diffrence between dedicated and non dedicated memory?

[Ghosts]

So I was looking through the games on sale, and I wanted to try out some newer games and I went to systemreqlabs to test, and it kept telling me I failed to meet neccary video card reqs due to video memory needed. That said, I've expiernced it before on my laptop where systemreqs said I couldn't run borderlands, and then I could run it smoother then a babies bottom. So my question is, whats the big diffrence between dedicated memory and total memory? because my video card reads:
Manufacturer ATI
Chipset AMD Radeon HD 6530D
Dedicated Memory 512 MB
Total Memory 4.0 GB
Does that mean I can play any game that requires up to 4gb of video memory? or can I only plays games that require up to 512mb? also, is there anyway to make more of my total memory dedicated? Any help would be appreciated in understanding exactly what this means for games.

also side note, with a video card like this, is my computer going to become quickly oudated now that games will be better looking (with the realse of new consonles its inevitable that pv games will start improving also)?

[TeKraken]

You have 512mb of dedicated video memory (VRAM).
The 4GB is system RAM

I dont think you can assign RAM over to VRAM, it would perform very poorly if you could as VRAM is a lot (sometimes 4 times or more) faster.

Side note:
That's one issue with laptops is that most cannot be easily upgraded.

[Ghosts]

Ah this is a desktop, I was just refrencing how System labs has been wrong before. Also It can't be my general ram, because I have 7.5Gigs of total ram.


Edit:
heres the full video ram/ram report:

Revision
Video Card AMD Radeon HD 6530D
Manufacturer ATI
Chipset AMD Radeon HD 6530D
Dedicated Memory 512 MB
Total Memory 4.0 GB
Pixel Shader Version 5.0
Vertex Shader Version 5.0
Hardware T & L Yes
Memory
Memory 7.7 GB

[TeKraken]

That list is confusing indeed.
What are the actuall specs/names of the components in your PC?

IS that even a video card or is it an integrated GPU?

[отец тебе ♥♥♥♥♥♥]

That list is confusing indeed.

[Ghosts]

To be quite honest I'm unsure what it is, I believe it might be an integrated GPU, however AMD Radeon HD 6530D cards are also sold indivualy, unlike most integrated GPUs. I've never taken the computer itself apart and looked at it to verify if it can be upgraded( I wish I was a computer genuis and knew how to build them/code and such but quite honestly I just know what's needed to get by and fix whatever comes up as a problem).
The list does thoroughly confuse me, I know when I was researching this computer before I bought it, it mentioned that the ram could be used transferibly with the video card, which is why I brought it up. As I said however, I'm no genuis so it could have just meant that it had back up ram or something. I'll google something and see what I can find however.

I'm back, According to diffrent forums/things I saw, almost everywhere says " You have a crappy apu" then promptly goes and talks about how it can run the latest games easily... I honestly am so confused that I'm ready for a nice nap. Can anyone shed some more light on this whole thing?

[Vaemer-Riit]

Can you upload a picture of the back panel of your PC and the inside of your PC? (be sure to cover any Microsoft product keys so we can not see them)

[Rove]

It's a integrated GPU and it is not a high end one either. It's not very well suited for gaming.

Games don't only require video memory to run. SO no you can't just play any game requiring up to 4GB of memory.

Games will also require things like GFLOPS of processing power which is one of the things that really sets apart $500+ GPUs from $50 GPUs which might both have 2 or 4 GB of RAM.

Your HD 6530D does 284 GFLOPS at maximum. The newest and most expensive (single GPU) separate dedicated AMD card, the AMD R9 290X, does 5632 GFLOPS and has much better stats in other areas as well like memory bandwidth. It's also a 4GB card which is why I say you can't just run anything requiring 4GB just cause you have 4GB. I guess if 4GB were the only requirement you could do it but many times it's not.

