Does a IGPU "steal" your ram even if your not using it?

So i need a software wich needs atleast 8gigs of ram and im considering to a laptop with a intel core i5 10th gen with igpu and a nvidia mx330 dgpu and i am now unshure wheter the igpu still uses the 2 or so gigs of ram or not because the laptop i am looking at has 8gigs of soldered ram

i know this may be a stupid question but i dont know that much about pcs i know more about phones.

XGBC

 

It by default takes 128 MB if it's on at all at least with older HD 4000 series GPUs. Newer ones do the same thing I think.

 

If the laptop can use the integrated GPU i.e. the laptop supports Nvidia Optimus, yes, the integrated card will still borrow system memory for itself as it will be in use unless you're running apps that engage the GeForce card.

According to GPU-Z, the integrated UHD 620 in my laptop is using 242MB right now. I have a 1200p external monitor connected and am just browsing these forums.

Either way I'd avoid a laptop with just 8GB of RAM that isn't upgradeable. Get one with at least 16GB. The PC will have better performance especially if you like to run multiple apps at the same time. With just 8GB, Windows 10 (which is what you'll be running, I presume) will be drawing heavily on the page file and won't be able to respond as fast.

Charles

 

This is the best response I've seen.

@XG BC
Since you need software which requires 8GB RAM, I don't think that the iGP using some of the system RAM for itself will impact software performance by much (or prevent it from running - the 8GB requirements are usually recommendations - software should still run on less than the recommended amount of RAM)... however, in this day and age, you should really have 16GB RAM (at least) in your system.
8GB is fine if you don't do more than simple browsing, some document editing and basic productivity (productivity workloads should function ok on systems with just 8GB RAM as I've done plenty of productivity on a laptop with 8GB and relatively old Intel iGP), but you should consider upgrading to 16GB at least.

Depending on the laptop you have, it might be possible for you to upgrade the RAM to 16GB at least (given it already has 8GB soldered).
If you can post your laptop model number, we should be able to discern whether or not it has an empty RAM slot.... but if you have not bought the laptop yet (or might even be considering getting a new one), you could answer questions in the section of the forum named: 'What Notebook Should I Buy?'

 

From what I understand, Intel graphics reserves a certain amount of RAM for itself (256-512 MB usually, but can be more), then dynamically uses as much as it needs/can get.

 

The 8GB requirement is mostly to be sure that if you startup the PC and the OS is fully loaded you will be able to open the program you intend to run and it should work. Now if you want other programs open in the background they may fail and close if there isn't enough ram available to support them concurrently.

Focus on the CPU/GPU and then go shopping for RAM later... you can get 32GB DDR4 for about $100-130 these days.