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General discussion

Question about RAM

by mm724 Nov 10, 2004 1:44AM PST

i have a gateway m520 cs+ laptop, with a 60gb hd and 512mb ram. when i go into the system properties, i'm expecting it to 512mb of ram, but it says 480mb of ram. have talked with a gateway rep. about it. was told the it has 512mb ram, but that part of it was being used, which explains the 480, if it didn't then i would have no ram. could this be a malfunction of some kind? should i ask them to send me a new mem. card and see if it makes a difference? when i go to different system information from different software, some say that i have '512' or '544' or '480' 'physical ram'. this has been driving me crazy since i got the laptop a couple of months ago. any info. would be greatly appreciated. Thanx!

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3 Posts

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(NT) (NT) Some is being used for the Video.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Nov 10, 2004 1:45AM PST

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Re: (NT) Some is being used for the Video.

by KenSanramon Nov 10, 2004 3:15AM PST

Yes, one of key drawbacks of shared video memory (integrated intel extreme graphics chip or equivalent) is that it uses part of your system RAM for the video function. You are using up 512 - 32mb shared video = 480 mb RAM before the system can even start to use it.

In some cases you can allocate 64mb shared video RAM which would be 512 - 64mb = 448mb before the system could use it.

If you get dedicated video RAM (mostly an ATI or Nvidia notebook video card soldered to the motherboard) the video is separate and allows the RAM to work independently and it is essential for robust games or higher end video programs.

This is the #1 decision you must make on a notebook -- do I want dedicated video and if so how much (32mb, 64mb, 128mb --- many mainstream notebooks that have it stop at 64mb right now).

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Re: (NT) Some is being used for the Video.

by susceptor Nov 10, 2004 1:57PM PST

the last post had it dead on.

the only thing I can add is to say this,
if you want to play high end videogames on a laptop, then you NEED a laptop with dedicated graphics chip with at least 64mb.
if all you use a laptop for is watching movies, surfing web, e-mail, then foerget about it. Most PCs are powerful enouph that you can run all but the most advances software on them withought the need for an independent graphics chip. games is the only real reason to want one as far as im concerned.

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