If our new computer was sold with 512MB ram....

[iandbeech]

...should we be happy the system tells us its only got 480MB ram? Is that an acceptable tolerance?

[tvradict]

err, in a word, No.

[danhay]

I think the missing 32Mb is allocated to the graphics card?

A common cost cutting feature. I once bought a PC that had so many corners cut it had an octagonal motherboard!

[Graham]

Yep the system does have 512mb, but if you check it will say the video has 32mb and its shared..

its a bit like the 15inch monitor gag... you can only see 14.1 inches as the 15 inch is the tube width not the display width...

[tvradict]

But, If it says the Computer has 512mb ram and a 32mb Graphics card, and they have sold one that is shared, unless it says 'Shared' in the literiture, it's false advertising and therefore, illegal!

[Muncher]

It's common practice, in reality the 32mb less RAM will have little effect at all. The graphics capabilities won't be as good as a dedicated graphics card though.

[Rob P]

I presume you can buy a graphics card and then "unshare" the 32MB to free up all 512 as RAM?

[CarZee]

Agree with concensus - stop being a computer numpty

DanHay - you were lucky. If sufficient corners were cut, you'd end up with a circular motherboard.

>> Edited by CarZee on Tuesday 3rd February 21:23

[Muncher]

Rob P said:

I presume you can buy a graphics card and then "unshare" the 32MB to free up all 512 as RAM?

Yes, that is if there is a spare AGP slot.

[Zorro]

I thought maybe at first it was a system error (I have a 128Mb graphics card that reported 64Mb til I installed new nvdia drivers) but 480MB is achievable assuming 3 memory slots...1 x 256, 1 x 128, 1 x 96. Have a look inside the machine and see what you have slot wise, if there are only 2 sticks in then you can't have 480..it would probably be 512.

[marvt74]

They never brought out a 96mb stick of ram as far as i know, its most likely the onboard gfx

[RobDickinson]

will be onboard graphics card.

I'd say stating 512mb mem + 32mb graphics card is dodgy if the gfx card uses shared main memory - but thats the PC selling game.

In reality it'll make no diff.

If you dont play games, and you dont use high rez/high colours go into the bios and drop that 32mb graphics to 8 or 16mb anyhow.

[jam1et]

tvradict said:

But, If it says the Computer has 512mb ram and a 32mb Graphics card, and they have sold one that is shared, unless it says 'Shared' in the literiture, it's false advertising and therefore, illegal!

In this case the literature will usually have the abreviation 'int' in brackets listed in the Grpahics Card spec. This signifies that its integrated with the motherboard (hard wired onto the board) and shares memory.

[chrisjl]

jam1et said:

This signifies that its integrated with the motherboard (hard wired onto the board) and shares memory.

Not just memory, but bandwidth on the bus too - the DAC has to continuously read the pixel data out of the frame buffer, reducing the availability of the main memory to the CPU.
Shared video memory is a cost/corner cutting exercise.

[Mr2Mike]

Zorro said:

I have a 128Mb graphics card that reported 64Mb til I installed new nvdia drivers

The graphics card reports it's memory during the POST test, before Windows has even started to load so I suspect it wasn't the NVIDIA drivers that were the cause of the problem (unless you mean it reported 128MB at POST, but only 64MB was usable in Windows?).

[JamieBeeston]

Zorro said:

I thought maybe at first it was a system error (I have a 128Mb graphics card that reported 64Mb til I installed new nvdia drivers) but 480MB is achievable assuming 3 memory slots...1 x 256, 1 x 128, 1 x 96. Have a look inside the machine and see what you have slot wise, if there are only 2 sticks in then you can't have 480..it would probably be 512.

You dont get 96mb Memory Modules.

[Zorro]

Mr2Mike said:

Zorro said: I have a 128Mb graphics card that reported 64Mb til I installed new nvdia drivers The graphics card reports it's memory during the POST test, before Windows has even started to load so I suspect it wasn't the NVIDIA drivers that were the cause of the problem (unless you mean it reported 128MB at POST, but only 64MB was usable in Windows?).

128 @ POST, 64 Mb in NVIDIA properties.

[Zorro]

JamieBeeston said:

Zorro said: I thought maybe at first it was a system error (I have a 128Mb graphics card that reported 64Mb til I installed new nvdia drivers) but 480MB is achievable assuming 3 memory slots...1 x 256, 1 x 128, 1 x 96. Have a look inside the machine and see what you have slot wise, if there are only 2 sticks in then you can't have 480..it would probably be 512. You dont get 96mb Memory Modules.

Correct.