Can an Onboard Video Card Handle it...?

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JESSE1408

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Apr 22, 2017
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My title is somewhat clickbait (so I think...) but I've looked up my question on Google and every single inquire for this question has answers but those answers are tailored to computer games and that is NOT what I'm after. I'm quite aware of games' requirements and how all that works.

All my question is, which is simple; can you watch 1080p video (or higher...) with JUST 64MB of VRAM from Onboard Graphics cards? (to add; this is even more interesting to know for monitors that don't even do 1080p)

There isn't really anything graphical behind a video other than maybe acceleration for the processor and I know that the processor is what does most of the... processing for the video but surely one needs adequate video ram even for videos... Am I wrong?
 
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The screen tearing problem you mentioned my simply be a screen problem. You said its a 1440x 900 screen. 1920x1080 may not be displaying properly. Have you tried 720p? Does 720 have the same issue. I used to have an i7 2nd gen. on igpu with a 1080p monitor it worked fine for me.
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So uh. How do you even get 64 MB of VRAM anyway?
 
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You will need to understand that video also has compressed layers within them and part of the load falls on the CPU and the GPU. At this point, you should try it for yourself since that would give you an understanding whether YouTube and onboard(saved on storage media) viewing demands more from your GPU.
 
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Video games are way harder on GPUs (Or IGPs) than video is. So if they can do video games what makes you think they can't handle videos? The IGP can probably handle the decode, if not the CPU will.

One thing I worry about is you said 64MB. That screams to me a very old IGP. Like from the C2D days. If that's the case than you'll have issues playing back .265 for sure and possibly .264 encoded videos. (DVDs will be fine.) Because the GPU/IGP can't handle these videos it will be up to the CPU to do it, and if it's an old C2D it might have issues. To be honest I haven't tried to play x.265 videos with a CPU that old. If it's a modern system you'll be fine.
 
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Theoretically, you might be able to...but it might depend on your hardware & its capabilities.

According to 1 article I found (http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/need-highquality-video-card-1080p-25616.html), Intel claims you only need 64MB of VRAM to run a single monitor at 1080p resolution...but it also says that with Windows 7 you would technically need 128MB of VRAM.

The first thing to check is the maximum resolution on your integrated graphics. If it doesn't even show 1080p (1920x1080) as being available, then chances are it won't run. If it's available, try playing the video fullscreen & seeing if it looks smooth or not.
 
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If I were talking about modern(ish) desktops I'd agree with you about changing the amount but in this case I'm referring to an older desktop and a modern(ish) laptop.

The desktop would be a Dell OptiPlex GX280 with "GMA" graphics I think it is, sporting 64MB of ram (with no way to change that in the BIOS) and a Lenovo ThinkPad T520 15" laptop with 64MB of ram, although I've been told several times that laptops tend to take their vram from your actual ram and this laptop has 4GB in it so in theory if I put 8GB of ram it would probably go up to 128MB of vram.

My question and partial concern arises from a situation I had with a different laptop also sporting 64MB of vram.

When I got the laptop I was watching video on YouTube at 1080p while the native resolution of the laptop was either 1440x900 or 1368x??? and after watching several videos I began to notice the videos had screen tearing in them... I'm not sure if that's because I used up all the vram or if the processor couldn't handle the 1080p (which I find unlikely as most processors seem to support higher resolutions such as 2560x1600). I also tried to play a game which wanted 512MB as a minimum spec, so that was dumb of me to try but maybe that's what did it or contributed to it. So having said all that, I've been cautious with video resolution and vram since because I'm not sure what caused it.
 
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That's what I was afraid of. These systems are using older C2D based CPUs if you are lucky. The IGP can't decode more modern x264 or x265 encoded video. I would think 1080 encoded video is going to be too much for them.

I've been told several times that laptops tend to take their vram from your actual ram
Click to expand...

The desktop does as well. All of these older IGPs use system ram. That's a part of what makes them so slow. There is no onboard memory, and there just isn't the processing power either. It's very basic display only. And due to the age, no support for decoding modern codecs. If these are your only options for watching video, I'd suggest lowering the quality to 480. You don't have a 1080 display to view it, and it can help with the CPU decode speed.
 
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Your answer is mostly right concerning the power of older tech. But not about the hardware that's in my machines - not entirely.

The laptop I'm on now Thinkpad T520 has an i5 2540M processor and the laptop I mentioned before also had a 2rd or 3th gen i5 in it both boasting 64MB of vram - and I didn't upgrade either laptop to 8GB as I'm not sure it's even worth my time.

The desktop I had, had a Core2 Duo E8600 in it with 64MB (before I put a dedicated video card in it). That was, I guess you could say, my first gaming computer.

I have a better computer for gaming now but I'd also like something portable that isn't a phone - a big tablet or small/medium sized laptop (either of which needs to have a 1080p/higher display, something I'm very firm with).
 
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If they have Core series CPUs, they don't have that GMA IGP. Any of the core series IGPs should handle modern stuff ok. It's that GMA stuff that will choke. You shouldn't have an issue with core series IGPs playing back video. If you do, try a different player or browser.
 
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They have Intel HD Graphics (####) in them, I presume. But it seems you need at least 8GB of ram to get 128MB of vram. 64MB just seems like the bottom of the food chain considering our advances in technology.

But then to get a laptop with a 1080p display costs a fortune... and a higher resolution is worse.
 
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The screen tearing problem you mentioned my simply be a screen problem. You said its a 1440x 900 screen. 1920x1080 may not be displaying properly. Have you tried 720p? Does 720 have the same issue. I used to have an i7 2nd gen. on igpu with a 1080p monitor it worked fine for me.
 
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720p works fine. So perhaps it was a screen issue but then if 1080p didn't display proper and I switched to 720p... 720p and other video was tearing too... Damage is done, I guess?
 
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