I have been asked by a friend to see if he has been cheated in his new computer's graphic card. The computer is under warranty, and the inside is blocked by sticker. Is there a way to find out the true memory of his turbo cache memory size, because the vendor says it is 256 MB, which is not very convincing in my point of view for his 7300 GS graphics card. From what I have googled around, Vista can display the information I am searching for, but XP cannot. What other software can be out there to give me such an information?
I have asked the shop he bought the computer in, as a "new" customer, and the dealer was eagerly trying to convince me there were true 256 MB of memory ON THE CARD. He even showed me the card on an XP computer on the tabs. Now, manufacturers sometimes go through lengths of trouble just to hide the true memory size, so he might not know himself, or is just a plain bastard. I am going to install Vista if I cannot find any other software, but, is there anything for this purpose that does not take up few hours of my life and few GB of hdd space? And, what should the keywords be in a google search of such kind, because I tried my luck for at least half an hour in vain.
Having ANY turbocache memory is a ripoff. It uses system memory to augment a video card with much less RAM on card than normal. I've never heard of not being able to tell on an XP machine, but you can tell on Vista. I have always bought a video card that didn't use turbo cache, because they're selling you a cheap video card(and you're gonna have to make up the money lost buying more system RAM).
Turbocache = bad for system RAM
As for identifiying how much real video card RAM you have, and how much is Turbocache, I really can't say. I'd just find the exact brand/model of the video card and look it up on the internet.
Grab a demo copy of Everest and it will tell you more than what you need to know. But turbocache is bad as others have said because you compete with the CPU for main ram access. Anyhow this is some of what you can expect Everest to give you.
--------[ EVEREST Ultimate Edition 2006 (c) 2003-2007 Lavalys, Inc. ]---------------------------------------------------
Version EVEREST v3.50
Benchmark Module 2.1.169.0
Homepage http://www.lavalys.com/ Report Type Quick Report
Computer Testdeck-1
Generator Azimuth40
Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 6.0.6000 (Vista Retail)
Date 2007-08-23
Time 04:40
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