New
#1
vRAM, RAM.
Ok, bare with me. New to all this.
I'll start from begining. 3 1/2 year old comp, never tinkered with the hardware, just software. Until about a week ago. Running Windows 7 32-bit (we recomended for my comp).
Had problem with screen, blue dots, etc. So bought new graphics card (Radeon HD 5770) and fixed the problem. Everything ran fine, all games smooth, etc.
So, after getting my first taste of updating the hardware, decide to upgrade my RAM from 2GB to 4GB.
Bought installed, and bingo, 4GB. (This is where it starts going wrong)
ISSUE 1:
Then tried running some games and it started coming up with, Memory running dangerously low and not starting up. (game in question FM2010).
So checked specs and it says 4GB (3GB Usable). Although i'm concerned about why i can't use all 4GB, my main concern is why games have decided to stop working.
The error message that comes up says it need 1.8GB to run. And i'm wondering how it possibly ran when i had just 2gb.
ISSUE 2:
On another game, it comes up with the error message, The video card does not have the neccessary specs - requires 64mb. Forgiv me if i'm wrong but my nice shiny new Video card has 1GB vRAM, does it not?
So i have a feeling the 2 issues are linked. but i'm not an expert. possibly not able to access my 1gb on G-card so spilling over into my 3gb of usable RAM.
Priority, fixing the issue to be able to run my games again.
Secondary finding a way to get all 4GB running. (been reading some forums and seen tips like upgrade to 7 64-bit, but don't think my comp can handle it, also tips like updating BIOS, but seems needlessly risky - only an option if all else fails)