GPU limited to 64mb of ram

Got an Acer Aspire 5050 the other day, and this thing is pretty **** nice for it's price. The thing that bothers me is that fact that the GPU can use up to 256mb of RAM (shared), but, seeing as the lappy only has 512 it limits itself to 64... Which with most games, simply doesn't cut it (try playing HL2.. lol). I want it to use 256mb... It's MY laptop, why the hell can't I?? >.<

Anyone know of a way to change it? I mean, i know it's not smart to let it use that much RAM, but it would only be for when i'm gaming, then i'd change it back.

Thanks.

btw, the graphics chipset is a ATI Radeon Xpress 1100.

 

Hi there,
Being an integrated GPU, the Radeon Xpress 1100 is not a strong card. It uses all shared memory and I doubt there is much to gain by allocating more memory to it. Unless you can go into the BIOS and change the amount of memory it gets, there is no way to change it because the driver controls how much memory it gets via HyperMemory. For older games, 64MB of video RAM is enough. Which games are/will you be playing?

You'll want to upgrade your RAM to at least 1GB to play newer games.

 

Can't change it in BIOS, I tried. I plan on upgrading to a gig of RAM soon (b-day present ) and I'm not much of a gamer, I just like the occasional game of Counter-Strike 1.6, which it handles fine But, I'd like to be able to play HL2 because i've read reviews and people say it can be done.

Thanks for the quick reply

 

You can definitely play CS:S/HL2 on that machine, so don't worry. You simply need more RAM. 1GB minimum I'd say.

 

Okay, thanks for the advice

 

Even with 512mb of ram and the X1100 taking 64 of it, you should be able to play HL2 and CS:S - both games run on a 32mb gpu and 256mb of ram if needs be.

 

Yeah, it runs it, but it's unplayable on low settings.

When I tried to run it on Vista it was unbearable... the intro clip at the start of the game was lagging like mad... Thankfully I'm back to XP.