Is it possible to view the data in the Graphics Card's memory?

Question

Is it possible to view what textures are currently being loaded into the RAM of the Graphics Card? For instance, if you open 2-3 highly intensive 3D games, is it possible to view the textures of these games in the RAM of the Graphics Card?

Answer 1

Yes, this is possible, although not necessarily easy. What you need is a program that will give access to the state of the graphics card.

I recommend trying PIX for Windows. In theory it should work with any Direct3D application, but in practice it can be buggy and temperamental. To install:

1. Install the DirectX SDK
2. Enable the debug runtime from the DirectX Control Panel
3. Use PIX for Windows to inspect the target program

Other options:

For NVIDIA cards, you could try NVIDIA PerfHUD, but this requires support built into the application, which most likely won't work for you.

For ATI cards, you could try GPU PerfStudio. I haven't tried it myself so I'm not sure that it will work for what you're looking for, but the site claims there is "No special build required for your application", so it might be worth a shot.

Answer 2

That would depend on the card.

Since many cards (such as those from NVIDIA) have processors which you can write programs for, it is likely that you could put a program there that will interrogate memory and return it to your program.