What does it mean when you have a graphics card that says up to 224 MB of memory?

I just bought a notebook and I forgot what type of graphics card I have. I found out that it is an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950. Is the computer supposed to be using the whole 224MB of memory to get a better picture? I'm not sure how the dedicated graphics cards work. My desktop is old and the graphics card does not have memory on it.

What does it mean when you have a graphics card that says up to 224 MB of memory?
Some graphics cards use special high-speed memory to render an image. The more memory you have, the larger, more detailed, more colorful and higher-quality your final rendered image will be.





Your particular graphics card does not have its own high-speed memory, and instead can use up to 224 megabytes of your main memory.





The amount of memory required by your graphics card will vary depending on the nature and complexity of the graphics that you are rendering. If you are not doing complex 3D modeling, animation, or playing video games, your graphics card will use very little of your main memory.
Reply:It means it uses up to 224 MB of system memory. These sorts of video devices are cheap and shoddy.
Reply:On board video will access system memory. The amount of memory goes like this:





640x480 resolution


16 bit color


= 4,915,200 bits or 5 MB of memory.





1024x768 resolution


32 bit color


= 23,165,824 bits or 24 MB of memory





Some programs run shading programs, 3D uses more (I'm not sure about the amount specifically) but anyway that's the basics.
Reply:Yeah, the video card does use all of the memory for the best graphical experiance. Cards with more memory work much better than those with less or worse, no memory. If your computer is so old your graphic card has no onboard memory, it is time for you to get a new desktop computer, unless you are content to unplug the old one and simply use your new laptop. You could attempt upgradig your desktop graphics card, but if it has no memory onboard at all, then it is probably not worth your time and money to do so.





Good luck and have a great day!
Reply:On board graphics card share the main memory with the computer and don't have any dedicated on board memory.


the 224 meg you mention sound like its you main memory because the way memory works you'd have 256meg the card would use 32meg or to put it another way 256-32=224


you only get a better picture or performance increase with more memory if you're doing something like playing graphics intensive games for normal us 32meg is adequate