383 MB Shared System Memory with December ATI Drivers

With the new December ATI Drivers I have 383 MB of Shared System Memory for
my Mobility Radeon X300. This seems too high, as it was advertized to only
use 64 MB. Anyone have a comment on why this would be happening? My RAM is
dual channel 400 MHZ, so there is no way that that much ram could acutally
be used, or is there? Has anyone expereinced this in XP?

Ben

Don't know. I have an ATI Radeon Mobility X300 also. It has 64mb of
dedicated graphics memory, and it used to say 64mb of shared system memory.
I recently upgraded my system memory from 512mb to 2gigs. Now the card is
using 763mb shared system memory. 763mb! Total available graphics memory is
now 827mb. Display adapter driver version 8.31.100.2.

--
/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Robert Firth *
* Windows Vista x86 RTM *
* http://www.WinVistaInfo.org *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */

"Ben Enfield" <benfield@u.washington.edu> wrote in message
news:uDEM9GtLHHA.4384@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> The most odd part about my situation is that I only purchased a 64 mb
> card, and 32 of those mb were supposed to come from the PCI Express
> interface with the system RAM. I don't understand how the extra 383 MB
> are showing up. I also don't see them being used when I look at task
> manager (although I might not be looking at the right place). Does anyone
> have a link to an explanation of the PCI Express interface and how Windows
> deals with system RAM being used by the graphics card? Possibly that will
> shead light on the situation.
>
> Could much of Vista's high RAM usage be due to the graphics card drivers
> eating up much of it? If I subtract that 383 MB then my computer only
> appears to be using 246 MB of ram to run Outlook 2007, Excel 2007,
> Explorer, one IE tab, Outlook Express, this e-mail, Task manager,
> Foldershare, ATI Control Panel and Windows Sidebar, all the while running
> the Aero interface. Very efficient if you ask me.
>
> Ben
>
> "Jeff" <S.Cerevisiae@duh.edu> wrote in message
> news:eRQt3hsLHHA.3952@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>I noticed the same thing- Mobility Radeon x1400-256mb
>> but shows 383 also
>> hmm
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>> "Ben Enfield" <benfield@u.washington.edu> wrote in message
>> news:0633EEC2-4022-4250-8821-A2EF43BCED96@microsoft.com...
>>> With the new December ATI Drivers I have 383 MB of Shared System Memory
>>> for my Mobility Radeon X300. This seems too high, as it was advertized
>>> to only use 64 MB. Anyone have a comment on why this would be
>>> happening? My RAM is dual channel 400 MHZ, so there is no way that that
>>> much ram could acutally be used, or is there? Has anyone expereinced
>>> this in XP?
>>>
>>> Ben
>>
>

"Robert Firth" <webmaster@winvistainfo.org> wrote in message
news87C5729-5D5D-453F-8064-CC9AE5F781E0@microsoft.com...

> I recently upgraded my system memory from 512mb to 2gigs. Now the card is
> using 763mb shared system memory. 763mb! Total available graphics memory
> is now 827mb. Display adapter driver version 8.31.100.2.

"1279 MB Total available graphics memory 5.8"

512MB is on the card, the other 767MB is on the system. If my system had
put aside 767MB for the graphics card only I would of noticed. Perhaps a
driver fault, or perhaps describes how much system memory it can use, if it
wants to. Sort of like the AGP aperture size.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.windowsresource.net/
Get ready for Windows Vista: http://www.windowsvista.com/getready/

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Has to be.

"Jeff" <S.Cerevisiae@duh.edu> wrote in message
news:Oum$N9BMHHA.2236@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> ok,
> make this simple for me,
> "jeffproof" as it were,
> so with my ATI x1400 256mb
> 256 is the card-and 127 mb is RAM ??? =383?
> not good with numbers,but ya get the gist.
>
> Jeff