How to Check VRAM Usage on Windows 11

VRAM stands for Video Random Access Memory. The VRAM installed on your computer helps load and run programs that are graphic-intensive in nature.

Different programs require different amounts of video memory installed on your computer to efficiently run the programs. High VRAM is usually required by photo/video editing apps and games.

Thankfully it is quite simple to check the VRAM installed on your system. However, before you head to check the installed video memory on your system, you must understand what exactly it is and what function it performs.

What is VRAM? How does it Work?

VRAM is a physically installed component on your computer. As mentioned above VRAMs have different capacities that enable graphical processing.

Video card or VRAM computes a program’s graphical data and then transfers it to the CPU. This allows better performance of the computer and RAM overload.

VRAM is typically installed as a modular setup in desktop computers where you can simply swap the chip for a better one. Whereas, on laptop computers, it is typically soldered on the motherboard.

To add to that, many modern laptop computers are equipped with a secondary graphics card as well that can handle extensive graphic computation.

Now that you are acquainted with VRAM, below are some quick ways to check the currently installed video card on your system.

1. Using the Task Manager to Check VRAM Usage

You can easily check the current usage of your video card right from the Task Manager. Though there are other methods, this one is by far the most convenient.

Head to the Start Menu and type Task Manager to perform a search. After that, click on the ‘Task Manager’ tile to continue. Alternatively, you can also press the Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys together on your keyboard to open it.

Now, click on the ‘Performance Monitor’ tab from the left sidebar to continue.

You will now be able to see not only the current usage of your GPU but also the temperature as well.

2. Using a Third-Party App to Check VRAM Usage

In case you are not able to learn the VRAM usage using the Task Manager on your computer, you can also use a third-party app. GPU Shark is one such third-party app.

First, head to www.geeks3d.com/645 using your preferred browser. Then, click on the ‘Download’ option to initiate the download.

After that, head to the downloaded .ZIP file.

Next, double-click on the gpushark.exe file to launch the app. This will bring an alert to your screen.

Now, from the alert window, click on the ‘Run’ button to proceed.

After that, you can see the current usage of the GPU along with other metrics on the screen.

How to Check How Much VRAM is Installed?

If you want to know how much VRAM is installed on your system, there are a few ways to do so on Windows 11.

1. Use the Settings App

You can quickly get information about the graphics card installed on your system from the Display option.

First, head to the Start Menu and launch the Settings app by clicking on its tile. Otherwise, press the Windows+I keys together on your keyboard to open the app.

Now, make sure you have selected the ‘System’ tab from the left sidebar to proceed.

Next, from the right section of the window, click on the ‘Display’ tile to continue.

Now, scroll down to locate and click on the ‘Advanced display’ tile.

Finally, you can see the manufacturer and model number of your graphics card on the ‘Internal Display’ tile. To get more details on your graphics card, click the ‘Display adapter properties for Display 1’ option. This will open a separate window on your screen.

Note: If your Windows computer has more than one graphics card installed, the Settings app will show information only for the primary graphics card.

From the opened window, you will see all information related to the graphics card installed on your device.

2. Use the System Information Tool

As the name suggests, the tool provides you with all the information regarding the hardware installed on your system. If you don’t know how many video cards your system has, you can use this method to easily find out.

First, press the Windows+R shortcut keys on your keyboard to bring up the Run command. After that, type msinfo32 in the text box and hit Enter to proceed. This will open a separate window on your screen.

Now, from the ‘System Information’ window, click to expand the ‘Components’ section located on the left section of the window. Then, select the ‘Display’ option from the expanded list.

You will now see the list of all video cards installed on your system and the information related to them.

3. Run the DirectX Diagnostic Tool

In case you do not feel comfortable or are not able to learn the information regarding the installed video cards on your system using the method above, you can launch the DirectX Diagnostic tool and easily know about it.

To proceed, first, press the Windows+R keys together on your keyboard to bring up the Run Command utility. Then type dxdiag and hit Enter on your keyboard. This will bring up the DirectX Diagnostic tool window on your screen.