraft2 which require 512MB for textures to be on "high" can be run at that setting with no performance drawback.

If you upgrade to DDR3 1600, that will in fact improve graphics performance slightly as shared graphics memory does cause a bottleneck in all cards that use it including 320M, 9400M and HD3000.

nnoob · Jul 27, 2011, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyle1320

I saw a comment on 8GB of ram I ordered that in the 2011 MBP's on Lion when the system detects 8GB of RAM, it increases the shared memory of the Intel HD3000 integrated graphics to 512 MB instead of the default 384 MB. Is this true? I'm currently waiting for the RAM to arrive, and it'd be nice to know if this will happen, and if it will increase my graphics performance. Thanks

It doesn't increase graphic performance.. All it does raise the graphic buffer to 512 mb, if you want the better performance, run graphic stuff under windows. The Apple OpenGL rendering stack and graphic drivers is a piece of crap on mac os x.

dsio · Jul 27, 2011, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nnoob

It doesn't increase graphic performance.. All it does raise the graphic buffer to 512 mb, if you want the better performance, run graphic stuff under windows. The Apple OpenGL rendering stack and graphic drivers is a piece of crap on mac os x.

You've got it backwards, its vastly slower under Windows, the OpenGL performance on mac is current far ahead of both that and the Linux performance right now.

nnoob · Jul 27, 2011, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsio

You've got it backwards, its vastly slower under Windows, the OpenGL performance on mac is current far ahead of both that and the Linux performance right now.

IT slower under ATI graphic driver in Mac OS X. Maybe intel drivers have better graphic performance under Mac OS X

S7A2G6 · 01:06 AM

Mine does all that, and it is an 09 model.

But I did happen to order the Corsair 8GB from Amazon today. That is how I stumbled upon this forum and registered.

2hvy4grvty · Aug 20, 2011, 03:02 AM

Faster RAM affects onboard graphic performance. This is really the only time I'd recommend getting MORE than 1333 RAM.

jgz · Aug 20, 2011, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2hvy4grvty

Faster RAM affects onboard graphic performance. This is really the only time I'd recommend getting MORE than 1333 RAM.

badly, that 1666mhz RAM seems to be incompatible with Core i7/Core i5 built in mbp 13"..... As the Intel IGP is the only GPU available on that machine, every little plus in terms of speed inprovement would be nice.....

On the bigger ones mbp's it wouldn't make sense improving the IGP, because there's always available a Radeon for graphic intensive work....

stevey69 · Aug 20, 2011, 05:31 AM

to all the people that own the 2.2 i7 mbp 2011 15" .... is there any heating problems i should be worried about ? i recently placed my order for mbp and I'm expecting a shipment soon but I'm worried that the overheating is gonna trump my mbp experience. my previous mbp used to get hot too.. 08 mbp.. so please help... i am hearing that it doesn't overheat but then with some it does overheat and they have applied thermal paste to make it better... i don't know if i want to do all this.. help please. oh also.. my 2nd choice is a mba 13" i5 256ssd. help.

Lennyvalentin · Aug 20, 2011, 06:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevey69

is there any heating problems i should be worried about ?

No, SODIMM memories don't use much power and don't get particularly hot either.

As for the laptop itself, yes it can get pretty warm when working at full capacity, but this is normal and only to be expected from such a high-performing laptop computer. Any time you have a fast processor in a small enclosure there'll be a bunch of heat generated.

No need to worry though, the system is designed to handle that level of heat.

Hyper-X · Aug 20, 2011, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sparky1499

silly question, but does this apply to Snow Leopard too?

Yes.

To simplify what happens when memory is increased in the case of the Intel HD3000, it doesn't actually speed up much of anything. The additional RAM is mostly used for texture memory, which is useful when video is shot to a larger screen (i.e. larger EXT monitor). However speeding up the performance will require the data to be pulled from the VRAM quickly (this is why dedicated graphics adapters with GDDR are so fast at drawing textures).

System RAM is still slow compared to video RAM found usually on dedicated GPU's because data still has to pass through the slower system bus rather than being on-die or near the GPU itself.

csjo00 · Aug 20, 2011, 09:21 AM

I upgraded to 8GB earlier this week in my 2010 13" MBP and About this Mac still says 256MB. So either it doesn't work for 2010 MBPs or I need to tweak a setting.

DWBurke811 · Aug 20, 2011, 09:29 AM

It only works on the HD3000

maril1111 · Aug 20, 2011, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by csjo00

I upgraded to 8GB earlier this week in my 2010 13" MBP and About this Mac still says 256MB. So either it doesn't work for 2010 MBPs or I need to tweak a setting.

