What does "onboard" mean in this context?

[spanky]

Hi. When a vid card's spec sheet says (xxx onboard), what exactly does that mean?
Here's an example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127294

Memory Size Support up to 512MB (256MB onboard)

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Unless I`ve missed it, I can`t see where it says onboard anything on the page you linked. I did check on the specifications tab.

Maybe you can copy and paste the part you`re referring to.

Regards Howard

 

[spanky]

Yeah, it uses javascript so I can't link directly to the specs part. But it's under the "memory" section under "memory size".

This one has it too:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127292

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Memory Size Support up to 512MB (128MB onboard).

I take that to mean it actually has 128MB of memory built in, but it supports upto 512MB of memory. Whether that means the rest of the ram is can use is your system ram, I don`t know.

I must admit, I`m slightly puzzled too.

Regards Howard

 

[9Nails]

This refer's to ATI's "Hyper Memory" where you can use some of the system RAM from your motherboard to off-set the built-in RAM on the video card.

For more info see MSI's website: http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=RX1550-TD256EH&class=vga

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Thanks for that 9Nails, very useful. So, I was kind of right in my assumption.

Regards Howard

 

[spanky]

Yeah, thanks.