Dedicated Video Memory?

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Chockeh wrote on 2012-03-16 03:24

[Image: http://puu.sh/kYjf]

[Image: http://puu.sh/kYjo]

Will I still be able to run the game if this is the only problem? If not, is there a way to fix this?
Juno wrote on 2012-03-16 04:04

It is unlikely that you'll be able to run the game. Also, the only way I know to fix it is to upgrade your video card...meaning, replace it.
Taycat wrote on 2012-03-16 04:56

Intel chips are notorious for being terrible in the first place, so that should have been an alarm for you.
Chockeh wrote on 2012-03-16 05:06

HD 3000 actually isn't bad.
Osayidan wrote on 2012-03-16 11:42

go into your BIOS and if your board is recent enough you should have an option to increase dedicated video memory, assuming you have enough RAM.
Chockeh wrote on 2012-03-16 19:25

Checked BIOS and I don't seem to be able to change anything. I did however find something that's kinda interesting and it's related to my problem, I just don't know how legit this information is.

Why do you think that you need to increase the amount that is "dedicated"?

The driver uses a small amount (~64MB) of driver for internal house keeping purposes- that memory is taken at boot time. All other memory needed is dynamically allocated to graphics as it is needed - up to 1.7GB on a 4GB system. This is more than enough for all applications that you would be running.

While some games may list "512MB dedicated VRAM" on their min spec, that only applies to discrete graphics cards where access to system memory would be too slow over the PCIe bus. For integrated graphics devices, all memory is system memory - marking it "dedicated" doesn't make it faster and would just mean that it was unavailable to the operating system to give to applications on the CPU if graphics isn't using it.

Some systems include a BIOS option to increase the amount of memory that is "dedicated' (e.g. stolen at boot) - but you should be aware that this is NOT required for well written apps to function properly and basically reduces the memory available for regular operation.

There are a few exceptions to the above - that is, a couple games that actually make (incorrect) decisions based on the amount of "dedicated" memory they detect. The ones I know of are: Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, 2010, 2011, Grand Theft Auto IV, and some of the Total War series of games. It appears that PES 2012 may be fixed with a patch. For GTA:IV, some people have had success with command line switches.
Yoorah wrote on 2012-03-17 02:39

The spec lists the HD 3000 as a minimum requirement, and that's the very same GPU you have. Take that test thing with a grain of salt. The game should run, but how well it will run is another matter. You'll probably have to run it at minimum settings. Dunno what game it is, but there might be a demo available that you should test first.
Chockeh wrote on 2012-03-17 02:51

It's Guild Wars 2. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to test the beta without having to pre-purchase the game first.
Excalibur wrote on 2012-03-17 11:34

Quote from Osayidan;809331:
go into your BIOS and if your board is recent enough you should have an option to increase dedicated video memory, assuming you have enough RAM.

Wait, you can do that? o_o
Osayidan wrote on 2012-03-17 13:21

Quote from Excalibur;810596:
Wait, you can do that? o_o

On asus boards that use uefi BIOS you can, if the board supports the Intel graphics (it'll have a VGA and DVI port).
From what I've seen all the recent socket 1155, and all socket 2011 intel asus boards have the option. Like chock posted, in theory using the option does nothing, but if you have the RAM to spare for it doing so will help with some issues, especially gaming.

I don't know about other board manufacturers, even the more recent MSI and Gigabyte boards I've used in the past months have the old-school BIOS with options dating back 10 years.