945G = GMA950? Simple graphics question

It is done at the driver level AFAIK, so if you have the driver installed it should be doing it automagically. I updated my driver and it runs Q3 at full everything, so it sure as hell isn't running with just 8MB under Linux.

 

I do run EVE online on it regularly (the classical content though!). I'm not too sure missioning wouldn't be a pain as I haven't tried, but changing skills, travelling from place to places, mining is definitely ok.

 

The video driver allocates the memory as it needs it. For example when running the laptop by itself it uses only 8MB of RAM for video and over 500MB for the system(I have a 512MB RAM model). When I attach my 24 inch 1920x1200p monitor to it (yes it works at full resolution) the video memory jumps up to 128MB and little less then 400MB for the system. You do not have to worry about doing it yourself.

 

The maximum available graphics memory it can offer is up to 224mb. Upon startup, it only uses 8mb of graphics memory, there's no way, as far as i know that you can manually set the allocated graphics memory to be shared by your RAM, ive tried looking for the setting in bios but to no avail. (correct me if im wrong). It appears to be that the GMA950 graphics card works dynamically. It automatically adjust the memory allocation depending on the requirement of the application you are running, similar to my Compaq presario laptop. It's far opposite to the other graphics card used by travelmates, which uses DVMT graphics, whrein you can manually set the memory shared by the ram to the graphics memory..

 

Like mentioned earlier... the AAO's intel 945G is dynamically allocating memory as needed. It's not fixed to 8Mb.

 

wow
3 page thread when all you had to do was calculating

(x-resolution * y-resolution) * n_color_bits = memory used

 

Huh i think they arent trying to figure how much u need.
The went dedicated more ram instead automatcally alocated ram.
They want to define specific amount to GPU.

Not just figure out how much is needed.

 

right...
look my point is that if the allocation was static, you wouldnt be able to see anything on the screen at the default resolution
1024*600*16=9.830.400 so around 10MB
hence its obviously allocated dynamically..

 

that dont make sense...
So why does a Desktop has 512Ram for graphics and i am running it at 1280x1024x32=41943040
Its dedicated. A graphic card with 64ram (Closer to you givent formular) generates graphic slower than this 512ram(Further away from ur number) graphic card. We dont try to get less rather than more.
I still see my images. So redefine what you said b/c it still dont make sense to me.

What you said only applies to the minimum ram needed basis,... But arent we looking to get more dedicated rather than less.

b/c the users goal on this thread, they are trying to obtain more dedicated ram for 3D usages in games.(Hoping to have it run smoother) rather than min.

 

actually the correct formula would be
(x-resolution * y-resolution) * (n_color_bits /8) = memory used
not a big deal anyways..

what i wrote is correct.
however:
in some video cards, the WORD is actually 32bits or 64bits hence you would multiply that value from the formula by 2 or 3 respectively.
the full thing here
http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/video-faq/2 ... -need.html

also,
the reason why you have so much memory on video cards is the same as why the ram used in GPU is not standard memory but GDDR4 (and now 5): textures. you want them on the video card, not on your systems ram.
of course on a laptop this is not possible, but the textures still have to have their reserved space in memory, so when they are loaded, the video memory increases (dynamic allocation).

last thing,
the amount of memory on a video card does not have anything to do with its speed. if game A runs using 64MB of memory from the GPU, without swapping of trashing to the disk, it will run at the same speed on a 1GB video card. again nothing to do with resolution really, but again textures and such.

 

Having more gas in your car doesn't make it go faster, does it? It will however struggle and not move at all if there isn't enough

Just like the computer itself, adding more RAM doesn't make it faster, it is the CPU that dedicates how "fast" programs runs, unless you don't have enough RAM
For the graphic part, if the GPU is slow, it doesn't matter how much video ram you have available/allocated, your game won't run any faster, having too little RAM for a given resolution will not let the game run if it use a loads a lot of textures

So a fast, high end GPU with 256MB of ram can outperform a slower card with 512MB card

Anyway, there's no reason to need that much ram because higher resolution textures will requires higher processing power, which isn't available