Add 1GB RAM or a dedictaed graphics card (for a non-gamer)?

Hi all,

I have 2 questions and will appreciate your feedback/recommendation:

1st Question:
One of the laptops I'm considering has Intel GMA950 video; which as per my understanding can "steal" upto 256MB of RAM. Right?

The laptop comes with 1 GB of RAM. If I upgrade the RAM to 2 GB, will it have a significant impact on the overall performance of the machine and graphics (despite the "stealing").


2nd Question:
I hardly play games but suppose I want to have a dedicated graphics card on my laptop having 1GB RAM. Given this, and keeping cost as in mind, can you please recommend 3 graphics card in the order of priority.

 

If you're not a gamer then you can minimize the ram 'stolen', on my computer it has the option to go down to a paltry 16mb. The sharing of ram will not be easily noticed.

If this is going to have Windows Vista on it then 2gb ram would be highly recommended, it will make a difference.

Dedicated graphics usually equals a different class of laptop pricewise.

 

950 is no good be careful you should stay away!

 

You might as well get the ram if you don't play games. There is near no point in getting a dedicated graphics card if you don't play games, I suppose it is a different story if you want to play games from time to time. Just realize though, with integrated, you very well will not be able to play many games. Old school 2D games are still playable though ie: Diablo 2, Starcraft just don't expect much 3D games to be on that list. Getting another 1GB ram would definitely be the better choice in your case.

 

It's quite difficult to avoid a system memory grabbing graphics chip these days. It used to be that you'd just skim for the words "Hypermemory" or "Turbocache" but now even dedicated GPUs grab unneeded memory. I hear that the 8600M GT chip is 256 + 512!

About RAM, if you don't game or do other heavy lifting, the answer depends on which version of Windows you use. If it's XP, it'll still be very fast with 1GB. With Vista, the system really needs 2GB to get to the same point.

 

X3100 is an integrated card that will play older(1+years) and less demanding games.
8600GT will be the top performer in a 15" notebook. It's price range goes from a ~$1000 Dell to a $2000 Asus.
8600GS/8400GT are almost the same and are available in 14" and 15" notebooks.

 

Thanks everyone for your feedback. In view of your replies, I would summarize my conclusion as follows:

Since I hardly play games therefore I would be better of going with an additional GB of RAM and this will have a significant impact on the overall performance and despite the "stealing" of the RAM by Intel's GMA950.​

I hope my conclusion is correct??

BTW, my O/S will be XP Pro and at the moment i have no plans of going anywhere even close to Vista for another 2 years.

Regards.

 

If that's the case morland, then yes you should be good. Though personally I would try going for an X3100 over the GMA950, even outside of gaming it is leaps and bounds better then GMA950.

You could look at the Vostro 1500 I believe it's called for a cheaper but good performance notebook.

 

you should fill out this FAQ

its possible that a low end dedicated video card would suit you, depending on the task you need to accomplish.

 

Go with Dedicated.

1 It has better driver support than Intel.
2. Vista runs better (more eye candy).

Also get the RAM too.

 

I have an X3100 in my laptop and it runs Vista's Aero perfectly fine.

There are some misconceptions/contradictions in this thread so:

I believe it is 224MB but yes. It will only take as much as it needs; the card won't reserve a 224MB block for itself.

Upgrading the RAM to 2GB will help your overall system performance noticeably, especially if you have Vista. Giving the GMA950 more RAM won't do anything for 3D performance. You said you aren't playing games so the video card really doesn't matter.

As I said, the graphics card really doesn't matter if you don't play games or do anything with 3D. Stick with the integrated chip.

 

Thanks to everyone for your replies

I guess I have a reasonable amount of information now to make up my mind

Regards.

 

true that dedicated card ATM have better drivers.

Both the 950 and the X3100 are both fully able to run vista with all eye-candy enabled without any noticable preformance loss which makes your second statemend very wrong

 

I would go for the dedicated gpu simply because if you happen to want to play a game in the future, you might be able to handle it. plus, GPU's are almost always un-upgradable in a notebook (especially ones that are integrated) but ram is upgraded easily. you can always give yourself 2 gb of ram but once you go with the 950 you are stuck with it until you buy a different laptop.