Video Memory \ VOGONS

Video Memory

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First post, by cookertron

Posted on 2020-02-26, 19:30

cookertron Offline

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I have a CL-GD5428-80QC-A video card built into the motherboard. How can I find out how much video memory it has? Also there are 6 chip sockets next to it which I'm assuming are for video memory expansion but I can't find any information relating to the chips needed to populate the sockets 😒

A bit of research suggests the GD5428 has 2mb of ram but I'd like to be able to verify that.

Thank you for your time.

Anthony

EDIT: oh crud, I've just seen there's a video card section in the forum!

Asus P5A v1.06, Gigabyte GA-6BXDS, Soyo SY-5EMA (faulty), Viglen 486, Asus SP97-V

Reply 1 of 5, by derSammler

Posted on 2020-02-26, 20:07

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If it's on-board, it's most likely either 512 KB or 1 MB. The 5428 was the lower-end of the CL VGA chips and was normally not used with 2 MB.

Reply 2 of 5, by cookertron

Posted on 2020-02-26, 20:15

cookertron Offline

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derSammler wrote on 2020-02-26, 20:07:

...the CL VGA chips and was normally not used with 2 MB.

On closer inspection of the info on the 5428 it says it supports "up to" 2mb 😳

I'd still like to know if there's a way of finding out the amount of video ram though.

Could there be something in windows 3.1 that'll reveal all?

Asus P5A v1.06, Gigabyte GA-6BXDS, Soyo SY-5EMA (faulty), Viglen 486, Asus SP97-V

Reply 3 of 5, by derSammler

Posted on 2020-02-26, 20:20

derSammler Offline

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Run some diag software like Dr. Hardware or simply look at the DRAM chips on the mainboard. They tell their size. If unsure, post a picture.

Reply 4 of 5, by mpe

Posted on 2020-02-26, 22:29

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The 5428 can be configured with either 1MB or 2MB DRAM. If you have any free sockets on your card you have 1 MB. If they are all populated you have 2MB.

The only difference the 2M upgrade will make is enabling of the following three extra resolution modes:

1024 × 768 × 32K (interlaced)
1024 × 768 × 64K (interlaced)
1280 × 1024 × 256 (interlaced)

They are all interlaced resolutions due to the shitty DAC in these chips so this is not actually useful for anything. There are no other benefits. You won't get even 800x600x16M as some other 2M cards can do.

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Reply 5 of 5, by cookertron

Posted on 2020-02-26, 23:47

cookertron Offline

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mpe wrote on 2020-02-26, 22:29:
The 5428 can be configured with either 1MB or 2MB DRAM. If you have any free sockets on your card you have 1 MB. If they are al […]
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The 5428 can be configured with either 1MB or 2MB DRAM. If you have any free sockets on your card you have 1 MB. If they are all populated you have 2MB.

The only difference the 2M upgrade will make is enabling of the following three extra resolution modes:

1024 × 768 × 32K (interlaced)
1024 × 768 × 64K (interlaced)
1280 × 1024 × 256 (interlaced)

They are all interlaced resolutions due to the shitty DAC in these chips so this is not actually useful for anything. There are no other benefits. You won't get even 800x600x16M as some other 2M cards can do.

That pretty much answered my next question 🤣

Thank you for your sharing your time and knowledge!

Asus P5A v1.06, Gigabyte GA-6BXDS, Soyo SY-5EMA (faulty), Viglen 486, Asus SP97-V

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