memory issues with 8800gts 320

So i've recently upgraded my rig:
evga 8800gts 320mb
gigabyte DS-3
intel core 2 duo 6320 Oc'ed to 2.93ghz
2x1gb geil ddr2 800
Vista business

However, i've noticed when i go to display properties, it says i only have 256m of dedicated video memory. Is this just because vista doesn't recognize the 320mb? or am i really losing out on memory. If this is a newbie question, do your bashing haha. But i was just curious. Thanks!

that is odd, it does sound like part of the ram on the video card is bad.

Evilsizer said:

that is odd, it does sound like part of the ram on the video card is bad.

Click to expand...

Confirm that with Riva Tuner.

You do have the proper drivers installed correct. IE the 8x00 drivers and the ones for Vista.

yes, i have all the correct drivers installed, and it plays games fairly well... but not as well as i had expected. It says i have 320mb in riva tuner, so maybe its a windows problem? just seems strange to have two different readings. :-\

Yep I would say it is windows. Do not deny Riva . I would say it is fine. If it had bad chips I would think the card would not run. It should try to do a checksum on the memory when it addresses it so if it had a bad chip the card would not work. *WARNING* Slight speculation. *END WARNING*

Edit: you are using Vista so it is hard to tell if it is accurate or not.

haha alright well thanks alot for the help!