Expandable Graphics

[Lilgrant]

Hello, I have recently purchased a laptop (The HP Pavilion G61-CA300). It has fairly good specs for the price ($500), It has a 2.6ghz dual core processor, 4gbs of ram, but it only has a 128mb video card. IN the specs, it says I can expand the video memory by "Stealing" Memory from the ram. I have two questions, how would I go about expanding the memory, and what kind of games could I play if I expanded the memory to 1gb and left the ram with 3gb?

 

[fattty]

Well, it depends on what the card is. I couldn't find your model, so i am guessing you have an IGP, most likely the HD 3200 or 4200. These cards are near the top of the line for IGPs and you can play most games with an acceptable frame rate, but not without lowering the settings to lowest-medium depending on the game, and you will probably want to play at 800x600 for more intense games.

 

[The_Other_One]

IN the specs, it says I can expand the video memory by "Stealing" Memory from the ram. I have two questions, how would I go about expanding the memory, and what kind of games could I play if I expanded the memory to 1gb and left the ram with 3gb?[/QUOTE]

First off, a major misconception... VRAM has little to no coloration to gaming performance. Now the fact that lappy has any dedicated RAM is actually very good, but still won't compensate for it's lack of raw performance.

As for stealing RAM, don't do it. More RAM only really helps with higher resolutions. The GPU is quite limited so 128MB is probably more than enough.

And just for the record, the GPU is not upgradable. While it may be dedicated, I'm quite sure it's soldered to the board and not removable.

 

[Lilgrant]

Thanks, but then what does best buy mean when they say expandable to 2gb? And if I follow your advice and keep the video card at 128mb, what games could I play?

 

[linkin]

older ones. set the gpu memory to 512mb or 1gb and you'll be able to play more intensive games, but it uses system memory.

 

[spynoodle]

older ones. set the gpu memory to 512mb or 1gb and you'll be able to play more intensive games, but it uses system memory.

About that - I was wondering if only having 128mb of memory could actually "disable" you from running certain graphics-intensive tasks (eg. Blu-ray). My integrated Geforce 9300 steals 256mb of system RAM (I could switch it to 512mb, but then I'd only have 1.5GB of system RAM to use,) but I also have a Geforce 8400 GS that's a lot faster but only has 128mb of memory. Does only having this much memory just lower performance in certain games, or do you need a certain amount for certain programs?

 

[Lilgrant]

So should I expand the video memory to use 1gb of the system memory as well as the 128mb in the video card itself, leaving me with 3gb of system memory? Also, how do I re route the memory to my graphics card?

 

[diduknowthat]

So should I expand the video memory to use 1gb of the system memory as well as the 128mb in the video card itself, leaving me with 3gb of system memory? Also, how do I re route the memory to my graphics card?

Doing that would have little to no affect on gaming performance. We actually have no idea what model that laptop is as google produced nothing relevant to the laptop. Download programs such as PC Wizard and tell us the exact specs of your laptop. Then we can make accurate judgments on what games the laptop will be able to play.

 

[Springy182]

And just for the record, the GPU is not upgradable. While it may be dedicated, I'm quite sure it's soldered to the board and not removable.

Actually, some laptop GPUs (Higher end ones than his likely) are removable, but pretty sure his isnt.

older ones. set the gpu memory to 512mb or 1gb and you'll be able to play more intensive games, but it uses system memory.

More RAM on a dedicated desktop GPU makes hardly any difference, let alone system ram on a laptop GPU.

 

[The_Other_One]

Actually, some laptop GPUs (Higher end ones than his likely) are removable, but pretty sure his isnt.

I know some are. I've done GPU swaps in laptops before But most laptops seem to have ones that are soldered onboard. I know most HP/Compaqs use the same board regardless of the GPU. The ones without a dedicated card just have a big nothing where the GPU and memory would be.

 

[Lilgrant]

Here are the specs from the hp website (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...ry&lc=en&dlc=es&cc=co&lang=es&product=4041450).

Hardware
Product Name G61-300CA
Product Number VU182UA#ABC
Microprocessor 2.00 GHz AMD Athlon II Dual-Core Processor for Notebook PCs M300
Microprocessor Cache 1MB L2 Cache
Memory 4096MB
Memory Max 4096MB
Video Graphics ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Graphics
Video Memory Up to 1918MB
Hard Drive 250GB (5400 RPM)
Multimedia Drive LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
Display 15.6" Diagonal High Definition HP BrightView Display (1366x768)
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN
Wireless Connectivity •802.11b/g WLAN

Sound •Altec Lansing

Keyboard 101-key compatible with full size keyboard with integrated numeric keypad
Pointing Device Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical scroll Up/Down pad
External Ports •5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
•3 USB 2.0
•1 HDMI
•1 VGA
•1 RJ-11
•1 RJ-45
•1 Stereo Headphone out
•1 Microphone in

Dimensions 14.89" (L) x 9.93" (D) x 1.38" (min H) -1.62" (max H)
Weight 5.90 lbs
Security •Kensington MicroSaver lock slot
•Power-on password
•Accepts 3rd party security lock devices

Power •65W AC Adapter
•6-Cell Lithium-Ion battery

What's In The Box HP Webcam with integrated microphone

AS you can see, it says there is an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 graphics card onboard, but it also says "Video Memory Up to 1918MB"

 

[Lilgrant]

Here are the specs for the graphics card itself

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...es/ati-radeon-hd-4200-specificatications.aspx

 

[BigSteve702]

its a dedicated graphics CHIP, not card. realise that. its part of the motherboard, cannot be removed or replaced with anything better. as for upping the amount of memory it uses from your ram, thats not the greatest idea unless you are running an external monitor with a higher resolution. you can give it 1gb if you please, but thats 1gb of your ram taken away for the graphics chip to use... and it will hardly use it. its just not that powerful

as far as watching bluray n whatnot, it wouldnt hurt to give it 128mb shared, so its got 256 mb to fiddle with

 

[spynoodle]

its a dedicated graphics CHIP, not card. realise that. its part of the motherboard, cannot be removed or replaced with anything better. as for upping the amount of memory it uses from your ram, thats not the greatest idea unless you are running an external monitor with a higher resolution. you can give it 1gb if you please, but thats 1gb of your ram taken away for the graphics chip to use... and it will hardly use it. its just not that powerful

as far as watching bluray n whatnot, it wouldnt hurt to give it 128mb shared, so its got 256 mb to fiddle with

^ I agree with that. It should at least be able to use 256mb pretty well. I think you need that much to watch Blu-Ray anyway.

 

[Lilgrant]

So, what I should take from this is, add a little bit, maybe another 128mb, but another gig would just be a waste of ram? And to add this extra 128mb, what do I have to do? Do I go into the bios?