How to figure out how much VRAM on a Windows ME system with GeForce4 mx440?

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I was just given a bunch of old computers, and one of them is half the specs of my second newest working computer. However, it has a "NVIDIA GeForce4 GeForce4 MX 440" graphics card. This might be superior to the integrated video I've got in my Dell Optiplex GX110.

How do I figure it out? I had a hell of a time figuring out the specs of my Dell's video, and have largely forgotten how I did it.

I've searched on the web, and got the specs for the Geforce 4, but it says "up to 64mb". How do I figure out exactly how much it has? If it has 64mb, I'm definitely pulling it from this 500mhz, 120mb system and sticking it in my 1ghz system. Heck, I might be able to try Temple of Elemental Evil or Neverwinter Nights 1 on my older computer if I insert this card in it.

 

Not on a windows machine here, but try going to Start, execute and type "dxdiag". One of the tabs should state the number of video memory available.

 

Well, I tried it, and it does report 63.0mb of vRAM, close enough to 64.
On the other hand, I tired it on my win98SE machine, and saw several disturbing things.
One, it says DirectX version 4.09.00.0902
I could have sworn I was using DirectX 8.1 or 9.

On the other hand, the WinME machine says it is using DirectX 9.0b and then in parenthesies it says (4.09.0000.0902).


The next disturbing thing is that it says I have 21.5mb of vRAM, I could have sworn I only had 8mb. 16 at best. I know Neverwinter Nights doesn't work on my system (at least this one), so it definitely has less than 32mb.

I guess this means it would be worth it to pull the video card and implant it in my Dell.

I can post the output from the dxdiag.txt file I saved if it would help.

 

NWN runs fine with a GeForce 4 MX 440 graphics card. Well worth it.

I used to have that card long ago. Note, it doesn't support DirectX 8.

 

If it doesn't support DirectX 8, what version should I use with Windows 98SE? 9.0c is right out.

 

DirectX v4.09.00.0902 = DirectX 9.0b. The DirectX 9 runtime is backwards compatible so it should work fine by just installing the newest version. Also in dxdiag the total memory in the display panel includes any shared memory from the RAM as well, so the total is higher than what the card actually has.

 

This is kinda going off-topic, but I accidentally clicked on "DirectX drivers" when trying to click the 'display" tab, and I see one with a caution tab.
It is for "msjstick.drv", presumably for a joystick, which I've never used on the machine in question. DriectX says the driver is uncertified, how do I remove this potential malware?

Avast and spybot have come up negative when performing full scans, so maybe it's nothing to worry about. However, it is only 2k while all the other drivers on the list are 20K or more. Makes me wonder if it's a keylogger or something disguised as an input driver.

---------- Added 0 hours, 8 minutes and 13 seconds later... ----------

I find three instances of a file called that, two capitalized and one lower-case as it appears in dxdiag. Which should I kill?
cWINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSJSTICK.DRV
CWINDOWS\SYSTEM\DirectX\migrate\msjstick.drv
CWINDOWS\SYSBCKUP\MSJSTICK.DRV

---------------
DirectX Drivers
---------------
framebuf.dll: 4.10.00.1998 English Final Retail 4/23/1999 22:22:00 28672 bytes Certified
framebuf.drv: 4.10.00.1998 English Final Retail 4/23/1999 22:22:00 22192 bytes Certified
msjstick.drv: 4.08.01.0881 English Final Retail 5/1/2002 18:51:36 2352 bytes
supervga.drv: 4.00.00.0950 English Final Retail 4/23/1999 22:22:00 52320 bytes Certified
tsd32.dll: 1.03.03.0007 Final Retail 4/23/1999 22:22:00 32768 bytes Certified
vga.drv: 4.10.00.1998 English Final Retail 4/23/1999 22:22:00 52080 bytes Certified

 

It certainly sounds like a bad idea to remove. Proceed with caution. Or better yet, don't.