How much Graphic Card memory do I have?

bratboy · Mar 29, 2009, 08:43 PM

Hope someone can help me with this. I have a Sapphire 4870x2, 2 Gig GDDR5 video card. Anyway I noticed when I use either TechpowerUp GPU-Z or check in ATI' CCC it shows memory size of 1024. Shouldn't it be showing 2048 or am I misunderstanding things? Anyway below is the info from the Graphic's Hardware section of CCC.

*************************************

Primary Adapter
Graphics Card Manufacturer Built by ATI
Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
Device ID 9441
Vendor 1002

Subsystem ID 2542
Subsystem Vendor ID 1002

Graphics Bus Capability PCI Express 2.0
Maximum Bus Setting PCI Express 2.0 x16

BIOS Version 011.007.000.000
BIOS Part Number 113-B50902-100
BIOS Date 2008/07/14

Memory Size 1024 MB
Memory Type GDDR5

Core Clock in MHz 750 MHz
Memory Clock in MHz 900 MHz
Total Memory Bandwidth in GByte/s 115.2 GByte/s

Linked Adapter
Graphics Card Manufacturer Built by ATI
Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
Device ID 9441
Vendor 1002

Subsystem ID 2042
Subsystem Vendor ID 1002

Graphics Bus Capability PCI Express 2.0
Maximum Bus Setting PCI Express 2.0 x16

BIOS Version 011.007.000.000
BIOS Part Number 113-B50902-101
BIOS Date 2008/07/14

Memory Size 1024 MB
Memory Type GDDR5

Core Clock in MHz 750 MHz
Memory Clock in MHz 900 MHz
Total Memory Bandwidth in GByte/s 115.2 GByte/s

IvanV · Mar 29, 2009, 08:52 PM

It depends on how you count the memory.

The total capacity of all of the memory chips on your card is 2GB, but, because of the way all of the current multi-GPU solutions work, that memory is split into two halves, one for each of the graphics chips, and they always have exactly the same contents, so effectively the available memory size is 1GB.

bratboy · Mar 29, 2009, 09:49 PM

So I shouldn't worry that my card is defective then? Just trying to make sure I don't need to RMA it or something

IvanV · Mar 29, 2009, 10:16 PM

I'm fairly sure that all is well. As you see, it reports that you have two graphics adapters, "Primary" and "Linked", and it says 1GB of memory for each of them, so it looks just fine.

bratboy · Mar 29, 2009, 10:43 PM

Ahhhh, silly me I didn't see the 2 entries, I just scrolled down to the bottom so only noticed the one entry for the linked item. Totally missed the line under primary LOL

Mar 29, 2009, 08:43 PM	#1
bratboy HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 7 Rep Power: 0	How much Graphic Card memory do I have? Hope someone can help me with this. I have a Sapphire 4870x2, 2 Gig GDDR5 video card. Anyway I noticed when I use either TechpowerUp GPU-Z or check in ATI' CCC it shows memory size of 1024. Shouldn't it be showing 2048 or am I misunderstanding things? Anyway below is the info from the Graphic's Hardware section of CCC. *********************************** Primary Adapter Graphics Card Manufacturer Built by ATI Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 Device ID 9441 Vendor 1002 Subsystem ID 2542 Subsystem Vendor ID 1002 Graphics Bus Capability PCI Express 2.0 Maximum Bus Setting PCI Express 2.0 x16 BIOS Version 011.007.000.000 BIOS Part Number 113-B50902-100 BIOS Date 2008/07/14 Memory Size 1024 MB Memory Type GDDR5 Core Clock in MHz 750 MHz Memory Clock in MHz 900 MHz Total Memory Bandwidth in GByte/s 115.2 GByte/s Linked Adapter Graphics Card Manufacturer Built by ATI Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 Device ID 9441 Vendor 1002 Subsystem ID 2042 Subsystem Vendor ID 1002 Graphics Bus Capability PCI Express 2.0 Maximum Bus Setting PCI Express 2.0 x16 BIOS Version 011.007.000.000 BIOS Part Number 113-B50902-101 BIOS Date 2008/07/14 Memory Size 1024 MB** Memory Type GDDR5 Core Clock in MHz 750 MHz Memory Clock in MHz 900 MHz Total Memory Bandwidth in GByte/s 115.2 GByte/s

Mar 29, 2009, 08:52 PM	#2
IvanV HH Assassin Guild Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,906 Rep Power: 333 System Specs	Re: How much Graphic Card memory do I have? It depends on how you count the memory. The total capacity of all of the memory chips on your card is 2GB, but, because of the way all of the current multi-GPU solutions work, that memory is split into two halves, one for each of the graphics chips, and they always have exactly the same contents, so effectively the available memory size is 1GB. __________________ If anyone has Portal 2 and hasn't played the co-op and wants to do me a favour, let me know (PM me or whatever).

Mar 29, 2009, 09:49 PM	Thread Starter #3
bratboy HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 7 Rep Power: 0	Re: How much Graphic Card memory do I have? So I shouldn't worry that my card is defective then? Just trying to make sure I don't need to RMA it or something

Mar 29, 2009, 10:16 PM	#4
IvanV HH Assassin Guild Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,906 Rep Power: 333 System Specs	Re: How much Graphic Card memory do I have? I'm fairly sure that all is well. As you see, it reports that you have two graphics adapters, "Primary" and "Linked", and it says 1GB of memory for each of them, so it looks just fine. __________________ If anyone has Portal 2 and hasn't played the co-op and wants to do me a favour, let me know (PM me or whatever).

Mar 29, 2009, 10:43 PM	Thread Starter #5
bratboy HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 7 Rep Power: 0	Re: How much Graphic Card memory do I have? Ahhhh, silly me I didn't see the 2 entries, I just scrolled down to the bottom so only noticed the one entry for the linked item. Totally missed the line under primary LOL