W3V BIOS update - unlock ATI x600?

I read on notebookforums that the new BIOS update allows you to allocate RAM to the GPU.. allowing shared memory, thus allowing the GPU to run 128mb.

Is this true, anyone have any idea?

p.s.. i ask this here as I realize members here have their own business and own this model.

Thanks.

 

So far, it appears that this is true... this is what ATi calls "HyperMemory" Technology

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 715 (Dothan 1.5), 512MB Ram, Toshiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

Thanks Aurora.. it's a neat concept, I just read a little about it on ati.com

Anyone know the max amount of RAM you can share on the w3v?

If so, just how much of a boost in GPU output are we looking at?

 

you also have to consider that most of the performance falls on the GPU and next on how fast data can be fed to the GPU. Since main memory is MUCH slower than video memory, and since most of the cached game data will already be in main memory regardless of if it's allocated to the video memory or not, the performance difference will be virtually none noticable.

Think of it this way: the video card has video memory because it behaves like a cache to the main memory (since it's much faster). So what use is allocating a cache on main memory for the main memory since they're the same speed? The only reason there may be an ever so slight performance increase is that the data doesn't have to be reprocessed once put into video memory (or fake video memory that's on main memory). Those who know what Display Lists are in OpenGL will understand what I mean by "reprocessed".

Asus M3NP 1.5GHz Centrino (Dothan /w 2mb L2)
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Considering there isn't much of a performance boost from 128 to 256MB even when the memory is dedicated to the video card... the additional shared RAM won't add much performance either.
You WILL see a slight speed boost when you load high resolutions and/or rich texture games... but other than that, you probably wouldn't notice the difference.

If you search around this forum, I think someone and/or others have shared up to 320MB of memory? I dont' recall the exact number.

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 715 (Dothan 1.5), 512MB Ram, Toshiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

In something like AutoCAD for instance...... if the system locks up because it's "out of memory"... it has NOTHING to do with your system memory, it has everything to do with your video memory. The ONLY thing I've found this bios update to help is in a situation like that, where the system and cache information onto this extended memory....... It's not like having a 256mb graphics card by any means for gaming.... but I think it just may be a perfect solution for a lot of graphics professionals.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

One thing to keep in mind is the memory built on the video card is much faster than your RAM. So in a way, you are looking more of a performance hit rather than an improvement really.

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Not necessarily... because if there isn't enough vram, then the data will go to the hard drive; and physical RAM is certainly much faster than the hard drive... so it IS a slight improvement

ASUS M6800Ne, P-M 715 (Dothan 1.5), 512MB Ram, Toshiba Combo drive, Samsung Spinpoint M 40G HDD with 8M cache, Mobility Radeon 9700

 

I thought the X600's memory clock was 500mhz DDR1 in the W3V... which would make the system memory a little faster actually, latency aside.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Kai

 

Well when games in the future will require '128mb' of VRAM to run, this should be sufficient enough to run 'them' games I believe.

If thats the case, then the w3 should be just fine for gaming in the future.

 

right, I think you're correct..... this is something we should all figure out and try to benchmark.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

I figured, but I wasn't 100% sure. I know that the gpu is somewhat underclocked to make up for OEM laziness in designing a quality, efficient cooler.

I highly doubt there will be any real performance benefits, except for in games like Doom 3 that use larger textures... but I don't think we will see the kind of penalty that shared memory usually entails due to the system ram being of equal or greater speed than the dedicated ram on the vid card.

Kai

 

Well actually the GPU is underclocked for battery life requirements on a centrino system...... nothing to do with being able to keep it cool, really.

I think we need to all benchmark the differences, but you're right, there isn't much we can see this helping with.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by BBQmyNUTZ

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by BBQmyNUTZ