Shared graphics memory in vista

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark
  • Start date Start date
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Mark

I have vista home premium 32bit on my compaq presario desktop with 4gb ram.
I installed a ati graphics card today with its own 1gb which should be more
than enough ram for the kind of things I do since I am not really a serious
gamer and am not into 1st person shooter type games. The problem is vista
insists on using 1gb ram as shared graphics ram so is there anyway to stop
this sharing of graphics ram?
 
32-bit Windows can address a maximum of 4GB. This includes various
system BIOSes and graphics memory, whether shared or physically present
on the card.

With a 1GB graphics card and 32-bit Windows you probably have 2.5-2.8GB
of usable physical memory.

The only way to use all the physical memory you have is to update to a
64-bit version of Windows. There are also some BIOS settings which need
to be enabled but are sometimes not available on systems from Compaq and
others which were only sold with 32-bit versions of Windows.
 
Mark said:
I have vista home premium 32bit on my compaq presario desktop with 4gb ram.
I installed a ati graphics card today with its own 1gb which should be more
than enough ram for the kind of things I do since I am not really a serious
gamer and am not into 1st person shooter type games. The problem is vista
insists on using 1gb ram as shared graphics ram so is there anyway to stop
this sharing of graphics ram?
Click to expand...

Shared ram in vista is just that. If the gfx subsystem needs to use some
it, it will. If your applications needs it, they will get it.
 
Did you shut off the motherboard graphics in the BIOS?
If not I strongly recommend you do so immediately.
 
Did you shut off the motherboard graphics in the BIOS?
If not I strongly recommend you do so immediately.
Click to expand...

Not sure how to do this! I downloaded and installed a bios update on
Thursday as I was recommended to do on the hp website and since then I have
had a bit of an issue with my compaq presario. When you switch it on or
restart for whatever reason it takes an astonishing 5 minutes to load up
windows! Everything is ok when windows eventually does load though.

Can I use the system restore disks to restore the computer to its original
factory state or is there another easier way to fix this possible bios
problem?
 
Mark said:
Not sure how to do this! I downloaded and installed a bios update on
Thursday as I was recommended to do on the hp website and since then I have
had a bit of an issue with my compaq presario. When you switch it on or
restart for whatever reason it takes an astonishing 5 minutes to load up
windows! Everything is ok when windows eventually does load though.

Can I use the system restore disks to restore the computer to its original
factory state or is there another easier way to fix this possible bios
problem?
Click to expand...

You can not reverse a BIOS update.
 
Mark said:
My adapter information says

Total available graphics memory 2431MB
Dedicated Video memory 1024mb
System video memory 0mb
Shared system memory 1407mb
Click to expand...

And that is just fine. Don't worry more about it. Your applications will
use it if they need it.
 
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