How much memory does your video card use?

"boe" wrote in message
news:33qKa.17254$Bg.10060@rwcrnsc54...
I'm curious about memory usage on video cards and their increased memory
sizes. Is there a way of telling how much memory you are using on your
video card? Something like task manager that tells you how much memory
you
are using at any given time? I'm curious what the benefits might be
gained
from having a card with 256MB of RAM or if 64 is all I will need in the
next
few years.

I have an old 32MB video card but bought a 128 MB 9700 pro for the last
system I built. My old video card is almost 4 years old now but still
plays
most games pretty well at 1024 x 768 on an old computer with an 866
processor. I've noticed the faster processor for the PC makes much mor
of
an impact on performance in video games than a faster video card.

I doubt I will want to play games at more than 1600 x 1200 any time soon
since most video games haven't adjusted the items such as health, weapon
charge, shields and test to a reasonable size at those higher settings.


If you have a game that allows you to task-switch to the Windows desktop (or
run the game in a window) a program like SiSoftware Sandra will tell you how
much video memory is being used. There's a Direct X section of SiSoftware
which shows how much video memory is being used.

You can get a trial version he
http://www.3bsoftware.com/downloads/

Thanks!

"Scott C. Smith" wrote in message
news:YYqKa.17457$Bg.10312@rwcrnsc54...

"boe" wrote in message
news:33qKa.17254$Bg.10060@rwcrnsc54...
I'm curious about memory usage on video cards and their increased memory
sizes. Is there a way of telling how much memory you are using on your
video card? Something like task manager that tells you how much memory
you
are using at any given time? I'm curious what the benefits might be
gained
from having a card with 256MB of RAM or if 64 is all I will need in the
next
few years.

I have an old 32MB video card but bought a 128 MB 9700 pro for the last
system I built. My old video card is almost 4 years old now but still
plays
most games pretty well at 1024 x 768 on an old computer with an 866
processor. I've noticed the faster processor for the PC makes much mor
of
an impact on performance in video games than a faster video card.

I doubt I will want to play games at more than 1600 x 1200 any time soon
since most video games haven't adjusted the items such as health, weapon
charge, shields and test to a reasonable size at those higher settings.


If you have a game that allows you to task-switch to the Windows desktop
(or
run the game in a window) a program like SiSoftware Sandra will tell you
how
much video memory is being used. There's a Direct X section of SiSoftware
which shows how much video memory is being used.

You can get a trial version he
http://www.3bsoftware.com/downloads/