AMD 780G Chipset - Gigabyte MA78GM-S2H Motherboard

[RobLeiden]

Can one of you guys tell me if its possible to allocate memory to the IGP before the OS takes the rest?
When I use 4Mb RAM under a 32bits OS, should I be able to give 512 (or even more) to the IGP?

[Apoptosis]

RobLeiden,

welcome to the forums! Of course you can choose how much memory the IGP gets before the OS sucks the rest of it away. If you check out the article I wrote on page 4 you can see where it is set at. The screen shot is also on page 4:



Re-read that page if you skimmed it and it should tell you what you want to know! The latest BIOS allows up to 512MB to be used for the IGP and to be honest not sure the benefits more than that will offer as the IGP can only handle so much data.

[RobLeiden]

Ok, thanks a lot! I was just asking, because I was not sure. Vista 32 uses (afaik) a max of some 3.2Mb, so it's nice to know that I can give 512 to the IGP, instead of it being "wasted". In other words: why should I buy Vista 64bits for my new rig if with this mobo I can use the RAM like this?!

[Apoptosis]

Ok, thanks a lot! I was just asking, because I was not sure. Vista 32 uses (afaik) a max of some 3.2Mb, so it's nice to know that I can give 512 to the IGP, instead of it being "wasted". In other words: why should I buy Vista 64bits for my new rig if with this mobo I can use the RAM like this?!

32-bit operating systems can not take advantage of 4GB or more memory as you noted. Moving to 64-bit will allow you to fully use 4GB, 6GB, 8GB and beyond when the market is ready for that much memory. Setting the IGP memory usage wouldn't save memory I don't think... Actually that would be something to look at... If you set the frame buffer size to 128MB and then to 512MB does the memory amount in Vista change? I never thought of that! Try it out if you get bored and let me know.

[stev]

If you set the frame buffer size to 128MB and then to 512MB does the memory amount in Vista change? I never thought of that! Try it out if you get bored and let me know.

I would like to know too!

[RobLeiden]

Ok, thanks a lot! I was just asking, because I was not sure. Vista 32 uses (afaik) a max of some 3.2Mb, so it's nice to know that I can give 512 to the IGP, instead of it being "wasted". In other words: why should I buy Vista 64bits for my new rig if with this mobo I can use the RAM like this?!

32-bit operating systems can not take advantage of 4GB or more memory as you noted. Moving to 64-bit will allow you to fully use 4GB, 6GB, 8GB and beyond when the market is ready for that much memory. Setting the IGP memory usage wouldn't save memory I don't think... Actually that would be something to look at... If you set the frame buffer size to 128MB and then to 512MB does the memory amount in Vista change? I never thought of that! Try it out if you get bored and let me know.

The problem is I can't try it out, because I didn't build it yet. Still have to make a decision between 32 or 64 Vista.
That's why I asked it. Another problem is I never get bored....

[Zertz]

The problem is I can't try it out, because I didn't build it yet. Still have to make a decision between 32 or 64 Vista.
That's why I asked it. Another problem is I never get bored....

If it can help you take your decision, I've been using Vista x64 with 4GB of RAM for a while now and I've had no OS related issues!

[Alathald]

Same here, the only problem was that during installation I had to use 2Gb until I got a certain update (forget which) then 4Gb all the way! I think I may have a older install disk though, could be what caused that...BTW I'm triple booting Vista 64, XP 32 and Ubuntu Hardy Heron 64 and I'm happy with all three. If going with Vista, I definitely recommend 64 bit.

[RobLeiden]

Ok guys, thank you all very much! I'll go for the x64.

[kappage]

Does the reallocating memory boost performance by much?
Just wondering