Retrieve video card make, model, and RAM without DirectX?

[TheAmplifier]

I don't think this has been answered anywhere yet, but if it has you can smack me

I can't seem to figure out how to retrieve some basic information about the video card driver, or the card in general, such as it's manufacturer, it's model, and how much onboard RAM it has.

I would also like to NOT have to rely on DirectX, unless it is the only way. I don't think many of these machines have a current version of DirectX that I will be running it on. And since it's only for inventory purposes, I'd rather not have to load DirectX.

So, if anyone could help me out, I would be eternally grateful.

[JoshT]

Look into WMI. If its installed (W2K+ by default), you can see all sorts of hardware info, remotely thru the network.

[TheAmplifier]

Thanks, I'll check into that.

[TheAmplifier]

Just for the heck of it, without using the WMI, is there any other way to accomplish this? Just wondering, if not I can use this.

[TheAmplifier]

Can the info just be grabbed from the registry? I know it doesn't track the RAM, but the manufacturer and make is there, right?

[Ryan9999]

on my computer running 98 it shows the manufacturer and make of the card in the registry under Hkey_Local_Machine\enum\pci\ven_1002&dev_5144&subsys_001A1002&REV_01\00080

under Mfg and DeviceDesc

but i don't know where it would show up if you had onboard video so just enumerating all the pci subkeys and working down till you found the device with the Class = "Display" might not work

[MattT]

These are the places to look in the registry:

Hkey_Local_Machine\enum\pci\

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\

The "ven_1002&dev_5144&subsys_001A1002&REV_01" number will vary depending on the maker (vendor) etc.

You can get some information from (on NT):
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware\Description\System\VideoBiosDate"
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware\Description\System\VideoBiosVersion"

Under 9x you can get the info by direct memory access, look in &HC00A8 and &HC0048, also in the registry: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Display\0000\INFO"