X1300 reporting 512mb?

[rosemarycane]

After updating the video drivers last night, my X1300 reports 512mb ram instead of 256mb. I know 64mb is standard on this card, but can it really use up to 512mb hypermemory?

Just wanted to know if this is normal, or anyone elses X1300 reports 512mb as well.

Sean

[Mugrunty]

Yup, my X1300 says 512Mb of video memory too. Both in Dxdiag and in any ohter program that shows details of video card. Must be just a load of Hyper Memory or something. I wonder if it depends on how much RAM you have to offer it...

[tastatur]

when u have 1GB Ram -> Your X1300 reported that it has 512MB Video Memory
when u have 512MB Ram -> Your X1300 reported that it has 256MB Video Memory

it was so with me. hope this help

[rosemarycane]

Thanks guys! Your responses really help!

Sean

[Mugrunty]

That was an incredibly fast reply, but thats pretty amazing. 512Mb is a lot of memory. Is it pretty fast at transfering? BTW, i noticed it says that you posted at 7 something PM. Isnt it really 8:52pm and not 7:52pm?

[wallybear]

Hello,

I wanted to add some information to this thread based on my experiences.

I saw the same thing on my T60 (2623-D6U) with the X1300. So, I opened a technical support ticket with IBM. When the rep called me, I had to (laboriously) explain the issue to him. He had all kinds of other ideas about what RAM I was talking about.

Anyway, after waiting for him to do some research for about 15 minutes, he came back on the line. He quoted to me from an IBM Technical Document (MIGR-63845). He couldn't send me this document, nor can I get it to open from the URL he gave me. Anyway, here's the jist of what he told me:

There is a known issue with the false reporting of "total" video RAM on both the X1300 and X1400 in the T60s. The reason is that both these cards use ATI's "HyperMemory" technology to share system RAM when needed. All the T60s that use these GPUs are affected, although the product specifications do not say that HyperMemory is a feature of the X1300 in the T60s. (Lenovo has started to report the X1400s in later T60s as using HyperMemory but the fact is all of the T60s with these cards use the technology.)

The X1300 has 64MB of RAM on the board itself. When needed for 3D rendering, it can access main system RAM for more. The X1300 can "take" up to 192MB of system RAM for a "total memory space" of 256MB for video operations. The X1400 has 128MB of "real" RAM so it can use up to 128MB of system RAM. The limit on both these cards is 256MB of "total memory space", not 512MB as apparently reported by the operating system.

That is: the most the X1300 can "take" from system RAM is 192MB. The most that the X1400 can take is 128MB. This is how these cards were designed and used in the T60s. The differences in specs between the 1300 and 1400 are 1) the amount of "real" RAM on the card and 2) the GPU's clock speed. Otherwise, the two are essentially the same and perform about the same in most situations.

The IBM document ended by saying that this is NOT a bug, issue, or malfunction of the T60 with these GPUs. The documentation and marketing literature for these models should have been clearer, that's all.

Here are a few more comments of my own:

1- The X1400 will give somewhat higher scores in GPU tests because of the higher clock speed and greater amount of onboard RAM (because the GPU won't have to swap data to system RAM as often, thus speeding up its performance numbers). In real use scenarios, the performance of the two cards is almost identical.

2- Both the X1300 and X1400 can benefit from system RAM running in "dual channel mode" (that is, using 2 DIMMS of same size). In dual mode, the transfer rate between the CPU, system RAM, and the GPU (and it's dedicated RAM) is twice as wide.

3- Both boards will run the Vista Aero interface more than adequately because they both can access up to 256MB of RAM (a combination of local and swapped system). Of course, how the actual shipping Vista will perform is not yet known (but speculation is that the Aero code will continue to be optimized to require less, not more, power and dedicated RAM so as to encourage adoption of the most-expensive variant of Vista).

I hope all this information is useful to everyone. In short, all you've "seen" is how HyperMemory "appears" to the OS. And, you've learned that all the ATI cards in the T60s use this technology.

[christopher_wolf]

Nope, not a bug at all. ATI's documentation confirm that those video cards use HyperMemory, as well. Just a little hiccup in sync'ing the documentation with the rest of the prodcut line.

[Truthfinder]

Hi guys & Gails:

I recently purchased the 2623-D7U with the 128 MB Video card and it too is showing up with the 512 video ram.
I'm enjoying this new ThinkPad andcompaired to my T030, this unit is much improved.

On another issue, a buddy of mine just purchhased a T-60, however, he got one with an on board video card which has no ram. Any info out there on ho the ThinkPad works out with this basic video? Also, how will this particular ThinkPad run the new Vista, or won't it?

Thanks in advance for your replys..................., Steve

[Jedacite]

Hi guys & Gails:

I recently purchased the 2623-D7U with the 128 MB Video card and it too is showing up with the 512 video ram.
I'm enjoying this new ThinkPad andcompaired to my T030, this unit is much improved.

On another issue, a buddy of mine just purchhased a T-60, however, he got one with an on board video card which has no ram. Any info out there on ho the ThinkPad works out with this basic video? Also, how will this particular ThinkPad run the new Vista, or won't it?

Thanks in advance for your replys..................., Steve

Check out this thread about the Intel GMA950 on Vista:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... ht=gma+950

Also you can check out the vista upgrade advisor:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/g ... fault.mspx

It is suppose to "run" I have no actual idea as to how fast or slow it would be though.