shared system video memory in vista

cochdu21

hello, first i'd like you to excuse my english because i'm french.

so i wanted to know what is "shared system video memory" and how to remove it?
I learned it was RAM that was used to help the graphic card that is new with
windows vista, but am I loosing this ram in the games or is it not important?

i have an asus F3JM AK022H with geforcego7600 (512mo dedicated memory) and
2go RAM.

In my graphic card properties it's noticed that i have 512mo dedicated video
memory, 0mo system memory, 767mo shared system video memory and 1279mo total
graphic memory (the 512 of my GC and the 767 "shared system video memory")

So my question is : do I loose those 767mo of RAM during my games? (i don't
think my CG needs more memory since it already has 512mo dedicated), and I
have only 2go RAM so if I loose 767mo i don't have much RAM left.
And can I change this setting or disable it?

Thank you for the help you could bring me!

Mark L. Ferguson

During gaming, the best possible use for your Ram is to help your video.

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..

"cochdu21" <> wrote in message
news:...
> hello, first i'd like you to excuse my english because i'm french.
>
> so i wanted to know what is "shared system video memory" and how to remove
> it?
> I learned it was RAM that was used to help the graphic card that is new
> with
> windows vista, but am I loosing this ram in the games or is it not
> important?
>
> i have an asus F3JM AK022H with geforcego7600 (512mo dedicated memory) and
> 2go RAM.
>
> In my graphic card properties it's noticed that i have 512mo dedicated
> video
> memory, 0mo system memory, 767mo shared system video memory and 1279mo
> total
> graphic memory (the 512 of my GC and the 767 "shared system video memory")
>
> So my question is : do I loose those 767mo of RAM during my games? (i
> don't
> think my CG needs more memory since it already has 512mo dedicated), and I
> have only 2go RAM so if I loose 767mo i don't have much RAM left.
> And can I change this setting or disable it?
>
> Thank you for the help you could bring me!

cochdu21

yes I know ram is used to help video, but it's not the same kind as graphic
card memory.
so i wanted to know if my ram considered as "shared system video memory" was
really usefull and what is the difference between that ram and the rest of my
ram (i have 2go and 767mo are considered shared)
so will my computer be more fast if all my ram was used as normal ram and
not as memory to ease my graphic card?





"Mark L. Ferguson" wrote:

> During gaming, the best possible use for your Ram is to help your video.
>
> --
> Was this helpful? Then click the Ratings button. Voting helps the web
> interface.
>
> Mark L. Ferguson

Mark L. Ferguson

You did not ask if the 'system' would go faster, you asked if the game would
do better. Games do better with more video ram. As I told you before, the
best use of the ram you have is for video, as far as games go. If you were
talking about working a spreadsheet calculation, the opposite would be true.
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Mark L. Ferguson
..

"cochdu21" <> wrote in message
news:...
> yes I know ram is used to help video, but it's not the same kind as
> graphic
> card memory.
> so i wanted to know if my ram considered as "shared system video memory"
> was
> really usefull and what is the difference between that ram and the rest of
> my
> ram (i have 2go and 767mo are considered shared)
> so will my computer be more fast if all my ram was used as normal ram and
> not as memory to ease my graphic card?
>
>
>
>
>
> "Mark L. Ferguson" wrote:
>
>> During gaming, the best possible use for your Ram is to help your video.
>>
>> --
>> Was this helpful? Then click the Ratings button. Voting helps the web
>> interface.
>>
>> Mark L. Ferguson
>

cochdu21

ok thank you for your fast answers.
and can you tell me how i can change this setting to increase/decrease the
shared system video memory to look how it is in game (because if the higher
the better, why is it set only at 767mo instead i have 2go? what about the
ram left when I play?)
I already tried to look for something in my bios but there is no option for
it.


"Mark L. Ferguson" wrote:

> You did not ask if the 'system' would go faster, you asked if the game would
> do better. Games do better with more video ram. As I told you before, the
> best use of the ram you have is for video, as far as games go. If you were
> talking about working a spreadsheet calculation, the opposite would be true.
> --
> Was this helpful? Then click the Ratings button. Voting helps the web
> interface.
>
> Mark L. Ferguson

Charlie Tame

Mark L. Ferguson wrote:
> You did not ask if the 'system' would go faster, you asked if the game
> would do better. Games do better with more video ram. As I told you
> before, the best use of the ram you have is for video, as far as games
> go. If you were talking about working a spreadsheet calculation, the
> opposite would be true.


There is not much info on the NVidia FAQ about this that I could see,
buy I suspect that either the card driver or Vista can change this
allocation dynamically. I have not seen a way for the user to set it.


I suspect that "Shared" is intended to mean "Shared", not "Stolen".

