diff --git a/indra/llwindow/llwindowwin32.cpp b/indra/llwindow/llwindowwin32.cpp
index 30f5526500b494feca83bec85f39e0137a940b28..767676b9b82632668549a0bb8e50e1c914c09c72 100755
--- a/indra/llwindow/llwindowwin32.cpp
+++ b/indra/llwindow/llwindowwin32.cpp
@@ -85,6 +85,18 @@ void show_window_creation_error(const std::string& title)
 	LL_WARNS("Window") << title << LL_ENDL;
 }
 
+HGLRC SafeCreateContext(HDC hdc)
+{
+	__try 
+	{
+		return wglCreateContext(hdc);
+	}
+	__except(EXCEPTION_EXECUTE_HANDLER)
+	{ 
+		return NULL;
+	}
+}
+
 //static
 BOOL LLWindowWin32::sIsClassRegistered = FALSE;
 
@@ -1166,14 +1178,15 @@ BOOL LLWindowWin32::switchContext(BOOL fullscreen, const LLCoordScreen &size, BO
 		return FALSE;
 	}
 
-	if (!(mhRC = wglCreateContext(mhDC)))
+
+	if (!(mhRC = SafeCreateContext(mhDC)))
 	{
 		close();
 		OSMessageBox(mCallbacks->translateString("MBGLContextErr"),
 			mCallbacks->translateString("MBError"), OSMB_OK);
 		return FALSE;
 	}
-
+		
 	if (!wglMakeCurrent(mhDC, mhRC))
 	{
 		close();
diff --git a/indra/newview/llfloaterhardwaresettings.cpp b/indra/newview/llfloaterhardwaresettings.cpp
index 792a2a5d2559a84bda1fe1acb866b572e303d820..6923308ce943526a7149a3448e25ea57a5295715 100755
--- a/indra/newview/llfloaterhardwaresettings.cpp
+++ b/indra/newview/llfloaterhardwaresettings.cpp
@@ -87,15 +87,30 @@ void LLFloaterHardwareSettings::refresh()
 	refreshEnabledState();
 }
 
+void LLFloaterHardwareSettings::onSetVRAM()
+{
+	S32 vram = childGetValue("GraphicsCardTextureMemory").asInteger();
+
+	//give the texture system plenty of leeway to avoid swapping
+	vram /= 3;
+
+	gSavedSettings.setS32("TextureMemory", vram);
+}
+
 void LLFloaterHardwareSettings::refreshEnabledState()
 {
     F32 mem_multiplier = gSavedSettings.getF32("RenderTextureMemoryMultiple");
     
 	S32 min_tex_mem = LLViewerTextureList::getMinVideoRamSetting();
-	S32 max_tex_mem = LLViewerTextureList::getMaxVideoRamSetting(false, mem_multiplier);
+	S32 max_tex_mem = LLViewerTextureList::getMaxVideoRamSetting(true, mem_multiplier);
 	getChild<LLSliderCtrl>("GraphicsCardTextureMemory")->setMinValue(min_tex_mem);
 	getChild<LLSliderCtrl>("GraphicsCardTextureMemory")->setMaxValue(max_tex_mem);
 
+	S32 vram = gSavedSettings.getS32("TextureMemory");
+	vram = vram*3;
+
+	getChild<LLSliderCtrl>("GraphicsCardTextureMemory")->setValue(vram);
+	getChild<LLSliderCtrl>("GraphicsCardTextureMemory")->setCommitCallback(boost::bind(&LLFloaterHardwareSettings::onSetVRAM, this));
 	if (!LLFeatureManager::getInstance()->isFeatureAvailable("RenderVBOEnable") ||
 		!gGLManager.mHasVertexBufferObject)
 	{
diff --git a/indra/newview/llfloaterhardwaresettings.h b/indra/newview/llfloaterhardwaresettings.h
index 626771b1d2a6a75c9a18944489d9aeafcb9e04fd..63d86d5667e88f622ae83ef35e5105160a754fbf 100755
--- a/indra/newview/llfloaterhardwaresettings.h
+++ b/indra/newview/llfloaterhardwaresettings.h
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ public:
 	/// don't apply the changed values
 	void cancel();
 
