allocating extra ram to my onboard graphics card

[slinky2004]

I have a laptop with an intel 64mb graphics card and i've heard that it's possible to allocate extra ram to the gpu somehow. Since onboard cards don't have their own ram, they just steal from the system's ram, it's possible to allocate more ram to the card than it's advertised to have. For example, i could stick another 512mb of ram into my laptop and give the gpu 256mb of ram, leaving a nice 768mb of system ram(is that the right term?) and hopefully giving the gpu a nice boost.

So, can anybody point me in the right direction? i've been googling for stuff like "onboard gpu allocate extra ram" and finding nothing, since there's probably a slick name for it like "gpu modding" or something i wouldn't think of.

[bagggi]

some of these onboard graphics cards, especially in laptops are already working on the maximum limits.

the only way to find out is to get into the bios during the startup and once the bios screen is opened, scroll down to highlight the allocated memory for the graphics card.

now....
"if it gets highlighted" it can be changed,

if not then, you cant change it by upgrading the ram in the system.

as it is a laptop.... most of these graphics cards are embedded into them, so you cant change them also.

it also depends upon the make of the laptop. go for technical support and ask them if it can be done...

[slinky2004]

well, my bios doesnt even have a section concerning the video card, all i get is system date, boot sequence and password. is there any way to do this from the os level? i've heard of programs that can overclock a processor from windows even if you can't set up overclocking from the bios.

[bagggi]

its on the system page, fourth or the fifth down. will have to restart mine to confirm the exact location

cant remember what exactly it says there, but when you are looking at it, it will have 64 or 640 (something with 64) on the value side.

[.:front2back:.]

Howdy.

In the Bios screen try pressing Ctrl > F1 and if the above mentioned menu is hidden it will be shown.

Just be careful with what you change as it could screw your box up.. If it does then you'll need to reset the BIOS by removing the power supply, and battery and let it sit for about 20minutes..

f2B

[nihil]

OK, this is how I see it:

The graphics chipset has firmware associated with it. This basically determines the amount of memory address space that it can handle. You cannot exceed that, no matter how much space you might allocate.

Sorry to be a boring old fart, but it would be like giving the DOS operating system more than 16 Mb of RAM............. it just cannot use it?

Please do not confuse this with "overclocking" ................ that is the speed at which your graphics are running, not the space that is being used.

In a laptop you may well have what I would call a "castrated BIOS", like you cannot access all the normal options. If you can alter the graphics memory share look in <advanced> or something like that.

Also, with a laptop you must remember that overclocking the graphics will generate a lot more heat and that can be rather expensive?

Another consideration is that the LCD can only give you so much performance, so a super graphics chipset or card won't help.

Cheers

[slinky2004]

yeah, i have eunuch bios. its phoenix/sony vaio bios. the ctrl > f1 thing didnt unlock any hidden menus, maybe phoenix uses a different key or something. i think nihil might be right with his DOS analogy... maybe if i got some firmware from the 256mb version of this card? or hacked the firmware somehow? nah, too much work. thanks for the help guys.