RAM Sharing with Graphics Card

Question

Hi all, first post here. I hope someone could give me some advice on this. I just recently aquired a DELL Studio XPS 16. im not sure yet on how this lappy was first set but looking at the system, i checked to see that the RAM was preset to be share 1.5GB of memory with the Dedicated Graphics Card w/c has a 512MB memory already, so all in all the total memory presented just for the graphics was 2GB. Now since This lappy already has 512MB of memory it could pretty much stand on its own, my problem now is with the system memory which is falling a bit short. just on idle, with no programs running, Windows Vista already chops about 1GB off the RAM, sometimes more. when i run some programs they become a bit sluggish coz i think the the remaining system RAM cant cut it. summing up, the workable RAM left from subtracting all is (4GB(total RAM) - 1.5GB(shared for graphics) - 1GB(Operations)= 1.5GB for all other programs. How do I remove/adjust the shared RAM from the graphics to dedicate it fully to the system? 512MB of dedicated graphics memory is enough for me, I need a lot more for the system RAM. I tried the BIOS setup but there isnt any option avalable there to toggle the Memory for the system and graphics. Will reformatting the lappy work? Any advice is welcome. Thanks

ejn63 · Answer

You cannot adjust the allocation - this is the way Vista operates. It offloads a significant part of its routine workload to the GPU, by design.

If you want the system to use less RAM for video purposes, remove Vista and install XP.

kirkd · Answer

Vista DOES NOT offload anything to the GPU. This "shared video RAM" info is a calculated value indicating how much core RAM the video processor, GPU, could access IF IT NEEDED TO for severe graphics applications. The more core RAM, the higher the calculated amount. Some games can borrow main RAM to store graphics info or do more complicated operations. This RAM is borrowed only if available. The GPU will not grab up this amount of core RAM for no good reason. If the RAM is borrowed, you probably will not see any performance degradation.

It is a non-issue.

ejn63 · Answer

Microsoft differs in its opinon about how Vista operates with the CPU and CPU allocation: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa480220.aspx

kirkd · Answer

The offloading from core to video for NON-VIDEO PROCESSING mentioned in the MS document is not available for most things, onlty in specialized apps designed for it. The video RAM that is available to the GPU that sgbaga mentioned is the potential shared core ram available to the video processor. How could a 512MB video card offer 1.5GB to the CPU for core operation sharing. Having the GPU process video that used to be processed by the CPU is nothing special. This is just a more efficient way of doing business because the video processor can do these operations more efficiently than the CPU.

sgbaga · Answer

thanks for all the input, this really sheds a lot of light on my laptop's RAM issues.

so core ram offloading to the GPU is only allocated when necessary and does not act as additional dedicated memory added to the 512MB already placed. but does vista really work that way? i mean automatically allocating calculated core RAM to the GPU whenever installed, and will increasing my core RAM to 8GB recalculate shared ram again to the gpu automatically?

kirkd · Answer

Using core RAM for video assisting will happen when more than 512MB is needed. Large screens at high resolution and complicated displays might cause it to happen. The amount Vista calculates is only POTENTIALLY available. Most of the time, no aditional will be used. Not sure if there is any maximum or it calculates a fraction of whatever is available.

Increasing system RAM to 8GB will only do any good if you use Vista 64. Vista 32 will not access the extra 4GB.

Your low available RAM is normal with Vista 32 and high RAM video. With Vista 32, the OS assigns some high ADDRESS SPACE to link to various systems that need address space to be accessible to the CPU. The high address RAM is not used, only the address space itself. The CPU assigns address space to whatever is needed, and this address space is no longer available to the RAM that would normally use this space.The video is the largest user of this address space. A machine with a 512MB video card will have only about 3GB RAM available out of 4GB installed. There is no way to change this.

If you change to Vista 64 and the system board allows it, you should be able to utilize all 4GB. Vista 64 can address more RAM, and will assign the highest address space it can reach to the video and other hardware. The system also needs a system chip set which will allow this addressing.

Here's a site that will go into more detail.

sgbaga · Answer

Upgrading would seem to be the best solution for this one, at least ill rest well knowing that the shared RAM will not be dedicated to the GPU. im running on a 64bit Vista and the laptop can support up to 8GB of memory. ill just see what happens to the shared ram when i increase it.

thanks a bunch

Cheers

kirkd · Answer

With your newer laptop and Vista 64, you should NOT have a RAM loss problem, as Vista uses the highest RAM addresses to access the video RAM. etc. Are you sure you have Vista 64? If you do, look on the web for fixes that will shift the RAM addresses. I don't have any links, but have tried some with my Vista 32, without success.

You can also re-post asking how to move the address space.

Also, are you using the latest 64-bit Video driver?

sgbaga · Answer

yup positive on the vista 64bit, it came with the lappy. ive not yet checked the driver of the GPU if its a 64bit video driver but im fairly positive its a 64bit video driver.

im doing a research on RAM sharing on vista, ill try to post some links if I find a useful tech support for this thread

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