Graphics Aperture Size

[rob1234]

I have a radeon 9500 pro (128 megs) and I'm wondering what size I'm supposed to set the graphics aperture size setting in my bios (p4p800 mobo). Do I set it at 128 because it has 128 megs or leave it at the default 64 or something different. thanks

[jankerson]

I always set mine to 256mb and had no issues.

[Shinma]

If additional details required,
The Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide article available via the following link,
Click HERE

[CenturionStrategy]

The rule of thumb I follow is to set it to half the size of your system RAM.

[Leoslocks]

I saved the link.

Now, while increasing the AGP aperture size beyond 128MB won't take up system RAM, it would still be best to keep the aperture size in the 64MB-128MB range so that the GART (Graphics Address Relocation Table) won't become too big. As the amount of local memory on graphics cards increases and texture compression becomes commonplace, there's less of a need for the AGP aperture size to grow beyond 64MB. Therefore, it is recommended that you set the AGP Aperture Size to 64MB or at most, 128MB.

It is quite common to hear many people recommending that the AGP aperture size should be exactly half the amount of system RAM. However, this is wrong for the same reason why swapfile size shouldn't always be 1/4 of system RAM. Like the swapfile, the requirement for AGP memory space shrinks as the graphics card's local memory increases in size. This is because the graphics card will have more local memory to dedicate to texture storage. This reduces the need for AGP memory. So, if you upgrade to a graphics card with more memory, you shouldn't be "deceived" into thinking that it will therefore require even more AGP memory! On the contrary, a smaller AGP memory space will be required.

The AGP aperture size should be calculated using this formula : maximum usable AGP memory size x 2 plus 12MB.

Maybe I should have posted the article on AGP Apeture size. Actually , there is so much information there that one needs to visit the site.

Thanks for the link shinma

[transtrem]

Originally posted by jankerson
I always set mine to 256mb and had no issues.

Me too.

[wrathchild_67]

But newer games are requiring increasingly more and more video memory. Take UT2003. Setting everything to UltraHigh in the ut2003.ini means that textures are going to overflow any 128MB graphics card's memory by twofold or more. So I don't see how that article could recommend a 64MB aperture when textures in games continue to increase in size regardless of z compression. I always set mine to 256MB as well, but only because I have so much RAM.

[F_A_L_C_O_N]

so wrathchild_67 for the comp in my specs bellow would you go for 128 or 256MB

[wrathchild_67]

128MB in your case. There's no sense allocating half of your RAM when 384MB could be put to better use all around.

[F_A_L_C_O_N]

thanks

[rob1234]

thanks for the response guys. I'll try 128 since I only have 512megs of ram.

[Bennyboy]

I did a few UT2003 timedemos with different apertures and found that above 128MB there was no difference on my system with a 128MB Ti4200 and 512MB system RAM. So I leave it at 128MB, no point being greedy. I inadvertently had mine set to 32MB anyway, and the performance boost from that was most welcome LOL!

Bennyboy