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512 MB graphic card?


teddy123

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are there any bad things with having 512MB graphic memory instead of

the normal 256MB with win98?

will there be less memory adresses left for normal memory or something?

(I'm choosing here between two ASUS Geforce7600GS silent, one that have 256MB

and one that have 512MB and they cost allmost the same...)

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To my knowledge video card memory should not make any difference, no matter which OS you're using.

It is system memory (DRAM = Dynamic RAM) you should worry about.

98 SE + ME Oses support [depending on your specific hardware] up to 2 GB of RAM, but it's tricky, and you need a few system.ini + registry tricks to make it work.

There are a bunch of topics in this forum that discuss these RAM issues.

HTH

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what is worrying me is a little comment at the end of Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q253912

(about cache size and more than 512MB memory):

"This problem may occur more readily with Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) video adapters because the AGP aperture is also mapped to addresses in the system arena. For example, if Vcache is using a maximum cache size of 800 MB and an AGP video adapter has a 128-MB aperture mapped, there is very little address space remaining for the other system code and data that must occupy this range of virtual addresses"

and a little earlier in the text:

"The Windows 32-bit protected-mode cache driver (Vcache) determines the maximum cache size based on the amount of RAM that is present when Windows starts. Vcache then reserves enough memory addresses to permit it to access a cache of the maximum size so that it can increase the cache to that size if needed. These addresses are allocated in a range of virtual addresses from 0xC0000000 through 0xFFFFFFFF (3 to 4 gigabytes) known as the system arena.

On computers with large amounts of RAM, the maximum cache size can be large enough that Vcache consumes all of the addresses in the system arena, leaving no virtual memory addresses available for other functions such as opening an MS-DOS prompt (creating a new virtual machine)."

...will that mean that if my graphic card have 512MB memory, there will only be 512MB left for

cache *and* dos-programs-in-windows *together*?

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Do not confuse system RAM with video RAM, they are completely separate entities.

System RAM (DRAM) or memory is the amount of memory on your motherboard [memory chips/sticks].

Video RAM [DDR(2 or 3) or GRAM or GDDR(2 or 3) etc] is the amount of memory on your video card/controller.

AGP [Accelerated Graphics Port, trademarked by Intel] = the video port through which the video controller connects to your motherboard.

Most BIOSes that support AGP, have a setting [AGP Aperture Size, AGP Shared Memory etc, depending on the mobo type/model] to adjust the amount of shared system memory which is used by the video controller, on top of the video card's own video memory.

Usually, these settings are 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 MB etc, depending on how much system memory you have on your motherboard.

You can adjust this shared memory amount to whatever you wish [up to about 1/2 of your system memory], but it cannot be decreased to less than 32 or 64 MB on most mobos.

For example, if your vid card has 512 MB memory, you should decrease the shared AGP memory in your BIOS to the smallest value available.

If your vid card has little video memory, lets' say only 64 MB, you should increase the shared AGP memory in the BIOS to ~ 128 MB or even 256 MB, depending on how much system memory you have, and on what kind of graphics intensive programs/games you use.

Save your BIOS changes and reboot.

More info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGP

http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/Speed_Demon...erture_Size.htm

Similar discussion:

http://www.msfn.org/board/?showtopic=102627

HTH

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