Thinkpads Forum

Hi All,

I've just got a new work laptop, a nice T60p, and I've noticed something a little strange. The video adaptor (ATI Mobility FireGL 5200) reports as having 512 MB of memory! I'm certain that it is only supposed to have 256 MB. Anyone else come across this "problem", or have any info?

Cheers,
FM

fooman wrote:Hi All,

I've just got a new work laptop, a nice T60p, and I've noticed something a little strange. The video adaptor (ATI Mobility FireGL 5200) reports as having 512 MB of memory! I'm certain that it is only supposed to have 256 MB. Anyone else come across this "problem", or have any info?

Cheers,
FM

256MB of real memory, 256MB of "hypermemory" (i.e. memory it can steal from system RAM for graphics textures).

it's a nice setup, cause it performs like a 512MB GPU .

Zeus wrote:it's a nice setup, cause it performs like a 512MB GPU .

Not really. System memory is about 5X slower than dedicated GPU memory. In the end, I think shared memory is a very bad idea.

brentpresley wrote:

Zeus wrote:it's a nice setup, cause it performs like a 512MB GPU .

Not really. System memory is about 5X slower than dedicated GPU memory. In the end, I think shared memory is a very bad idea.

Not really, its an excellent idea. You're speaking in terms of gaming performance and not application. T60p was not advertised as a gaming notebook, a person who works in the engineering or 3D animation can appreciate the extra video memory to help speed their graphics application, that relies heavily on video memory but speed is not critical.

When you do 3D modeling, the more video memory the bigger the scene you can display.

vision33r wrote:

brentpresley wrote: Not really. System memory is about 5X slower than dedicated GPU memory. In the end, I think shared memory is a very bad idea.

Not really, its an excellent idea. You're speaking in terms of gaming performance and not application. T60p was not advertised as a gaming notebook, a person who works in the engineering or 3D animation can appreciate the extra video memory to help speed their graphics application, that relies heavily on video memory but speed is not critical.

When you do 3D modeling, the more video memory the bigger the scene you can display.

I know this VERY well (that's why I have a T60p). The problem with this is it can rob system memory when you DON'T want it to. An on-the-fly option to disable hypermemory would be nice, but I am not aware of any.

brentpresley wrote:

Zeus wrote:it's a nice setup, cause it performs like a 512MB GPU .

Not really. System memory is about 5X slower than dedicated GPU memory. In the end, I think shared memory is a very bad idea.

it makes sense that its as fast, cause the system memory clock speed is faster than the GPU memory clock...

Zeus wrote:

brentpresley wrote: Not really. System memory is about 5X slower than dedicated GPU memory. In the end, I think shared memory is a very bad idea.

it makes sense that its as fast, cause the system memory clock speed is faster than the GPU memory clock...

When it comes to video, latency is JUST as important as clock speed. CL5 system memory will not hold a candle to GDDR3 video RAM in that regard.

brentpresley wrote:

Zeus wrote: it makes sense that its as fast, cause the system memory clock speed is faster than the GPU memory clock...

When it comes to video, latency is JUST as important as clock speed. CL5 system memory will not hold a candle to GDDR3 video RAM in that regard.

makes sense.

.....this leads to the question whether it is possible to change the 256MB FireGL in my t60p with a 512MB FireGL - is such card already available? ..sorry.... beginner newbie question...

No, it's not possible because the FireGL v5200 is soldered on the motherboard. It is not removeable and it can not be changed