VRAM in LC 475, Performa 475, Quadra 605

[Hugh]

Is there any way to find out how much VRAM memory in these machines. I have all three and I need to know if they have 512k or 1MB. I haven't been able to find anything willing tell how much VRAM it has.

There has got to be a way.. Please help!


-Hugh

 

[MacTech68]

One (old) way is to use the colour depth and/or resolution combinations to determine the total VRAM.

NewerTechnology's Guru allows you to select a resolution (under the 'video' tab) which will then show the colors available depending on the amount of VRAM installed. Compare that to the available settings in your Monitors control panel, and you should be able to determine how much is fitted.

Note that Guru does NOT query your system and it's purely for discovering possible configs.

https://www.newertech.com/downloads/Software/GURU29Installer.hqx

There are only two configurations for the LC475 -

2x 256K SIMMS for 512K VRAM
or
2x 512K SIMMS for 1MB VRAM

So, check your monitors control panel for the following indications:
With 512K, 640x480 resolution can do '256' colors (8bit color)
With 1MB, 640x480 resolution can do 'Thousands' of colors (16bit color).

Be aware that mixing a 256K and a 512K will result in ONLY 512K VRAM, so matching the SIMM designs and chip numbers is fairly important.

 

[Hugh]

Thanks for the reply MacTech.

That's basically what I needed to know if this computer is able to do thousands of colors with 1mb of RAM. I have ordered the two 512k VRAM and it should be here tomorrow (03-05-18).

Off topic I have have a Quadra 605 with a Extra SIM slot and I noticed that other machines do not have this. Any idea what Apple was thinking to do with this?

Thanks!

-Hugh

 

[MacTech68]

AFAIK, IIRC the extra socket was a ROM slot, usage unknown.