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What command I can use to check my graphics card's memory? I have an on-board Intel Graphics card, and I am unsure if it's memory is 128 MB or 256 MB!

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3 Answers 3

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lspci -v | less

Search for VGA or Graphics

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  • I just ran the command on another machine with 512 MB graphics memory and I got the following output: 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G86 [GeForce 8400 GS] (rev a1) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16 Memory at f2000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M] Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M] Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32M] I/O ports at 1100 [size=128] How can I make out it's 512 MB now?
    – Chethan S.
    Apr 8, 2011 at 5:36
  • I am sure that it's indeed 512 MB since the NVIDIA X Server Settings shows 512 MB under Graphics card information.
    – Chethan S.
    Apr 8, 2011 at 5:37
  • @Chethan: Are you its 512MB discrete? It may be 256 discrete and 256 shared.
    – N 1.1
    Apr 8, 2011 at 5:42
  • @N 1.1 not sure, it just says Processor: GeForce 8400 GS, CUDA Cores: 16, Memory: 512 MB and so on in NVIDIA X Server Settings.
    – Chethan S.
    Apr 8, 2011 at 5:51
  • @Chethan: nvidia.com/object/geforce_8400_Gs_faq.html It says 256MB.
    – N 1.1
    Apr 8, 2011 at 6:01
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If it is an Intel integrated GPU, then it would be using a unified memory model where there is no dedicated graphics memory, and instead main memory is used. More information can be found on Wikipedia

So the answer is either 0MB or however much main memory you have in the machine, depending on your point of view.

With the modern drivers, the actual amount of memory used by the GPU will vary with the work load: there isn't a fixed amount set aside for the card.

Note: since this question was asked, Intel has released a GPU with its own memory: the Iris Pro Graphics 5200, which has some DRAM embedded on the chip. All other GPUs still rely on main memory.

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  • Coudld you add sources to your answer please? From OSX I learned that Sandy Bridge Processor have a fixed amount of memory reserved for the video depending on the total amount of installed memory. (e.g. 8GB -> 512MB video memory).
    – king_julien
    Sep 18, 2013 at 7:42
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    @king_julien: I've added a link to the Wikipedia article, and also a note about a GPU Intel released after the question was asked that includes embedded DRAM.
    – James Henstridge
    Sep 18, 2013 at 9:20
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In a terminal run the following command line:

grep -i --color memory /var/log/Xorg.0.log

and with gedit read the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file.

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  • I doubt that will show his Graphics card details.
    – Braiam
    Sep 8, 2013 at 9:37

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