Share RAM with Graphics

[Hemal Das]

hi,
I have an old computer (Pentium 4 at 1.8) in which I have maxed the RAM at 1GB,I have on-board video,I was looking into getting a PCI video card with maybe 256 or 128 mb of memory,i was wondering if it was possible to share my ram memory with my video memory with this type of computer or if just upgrading my video card possible.If so, is there anyway to control the amount of memory shared? How?

Any recommendations and suggestions are appreciated.Thanks in advance for your help!!!

[MattyBoy]

I have an old computer (Pentium 4 at 1.8) in which I have maxed the RAM at 1GB,I have on-board video,I was looking into getting a PCI video card with maybe 256 or 128 mb of memory,i was wondering if it was possible to share my ram memory with my video memory with this type of computer or if just upgrading my video card possible.If so, is there anyway to control the amount of memory shared? How?

when you start your pc go into BIOS and then look for Graphics Apertexture(sp?) Cache, and select how much memory you want to share, I think the maximum you can share is half of your total Ram.

[Russell]

hi,
The shared memory is nothing but the memory use integrated graphics adapters.you can limit the amount of ram of the adapter in the bios option.Nvidia and ATI came up with different names for it, nvidia turbocaching, it specify that the graphics adapters require the necessary ram to run program from the system ram not the VRAM. it also takes the processor power from the cpu.unlike most of the adapter contain amount of dedicated vram but not enough to handle everything. it doesn't require ram or processing power.

[SecRecy]

Onboard graphics cards always share the computer RAM,If you have more than 512 MB then you can dedicate a resonable amount like 64 or 128 MB for the graphics card.