actual usable memory of graphics cards

[abhichotu.abhi]

hi guyz..

i came to know from a computer expert that actual memory of graphics card is lower then as mentioned..
i mean to say that::
in a 512MB graphics card, 256MB of those 512MB will be used by system and only 256MB is actually used by graphics card for generating the images\graphics..
but i donot agree with above point plz clear if the above is true or not::

[Macarenas]

It is true that some amount of memory is used by System but rest all memory is free so that you can use it for your needs. System wont use 256 MB if you are having 512 MB graphics card. It use only some sort of memory to load windows appearance. It is true that actual memory is less then mentioned but it is manufacturing defect. In any product you wont get full memory, It is applicable for HDD and RAM also. So to get maximum memory use the quality products.

[Birdie]

The size of graphic card memory differs. I have also heard that, system uses some amount of energy. If you are using 1GB ram then system will use 0.1% of RAM. You will never get full memory. You must be using some memory cards, just check it out, if you are using 512 MB card, it will never show you that memory size is 512MB, it will show upto 480MB, the rest memory is used for graphics, images generation.