Question concerning laptop video cards

[Rambotnic]

Im kinda new to laptops and was wondering, how do their video cards work.
If, for example my laptop has 512 mb x1600 video card, where does it take the mem from, is it dedicated for it? And if it is, does it stick to it when dealing with textures or does it intervein with system memory, aswell (I mean, does it act any differently than a pc video card...)

Actually we argued about it with a friend and i think a card like x1600 acts pretty much like normal pc video card, and based on his arguments, it acts like an integrated(on-board video)

Help plz

 

[theonetruewill]

Im kinda new to laptops and was wondering, how do their video cards work.
If, for example my laptop has 512 mb x1600 video card, where does it take the mem from, is it dedicated for it? And if it is, does it stick to it when dealing with textures or does it intervein with system memory, aswell (I mean, does it act any differently than a pc video card...)

Actually we argued about it with a friend and i think a card like x1600 acts pretty much like normal pc video card, and based on his arguments, it acts like an integrated(on-board video)

Help plz

The X1600 mobility acts as a dedicated unit. It has it's own VRAM although most of the X1600 mobility's also have ATi's Hypermemory where they can also steal memory from the system RAM if needed, albeit inefficiently.

 

[Rambotnic]

The X1600 mobility acts as a dedicated unit. It has it's own VRAM although most of the X1600 mobility's also have ATi's Hypermemory where they can also steal memory from the system RAM if needed, albeit inefficiently.

Thank you!

 

[DrunkenMafia]

I am pretty sure that the laptop variants of gfx cards are cut down versions. EG. X1600 mobility has less pipelines than desktop version.... correct me if I am wrong. I have read some where that the x1600 mobility is about the equivilant of a X1300xt desktop card... Is that correct???

But in aswer to your other question. Yes some laptop cards have dedicated memory, some use system mem and others use both....

 

[Rambotnic]

I am pretty sure that the laptop variants of gfx cards are cut down versions. EG. X1600 mobility has less pipelines than desktop version.... correct me if I am wrong. I have read some where that the x1600 mobility is about the equivilant of a X1300xt desktop card... Is that correct???

But in aswer to your other question. Yes some laptop cards have dedicated memory, some use system mem and others use both....

If short on sytem memory, can this feature be disabled?

 

[DrunkenMafia]

Not sure if it can be disabled as I have never owned a laptop with dedicated mem before. I know with my laptop I can select either 64mb or 128mb ram in ATI control panel.... I would imagine though that you could disable it if you have dedicated memory. Try in your bios or in nvidia options.,..

sorry I didn't get back to ya last night on this one.....

 

[Rambotnic]

Not sure if it can be disabled as I have never owned a laptop with dedicated mem before. I know with my laptop I can select either 64mb or 128mb ram in ATI control panel.... I would imagine though that you could disable it if you have dedicated memory. Try in your bios or in nvidia options.,..

sorry I didn't get back to ya last night on this one.....

No problem...
ill dig in catalyst as soon as i get home, as for the bios part, i doubt an asrock mobo will be any good on this issue