# Is the video RAM on this laptop shared?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-video-ram-on-this-laptop-shared/192280
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 1, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-video-ram-on-this-laptop-shared/192280 "2003-08-01T03:06:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-video-ram-on-this-laptop-shared/192280/1 "2003-08-01T03:06:07Z")

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The question is pretty much in the title. Here’s the link to the [laptop](http://vprmatrix.com/products_notebook_220A5.asp). I know it probably wouldn’t affect performance _too_ much, but it would still be nice if it was a stand alone card. Also, how can I tell in the future whether or not a video card uses shared memory or stand-alone? Most retailers won’t say in the description.

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### Author: ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-video-ram-on-this-laptop-shared/192280/2 "2003-08-01T03:24:29Z")

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The linked description sez … “discreet 32MB graphics”. To me that says non-shared video RAM.

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### Author: ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-video-ram-on-this-laptop-shared/192280/3 "2003-08-01T05:08:05Z")

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Ahh…“discreet”…the powers of skimming. Thank you, **astro**.

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### Author: ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-video-ram-on-this-laptop-shared/192280/4 "2003-08-01T05:09:19Z")

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Or rather _not_ skimming.

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### Author: ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-video-ram-on-this-laptop-shared/192280/5 "2003-08-01T12:55:57Z")

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You can run the test at [www.pcpitstop.com](http://www.pcpitstop.com) and see what is says. If all the installed RAM is used by Windows then the video card has its own RAM.

> [@](#):
>
> RAM installed 256 MB  
> Windows RAM 256 MB

Versus

> [@](#):
>
> RAM installed 256 MB  
> Windows RAM 240 MB

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### Author: ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-video-ram-on-this-laptop-shared/192280/6 "2003-08-01T14:39:54Z")

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Actually, under the section “Features-at-a-glance”, you can see the line:

32MB nVidia GeForce4 420 Go Graphics

Doesn’t sound like shared memory to me.