Apple “Unified Memory” vs Shared Memory of Integrated Graphics like Intel Xe

Viewing 1 reply thread
  • Author
    Posts
    • Flicker
        #66342

        So, Apple advertises unified memory of their newer MacBooks like it’s a new feature. Hasn’t memory sharing between the CPU and GPU already been in use for years in laptops with integrated graphics, like the Iris Xe? It uses the system RAM together with the CPU.

      • Dan
          #66343

          In shortest possible way to describe: the traditional shared memory means a portion of RAM is reserved for the GPU, while in Apple’s unified memory both GPU and OS can access the entire RAM. That speeds up things by avoiding unnecessary data copying to the specific graphics-reserved part of RAM so the GPU can access it, as far as I understood, based on this useful thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27182715

          The question remains whether current apps and games for Macs can actually utilize this advantage.

      Viewing 1 reply thread
      Reply To: Apple “Unified Memory” vs Shared Memory of Integrated Graphics like Intel Xe
      Your information: