Different values for Video memory

brummyfan

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Hi,
I have 64MB for video memory reported in BIOS but my Adapter shows only 32MB, could someone please tell me it's normal and I am looking at two different things or something isn't right, I have the latest Intel HD4000 drivers installed. Thanks.
PIC_1619.JPG
Capture101.JPG
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire E1-571
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer Type-2
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Sound Card
    High Definiton Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
    PSU
    Generic
    Keyboard
    QWERTY
    Mouse
    ELANTECH Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    12.68Mbps
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
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My guess is there is 32 MB dedicated video memory. The 64 MB should indicate the video has borrowed 32 MB from the shared system memory to give a total in use of 64 MB by the video hw. I had an HP machine with only 1 GB ram and a similar setup. I limited the total video ram to 64 MB so that the video would not borrow a bunch of system ram. It would not improve the video performance by much and was better used by the system. 64 MB was just enough so I could drag windows around without jitter and use 32 bit color settings. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.0 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelite C55D-A Laptop
    CPU
    AMD EI 1200
    Memory
    4 gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Raedon 340 MB dedicated Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built in
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    640 GB (spinner) Sata II
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touch pad
Thanks MilesAhead, I don't mind the 32MB as I have no problems but my daughter's Acer Aspire 5750 with HD3000 showing 128MB in BIOS and under Adapter, I couldn't understand why HD4000 has fewer video RAM than HD3000 and showing two different amounts :mad:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire E1-571
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer Type-2
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Sound Card
    High Definiton Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
    PSU
    Generic
    Keyboard
    QWERTY
    Mouse
    ELANTECH Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    12.68Mbps
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Yeah it's really confusing. I think part of it is they don't want to emphasize the small amount of dedicated ram. In fact I think my HP with the Intel graphics only had 8 MB on the chip. Just by trial and error I let it have more shared ram until the jitter disappeared. But now when I buy a machine I look out for huge numbers. If I see something about 1.5 or 2 GB then I know it's stealing system memory. If I see a number like 384 - 640 MB I feel better as that's usually dedicated.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.0 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelite C55D-A Laptop
    CPU
    AMD EI 1200
    Memory
    4 gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Raedon 340 MB dedicated Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built in
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    640 GB (spinner) Sata II
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touch pad
It seems like it's a OS version problem as others have noticed, when they were running Windows 7 Video memory was 128MB, after upgrading to Windows 8.1 it showed 32MB only.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire E1-571
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer Type-2
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Sound Card
    High Definiton Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
    PSU
    Generic
    Keyboard
    QWERTY
    Mouse
    ELANTECH Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    12.68Mbps
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
How about something like Speccy? What does it show
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.0 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelite C55D-A Laptop
    CPU
    AMD EI 1200
    Memory
    4 gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Raedon 340 MB dedicated Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built in
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    640 GB (spinner) Sata II
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touch pad
I couldn't find any details in Speccy.
Capture101.JPG
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire E1-571
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer Type-2
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Sound Card
    High Definiton Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
    PSU
    Generic
    Keyboard
    QWERTY
    Mouse
    ELANTECH Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    12.68Mbps
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
The screen shot is chopped above the memory info.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.0 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelite C55D-A Laptop
    CPU
    AMD EI 1200
    Memory
    4 gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Raedon 340 MB dedicated Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built in
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    640 GB (spinner) Sata II
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touch pad
Sorry, I was looking under Graphics, here's the snip of Memory:
Capture1011.JPG

EDIT: Memory management is done by Windows 8.1 and not by the Intel drivers.
Capture101.JPG
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire E1-571
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer Type-2
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Sound Card
    High Definiton Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
    PSU
    Generic
    Keyboard
    QWERTY
    Mouse
    ELANTECH Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    12.68Mbps
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Hello brummyfan,

Now, since I regard you as one of our top contributors here, I decided to do a compare with my desktop. However, I do understand we are not comparing apples-to-apples but here goes anyway. I am running Win 8.1 x64, using Intel HD 2500 graphics, and I have 8GBs of RAM installed:

