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[Guest]

Hey, I recently bought a cheap Emachines PC. It's currently running on Vista
Home Premium (32 bit) with 1GB of RAM and 32MB Intel 82945G Express
integrated graphics.

However, when the computer is on but no programs are running Vista seems to
be using 570MB of RAM. Am I correct to assume, since the total available
graphics memory is 224MB, 192 MB is constantly being used for graphics?

I am looking to upgrade the graphics card, so would that in turn free up
that RAM?

I was also wondering if it was possible to insert a new graphics card into
the vacant PCI slot even though there is already an integrated card?

The card I am currently looking at is the ATi Radeon X1300 PRO (512 Mb).

Thanks for your time.

John.

 

[peter]

I think you need to read the specs on your machine as it partains to
available slots.
There are 3 possible slot types for
video.........PCI...........AGP............PCI-E
The old PCI slot is rarely used anymore for video cards....none of the newer
video cards come in this format.
the AGP slot is still used and it is possible to still find AGP cards
The newer PCI-E slot is now widely used for Video Cards.
I know the ATI X1300 Pro comes in a PCI configuration...I know it comes
in AGP and PCI-E configuration.
If you have a choice and your Emachines has the slot buy an AGP or PCI-E
card.
The manual of your emachine should also explain how to add a video card and
turn off the buildin video...it varies from manufact to manufact.On some you
just turn off in the BIOS...others turn themselves off when you install a
new Video Card.
By using a 512 mb video card the amount of Ram available will increase.
peter

 

[Guest]

Hey, thanks for that. It seems I have a 'vacant PCI Express Graphics Slot'
which I presume will be the PCI-E you mentioned.

The manual that came with my computer is a generic Emachines one contained
as an Adobe Acrobat file on the hard drive. It only describes how to
generally add an expansion card. I'll just get in contact with Emachines for
more specific details.

Thanks again.