XPS 15 graphics: 540 vs. 525, and 540 requires heavier AC adapter

What are your thoughts on upgrade from 525 to 540? I've read comments that it's really a minimal upgrade. What about the extra VRAM that comes with it? Would that make much of a difference?

My situation:
I don't do gaming.
I do some photo editing, but not all day.
It would seem that extra video RAM would be good, but I do carry my laptop frequently and upgrade to 2GB then requires the heavier 130W AC adapter, whereas the standard supplied (without 2GB graphics) is lighter 90W AC adapter.

If the performance difference is minimal. then the I might find a greater benefit in being able to use and carry the smaller, lighter 90W AC adapter.

Comments are appreciated.

 

The extra VRAM is a marketing ploy, the card being 128 bit bus means it won't be able to address all of that VRAM, plus it's slow GDDR3.

The jump in wattage is about 10-12 watts. The 540M is basically an overclocked 525M.

 

the 130W AC adapter is far from heavy. I wouldn't make that a concern.

 

My L502x with the 525M came with the 130W Adapter and I am in the USA. The Dell 130W adapter is wide and flat. Not big at all, I wouldn't be concerned.

 

How would the width of the bus ever have an affect on the amount of addressable memory? I could be wrong, but that makes no sense to me.

Even if it did, 2^128 is a much much larger number than 2 billion

 

for 1080p even 1GB is too much. 2GB is not buying you anything. It would have been better if the 540M had 512MB of GDDR5 instead of 2GB of DDR3. Faster RAM allows for faster operation. More RAM just allows you to load more textures in there but with fast DDR3 in the PC that's not a real bottleneck.

 

I understand that, I was asking how bus width could affect addressable memory though.

 

It doesn't. Anything above 1GB of vRAM is useless with the speed of mobile GPUs, and the 128-bit bus GDDR3 limits speed and usefuleness of more RAM, but any amount of system RAM (up to 16.7 Million Terrabytes on a 64-bit system) is "addressable".

 

Its not gddr3 its ddr3 for the 540m, big difference........

 

Thank you... I was about to post that....

 

Mind elaborate the difference?

 

gddr3 is faster type of memory than ddr3. Its higher performance memory. Makes a difference.. But i think gddr# use more power than ddr#

 

I see, thanks

 

Wow, really?... At least the 5730 has GDDR3. My point still holds valid, actually even more so, if it's only regular DDR3.

 

Seeker, r u sure the 5730 in the SXPS has GDDR?

 

Positive. techPowerUp GPU-Z Validation df9fx

 

It looks like the 5730 enjoys a 20% bandwidth advantage over the 540M because of its memory. Also, it has a HUGE Texture Bandwidth advantage of 65% more. Couldn't find any info on the 540M Pixel Bandwidth. Still, that contradicts the scores in 3dMark06 where the 540M beats the 5730 especially as the overclocks come into play even though it does with significant temperature increase over the 5730.

 

My bandwidth values are also higher because I'm overclocked.

 

My 1645 with the 5730 was also overclocked using YOUR modded bios. At 733/1000 it scoress 100 more points on the furmark than the 525M clocked at 733/1000. In 3dmark06 though, the 525M clocked to 733/1000 scores 600 more points than the 5730 at 733/1000. So, the two cards have different characteristics.

 

Which one is faster in Vantage or 11? 3DMark06 is getting more than a little long in the tooth. Also, clock speeds are only one aspect of performance. The 5730 has 8 pipelines with 400 shaders. The 525M has only 96 shaders and 4 pipelines. The 5730 should be faster at equivalent clocks. Though the difference in the architectures make any comparison at all based on stats almost worthless. Only benchmark/gaming results really mean anything.

 

I just received my XPS L502x with the 525M graphics card and the 130W adapter is absolutely huge and heavy!

According to my scale it is about 1.6 pounds (~750g)!

When ordering I did not check which adapter I was getting, and didn't know the 130W could be this big... is there any reason why mine laptop, even with the 525M, came with the 130W adapter? Can I maybe ask for the 90W, which is much smaller and about half the weight (I have it with a Latitude E6400 laptop)?

Thanks!
Leo.

 

Is that the 6-cell or 9-cell? Mine still hasn't shipped but my packing slip online says I'll be getting the 90W adapter (9-cell) with my 525M.

 

Mine is with the 6-cell battery... still no reason why the smaller battery should have a larger adapter.

My screen is also the 720p one, so again no reason there...

 

I believe you are making a confusion about the battery power and the battery charger. The 90W (9-cell) is the battery, not the charger. In fact the charger type is not specified in the order.

But I'm from Brazil and got the 130W adapter with a i5-2410M paired with the 525M.

 

Oops, you're probably right. I'll probably get the beast adapter too then.

 

Which is better? Dell uses the DDR memory correct?

 

Jut for the record

I ordered l502x with i7-2630qm, nvidia 525m, 1080p screen and it came with the huge 130w adapter. I thought that was due to the quad core, but i see that the i5s above also came with 130w.

Anyways, i have a 90w lying around, i plugged it in. A message pops up saying that the system will run slower and battery will charge slower. This happens both at bootup and also once logged in to windows.

I have no way to confirm whether the system is running any slower.