显存全称显示内存，亦称帧缓存，它是用来存储显示芯片处理过或者即将读取的渲染数据。如同计算机的内存一样，显存是用来存储图形数据的硬件。在显示器上显示出的画面是由一个个的像素点构成的，而每个像素点都以4至64位的数据来控制它的亮度和色彩，这些点构成一帧的图形画面。为了保持画面流畅，要输出和要处理的多幅帧的像素数据必须通过显存来保存，达到缓冲效果，再交由显示芯片和中央处理器调配，最后把运算结果转化为图形输出到显示器上。

Video RAM, or VRAM, is a dual-ported variant of dynamic RAM (DRAM), which was once commonly used to store the framebuffer in some graphics adapters.

It was invented by F. Dill, D. Ling and R. Matick at IBM Research in 1980, with a patent issued in 1985 (US Patent 4,541,075). The first commercial use of VRAM was in a high-resolution graphics adapter introduced in 1986 by IBM for the PC/RT system, which set a new standard for graphics displays. Prior to the development of VRAM, dual-ported memory was quite expensive, limiting higher resolution bitmapped graphics to high-end workstations. VRAM improved the overall framebuffer throughput, allowing low cost, high-resolution, high-speed, color graphics. Modern GUI-based operating systems benefitted from this and thus it provided a key ingredient for proliferation of graphic user interfaces throughout the world at that time.