Changing Amount of Shared Memory in Windows 7 on BootCamp

Discussion in 'Windows, Linux & Others on the Mac' started by mr.staggs, Jan 19, 2010.

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  1. mr.staggs, Jan 19, 2010

    mr.staggs macrumors newbie

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    #1
    I installed win 7 Home Premium, and I am being robbed of my ram because I can't change the shared video memory settings. Does anyone have a solution to this? I have the iMac with the ATI 4670 so I already have plenty of VRAM for what I do.
     
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  2. Anonymous Freak, Jan 19, 2010

    Anonymous Freak macrumors 601

    Anonymous Freak

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    #2
    You are not being robbed. Windows 7 lets video cards "stake a claim" to system RAM as extra VRAM, but it will only be used if you are ever in a situation where the video driver actually *NEEDS* it, and it's available. (In a game where system RAM needs are lower than VRAM needs, for example.)
     
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  3. mr.staggs, Jan 21, 2010

    mr.staggs thread starter macrumors newbie

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    #3
    ok well, I just made an "educated" guess thinking that was my problem. Is that why when I go to system properties, it says 4.00 GB (2.9 Available)?
     
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  4. alexboy45, Jan 21, 2010

    alexboy45 macrumors regular

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    #4
    if it is anything like windows xp 32bit, Wdows can only address 4gb memory. this includes vga memory. if you add them together you may see that it adds up to 4gb
     
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  5. balamw, Jan 21, 2010

    balamw Moderator

    balamw

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    #5
    mr.staggs it definitely sounds like you installed a 32 bit version of Windows. If you had installed a 64 bit edition and some RAM was being reserved for the GPU you should see closer to 3.5-3.7 GB available.

    If you bought Windows retail, just install from the 64 bit disc instead.

    B
     
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