You can find your GPUs stats here, just scroll down a little bit:

AMD HD 6000 series GPUs and IGPs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_AMD_graphics_processing_units#Northern_Islands_.28HD_6xxx.29_Series

You have got it better than a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 maybe but much worse than a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.

As for what system requirements websites or even manufacturer website requirements say sometimes they are wrong. Sometimes they post the requirements too high so you can't complain if you have a lower end system and run into problems or just because they are being dumb. It's not always the case but often there is a little bit of room for you to sneak in with low settings and resolutions and play anyways. I would not buy games based on that assumption that you can do that though unless you notice that it's recommending a minimum of Nvidia GeForce GT 8500 or AMD Radeon HD 5870 or something way out of wack like that and you look at it and go: "My AMD card is way better statistically than the Nvidia card and their AMD requirements are so far out of wack and through the roof. I'm just going to try anyways because I know for a fact I run laps around the Nvidia card they say it can be played with and I have all the same or better DirectX versions and whatever else as well".

For example CoD: Ghosts on Wikipedia says it requires at minimum a GTX 450 ti or a HD 5870 and the only card meeting the recommended requirements is a GTX 760. Meanwhile the HD 5870 absolutely floors the GTX 450 ti in terms of performance and might even be considered better than the GTX 760 as well with some of it's stats exceeding the GTX 760 by a lot and some of them slightly lower or near the same.

I can't even find a GTX 450 ti on Wikipedia which is funny so I guess it's a rare or non-existant card. I would assume it's worse than the GTX 460 so that means a HD 5750 could probably run the game no problems and that's a big difference in price from the HD 5870 at $129 launch price for the HD 5750 and $379 for the HD 5870 at launch.

Anyways in a case like that I'd still buy the game assuming I could run it if I wanted it. I don't want CoD: Ghosts anyways all that much so it does not matter to me.

OP I think you have a desktop right?

What APU do you have exactly?

If you have a A6 3670K it might be worth adding in a HD 7790 / R7 260X dedicated graphics card and just overclocking the CPU portion of the APU a little bit if required. That might put you near enough to the new PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.

You could also add a new GPU with plans that you might upgrade the APU / CPU and motherboard later. You might want to upgrade those anyways later even if running a overclocked A6 3670K.

If you are interested in upgrading the system let me know.

The place to start is a new HD 7790 or R7 260X or better graphics card for around $100 or more.

After that I would recommend keeping the APU until you notice you need more CPU power at which point you should overclock (if possible) or buy a new APU or CPU and motherboard. For under $200 you can get a 6 core 3.5 Ghz AMD FX 6300 and a new 970 chipset motherboard OR a new A10 FM2 APU and FM2 or FM2+ motherboard.

Keep in mind that upgrading things might also require a new Power Supply Unit (PSU) or case depending on what you have now and how powerful and big it is.

If you have a laptop ignore everything I said but I think you have a desktop to have HD 6530D because laptop APUs graphics portion ends with G instead of D I think.

[Ghosts]

Aye it is indeed a desktop.
My processor is an AMD A6-3620 apu.
Wow lots of info there. I know that I read my system can indeed run cod ghost on low settings and get a good 30-40fps. So I've been kinda saying that cod ghost and lower can be run as my guidelines.
As for upgradeing, I'd honestly love to upgrade, this pc is about a year and a half old, and like 4-5 months ago my father put in a new stronger power supply for me (So that'd be fine) That said, I'd have to probably buy a new motherboard/processor/graphics card, because I honestly don't think my motherboard has another spot. I also know that my processor can't be overclocked :c.

Mk, so newer question, If I wanted to upgrade this system and get it so I could play any game currently on the market, and most upcoming for the next 1-2 years, while also making sure I could upgrade if needed in the future, what would I want to look for?
Also on that, Would it be smart to conisder just building a new pc completly?

Thanks for the help.

[Joker]

Building your own is the way to go. You would learn more about PC hardware, have a PC that does everything you want & can be easily upgraded.

http://pcpartpicker.com/

[raynorpat]

pcpartpciker ftw