Depending on what flags you use when you load your images it can reside in either system or video mem. I would still suggest more then 4MB video ram because as we all know system mem is slow. You could read the online docs but ill just post you a snippet ;):
Loads an image and returns its handle.
The optional flags parameter can be one of:
1 : managed (image is frequently drawn but seldom modified - this is the default)
2 : dynamic (image is frequently drawn and modified)
4 : scratch (image is seldom drawn or modified)
Managed images are the default.
Dynamic images are the fastest, but can be 'lost' when the display mode changes. This means the
contents of the image will be scrambled, and you will need to restore the image content. If you
are frequently redrawing the image contents, this isn't really a problem. If not, you should use
managed images!
Scratch images are slow all round but consume no videomemory. These are good for things like title
pages and 'temporary work' images.
Note that canvas buffers and back buffers should be considered 'dynamic'.
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