2GB GPU + 2GB RAM + 32 bit Win XP = Problem?

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Dejan Kozarski

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Jun 18, 2013
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So my quest for a graphics card ended on the Gigabyte GT630 2GB. Which is kind of an overkill for my system, but it was the cheapest active cooling card I could find that wasn't complete trash.

Since I only have 2GBs of RAM and 32bit Windows XP, will the GPU eat into the system RAM? Someone mentioned it somewhere, and now I'm freaking out that I've crippled my computer.

I'm picking up the card tomorrow morning, so if it would cause a problem, I could maybe try and replace it, or get more RAM or something.

Full system specs are:

MSI MS-7392 Motherboard
Pentium Dual Core E5300 2.60GHz
2.00 GB of RAM
Geforce GT220 512MB (the one being replaced)
250GB Hard drive
Chieftec 450w PSU
 
Solution
cst1992
I'm glad you didn't get a card with more RAM than that.
Secondly, 2GB for a 630 is overkill. If you can swap that for a 1GB variant, then that's better. 630 just doesn't have enough juice to use 2GB of RAM; it's just a marketing gimmick.
Thirdly, the card and the system TOGETHER should make up 4GB for 32bit windows XP. It comes to around 3.86GB usable RAM, but still, theoretically it's 4GB and anyways since the card is never going to go above 512MB, you're set.
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cst1992

cst1992

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Nov 8, 2013
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I'm glad you didn't get a card with more RAM than that.
Secondly, 2GB for a 630 is overkill. If you can swap that for a 1GB variant, then that's better. 630 just doesn't have enough juice to use 2GB of RAM; it's just a marketing gimmick.
Thirdly, the card and the system TOGETHER should make up 4GB for 32bit windows XP. It comes to around 3.86GB usable RAM, but still, theoretically it's 4GB and anyways since the card is never going to go above 512MB, you're set.
 
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Solution
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Dejan Kozarski

Honorable
Jun 18, 2013
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10,510
Thanks for the replies :) Big load of my mind.

The 2GB for the card is overkill, I know that, I actually ordered the 1GB variant but it was out of stock, so they offered me the 2GB version for the same price, so I thought what the hell.
 
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cst1992

cst1992

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Nov 8, 2013
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I wish they could do that for the 650Ti... there's a 30% difference in price.
And one thing. I also have a system similar to you, so I assume you have 2 GB of DDR2 memory.
I don't think modern games will play smoothly with 2GB DDR2 RAM, I get a memory bottleneck when playing Hot Pursuit on my system.
But of course I have a lot of fancy software running with 900 MB of RAM used when idle. Hot Pursuit takes around 800 MB for itself. Your system may be different.
 
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