Which Video Memory setting for 1GB card?

[Ripsaw5165 10]

... and how come no search function on this forum... I would have done a keyword search for the answer but no joy.

My notebook (HP DV7-2270us) has an ATI Mobility Radeon HD4650 with 1 gigabyte of discreet (onboard the videocard) GDDR3 ram... but if the 1 gigabyte fills up then it will grab more memory as needed from (slower) system ram up to 2.8 gigabytes (according to specs on HP site).

I'd prefer to keep all the action on the card's ram and not dip into system ram, so should I set High, Very High, or Default for Video Memory in Advanced Options for Video. Asked another way, is one of the settings intended for 1 gigabyte cards?

If Default reads card's ram amount, is there a place to look to see what value it is seeing?

[fusionofp 0]

I have a utility which shows me how much memory is being used, it doesn't make any difference to me if I use default or very large , it never uses more than 800Mb.

(EVGA Precision fo Nvidia cards )

I wouldn't worry about it, just play at sensible settings for your laptop.

[xxbbcc 6]

It's unlikely that your video settings would put a limit on the game's performance, so tune thins to your computer's power first.

BTW, Search is right in the middle of the forum menu bar, in the blue bar.

[ffur2007slx2_5 11]

The performance is not effected by memory (you can set it very high), but the view distance and object details!

[Gunter Severloh 3948]

(EVGA Precision for Nvidia cards )

no shit!, I got the same thing for a 1 gig set it it to high.

[kklownboy 43]

it depends on your chip, Ati is a default for 1GB , if its on the card, NVDA can be VH. Your Laptop does not have 1GB of real vidram, its sharing system memory, so you should just test. Choosing the Vidram is for more detail(you can raise other settings) and stability,aka; stop crashes.

[Ripsaw5165 10]

The Mobility Radeon HD4650 does in fact have 1 GB GDDR3, discreet ram for the video card only. The system ram is 4 GB of DDR3... ...the HD4650 uses a separate ram bank of GDDR3 that is 1 GB in size. The GDDR3 may not physically be on the same card as the GPU but it is on an exclusive bus to it.

However, it can upsize the total ram available for the video card beyond the separate 1 GB by sharing into system ram, which I don't want it to do.

---------- Post added at 12:03 AM ---------- Previous post was Yesterday at 11:50 PM ----------

Checked Arma2OA.cfg and it reports "localVRAM=1066389504"

[msy 22]

Although your HD4650 has 1GB memorys, the ability of the chip for laptop is just little higher than the minimum vga card requirement. The different settings of the memory size will impact the setting of texture detail. Among the option of memory size, very high memory can open very high texture detail, and normal memory can only open the normal texture detail. In other hand, if you set the normal memory size then you choose the very high texture detail, after the adjustment process, you will find the option of memory size also becomes the very high.

Depend on how you want the texture detail will be, you can choose a relative option in memory size.

[Ripsaw5165 10]

Although your HD4650 has 1GB memorys, the ability of the chip for laptop is just little higher than the minimum vga card requirement.

The spec sheets for the desktop Radeon HD4600 series and the Mobility Radeon 4600 series appear to be the same:

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-4000/hd-4600/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-4600-specifications.aspx

http://www.amd.com/us/products/notebook/graphics/ati-mobility-hd-4000/hd-4600/Pages/hd-4600-specs.aspx

[MavericK96 0]

Default works best for me.

[Punisher5555 0]

In the arma2.cfg and/or arma2oa.cfg line for 1GB vram =

localVRAM=1054539776;

set to read only after setting.

[stk2008 14]

If I run it at default or low buildings disappear and roads etc if I run it on normal,high or very high it seems ok.

I have a 4890 1gb

[PogMoThoin 10]

In the arma2.cfg and/or arma2oa.cfg line for 1GB vram =

localVRAM=1054539776;

set to read only after setting.

That does not work, the game doesn't read the localVRAM from the .cfg, it only writes it there. Dwarden confirmed this before, so setting it makes zero difference

[Punisher5555 0]

That does not work, the game doesn't read the localVRAM from the .cfg, it only writes it there. Dwarden confirmed this before, so setting it makes zero difference

Can we get a "firm" confirmation on this subject? Could help a lot of people.

From what I have read is that the engine uses those values. It gets those values from the OS. You can see the values it reads from the OS if you do a dxdiag (numbers will match). Changing those values, setting it to read-only prevents the engine re-reading the values from the OS and it goes with what you have in the .cfg.

Am I wrong? :confused:

[Ripsaw5165 10]

Although your HD4650 has 1GB memorys, the ability of the chip for laptop is just little higher than the minimum vga card requirement. The different settings of the memory size will impact the setting of texture detail. Among the option of memory size, very high memory can open very high texture detail, and normal memory can only open the normal texture detail. In other hand, if you set the normal memory size then you choose the very high texture detail, after the adjustment process, you will find the option of memory size also becomes the very high.

Depend on how you want the texture detail will be, you can choose a relative option in memory size.

Specs for the Desktop Radeon 4650 and the Mobility Radeon 4650 are same:

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-4000/hd-4600/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-4600-specifications.aspx

http://www.amd.com/us/products/notebook/graphics/ati-mobility-hd-4000/hd-4600/Pages/hd-4600-specs.aspx

[rok 0]

Can we get a "firm" confirmation on this subject? Could help a lot of people.

From what I have read is that the engine uses those values. It gets those values from the OS. You can see the values it reads from the OS if you do a dxdiag (numbers will match). Changing those values, setting it to read-only prevents the engine re-reading the values from the OS and it goes with what you have in the .cfg.

Am I wrong? :confused:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?p=1632766&highlight=localVRAM#post1632766

Changing localVRAM / nonlocalVRAM have the same effect as adding line bestPerformance=1, or leetSuperDuperHaxor=1337.

The VRAM values are only written by the game, never read.

[PogMoThoin 10]

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?p=1632766&highlight=localVRAM#post1632766

Thanks for this, it was Suma, I was sure it was Dwarden.

[Punisher5555 0]

Thanks for the confirm.

I wonder why have the lines in the .cfg at all then? They must do something because they change based on what is read out of the OS i.e. dxdiag.

Edited October 25, 2010 by Punisher5555

[msy 22]

Specs for the Desktop Radeon 4650 and the Mobility Radeon 4650 are same:

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-4000/hd-4600/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-4600-specifications.aspx

http://www.amd.com/us/products/notebook/graphics/ati-mobility-hd-4000/hd-4600/Pages/hd-4600-specs.aspx

clock speed. You should compare the two same chip cards on the chip clock and memory clock.

[Ripsaw5165 10]

clock speed. You should compare the two same chip cards on the chip clock and memory clock.

Agreed. But only 50mhz difference-- desktop 4650 GPU clock is 600mhz vs. mobility 4650 the GPU is 550mhz. Desktop version also always uses at least GDDR3 ram whereas mobility version is usually DDR3, but some mobility 4650's are use GDDR3 like desktop card.