OK to use 16-bit instead of 32-bit color?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Don
  • Start date Start date
D

Don

QUESTION-1:
I there any advantage of setting 16 bit color instead of 32 bit color in
XP's Display Settings?

QUESTION-2:
My PC is a bit slow and I was wondering if this would help the PC by
taking a load off it somewere. Is this right?

Alternatively, perhaps going from 32 to 16 would help free up memory and
provide more stability?

QUESTION-3:
If I did this then would I notice the difference in colors in some
applications?

Thank you.



I am running this:
XP Pro/SP2
VIA 266a mobo with Duron 1800 and 768 MB.
Old GeForce2 4 MB graphics card.
XO's display setting is 1152x864 at 72 MHz.
 
QUESTION-1:
I there any advantage of setting 16 bit color instead of 32 bit color in
XP's Display Settings?

QUESTION-2:
My PC is a bit slow and I was wondering if this would help the PC by
taking a load off it somewere. Is this right?

Alternatively, perhaps going from 32 to 16 would help free up memory and
provide more stability?

QUESTION-3:
If I did this then would I notice the difference in colors in some
applications?
Click to expand...
1) No.
2) No.
2b)None that you can use.
3) DEFINITELY.
 
Don said:
QUESTION-1:
I there any advantage of setting 16 bit color instead of 32 bit color in
XP's Display Settings?

QUESTION-2:
My PC is a bit slow and I was wondering if this would help the PC by
taking a load off it somewere. Is this right?

Alternatively, perhaps going from 32 to 16 would help free up memory and
provide more stability?

QUESTION-3:
If I did this then would I notice the difference in colors in some
applications?

I am running this:
XP Pro/SP2
VIA 266a mobo with Duron 1800 and 768 MB.
Old GeForce2 4 MB graphics card.
XO's display setting is 1152x864 at 72 MHz.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Your questions hint that you already know the answers.
Sure, reducing color depth means less info to shuffle
around, at the expense of display quality for images.

The best answer is to test it yourself and see. It won't
take long to test it. Make sure to use whatever image or
video programs you use, so you can see the effect it has.

As for a complaint about slow performance, is it video performance
that is slow, or the whole computer that is slow ? For the
video card, you can download Powerstrip from Entechtaiwan.com ,
and use their Options window to check your video card settings.
(I think you can evaluate the program for some length of time,
but mine expired long ago.) This is the screen you'd be
interested in (Options:Adapter Info). It tells you whether
certain things are set in the hardware. For example, a
Transfer Mode: Disabled, would be a bad thing. DMA or DIME is OK.

http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpfix/powerstrip2.gif

When the whole computer is slow, sometimes that is caused
by the hard drive being in PIO mode, instead of DMA. PIO
mode reduces data transfer rate to 4MB/sec and increases
program loading times. Another cause would be if the
processor caches are disabled, but it is pretty hard to
manage to do that to a system.

Paul
 
Don > said:
QUESTION-1:
I there any advantage of setting 16 bit color instead of 32 bit color in
XP's Display Settings?

QUESTION-2:
My PC is a bit slow and I was wondering if this would help the PC by
taking a load off it somewere. Is this right?

Alternatively, perhaps going from 32 to 16 would help free up memory and
provide more stability?

QUESTION-3:
If I did this then would I notice the difference in colors in some
applications?
Click to expand...


Why don't you just change it and find out?
 
QUESTION-1:
I there any advantage of setting 16 bit color instead of 32 bit color in
XP's Display Settings?
Click to expand...

Not with your video card, but with some integrated video it
would reduce memory throughput requirements.


QUESTION-2:
My PC is a bit slow and I was wondering if this would help the PC by
taking a load off it somewere. Is this right?
Click to expand...

Gaming might be faster in 16 bit mode, "maybe" playing back
very high resolution video, but otherwise no.


Alternatively, perhaps going from 32 to 16 would help free up memory and
provide more stability?
Click to expand...

No, if you have video related instability changing with a
change to/from 16 or 32 bit mode, I'd suspect the
application as the cause, or maybe the video driver (but
this is doubtful, there are no reports of any such problems
with any remotely recent nVidia driver AFAIK).

QUESTION-3:
If I did this then would I notice the difference in colors in some
applications?
Click to expand...

Yes, in 16 bit mode it's fairly easy to see banding in color
gradients. You should use 32bit unless 16 is required to
sustain a playable framerate in a game.

I am running this:
XP Pro/SP2
VIA 266a mobo with Duron 1800 and 768 MB.
Old GeForce2 4 MB graphics card.
XO's display setting is 1152x864 at 72 MHz.
Click to expand...

All Geforce2 cards have more than 4MB memory. IIRC, 32MB
was the least.
 
kony said:
Not with your video card, but with some integrated video it
would reduce memory throughput requirements.
Click to expand...

That depends on usage. My primary purpose is text, and I find that
using 256 color settings improves the visibility of low intensity
text. In addition I am partially color-blind. Just try things.
 
I found that when I changed the color depth to 16-bit it lengthend my
laptop's battery life a little (just in case you're talking about a laptop).


---Matthew Hicks
 
Yes, reducing the color bits will take a load off of your old underpowered
video card.
Click to expand...


False. Either the card has enough fill rate or it doesn't,
a GF2 is quite more than enough for 2D work. It's merely
too slow for semi-modern gaming or assisted HD video.
 
All Geforce2 cards have more than 4MB memory. IIRC, 32MB
was the least.
Click to expand...


You know my video card better than I do!

I was going from memory and I should have said "MX 400" rather than "4
MB". I don't think I know the GeForce's memory.

All I know from my hardware reporting tools is that the video card's
BIOS is v3.11 which dates from July 26, 2000.
 
Why don't you just change it and find out?
Click to expand...

I know wat you say is the acid test but it may be that the difference
only occurs under certain circumstances and fnally when that happens
then I would not what the image looked like under the alternative
setting!
 
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