video memory

What is video memory? How do you get more of it?

 

Video memory is memory that is built onto your video card and is used to store textures and such. Dedicated cards have their own memory while onboard gfx share system ram. You can add more to your onboard chip by changing it in the BIOS but dont add too much, i think 128 or 256 is the max for onboard

 

Ok, are you saying that I can go into BIOS and change the video card settings from 128 to 256? I don't usually mess with BIOS, makes me nervous.

 

yea but dont go above 256mb. its under AGP Aperture (SP?) Size
http://www.tweak3d.net/articles/aperture-size/

what video card do you have?

 

It an NVidia, it's in my daughter's computer, she lives a little ways away from me so I don't have ready access to her computer, I work on it while I visit with her.

 

Ok, now I have another problem. I tried to get into the BIOS on my daughter's computer but it starts (and runs) so terribly slow that I can't get into it. Any suggestions? She has windows 2000, I click on F10 or F8? Her computer needs some serious help.

 

FYI, it's NOT AGP Aperture size. That is something different. It will probably say something like onboard video RAM or shared video RAM.

Also, exactly what are you trying to do by sucking up your system RAM for your onboard video. It will not accomplish much if anything.

 

If its a dedicated card then yes, its the aperture size. read the guide i posted:

"The reason for writing this guide is that many people still ignore the importance of AAS or set it incorrectly. Generally measured in megabytes (MB), AAS is the amount of system memory (RAM) shared with an AGP graphics card in order for it to have more memory to process textures and other visual data."

AAS=AGP Aperture Size

 

ooookkk, I see what you are saying. I tried to read the page you sent me, right over my head. what you explained makes sense. Thanks. Now, if I can get into the BIOS I'll know what to do. Since I'm having trouble with the computer, could I use a disk I made to open in MS DOS?

 

What do you mean "dedicated"?

 

I mean a sepatare card that is put into an AGP (or PCI or PCI express) slot with its own dedicated memory. Onboard chips are built into the motherboard and share memory with the RAM. If your daughter is plugging her monitor directly into her motherboard (the vertical ports on the back of the computer) then its onboard. If its plugged into a port on the back that is horizontal and lower than the vertical ports then its a separate video card. You can also open up the computer if you wanna check.

here are some pics:

onboard:

dedicated:

 

Ok, I understand that part. She installed the NVidia card, should the original card, the one that came with the computer, been uninstalled?

 

was it also a dedicated card? if it was onboard it should have automatically disabled itself

 

Hm, ok, yes it was a dedicated card. I think she took it out. I think we'll have to take it to someone who can look at it. I've read that Win 2000 was essentially made for office work, and that it was not meant to run video games on. If this is true, could we upgrade to XP home, would the computer run faster? Would video games play better?

 

I dont know about a performance boost but id upgrade to XP anyways, its a much better OS. To run XP reasonably well, id make sure you have no less than 512mb of RAM. 1 gig would be preferable tho.

 

Thanks for the advice. I have XP on my computers and it is the best, no Blue Screen of Death. I'll go to microsoft.com and I think they have a test to determine if XP is compatable with her computer, if not the CD will test it. Now all I have to do is figure out why her computer runs so awfully slow. Sometimes I long for the "old days", no computers to complicate our lives. I'm a granny, by the way, I knew life without computers and video games. lol

 

To speed things up a little, if she has less than 512 RAM, buy some more. (if you need info on buying RAM, just ask) Defragment the hard drive, run CCleaner (aka CrapCleaner) as well as Ad-Aware SE. Those are both great programs that i consider a "must-have" to keep your computer clean and zippy

 

We've done all that, we've added another memory card, and cleaned out everything. the computer takes forever to boot, sign on to the internet and game play is slow motion. I'm at a loss as to what to do next.

 

Check the BIOS to see if there is a setting known as "compatibility mode"....i dont honestly know what it does, but i know if you run in compatibility mode, that your computer will run hella slow....it will crawl along like a 486 and that isnt a joke....report back on that and i may have some other ideas.

 

Her computer runs so slow that I can't get into BIOS. I'll start it up and tap F8 or F10 and nothing happens. It takes forever to boot, my finger gets tired.

 

Try holding Delete when it boots

 

I am at my daughter's computer right now, I can't get into the BIOS, I can't upgrade her from Win 2000 to Win XP, I think that the Win version she has is licensed. What do you do if the computer is so slow that you can't open BIOS? Is there a way I could chat with someone about this?

 

What brand is it? Check out the manufacturer's website and look under the support section to see if you can chat with someone. Or, you can just start a new thread here. Chances are us geeks could get u sorted out lol

 

Well, thanks for your help, but I've caved, I'm taking the computer to a pro. I've managed to screw it up and I can't spend anymore brain cells on it, I have so few left.
I appreciate all the advice, you guys are great.