128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS concern..?!?

..with a 2.4ghz Core 2 duo proccessor (T8300), and 3gb of ram, i figured i upgrade my video card to a 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GS, rather then the random Intel graphics media acceleraor X3100. But, i mostly use my laptop for web browsing, and video. i was wondering if i was better off just sticking with the Intel graphics card, rather then going bigger with the 8400. Will i have any advantages with the Nvidia 8400 for my uses, or will it end up having more of a bad effect on my laptop, and decreasing the overall performance? i really like for my web browsing and windows to be fast, and run smoothly. ive heard the Nvidia uses my main ram (3gb), will that mean i will end up with only 2gb? dont really know what to do...............keep the Nvidia or dump it for the Intel graphics card...???

 

For browsing and video, the x3100 is more than enough. It just cant play games 2006 and older.

If you go for a dedicated card, your notebook will run hotter and lose abit of battery life

I have both and the only difference is one can game abit better.

 

Well, you listed the following tasks, i.e. web browsing and videos. The Intel X3100 is to be honest, more than enough more these tasks. So get the Intel X3100 if those are the main tasks you do when you turn on the computer. Unless you game quite a lot; then go for the 8400M GS by all means! (for older games i.e. Far Cry, the 8400M GS doesn't really have any probs with thoes) Well, the bad effects I can think of having a nVidia GeForce 8400M GS is probably

*Battery Life (most likely)
*and the whole story about some nvidia cores overheating. (In case you are wondering -- the 8400M GS does go into the category with those cards)

 

yeah, browsing and video are my main uses, but i figured, since i have the extra money, i might as well get the Nvidia 8400 gs. i figured by upgrading to the 8400, it will improve the overall performance on my laptop. would this be so?
also, is it true that the Nvidia 8400 DOes Not take memory from the main memory, or system ram?

 

no it wont unless it needs to, but 128vram to good enough for a 64bit pipline, so it will almost never take from the main ram

 

If the 8400M GS does not have turbocache technology, it won't take memory from the system RAM. Anyhoo, I believe that it is possible to disable that. ^ And as 6600hpv12 said above, 128mb for video ram is sufficient for a graphics card like the 8400M GS -- even if you had 256mb of video ram, your video card wouldn't be able to use all of it sufficiently because of its limited 64-bit pipeline. And yes, the nVidia 8400M GS will also improve the overall performance of your laptop; most integrated graphics card (i.e. Intel X3100) are still 'owned' hands down in comparison to even the lowest-end dedicated graphics card, with the exception of the current ATI Integrated graphics chips.