Windows 11 running ‘entirely’ from VRAM
Modder and software developer NTDEV demonstrates the capabilities of a modded Windows 11 operating system that he created called Tiny11. This is a stripped-down operating system with limited memory requirements.
Thanks to a third-party tool called GpuRamDrive he managed to store the whole system on laptop GPU memory. This tool creates a RAM disc which in this case is stored in VGA memory, not system memory like similar tools. The Tiny11 OS installation does not require more than 4GB of space, which is why it can even fit onto GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU 4GB buffer easily.
Of course, the OS stored this way still needs standard system memory to work, but this demonstration shows that VGA memory is now capable of delivering very fast and quick deployment of the operating system. And this is possible with very high sequential read speed reaching as high as 1960 MB/s and write speed up to 2497 MB/s. However, it is worth noting that this RTX 3050 GPU is the lowest tier in the Ampere mobile lineup and only has 14 Gbps memory attached to 128-bit.
Tiny11 on RTX 3050 Laptop GPU, Source: NTDev
Of course, just like any other RAM disc, instances stored in VRAM do not have a persistent state, so all data saved in such an operating system will be gone once the system is restarted.
Source: NTDEV via Tom’s Hardware
