Thinkpads Forum

I have a T41p and would like to improve graphic performance, would increasing ram from 512 to 1 GB significantly improve the graphic performance?

Not likely at all. It would only if you're so low on RAM that your system is swapping while displaying graphics.

Jonathan Cordery wrote:I have a T41p and would like to improve graphic performance, would increasing ram from 512 to 1 GB significantly improve the graphic performance?

The only way to upgrade your performance is to get a new laptop..

What graphics-intensive work do you do? Just curious..

GIS and 3D mining software. Satellite imageing work also.

It might improve the performance of those programs, though. I've noticed a slight improvement with ArcGIS going from 512 to 1 GB, when working with lots of data.

There are 3 performance issues here.

1. the speed of the cpu; how fast it will run the program.
2. RAM; the amount of data it has to deal with without going to swap file.
3. Graphics performance in this case; how fast it can process the images.

Solution:
1. Nothing you can do unless you buy a faster TP.
2. More RAM will let you deal with greater amount of data without going to swap file, thus increasing performance in this respect.
3. The TP 'p' designated models has a Radeon graphic chip with its own dedicated memory. Adding more main memory is not going to help the graphic processing speed. Like #1, the only way to improve the graphic performance is to get a newer TP with better chip.

Thanks aau007.

But buying a new 'p' laptop shouldn't really be the answer ast the T41p was sold as a workstation and should have better graphics performance than what I am achieving.

It has been reported elsewhere in this forum that the T41p has poor graphics performance. I rang IBM but they are not admitting that there is a problem with the T41p series graphics wise. I start a graphics processing exercise and the machine slows down considerably towards the end of it and the chip temperature rises to about 86 degrees celsius.

Use CHC to undervolt the CPU. That should fix the graphics slowing when temps get around 86deg celcius because it wont get that hot. Works for me on my T41p.

Jonny,

Let me elaborate and correct the information a little bit on #3.
The T41p comes with the ATI Mobility FireGL AGP4x with 128MB of dedicated graphics memory. While it can be considered a desktop replacement in many respect, it is certainly not desktop workstation performance. (BTW, I don't think IBM then ever advertised it would match a desktop workstation's performance)

Keep in mind that this is "Mobility FireGL" and in my dictionary, that's reduced performance (while gaining some power saving benefit) comparing with the real FireGL card.

It is in its inherited nature that when ATI's graphic chips (in general) are driven (by software) at full power, they emit a lot of heat and consume a lot of juice. Thus from IBM standpoint, there is no problem unless the chip actually gets hot enough to cause a meltdown.

When people reports poor graphic performance on T41p, are these comparisons based on multiple T41p(s) or T41p against other brand/model? If the performance is the same (good or bad) across multiple T41p, then there is no problem with the computer and you can only conclude that T41p's graphic performance does not match up with other brands in the same catagory. In all, T41p still outshines many others laptop in overall evaluations.

In the latest T43p, they now use the "Mobility" FireGL V3200 with PCIE. While I have never tested a T43p (because of the high price), I compared the T43 with the 'Mobility' Radeon x300 PCIE and it had similar graphic performance to the T41p. That will lead me to believe that the T43p has a big boost in graphic performance comparing to the T41p. T41p and T42p uses the same graphic chip so don't bother with T42p.

Am glad you brought up the CHC Teresa as I now have that programme and my next question was going to be what would be a good configuration for the T41p as basically I don't fully understand how to use it yet.

If you could post the settings that you use on your T41p, Teresa, that would be a great help.

Thanks in advance.

Jonathan Cordery wrote:Thanks aau007.

But buying a new 'p' laptop shouldn't really be the answer ast the T41p was sold as a workstation and should have better graphics performance than what I am achieving.

It has been reported elsewhere in this forum that the T41p has poor graphics performance. I rang IBM but they are not admitting that there is a problem with the T41p series graphics wise. I start a graphics processing exercise and the machine slows down considerably towards the end of it and the chip temperature rises to about 86 degrees celsius.

Well, for me, IBM never had the best of the GPUs. If you want blazing fast graphic performance for notebook, go buy Dell or HP. If you go read Autodesk's forums, most in there use Dell mobile workstations, because they always had the fastest GPU, and cheaper than IBM.

T43p is not much better than T42p in terms of graphic performance or CPU performance. That is because ATI V3200 isn't much better than T2. I was very disappointed that T43 did not use V5000 like HP. So just comparing the 3 major brand, T43p would lag behind Dell and HP in terms of performance.

Jonathan Cordery wrote:Am glad you brought up the CHC Teresa as I now have that programme and my next question was going to be what would be a good configuration for the T41p as basically I don't fully understand how to use it yet.

If you could post the settings that you use on your T41p, Teresa, that would be a great help.

Thanks in advance.

Download Prime 95 and set your steps at 6x, 8x, 9x, 10x, 12x. Lower all of these two steps down. Then, gradually, lower the topmost multiplier by one step and run Prime95. Keep lowering until you encounter an error. Raise it back again one step. Repeat for other multipliers.

One other issue to consider, how fast is your HDD? Older 4200 RPM and even 5400 RPM drives with 1 or 2MB caches are slow performers. The newer 5400 and 7200 RPM HDDs with 8MB and 16MB of cache will increase your performance substantially.

the T41p has 7200 rpm.

Thanks pphilipko I'm trying your suggestions now.

I only have the possiblity to set 4 settings, though, and not 5. Is it correct that I set them ALL to 1.484 v first and then lower them 2 steps down and then each one iteratively?

... also, I have the possiblity to go to 17x, should I lower the voltage on this setting in stead of 12x?

Jonathan Cordery wrote:... also, I have the possiblity to go to 17x, should I lower the voltage on this setting in stead of 12x?

Go up to your maximum multiplier, which is 17x. Start from 6x multiplier, and increase in intervals to 17x. (My X40 only goes up to 12x, as it's 1.2GHz)

And yes, lower all of your multipliers 2 steps initially. Gradually lower each step and test. Ulitmately, there should be an increasing voltage as the multiplier increases.

Jonathan Cordery wrote:Thanks pphilipko I'm trying your suggestions now.

I only have the possiblity to set 4 settings, though, and not 5. Is it correct that I set them ALL to 1.484 v first and then lower them 2 steps down and then each one iteratively?

You can scroll down...there'll be more space.

Use these multipliers:

6x, 8x, 9x, 10x, 12x, 14x, 16x, 17x

This tutorial might help.

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=70943

Ahh, yes didn't see the scroll bar there, thanks.

Well, it was worth a try but the CHC hasn't really made that much difference. The voltage settings I've used are:

6 x 0.700
8 x 0.764
10 x 0.844
12 x 0.956
14 x 1.052
17 x 1.244

This was as far as i could push it. I got a temperature decrease of 20 degrees but no increase in graphics performance at all.

Phil, thanks and good luck with your move!

Sounds like you don't have an overheating problem if CHC didn't help. Since T42p has exace same video, it won't help to upgrade to that model. Whats cpu/memory/video specs do your applications call for?

... but doesn't CHC only control the cpu? Perhaps it is the graphics chip that is overheating.