Only works with the Intel 3000HD, nvidia users are out of luck for this one

Jul 27, 2011, 04:05 PM	#1
kyle1320 macrumors regular Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: In my own little world	Will upgrading to 8GB RAM increase my Intel HD3000 graphics memory? I saw a comment on 8GB of ram I ordered that in the 2011 MBP's on Lion when the system detects 8GB of RAM, it increases the shared memory of the Intel HD3000 integrated graphics to 512 MB instead of the default 384 MB. Is this true? I'm currently waiting for the RAM to arrive, and it'd be nice to know if this will happen, and if it will increase my graphics performance. Thanks __________________ Google. Use it. Hey, what's up?
	1

Jul 27, 2011, 04:08 PM	#2
fat jez macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Glasgow, UK	yep, it is indeed __________________ '11 MBP 2.3GHz 8GB RAM 240GB SSD 15" AG screen OS X 10.8.3 iPhone 5 64GB iPad 3rd Gen 3G 32GB
	2

Jul 27, 2011, 04:52 PM	#6
sparky1499 macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Glasgow, UK	silly question, but does this apply to Snow Leopard too? __________________ 15" MacBook Pro (Early 2011), 2.0GHz i7 Quad, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD, 10.8.3 iPad Mini 16GB Wifi Black iPhone 4 S⃣ 16GB White
	0

Jul 27, 2011, 09:02 PM	#8
Kentochan macrumors 6502 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Virginia, USA	On my 2011 base 13" MBP, I went from 384MB to 512MB on the Intel HD 3000 when upgraded to the 8GB RAM (G.Skill). __________________ HTC EVO V 4G \| 2011 13" MacBook Pro \| Canon EOS 60D\| fOkeh: a window to our world
	0

Jul 27, 2011, 09:12 PM	#9
JH4DC5 macrumors member Join Date: Sep 2010	yup. pic for proof __________________ MacBook Pro 15" 2.2 GHz i7-2720QM / Samsung 830 256 GB SSD / Crucial 8 GB ram / Hi-res iPhone 5 / Rockboxed iPod 5G
	0

Jul 27, 2011, 04:11 PM	#4
applefanDrew macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jul 2010	Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5) What kind of RAM? I ordered cosair for 50 bucks on amazon.
	0

Jul 27, 2011, 10:00 PM	#10
tombubi Banned Join Date: Jun 2011	That is useful info to know. Thanks.
	1

Jul 27, 2011, 11:13 PM	#13
dsio macrumors regular Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia	It won't increase performance per se, because much like upgrading system RAM, its not a performance improvement but rather a capacity improvement. It will mean that some games like Starcraft2 which require 512MB for textures to be on "high" can be run at that setting with no performance drawback. If you upgrade to DDR3 1600, that will in fact improve graphics performance slightly as shared graphics memory does cause a bottleneck in all cards that use it including 320M, 9400M and HD3000. __________________ Early 2011 Macbook Pro 13" - 2.7Ghz i7 - 8GB RAM - OCZ Vertex 3 240GB (HDD) Samsung Spinpoint M8 1TB 9.5mm (Optibay) - iPad 3G 64GB - iPhone 3GS 32GB
	0

Aug 20, 2011, 12:51 AM	#17
S7A2G6 macrumors member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: America (**** Yeah)	Mine does all that, and it is an 09 model. But I did happen to order the Corsair 8GB from Amazon today. That is how I stumbled upon this forum and registered. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by S7A2G6; Aug 20, 2011 at 01:06 AM. Reason: Added Photo.
	0

Aug 20, 2011, 03:02 AM	#18
2hvy4grvty macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2011	Faster RAM affects onboard graphic performance. This is really the only time I'd recommend getting MORE than 1333 RAM.
	0

Aug 20, 2011, 05:31 AM	#20
stevey69 macrumors member Join Date: Mar 2009	to all the people that own the 2.2 i7 mbp 2011 15" .... is there any heating problems i should be worried about ? i recently placed my order for mbp and I'm expecting a shipment soon but I'm worried that the overheating is gonna trump my mbp experience. my previous mbp used to get hot too.. 08 mbp.. so please help... i am hearing that it doesn't overheat but then with some it does overheat and they have applied thermal paste to make it better... i don't know if i want to do all this.. help please. oh also.. my 2nd choice is a mba 13" i5 256ssd. help. __________________ rmbp 16gb 512ssd, iphone 4S 32gb, iphone 5 32gb, iPad 3 64gb , ipad mini 64gb , ipod nano 16gb 5th gen , Ipod 5.5G 30GB, apple tv 2, apple tv 3
	-1

Aug 20, 2011, 09:21 AM	#23
csjo00 macrumors regular Join Date: May 2010 Location: Arkansas	I upgraded to 8GB earlier this week in my 2010 13" MBP and About this Mac still says 256MB. So either it doesn't work for 2010 MBPs or I need to tweak a setting. __________________ iPhone 5 16GB (AT&T) 13" MacBook Pro (Mid-2012)
	0

Aug 20, 2011, 09:29 AM	#24
DWBurke811 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Boca Raton, FL	It only works on the HD3000 __________________ 7,1 MacBook Pro; 2.4GHz C2D, 120GB OCZ Vertex 3, 8GB Corsair RAM. OS X 10.6.8; UnderVolted, 0.9250V @ 2394MHz. iPhone 4; JB 5.0.1, Unlocked. iMod 60GB Gen5 Video; Red Wine Audio Mod, RockBox.
	0

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