Problem with graphics card memory

[Doodlekin]

I recently made a new computer and my gpu is the AMD Radeon HD 6850 1GB. I did a test on System Requirements Lab out of curiosity and I tested Battlefield 3 on there. It said I could run the game but did not meet recommended specs. Everything was fine except my graphics card's memory which was listed at 708.1 MB instead of of 1GB.

On Windows 7 if i go to control panel, screen resolution, advanced settings it lists my dedicated video memory as 1024mb. Catalyst Control Center also lists it as 1024mb, so no problems there. However, if I check dxdiag it lists it as 708mb. Would anybody know which of these is more reliable and why dxdiag and this website are listing my graphics memory as this?

 

[asiansaurus]

I recently made a new computer and my gpu is the AMD Radeon HD 6850 1GB. I did a test on System Requirements Lab out of curiosity and I tested Battlefield 3 on there. It said I could run the game but did not meet recommended specs. Everything was fine except my graphics card's memory which was listed at 708.1 MB instead of of 1GB.

On Windows 7 if i go to control panel, screen resolution, advanced settings it lists my dedicated video memory as 1024mb. Catalyst Control Center also lists it as 1024mb, so no problems there. However, if I check dxdiag it lists it as 708mb. Would anybody know which of these is more reliable and why dxdiag and this website are listing my graphics memory as this?

My friend and I have the exact same problem. We both have HD6870 by Sapphire. He's running the latest stable drivers reading @ 710mb, and I'm running Beta-2 drivers reading @ 708mb.

 

[Doodlekin]

I just asked another friend of mine and they have the same problem too. Anybody have any idea?

 

[asiansaurus]

Ok so I contacted Sapphire directly about the issue and this is what they have to say (in broken english of course )

"That's a special why windows calculate onboard memory, check your CCC it
will tell you that there are 1024mb from the hardware information.

Tech"

From what I can make of it, it just means that DXdiag uses a different method of calculating memory than CCC. Since a lot of system requirement programs refer to DXdiag (maybe?), it appears that we have less memory than we really do.

So while it sucks that we don't appear to meet system requirements, we actually do.

Maybe Windows will release an update to fix this issue soon. Seems to only happen to HD6XXX cards.

 

[Doodlekin]

Best answer selected by Doodlekin.