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OK, so I am confused. Does the PCI-E standard require sharing system
memory for video? That is, on a plug-in card, not an onboard video
chipset. Or is the sharing scheme employed only on the Hyper Memory
and Turbo Cache versions of the cards.
I am looking for an upgrade from onboard video but I am not a gamer,
just trying to free up as much system memory as possible as I have
Vista with 1gb RAM. I am thinking about either 128 or 256 video cards.
If there are any suggestions as to specific models I would appreciate
any input

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:46:16 -0400, Tim Jones wrote:

>OK, so I am confused. Does the PCI-E standard require sharing system
>memory for video? That is, on a plug-in card, not an onboard video
>chipset. Or is the sharing scheme employed only on the Hyper Memory

Do you mean chipset or do you mean a) Video using shared system RAM or
b) Having 256/512MB on a video card to stop Vista using (a)?

>and Turbo Cache versions of the cards.

Don't know.

>I am looking for an upgrade from onboard video but I am not a gamer,
>just trying to free up as much system memory as possible as I have
>Vista with 1gb RAM. I am thinking about either 128 or 256 video cards.

Not the 128 then, unless you turn off Aero and tune the settings for
less video RAM.

My Vista Ultimate / Nvidia 128MB FX5500 / System 1.5GB RAM, says the
video memory is 512MB, but it grabs 384MB from the 1.5GB. Reducing the
system RAM.

>If there are any suggestions as to specific models I would appreciate
>any input

Me

"Tim Jones" <> wrote in message
news:...
> OK, so I am confused. Does the PCI-E standard require sharing system
> memory for video?

No. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI-Express
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperMemory
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbocache

> That is, on a plug-in card, not an onboard video
> chipset. Or is the sharing scheme employed only on the Hyper Memory
> and Turbo Cache versions of the cards.

Correct. Hyper Memory is an ATI "feature" that is used to reduce cost of the
video card by having some memory on the card, but "borrowing" memory from
system RAM when it needs more. I have that in my laptop. It is NOT my
favorite feature. HyperCache is pretty much the same thing, but the nVidia
version.

> I am looking for an upgrade from onboard video but I am not a gamer,
> just trying to free up as much system memory as possible as I have
> Vista with 1gb RAM. I am thinking about either 128 or 256 video cards.
> If there are any suggestions as to specific models I would appreciate
> any input

For my desktop, I put in a card with nVidia 7600GT chipset and 256 RAM (real
RAM - no HyperCache) and it made a world of difference with Vista. For the
last few years I've preferred nVidia, although obviously ATI is also a good
brand.