missing RAM's

[wiz 0]

I have been using WINdows 98 since a year. I dunno when, but i have recently realised that 2 Mb RAM has vanished from my total memory which was 256MB RAM. i am sad that my system is not able to satisfy the min. system requirements for some games and softwares.

Using the EA system info , i found out that -

 

Total Memory: 254 Mb

Free memory: 2 mb

 

what is this free memory? has it gotta do anything with the vanishing 2 mb RAMs.Please help me

[Malaris 0]

Do you have intergrated graphics?

[wiz 0]

Originally posted by Waffler:

Quote:

Do you have intergrated graphics?

 

 

 

yes(i think) 'cause i have intel® 82845G graphic controller.

[peterh 1]

You will need to either:

a) Buy more RAM

Replace integrated graphics with a AGP Graphics card which will be a i) Several times faster and ii) free up system ram.

 

[wiz 0]

ok but whats this 'free memory' and whats 'integrated graphics'? i just found out from my friend that my graphic conroller (intel) does support integrated graphics?.

 

then...i have another question . i've an old system which

has 128MB RAM, can i just add it on to my(present) system?is it possible?? help!

[wiz 0]

Originally posted by peterh:

Quote:

You will need to either:

a) Buy more RAM

Replace integrated graphics with a AGP Graphics card which will be a i) Several times faster and ii) free up system ram.

 

 

ok but what is 'free memory' and whats 'integrated graphics'.i just got to know that from my friend i.e that my system supports this integrated graphics. how do find that out??

 

then....i have his old comp. which has 128MB RAM .can i just add on that to my computer to make it 384 MB RAM? can i?

help

 

Wait ....wait....! well i agian ran the EA sys. info and now its showing-

 

Total memory;254 mb RAM

free memory: 8 MB RAM

 

How di i make my total memory : 256 MB RAM???(normal)

[Edited by wiz on 2004-11-21 10:34:13]

 

[Sampson 0]

I believe what peterh meant was "free up memory" not as you have understood "free memory." It would be helpful to know the kind of motherboard you are using so that you can be better helped.

In any case, your motherboard has a graphics chipset integrated into it. It may or may not have video memory as part of the chipset, but when it needs more memory to run higher resolutions, it borrows memory from your RAM. What peterh is suggesting is that if you put in a graphics card with its own video memory into a slot of your PC, it will not need to borrow RAM from your system. In this sense a new graphics card will "free up" the memory that was once used by your inboard graphics on the motherboard.

Here's the problem - peterh has suggested that you purchase an AGP card, but we don't know how old your motherboard is. When you look at the slots on your motherboard, especially on older boards the AGP slot is usually brown. On really old boards, there is no AGP slot. On less old boards there is an AGP slot but it may only support 1X or 2X boards. If this is the case, you would want to buy a PCI card. If it can support 4X, you can use most of the AGP graphics cards available.

Your motherboard has a limit to the amount of memory it can hold and each slot has a limit as to the size (64K, 128K, 256K or 512K) of the stick. If you know the kind of motherboard you have, you can usually find these through a Google search. On old motherboards (BX types), in general there are three slots and each slot can carry a maximum of a 256K stick. Again, while this is typical of an "old" board, each manufacturer configured them differently. There is a difference in the kind of memory DIMMS, SDram, etc. That too is specified per board.

Hope this helped.

[wiz 0]

well sampson,peterh ans waffler thanks a lot. especially sampson ...my motherboard is Intel Desktop board, pentium 4 processor, 256 mb ram.

i heard that actually always the manufacturers round up the value of memory.256-254,64-63.(any arguments are surely entertained). Iam a beginner and have loads to learn.sampson,u'r letter was sooo informative thanks a lot!