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How does shared graphics memory work?

It is my understanding that when you set how much system memory to share with the graphics controller in the BIOS, this then becomes invisible to the OS, So this makes me wonder how the OS assigns this memory range to the graphics controller if it can't see it.

I looked at my Intel graphics controller on my PC and noticed it is enumerated by PCI. I thought the PCI bus driver ran when the OS was loaded and the PCI driver asked the OS what hardware resources to assign.

Can anyone offer an explanation as to how shared graphics memory works it would be greatly appreciated?

Thanks.

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  • It doesn't hide it from the OS, it makes it appear as video RAM instead of system RAM. Feb 17, 2014 at 0:25
  • @techie007 Thanks, the thing I'm struggling to understand is what configures the graphics controller. If it is a PCI device wouldn't PCI.sys (on Windows) ask the PnP manager what hardware resources to assign to the controller? or does the firmware configure the controller and that then can request what resources to be assigned.
    – RJSmith92
    Feb 17, 2014 at 13:14

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