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    Vostro 1500 video card question

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by girdnerg, Sep 17, 2007.

  1. girdnerg

    girdnerg Newbie

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    Hi folks,

    Great site you have here! I've done a search and can't seem to find the answer to my question.

    I just bought a vostro 1500 for my son who just joined the Army. 1.6 dual core, 2 GB RAM, 120GB HD. It is a refurbished model that looks brand new. I just couldn't pass up the deal.

    Dell.com says the video card is an nvidia 8400M GS with 128MB of memory. However, when I go into the display settings, it says it has it has 256MB of memory. So I go to the nvidia site and it says the 8400M GS does indeed have 256MB of memory, but that's not necessarily for a notebook. So now I'm even more confused and call Dell. They look up the specs on the computer and tell me it is a 128MB 8600 GT. That ain't right!

    So I look at the spec sheet that came with the vostro. It says:
    MN555 Module,Card,Graphics,NVIDA 128MB,G86

    The G86 seems to point to the fact that it does have an 8600 GT, but I'm not sure.

    Hardware manager specifically states that it is a 8400 GS, but display settings and the direct X utility (I found this during a search of this site but can't find it again) both say that it has 256MB of memory.

    Can someone please enlighten this noob? (both to this site and notebooks)
    Thanks,
    Rob
     
    girdnerg, Sep 17, 2007
    #1
  2. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

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    I recall reading in another thread that "G86" is a codename for the 8400, so I do believe you have an 8400... but I might've read wrong.

    The extra 128MB that device manager is reporting could be from TurboCache?
     
    Commander Wolf, Sep 17, 2007
    #2
  3. vostro1400guy

    vostro1400guy Notebook Enthusiast

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    Right, you may not understand this but the G86 is the Core used on the 8400, its the same as the core such as the G92 used on the 8800 series etc... :eek:
     
    vostro1400guy, Sep 17, 2007
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  4. girdnerg

    girdnerg Newbie

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    Ah, I understand the Core Number.

    I'm still confused on the extra 128MB of memory reported. The nvidia site specifically says it has 256MB. It does not mention TurboCache and I'm pretty new to this, so I don't know what that is for sure. I'm assuming it's like shared memory like the vostro 1000 integrated card uses, maybe?

    Rob
     
    girdnerg, Sep 17, 2007
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  5. girdnerg

    girdnerg Newbie

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    girdnerg, Sep 17, 2007
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