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Question about 9800 gx2 dedicated memory

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klogmonster   08-04-2008 at 08:05:13 AM

I looked in my display settings and saw this:

Total Availible Graphics Memory: 1279mb
Dedicated Video Memory: 512mb
System Video Memory: 0mb
Shared System Memory: 767mb

I'm wondering since the gx2 has 1gb of memory on it, shouldn't the dedicated video memory be 1gb, or is it 512mb b/c the gx2 is 2 cards put together? I'm just afraid it should be 1gb and it only shows 512 because one of the cards died or something. Also, if someone could help me understand what shared system memory is, I'd appricieate it. Thanks.

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JDocs   08-04-2008 at 08:34:26 AM
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It'll only show 512mb because each card only has 512mb of RAM. The 1gb thing comes from the marketers as you'll never be able to use more than 512mb at a time.

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klogmonster   08-04-2008 at 08:53:20 AM
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So if i can only use 512 at a time, when is the other half used?

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szwaba67   08-04-2008 at 09:25:12 AM
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you are technically able to use all 1GB at a time, but the way the memory management works it's effectively limited to 512MB running in parallel. you aren't getting ripped off (it's just marketing =P)

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klogmonster   08-04-2008 at 09:31:19 AM
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Like how dual channel ram doesn't run in, say 1333mhz but instead 666.6mhz x2?

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szwaba67   08-04-2008 at 11:29:29 AM
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i think the cards just aren't designed to share their memory, so each card is limited to its own 512MB. it's more like a dual core processor running at 3Ghz, you can't do one thing at 6Ghz, but you can do two at 3Ghz. I really disagree with the 1GB marketing on those cards, though technically it's correct. that's why people say it's not a good idea to SLI the 256MB or 320MB cards, since you'll still be limited to that amount per card.

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loxPL   08-04-2008 at 11:49:45 AM
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Both GPUs have 512MB of memory, so theoreticaly the card has 1GB. Unfortunately, that memory can't be shared between the GPUs, so there is the same data in both 512MB buffers. That's why programs only show 512MB of dedicated video memory.

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