Windows 7 Windows 7 RC 64bit sharing RAM on GPU?

[SPLWF]

I have 8GB DDR2@800mhz of RAM installed on my computer. When going to Can You RUN It? it states that my GPU RAM is 3.5GB's. Does windows 7 allow RAM sharing even though my GPU has 512MB? Will it help with FPS in a high demanding game like crysis, etc..?

Thank you

 

[jackluo923]

I have 8GB DDR2@800mhz of RAM installed on my computer. When going to Can You RUN It? it states that my GPU RAM is 3.5GB's. Does windows 7 allow RAM sharing even though my GPU has 512MB? Will it help with FPS in a high demanding game like crysis, etc..?

Thank you

Your GPU is probably using "hypermemory"(ati) or "turbomemory"(nvidia) as a secondary cache.

 

[loathe]

3.5GB seems like a lot though. GPU-Z will tell you exactly whats going on. I wish I had 3.5GB of video memory

 

[vahnx]

It reports I have like 1.8GB I think of video RAM with my 4GB RAM w/ 512MB Nvidia. It's because most GPU's have shared memory enabled. Not sure if there's a way to disable it though (possibly through the ATI/Nvidia Control Panel) but with 8GB of ram, shouldn't matter if lots is shared with graphics because it will enhance performance. Only trouble I can see is if you are running multiple VM's. Apps like Photoshop, Final Cut, etc. will benefit from the shared graphics, not to mention games.

 

[Noobstix]

I apologize if this is a little off-topic but I think it's the same thing in Vista. My brother has an ATI Radeon HD4800 1GB and 6GB of RAM and Vista reports that he has 4 GB (I think) of video memory.

Also, "Can You Run It" can give some pretty awesome frequency measurements for multi-core processors. My AMD Athlon X2 5600+ 2.9 Ghz is rated @ 8.40 Ghz when compared with requirements for older games that only required/recommended single-core CPUs.

 

[vahnx]

It's not off topic, it's common. Most graphics cards "borrow" memory from RAM.