Video memory and monitor resolutions

It's well known that running a game in a higher resolution requires a more powerful graphics card, but what about for non-gaming purposes? Would sitting at the Windows desktop on a 1920x1200 display require more video memory than sitting at the desktop on an 800x600 display?

 

Yes.

....................

 

I don't know the technicality but you're displaying more so definitely, it probably won't lag your system like the way it would in a game but it would definitely use more memory

 

Yes, but the difference is negligible.

32 bit color assumed, it's pretty standard.
1920x1200 pixels
32 bits per pixel
8 bits per byte
1024 bytes per kilobyte
1024 kilobytes per megabyte

1920x1200 pixels = 2304000 total pixels x 32 bits = 73728000 bits
73728000/8 = 9216000 bytes
9216000/1024 = 9000 kb
9000/8 = ~8.79 mb

So even a full color desktop at 1920x1200 will use nowhere near the amount of memory even integrated graphics have these days. Having more than you need allows for faster redraws (no lag in movement) but that is primarily taken care of by the GPU.

If you're curious 800x600 would be ~1.83 mb.

If I messed up a calculation (and I usually do, I hate math) please correct me.

 

For 2D applications, any video card can handle practically any number of monitors (even though the hardware is usually limited to 2 monitors per card). You need *about* 8MB of video RAM for any single monitor, and *about* 13-16MB of video RAM for dual monitor configurations.

In other words, do not worry about it.