Thinkpads Forum

Hi, I just discovered this forum and would like to ask a question about my new T60. After I received my T60 (with ATI Radeon x1400 128MB Graphics), I looked under the adaptor properties and found that the card is using 512MB of memory, instead of the 128MB that it was originally spec'd out to be. I understand that the x1400 utilizes Hypermemory, but I didn't think it would take up so much.

In addition, I noticed under the task manager that only about half of my 1GB of memory is accessible, showing that the graphics card really is eating up more than 128MB of memory. I've looked all around the web for a solution to this problem, but I can't seem to find anything that remedies it (including updating the graphics drivers). What I would like to know is if there is any way to turn off Hypermemory, or at the very least control how much it allocates?

Thanks in advance for all your help and I look forward to your replies.

I don't think there is a way to directly control how much system memory HyperMemory manages. I did, however, take a look at the HyperMemory whitepaper and it seems that it only uses a significant portion of the memory it allots for itself if there is an intensive graphics application going on. That said, it also appears to keep the memory as contiguous as possible and removes most of its cache to higher latency areas once the system starts ramping up the demand for more memory for a desktop task (e.g. a powerpoint presentation, defragmenting, etc). So it seems as if it trying to use the extra memory only if really necessary.

Although I would have liked it had they introduced a way for the user to control it.

Thanks for the reply.

I see now how Hypermemory works and I forgot that Task Manager splits your total physical memory between available memory and system cache.

Still, I can't see why ATI never even made Hypermemory so you could control it manually from the BIOS. And that 512MB listed under the adaptor properties is really deceptive.