[Lord Nimon]

I have an ATI Radeon 8500 that thinks I have two monitors attached, but I don't. According to the System Profile, it has allocated 32MB of RAM to each monitor. For 2D, that doesn't matter. However, I am concerned that when I play an OpenGL game, that the game will think I only have 32MB of video RAM.

Someone told me that once the game switches to OpenGL mode, all 64MB of memory is allocated to the primary monitor. Is this true?

[BobW]

Where in the ASP do you see how the memory is allocated to each monitor? I have the 8500 card and two monitors and don't see this.

[GoGoReggieXPowars]

BobW, it's in the ATI control panel, not ASP. It will show you how much video memory is being taken up, etc.

Lord Nimon, can I assume that this is a flashed card?

[a2daj]

It all depends on which OS you're using. OS 9 has the vid memory display. OS X does not.
Do you have an adapter connected to the unused port? Sometimes the adapters fool video cards into thinking a display is attached.

[villalobos]

Originally posted by Lord Nimon:
I have an ATI Radeon 8500 that thinks I have two monitors attached, but I don't. According to the System Profile, it has allocated 32MB of RAM to each monitor. For 2D, that doesn't matter. However, I am concerned that when I play an OpenGL game, that the game will think I only have 32MB of video RAM.

Someone told me that once the game switches to OpenGL mode, all 64MB of memory is allocated to the primary monitor. Is this true?

I did some RTCW benchmarks with the same Radeon 8500 with 2 monitors and mirroring off and on. No change, whatsoever. Kinda bugged me. Not sure if it is because hte processor cant follow the card anyway.
I can't see how the card allocate all memory to one screen though, since the other screen is still functionnal.

villa

[Lord Nimon]

Originally posted by GoGoReggieXPowars:
Lord Nimon, can I assume that this is a flashed card?

Yes, I think it is. The card only has one VGA port (no DVI), but my Mac thinks two monitors are attached. I'm going to have the card replaced, but in the meantime I'd like to figure out what's going on.

[ReggieX]

I don't know if you read any of the huge flashing threads that always get locked around here but the "phantom monitor" issue did seem to crop up every once in a while. And from what I recall, there was no clear solution. Sorry I can't give a better answer than that. One thing you could do is use the S-video out and watch movies on a TV with it!

[lenox]

From ATI's docs on the radeon 8500, it says that, in OS 9...only 32mb will be allocated to each monitor, but in OS X, memory can be accessed dynamically as it is needed. This also is the reason a memory meter (like in the OS 9 control panel) cannot be used.

So:
In os 9 : 32mb for each monitor
In os X : 64 mb where and when you need it

In other words : OS 9 is old!

[dfiler]

Despite ATI's documentation, the video memory is split evenly between any two connected outputs in OS X. In fact, simply mirroring the primary monitor to svideo output cuts your video memory in half.

Sad but true.

For this reason, I've attached an external scan converter inline with my primary display. Graphics performance is much improved with this setup, especially since the advent of quartz extreme.

[ReggieX]

Originally posted by lenox:
From ATI's docs on the radeon 8500, it says that, in OS 9...only 32mb will be allocated to each monitor,

You're missing the very first post: he only has ONE monitor connected, but the card thinks there are TWO.

Originally posted by dfiler:
Despite ATI's documentation, the video memory is split evenly between any two connected outputs in OS X. In fact, simply mirroring the primary monitor to svideo output cuts your video memory in half.

Well, that makes sense. 64M for one display, 32M for two displays. I don't see the problem; if you want to run games, just unplug the 2nd monitor & reboot. I can't say I've seen all that much performance difference, and I've had the S-Video out connected to my TV basically since I got the card.

YMMV, as always.

[Lord Nimon]

Originally posted by lenox:
From ATI's docs on the radeon 8500, it says that, in OS 9...only 32mb will be allocated to each monitor, but in OS X, memory can be accessed dynamically as it is needed.

I understand that if I have a 64MB video card, that the memory will be split among two monitors, but that isn't my question. My question is that if I start an OpenGL game, will it disable the 2nd monitor and allocate all 64MB to the first?

Since I have a phantom monitor and only one VGA port on the card, I can't tell if the 2nd monitor is disabled!

[dfiler]

If you've got the phantom monitor, then you're running the primary display at 32megs. It is only possible to disable an enabled display by unplugging and rebooting. With the phantom monitor issue, a simple reboot won't suffice. Sorry, I have forgotten what the fix is. You might want to check the bazillion page long thread on flashing 8500s.

[GoGoReggieXPowars]

I don't think there was a fix for the Phantom Monitor problem.

[lenox]

From what I've read, the fix is to unplug your vga monitor from the vga port, plug it into a vga->dvi adapter, and use the radeon's dvi port (as it thinks this is the primary port).

I myself have a flashed radeon 8500, but have not experienced the ghost monitor problem.