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Vista Help


wyantm06

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right but that is shared with system memory.. I am not 100% sure.. but i believe that system processes have first dibs on memory before video

what it does is it accolates the memory to the video card so that nothing else can use it. thats why when you have a onboard video card windows will show less memory then you actually have. On a mac it will give the memory back to the OS untill the video card needs it vista will do the same thing if you have enough memory.

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Right...  However, it is all dynamic in the GMA 950... So it boot with 64mb reserved.. + 16mb for start-up processes..  The from there it has the ability to dynamically call for more ram if it is available..  Meaning that it can go up to according to the whitepaper on the GMA 950 192mb of memory.. or on intel's quick facts 224MB.. I am not sure which is correct... 

video_memory_GMA950.jpg

The thing that I am interested in is.. since this is one of the first to have Dynamic Video Memory Technology how it would decide what, video or system processes, are more important.  With vista we all know that 512mb is the minimum according to MS... However, the recommended is 1GB and at least 128mb graphics supporting DX 9 to run Aero.

The GMA 950 will support 128mb..  however, how does it decide what processes should get the extra system memory?  Since the system boots with 76MB, 16MB + 64MB, reserved that is still means that it is lacking 64MB to meet the recommended specs to run Aero.  However, a fresh install of RC1 took between 550-700mb of ram and RC2 took 46% of 1GB or about 471MB of ram..  This I guess what with no programs running.  So there is improvement.. So with a system that is trying to run Aero and has a GMA 950 with the standard 76MB of system memory reserved on boot. Leaving you with a total of -35MB of ram.. or pretty much disk caching the os which would lead to really poor performance.

I am not saying that it can not be done.. You are going to need at least 1GB of ram whether you are running integrated or dedicated graphics.  That has been pointed out already..  I am sure if you don't install every little theme package and all of the extras you could save some system resources..

White paper on DVMT: http://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/applnots/30750801.pdf

Product Brief on GMA 950: http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/gma950/gma950.pdf

Vista Memory usage: http://thevistaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=3731

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Idk about RC1, but from what I understood, RC2 scans your hardware on installation and then decides how much of it he's going to put on the ram and how much on the HD. So even if you have 512 ram, you should still have half of it or so free for you programs, but the overall performance obviously won't be as high as if you had 1 gig. Also, I haven't checked if ReadyBoost (the possibility of using flash cards as ram) is activated in RC2, but that could help.

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I am going to doubt it..  It may install but it will not run aero glass...  For that you need to have a dedicated video card..

Actually thats not entirely true. I installed Vista on my girlfriend's comp with a Radeon Express 200 chipset (which is integrated) and it ran fine with aero glass enabled.

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first the express 200 or the correct name Xpress 200 is a chipset that includes an x300 integrated. 

Well, that might be true, but the reason I was correcting him was because he said that you needed a "dedicated" video card in order to run aero glass, which is incorrect.

That is what was needed for betas as the IGP were not supported for the most part.. I realize that some people have been able to run Aero on the RCs... however, the latest that I have been able to find is that the xPress 200 is vista capable not vista premium ready.  Meaning that the chipset and graphics are capable of running vista but may not be capable of running all of the add-on as they do not meet the requirements by themselves.  So a dedicated graphic card is recommended to meet the full requirements.

I was able to find :

The only Intel integrated solutions that meet minimum hardware requirements for Aero

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I would go with an ATI card..  The image quality tends to be a little bit better on linux than the nvidia counterpart.  However, it you are going to game hardcore on linux then go with Nvidia.  Nvidia had a faster framerate in linux than the ATI x1000 cards.

What motherboard are you running?  4Gb of memory on a IGP board?

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