Shared video RAM - what's the scoop?

[Rick W]

Hey group!

So what's the deal with this "shared" video RAM? I think I read somewhere that this slows system performance. If so, why? It seems like Windows should be able to be set to just ignore a portion of RAM.

In other words, is a system with 64 megs of SRAM and 8 megs of SHARED VRAM any worse than a system with 56 megs of RAM and 8 megs of dedicated VRAM?

Thanx

[kwai]

well if an app (read game) can use all of the 64mb of sys memory, then setting aside 8mb might hurt if its not the video subsystem that's limiting the app performance.

games would be about the only situation where you would see a performance hit, since most people don't use any office apps that would use close to 64mb. and even then i'd say in most people's systems, its the video subsystem that's limiting the framerate -- not the cpu/mem. the question is, how much would 8 mb of system mem used to store textures actually speed up most games. probably not a lot.