video ram

um, if you want more video ram, your only real choice, is installing a new video card.

It won't burn your motherboard with a new display card. WHat you have to do is to disable the onboard display card and set the PCI display card priority first.

To add memory for video your only real option is to install a Video Board. I strongly suggest you get an AGP video card, a good one with lots of memory. The AGP slot will be the brown colored one on your motherboard. It will notr burn your motherboard unless you try installing (plugging the board in) it with the computer powered up and short out the power supply.

I assume that you have on board video.
Your primary concern when adding a plug-in card is does your power supply have enough capacity for the extra load.
After the PC has been running for a couple hours, feel the air blowing out of the power supply.
It should be warm, but NOT hot. If the air is hot, you may need a larger power supply to handle a new video card.

You may be able to allocate more system RAM to the video system in BIOS settings.

However, if you are looking to improve performance for graphics or gaming, a new video card is the best way.

You need to find the manual for your computer and check how to disable the on board video. Verify that you have a free PCI slot.
Some motherboards with on-board video do have AGP slots.

Before you spend $50 or so on a video card take an honest look at your system and ask yourself how long you will keep it.
If you have less than a 500MHz CPU, and less than 2GB of free hard drive space, you may be better of waiting until you can afford to replace the entire PC.

That said, here is what you need to do to replace on-board video:

Beofre you shut down the PC to install the new video card, right click on My Computer.
Select Properties.
Expand the Display Adapter branch.
Select the video system, click on remove.
Answer yes, then shut down the PC.

Unplug the power cord.

Open the case, ground yourself to the PC case with an ESD static wrist strap.

If needed, move the jumpers to switch to a video card.

Select the proper slot for the new video card.
Remove the dust cover and install the card.
Make sure that the card connector fully seat into the socket on the motherboard.

Move the video cable from the on board connection to the new card.

Boot up the PC.
Enter BIOS settings and change the display type if needed.

Save changes and exit setup.

Boot into Windows.

Follow the instructions that came with the video card to install the driver.

Close the case and your done.

Chas

If you have on-board video, your video RAM is probably shared from your system ram. The settings for this can be found in the bios. Most systems desgined for business use have the setting low (12-16 megs), but you can jack that number up as needed. KEEP IN MIND, when the system boots, whatever amount you set as video ram in the bio will ONLY be used as video ram (it is deducted from the total amount of system ram).

If you are wanting to do this to play games, you are better off buying a video card (AGP as suggested above). I have found that even if you jack up the on-board video memory to what a game requires, it is still crappy resolution compared to an add-on video card. If you make this purchase, you will have to disable your on-baord video, which is also found in your bios.

Good luck.