video memory

hey all.

on my hp computer in the bios section i have settings for my video card.

8mb
16mb
32mb
32mb (auto)

i never play games. i do play dvd's and do some digital image photo work ..i also do a lot of music type multimedia stuff. what would be the best setting for this? does each setting somehow affect my computers performance? why are there 2 settings for the 32mb ... does the auto do something special? by reading some other threads i noticed that a setup (shared) like this one isnt as good. but if i got one of those agp cards, i still dont see anything in my bios settings to allow me to disable the shared feature. i got the latest bios upgrade from hp website (v20). i tried to use google and various other search engines but couldnt find anything specific.

it is a S3 prosavage DDR video card. my computer has 256mb ram, xp home, 1024x768, monitor set at 75hz.

thanks in advance for the help.

32mb (auto) means that it auto configures the amount of memory that is recommened depeneding on how much ram you have...224mb of ram isnt all that bad and id just put it on 32mb (auto) and not worry about it...you are going to want at LEAST 16mb for watching dvdz and you wont miss those 32mbz too much...hope this helps.

When you bought your system, did it come with a Users Manual or Restore CD (which might have some kind of instructions)? If there aren't any guidelines on the Bios settings for the video card, techspot.com (formerly 3dspotlight) suggests setting the size at either half or a quarter of your available system RAM. As to the difference in 32MB and 32MB (auto), I would only be guessing . . . constant vs. as needed? I don't have a clue.

Without knowing what version of HP system you're running (Model #) . . . I'm at a loss. Are you aware there are other Bios settings that can effect your video/graphics performance as well? Techspot has a nice "Bios Tweak and Overclocking Guide" you may want to look at for the other settings.

V.

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on my hp computer in the bios section i have settings for my video card.

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By settings for your video card do you mean AGP Aperture size?
This is NOT the size of your video card, and is NOT the amount of ram allocated with an onboard video card.

hp_user: A little more info, such as hp model number or motherboard model would be most useful in obtaining the answer that you seek. The more you tell us, the more we can help you!

well i dont know much, this is my first computer, but im lernin'. here is some more of the specs of my computer.

hp pavilion 304w
hp pavilion mx70 17 inch monitor

AM37 motherboard (?) ... that is what is on the motherboard and the hp manual.

best i can tell everything is based on the VIA chipset. VIA is everywhere on my motherboard.

s3/via prosavage DDR video card

via ac'97 audio

6 usb ports and all the other ports like the printer and serial port.

its got a 40gb hard drive and 256mb ram. cd-rw and dvd-rom

it has windows xp home with all the critical update patches installed.

i also have a usb mouse, scanner, digital camera and photo printer hooked up to usb.


i also looked all over the bios and there is no setting or any feature that refers to Aperture size. only settings are how much ram i can allocate for video.

i really dont know what info i need to put on here but here is a link to the driver download page for my specific computer:

http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/softwar...etype=software

Okay then; 8 MB is fine for watching movies/DVD's and general windows applications. If you like to play classic doom, commander keen, Quake, then 8 MB is fine. If you are more into newer games and play Battle Field 1942, Quake3, Counterstrike, et cetera, then set it up to 32 MB {Non Auto}.

Since you said that you have a scanner, digital camera, never play games, then I would recommend setting it to 16 MB. 8 MB would be running on the minimum line, and you notice small problems here and there. Since you have 256MB of system memory, which is more than enough for what you are doing, 16 MB will work fine, won't interefer with everything else, and won't directly hamper system performance either.

hp_user -
I checked out the HP site for your system, downloaded the manuals . . . surprise, surprise - they didn't mention Bios settings. I did find out where you need to look for the information on disabling the onboard graphics (from the HP site):

"Disabling the On-Board Video to Install a Video Card. Many HP Pavilions come with the video on the computer's main board. If the HP Pavilion uses the i815 chipset, then use the link above for special instructions (the linked document lists the HP Pavilions with the i815 chipset). For all other HP Pavilions, the on-board video needs to be disabled in either the BIOS or by changing a jumper on the main board. Go to HP's Search Support Page, type HP's Search Support Page and search on Jumper Settings."

Here's the url where I found the info: http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/documen...h05529&cat=faq

As for the allocation setting: "Unified Memory Architecture (UMA) is memory that can be used by the system and the video display at the same time. Giving more memory to the display will reduce memory available to the system. The system will run better if the UMA memory is set lower and the display is set at a smaller resolution with fewer colors. The system memory (as viewed in System Manager, Performance) is reduced in direct proportion to the amount of UMA VGA RAM. On systems with 256Mb or more of system RAM, video RAM can be set higher to improve video performance."

If you're interested in a manual for the AM37 motherboard (am37_a0_eng.pdf), you'll find it here: http://www.fic.com.tw/support/mother...x?model_id=107

Proprietary systems 'rewrite' Bios settings to suit their needs, so don't expect every setting to be exactly the same. As I suggested in my earlier post, the "Bios Tweak and Overclocking Guide" at Techspot can steer you in the right direction for setup plus it explains what the setting is for. It is an excellent read. If you can't locate it, let me know and I'll find the url or send you a copy of mine.

Good luck with your system and I hope this has been of some help to you.

V.