How To Check Video Ram?

[TomTGC]

Hello,

Hopefully this will be an easy question for somebody.
I am writing on behalf of my Dad. He asked me how can he tell how much RAM his video card has. I decided to look into my computer and saw the memory in Device Manager/Display Adapters/Radeon VE/Properties/Details . He says he doesn’t have Details in his computer. Must be something new with the newer video cards adding it in Display. My next advice was for him to watch his monitor when it boots up so he can see his video card with the RAM, but he claims it goes by too fast. So here are my 2 questions:
Is there a way to momentarily stop the boot up process so he can see it? Is it some key on the keyboard?
Is there another way to see how much RAM is on the video card? He doesn’t have the box that the video card came with.

Tom

[mjc]

Yes, there is a way to pause the boot, use the pause/break key!

Or the old DOS way before there was a pause key <ctrl-c>.

You could also use a program like Sandra (http://www.sisoftware.demon.co.uk/sandra/start.htm), a very comprehesive hardware information program.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

[tjaymadison]

Open Control Panel, double-click Display, click the Settings tab, and then click the Advanced button. Now click the Adapter tab to see the info he's looking for. If his system has video integrated on the motherboard and/or a "shared memory" scheme for video RAM, this may affect how the info is reported. There may also be an option in BIOS setup for increasing the amount of RAM alloted to video, but that could possibly decrease overall system performance. I think it may depend on how the manufacturer implements the sharing.

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"When I nod my head, hit it with the hammer."
(Moe, holding nail, to Curly, holding hammer)

[sea69]

yes. tj, has it right.. here's a screenshot of mine -click (http://www.zing.com/picture/paa793ce59309468f544b734dabf14436/fe969618.gif.orig.gif)

Now, what I'm wondering is.. mine says (if you look at it and see) "On-Board Memory", but this means thew memory on "board" my video card- right ??

'cause, It doesn't use any of my sdram resources (taken away from CPU)

correct ??

**edit: sorry but as of the time of posting zings- server must be inundated.. it usually loads very fast. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif


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sea1_69@hotmail.com



[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 04-27-2001).]

[tjaymadison]

Sean -- I'm pretty sure memory sharing is only possible on motherboards with integrated video enabled, so the "on board" reference is probably just an nVidia terminology thing. However, both HP and Compaq do implement the video sharing "feature" on many of their retail systems. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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"When I nod my head, hit it with the hammer."
(Moe, holding nail, to Curly, holding hammer)

[sea69]

yep tj- mines says it's on AGP bus, so it's using it's own chip.. the "on-board mem" threw me http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif

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sea1_69@hotmail.com

[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 04-27-2001).]

[mjc]

The reason I suggested something like Sandra was if you have onboard video, is what is displayed on the settings tab can sometimes become "confused" depending on how well the onboard video can be disabled.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

[sea69]

[b]Sandra shows this (http://www.zing.com/picture/pae003c0283bad4839fb3a24aa4a18a4f/fe96926e.gif.orig.gif)... and allot of other stuff....

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sea1_69@hotmail.com

[TomTGC]

Thanks for responding guys. Have a good weekend!

Tom