+	void onSetVRAM();
+
 	/// refresh the enabled values
 	void refreshEnabledState();
 
diff --git a/indra/newview/llviewertexture.h b/indra/newview/llviewertexture.h
index 10101a4b9b7ce70cd61ca834f869892ecdf9e22b..78db136427274111ecb465e68c8ce530f6821fe8 100755
--- a/indra/newview/llviewertexture.h
+++ b/indra/newview/llviewertexture.h
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 #include <list>
 
 #define MIN_VIDEO_RAM_IN_MEGA_BYTES    32
-#define MAX_VIDEO_RAM_IN_MEGA_BYTES    512 // 512MB max for performance reasons.
+#define MAX_VIDEO_RAM_IN_MEGA_BYTES    4096
 
 class LLImageGL ;
 class LLImageRaw;
diff --git a/indra/newview/llviewertexturelist.cpp b/indra/newview/llviewertexturelist.cpp
index 783d1f220226e005091ffcbb96fb694f57214775..26f32941bfc7e95865816de679629d51a13bf3a4 100755
--- a/indra/newview/llviewertexturelist.cpp
+++ b/indra/newview/llviewertexturelist.cpp
@@ -1270,7 +1270,7 @@ S32 LLViewerTextureList::getMaxVideoRamSetting(bool get_recommended, float mem_m
 		//  - it's going to be swapping constantly regardless
 		S32 max_vram = gGLManager.mVRAM;
 
-		if(gGLManager.mIsATI)
+		if(!get_recommended && gGLManager.mIsATI)
 		{
 			//shrink the availabe vram for ATI cards because some of them do not handel texture swapping well.
 			max_vram = (S32)(max_vram * 0.75f);  
@@ -1285,15 +1285,15 @@ S32 LLViewerTextureList::getMaxVideoRamSetting(bool get_recommended, float mem_m
 	{
 		if (!get_recommended)
 		{
-			max_texmem = 512;
+			max_texmem = 2048;
 		}
 		else if (gSavedSettings.getBOOL("NoHardwareProbe")) //did not do hardware detection at startup
 		{
-			max_texmem = 512;
+			max_texmem = 2048;
 		}
 		else
 		{
-			max_texmem = 128;
+			max_texmem = 512;
 		}
 
 		llwarns << "VRAM amount not detected, defaulting to " << max_texmem << " MB" << llendl;
@@ -1301,10 +1301,7 @@ S32 LLViewerTextureList::getMaxVideoRamSetting(bool get_recommended, float mem_m
 
 	S32 system_ram = (S32)BYTES_TO_MEGA_BYTES(gSysMemory.getPhysicalMemoryClamped()); // In MB
 	//llinfos << "*** DETECTED " << system_ram << " MB of system memory." << llendl;
-	if (get_recommended)
-		max_texmem = llmin(max_texmem, (S32)(system_ram/2));
-	else
-		max_texmem = llmin(max_texmem, (S32)(system_ram));
+	max_texmem = llmin(max_texmem, (S32)(system_ram));
     
     // limit the texture memory to a multiple of the default if we've found some cards to behave poorly otherwise
 	max_texmem = llmin(max_texmem, (S32) (mem_multiplier * (F32) max_texmem));
@@ -1334,7 +1331,7 @@ void LLViewerTextureList::updateMaxResidentTexMem(S32 mem)
 	mem = llclamp(mem, getMinVideoRamSetting(), getMaxVideoRamSetting(false, mem_multiplier));
 	if (mem != cur_mem)
 	{
-		gSavedSettings.setS32("TextureMemory", mem);
+		gSavedSettings.setS32("TextureMemory", mem/3);
 		return; //listener will re-enter this function
 	}
 
diff --git a/indra/newview/skins/default/xui/en/floater_hardware_settings.xml b/indra/newview/skins/default/xui/en/floater_hardware_settings.xml
index 9deb0d20300d09978617ee1070d91eff0ed2360d..05594c2d861860ccba2dff59d3a9a92cfac56fd6 100755
--- a/indra/newview/skins/default/xui/en/floater_hardware_settings.xml
+++ b/indra/newview/skins/default/xui/en/floater_hardware_settings.xml
@@ -155,13 +155,12 @@
      tool_tip="Compresses textures in video memory, allowing for higher resolution textures to be loaded at the cost of some color quality."
      width="315" />
     <slider
-     control_name="TextureMemory"
      decimal_digits="0"
      follows="left|top"
      height="20"
      increment="16"
      initial_value="32"
-     label="Texture Memory (MB):"
+     label="Video Memory (MB):"
      label_width="195"
      layout="topleft"
      left="10"