[98464] in RedHat Linux List
generic video question
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael George)
Mon Nov 9 07:58:09 1998
From: Michael George <george@mintcity.com>
To: redhat-list@redhat.com
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 07:54:49 -0500 (EST)
Reply-To: george@mintcity.com
Resent-From: redhat-list@redhat.com
This isn't exactly relevant to RedHat, but this is probably about as good a
place as any to post it...
I'm confused about the size of the RAM on video cards nowadays... The hottest
thing in video is to have 8Mb RAM on them. And this is for Windoze
machines...
However, by my calculations, even at 32-bit color, the standard windoze screen
will only require 2Mb...
800 x 600 x 4 = 1.83105Mb
Running Linux (and the Windoze users with decent monitors), I think most use
1024x768 which still only requires 3Mb...
1024 x 768 x 4 = 3Mb
Even for those who have the big monitors and really love screen real estate,
5Mb should suffice...
1280 x 1024 x 4 = 5Mb
To use up 8Mb one would have to be a seriously greedy screen lover...
1600 x 1200 x 4 = 7.32422Mb
So why do people get all charged up about the amount of RAM on the video
board? There must be something I'm missing... Does the RAM on the card get
used for copies of the screen so that windows can be redrawn quickly? Or
maybe the RAM is used by the accelerated graphics chipsets?
I'm seeking education in this area of video which I do not understand...
-Michael
--
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