My BIOS settings at auto:
vb1.jpg

Changing my settings in my BIOS:
vb2.jpg

The results after changing do match my BIOS settings:
vb3.jpg

My motherboard is listed as being compatible with Windows 8.1. My uneducated guess is that your minimum OS allocation should match your BIOS; however, I'm not sure that really means anything unless you are a gamer... and I'm not sure if that even matters. Also, that 32mb of memory should also be considered a "minimum" amount, so if you look at it from that perspective it may not matter at all. However, if it really bugs you, I can only confirm that mine is working as designed and you may have to go back to ACER for more answers. Here's an interesting read on this subject as well:

How to Increase Intel HD Graphics Dedicated Video Memory


Good luck and best regards,

my2cents
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
Hi my2cents,
Thanks for the response, I was wondering why the memory management is better in HD3000 than in HD4000, my Acer Aspire 5750 has HD3000, it reports 128MB for dedicated video memory in BIOS and it shows the same amount under Adapter but in E1-571 which has HD4000, it reports 64MB in BIOS and in Adapter it shows 32MB.
I am not a gamer and it doesn't bother me at all but I think I have found the answer, Intel says that the new graphics memory sizing is done by the OS( Windows8/8.1) and not by the Intel driver.
Unless MS comes up with some update or perhaps in the next months update, I am out of luck as I can not change anything in BIOS, Acer has disabled any Advanced settings in BIOS.
Thanks again for your suggestions and the link.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire E1-571
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer Type-2
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Sound Card
    High Definiton Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
    PSU
    Generic
    Keyboard
    QWERTY
    Mouse
    ELANTECH Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    12.68Mbps
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Hi my2cents,
Thanks for the response, I was wondering why the memory management is better in HD3000 than in HD4000, my Acer Aspire 5750 has HD3000, it reports 128MB for dedicated video memory in BIOS and it shows the same amount under Adapter but in E1-571 which has HD4000, it reports 64MB in BIOS and in Adapter it shows 32MB.
I am not a gamer and it doesn't bother me at all but I think I have found the answer, Intel says that the new graphics memory sizing is done by the OS( Windows8/8.1) and not by the Intel driver.
Unless MS comes up with some update or perhaps in the next months update, I am out of luck as I can not change anything in BIOS, Acer has disabled any Advanced settings in BIOS.
Thanks again for your suggestions and the link.

Hi again brummyfan. Glad you are satisfied at this point; however, I still think the BIOS should be able to communicate the initial size on startup "if" the OS can communicate properly with the BIOS regarding that attribute. Moreover, I think my example proved that when I adjusted the initial size to 1024MBs and it worked; therefore, there was no communication breakdown. However, I'm guessing there is a communication breakdown between your BIOS and the Win 8.1 x64 OS. This may be due to a compatibility issue with your specific BIOS but I can't say that for sure. Your scrrensohot does look like an older vintage BIOS BTW. Is your model listed as Win 8.1 compatible? I'm also guessing in your specific case, the OS may just be defaulting to the minimum allocation because it didn't receive the minimum allocation from the BIOS correctly. Anyway, glad you are OK with the way it works. I just wanted to test it to see for myself.

Cheers,

my2cents

uefi.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
Thanks my2cents, I went in to a local super store and was browsing, most of the laptops have only 32MB Dedicated video memory under adapter, so I guess that this may be due to increase the battery life of laptops.
EDIT:
Thanks for the link for Acer BIOS but I have checked and they didn't say anything about Video memory sizing, though 32MB is sufficient, how they manage to provide more Dedicated Video memory in HD3000 (older) than HD4000 (newer) :sarc:
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire E1-571
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer Type-2
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 1333MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Sound Card
    High Definiton Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
    PSU
    Generic
    Keyboard
    QWERTY
    Mouse
    ELANTECH Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    12.68Mbps
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Hey, maybe it is a laptop thingy. Maybe some other laptop users (with Intel HD graphics) will do a comparison to confirm your findings. Anyway, happy browsing!

my2cents
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel G2020
    Motherboard
    ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0
    Memory
    8GBs @ 1333 MHz
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 EVO
    PSU
    400w
    Internet Speed
    57/11
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