Google did find this post in a forum at techarena

> I will do my best to clear this up for people as it greatly concerned me as well. I was using Vista 32bit with 2Gb of ram. My system was sharing 756Mb of my ram to Video and with some lazy research I found that 64bit Vista would allow for more ram to be used...so I upgraded to 64bit and bought another 2Gb of ram (4Gb total). Now my shared memory is 1780Mb. I nearly threw the PC out of the window. Well, forums all over say a million different things so I swallowed my pride and readied my Visa and called Microsoft Technical Support. (it ended up not costing me)
>
> Vista does share a large chunk of your system memory for Video Purposes. However, Vista does not work the same way we are used to with onboard video solutions. Shared memory in Vista does not mean the memory is gone purely to video. In fact, it is hardly ever used for video purposes unless you do a lot of modeling, rendering, or play games at extremely high settings. (or just have a very low end video card) The memory is primarily still used for every day computer useage which is why you do not notice any slowdown on your system, and if you have, it's highly unlikely that it is because your memory is being shared. I wish I could explain it better but if this doesn't ease your concerns you can always call them...they seem to love talking about how wonderful they're memory design is.

Mark L. Ferguson

There is no setting for it. Vista allocates a percentage, based on what you
have, and what is available. Adding Ram is never bad. Probably the cheapest
way to speed it up is to add a Flash ram thumb drive, and use "readyBoost"
for Virtual Memory.

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Mark L. Ferguson
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"cochdu21" <> wrote in message
news:...
> ok thank you for your fast answers.
> and can you tell me how i can change this setting to increase/decrease the
> shared system video memory to look how it is in game (because if the
> higher
> the better, why is it set only at 767mo instead i have 2go? what about the
> ram left when I play?)
> I already tried to look for something in my bios but there is no option
> for
> it.
>
>
> "Mark L. Ferguson" wrote:
>
>> You did not ask if the 'system' would go faster, you asked if the game
>> would
>> do better. Games do better with more video ram. As I told you before, the
>> best use of the ram you have is for video, as far as games go. If you
>> were
>> talking about working a spreadsheet calculation, the opposite would be
>> true.
>> --
>> Was this helpful? Then click the Ratings button. Voting helps the web
>> interface.
>>
>> Mark L. Ferguson
>

sun_project4444

Why Vista would share system memory to inproove video quality. The
system RAM will be allays slowes that video RAM. I have 2x512
dual-chanel 800Mhz banks, and the video memory is 256 @ 1400Mhz. And
what is the diferens.
This thing only obstruct for good adapters like 8800, 9800. What
graphics will be with 9800 with 1GB @ 2 Ghz, what can help thus shared
system memory for example 768 MB @ 800 MHZ.
Someone who maded this function must tell for everybody how to disable
this.
Excuse me from Microsoft development but this is the true.


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sun_project4444
Posted via

danielgr

Mark L. Ferguson;3742890 Wrote:
> There is no setting for it. Vista allocates a percentage, based on what
> you
> have, and what is available. *Adding Ram is never bad*. Probably the
> cheapest
> way to speed it up is to add a Flash ram thumb drive, and use
> "readyBoost"
> for Virtual Memory.
>
Well, it might not be a bad thing if you have plenty of RAM and don't
know what to do with it. I'm tired of reading everywhere "it's shared so
it won't harm you".
Well, maybe I'm not as skilled as others, but *it does harm me*. For
example, I really do an extended use of *Photoshop*, and one of the main
reasons why I upgraded my PC is because I wanted to simultaneous open as
many photos as I wanted without running out of RAM.
Together with the new PC, I decided to give Vista a try, and now I'm
facing this "video-sharing" problem. Indeed, I have to tell Photoshop
how much of the video memory it can take for itself, and that number is
limited by the video system that Windows show it as "available". In case
Vista would suddenly give him some more if needed, I've just tried to
use it all, and I do run out of memory (as much as Photoshop is
concerned, but I don't care about other apps) when I reach the maximum
memory I gave it.

So, at least me, *I would like to be able to tell Vista*: "I bought 2
extra GB of RAM, but it doesn't mean you can share more of my RAM".

I would appreciated if either Microsoft of NVIDIA provided *a solution
for customers* instead of looking for excuses. If Vista can allocate
"shared memory" depending on the total RAM, it can also let you allocate
what you want in the first place. If they are concerned about Aero
running out of juice, they can simply provide two settings:

- *default* : Vista automatically determines shared video for you
(recommended)"
- advanced : Set share-video memory manually (min: XXX MB)


My PC

- Mainboard: GA-E7AUM-DS2H (Nvidia730i)
- Proc : Intel Q9450
- Graphics : Integrated Geforce 9400
- Memory: 4GB PC2-6400 (DDR2 800)


My Vista-Memory Profile:

- Physical Memory = 2.557 MB
- Video System Memory = 64 MB
- Video Dedicated Memory = 256 MB (I set this one myself in the
BIOS)
- Video Shared Memory = 959 MB
- Total Video Memory = 1279 MB
- Graphics Drivers version : 180.48


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