How to determine graphics memory that is in use

I have recently installed Windows 7 64 bit on my computer. I was initially running Windows XP but I wanted to test the newer version of Windows and so installed this on my computer. However, I recently came to know that Windows 7 consumes a lot of graphics memory and so I would like to monitor how much memory it utilizes and is my system capable of handling it. But the only concerned to me is how to note this? How can I come to know how much graphics memory is in use and if possible can I provide extra memory to it to improve system performance?

Most of the graphics applications, even games, do not utilize much graphics memory in order to operate properly. So it depends how much your graphics memory is in use. The factor that affects video memory includes pre-allocated memory set on your computer. It also depends on DVMT which is dynamically assigns system resources to be utilized as video memory. This helps a lot when you are on 2D/3D graphics.

If you don't have any dedicated graphics card installed on your computer and if you are using Intel graphics chips then the graphics memory that is in use depends on the configuration from the manufacturer. It can be a constant value or may be up to the maximum amount. This value is not assigned by a user but by the computer manufacturer. He can set it to fixed value, or a dynamic value, or it may even be a mix of both. To check how much graphics memory your computer can reach press Ctrl+Alt+F12 keys at the same time and click on the Information button at the bottom-left of the window.

To know this, you can use MSI Afterburner. It will run on your graphics card even if you don't have MSI model. This utility is developed by MSI and Rivatuner. Rivatuner is a well-known company which provides such kind of tools to better know about your components. This utility allows all the graphics card users to boost performance and even to know about all kind of critical information in real-time. It is a free utility and is compatible with almost all of the graphics cards present in the market.

The graphics memory can be adjusted from system BIOS. However, even though you can make the necessary changes to increase/decrease video memory from BIOS, this doesn't mean that you will gain any performance for Windows 7. This can only be affected if you include graphics ram. Once you have added your video ram you can easily notice some performance difference on your computer.