Aspire 5100 Graphics Card RAM?

Hello all!

I did a search before posting and could find nothing. I also did an extensive internet search,and found nothing.

A few years ago, I purchased an Acer Aspire 5100 using it mostly for busines and writing. Now, I'd like to watch some videos, have an webcam, and play games, however, the integrated video card handles none of this well. It's slow and will sputter on something as simple as a short 60 second video clip.

I maxed out the 4GB Ram, thinking that Vista was using too much but it did not help.

Then I discovered this:

I did some research and found that I could go into the BIOS and change the memory from 128 to 512. I tried it, found the setting, changed it, and thought I'd find success. However, Vista somehow read these actions as an error and a failure to start, and would not start.

If I turned the computer off to reboot, it would not do so. The only solution was to unplug and remove the battery. Then, Vista acted like nothing happened and activated. When I returned to the BIOS the setting had returned to 128.

What is going on and what is the solution?

Note: Your help would be very welcome. My wife is leaving in a few weeks in order to tend to her brother who has cancer half way across the country and we'd like to video chat.

Thanks.

 

Update:

I tried going into Bios again out of the list of choices of MBs to choose from there was 32, 64, 128, 256 (or close to that number) but no 512. I left it at the 200 setting saved and closed and the computer restarted.

Along side of the to list of MB choices there was writing mentioning these values and their default value. 512 and its default was mentioned, yet you couldn't choose it.

Thoughts are welcome.

 

Don't worry about video RAM. There won't be any performance difference greater than 256MB. If the card is based on a 64-bit memory bandwidth than 128MB is more than enough.

 

Thanks.

I did the Vista quality test in Control Panel and it gave video performance a 3.0 out of five, so I guess that's just average. Do you think such a system can handle Skype and if it can, why isn't it?

When I use Skype it crashes in about 30 seconds.

 

Personally I think your machine is capable of this sort of task. I have never used skype, but I do know it was very flaky on Vista for a long time. I do not know the position now but it may be better to direct your queries to the skype forums.
As to playing video clips, I would expect few problems in this area unless you are looking at HiDef which would require more raw power to handle. What type of video and what application are you using to play it?
I believe this laptop also suffers from heat so you need to make sure it is well ventilated and as you suggest it is a few years old might be due a clean out around the fan and coolers.
Can you play DVD video okay?

 

I've used the laptop to write a book and to surf the net. I have not watched a DVD yet because I use the machine mostly at home, but will do so tonight and report back. The kind of video clips I might watch are something like a movie trailer, a youtube clip, or something a friend downloaded onto the net. If the clips is streaming then forget about it, it turns into a slide-show of still images and drive CPU usage to the max.

Last night I allowed the computer to handle graphics as it see fit, and got a little better action from video. A short trailer for a game I watched played fairly well affer it loaded, but while it was streaming it was awful.

Thanks for your input, by the way.

 

you are welcome.

Streaming video can be jittery and awful as it relies completely on the quality of your internet connection. Your connection may not be so good. This would also affect skype performance, though should not crash it.
If I were you I would run a speed test on your internet connection, e.g. http://www.speedtest.net/
to see how that performs.
Once the video has loaded you should be ok for up to DVD quality. In this case the quality can be affected by background tasks running, hard drive fragmentation and poor out of date drivers amongst other things (some of which can be quite serious).