Increasing the HyperMemory for X1400

Since HyperMemory is controlled through software (unlike nvidia's turbocache which is controlled through hardware) can the HyperMemory be increased? Mine runs upto 256MB like most of the X1400 (I have a Dell Inspiron 6400) but there is a Acer Aspire 5560 laptop which has the same graphic card as my Dell laptop but it runs upto 512MB (128MB dedicated and the rest is shared). Can this be possible to be configured in my Dell laptop. Maybe by drivers or other software. I tried overclocking but no use, I cant increase anything!

BTW the Acer Aspire 5560 (1.66 Duo, 1GB, X1400 512MB, 100GB) was my first choice but it went out of stock in all stores! So I bought the Dell Inspiron 6400 (2.0 Duo, 1GB, X1400 256MB, 80GB) for $200 more than the Aspire 5560 .

 

Trust me, the X1400 doesn't need 512mb ram. 128 is ok, 256 is a lot for this gpu.
These hypermemory/turbocache thingy can be misleading.

 

Hypermemory and turbocashe is something that was invented to make an otherwise average card (sometimes just a bad card) sound a lot better than what it is. It steals a certain amount of your system RAM to use for video memory, which just hurts your overall system performance. In my opinion its just best to turn it off if you can.

But I dont think you can increase the size of it. The only options seem to be on or off. If you can somehow hack the bios, maybe you could increase the size of it. But I dont know if that would be posible.

 

TurboCache is souposed to make the card almost identical to one that has the said amount of VRAM. I knew what TurboCache does, and im planning to get vista so I just got 2gb and my system performance is great. TurboChache & Hypermemory are ment to help system performance, not hurt it. The only time I could think it would hurt is if you had less than 1gb of system RAM, which today is the norm to get.

 

so if i get 2 gigs of ram will that mean the graphics card will run pretty good

 

yes... it specifically says only works with 1gig + memory... on all websites... it doesnt STEAL ram it simply shares the ram... if it need the extra performence.. and i have no idea where u all got your info about it "hurting" the system if you have 2048 ram and it takes 256(if 256 is dedicated) or 384 if 128 is dedicated how can that small of a ram take hurt the computer?.... do you know that windows xp with its services takes up around 128-256 ram?!....

and yes turbocache and hypermemory are supposed to be about the same as a card with the same vram.. i am of course not sure since i dont own it yet but will try it out once i get the computer ... in my opinion i think its better because you dont have this power hungry 512 sittings in your computer eating battery or watts you have a slick 128 or 256 card sitting in your computer sharing already powered ram and making the same 512 card.

 

but the ATI X1400 in Dell laptops r programmed to share the maximum of 128MB of system ram which makes a total of 256MB. I heard other ATI gfx card like the X1300 can take 256Mb like the X1400 (but 64MB dedicated and rest shared upto 256MB) why cant the X1400 do the same thing (having 128MB dedicated and rest shared upto 512MB)!

 

because dell configed the x1400 to suck?! lol what other explaination did you want...

dont buy a dell... you cant change how they configed it sry....unless you hacked the card there is no option to change that...

... and the x1600 is better

 

Steal is just a playful term I've used to describe Hypermemory and Turbocashe. It means nothing.

I have used turbocashe and hypermemory enabled cards before. By using omega drivers on my x700 it enabled turbocashe till I turned it off. I'm a graphic artist, and apps for that like to eat up a lot of RAM. I loose a lot of performance if its on. Even when I'm doing little things like surfing the web and chatting, I notice my system is much more "snappy" if hypermemory is off.

Even in some very memory intensive games I get better performance without it. In Oblivion for example, I gained about 5-7 extra FPS by turning it off.

Shared RAM with the system does not make it identical to a card that has that amount of VRAM. Theres too much of a delay. It does improve the video performance in some areas, but the system always benefits from more RAM.

 

I didn't make my point clear but: the X1400 will NOT perform like a 7900gtx if even if it had 512mb, 1gb or 2gb vram!
Its gpu is only able to do the job for a certain amount of memory... in this case 256 is more than enough...

 

They did it because they knew that the X1400 would not be able to handle more than 256MB of ram, making any more useless.

And - now that I own a Dell - I'd recommend everyone get one

 

No, they are definitely not the same, nor are they meant to perform the same. They are meant for budget cards. It's cheaper to put a minuscule amount of ram on the card, and then add a bit of logic to use the system memory as a sort of pagefile.
They are meant as solutions to lose *less* performance than you would otherwise, while cutting costs. But that's all. They're meant to make budget cards less slow than they'd be otherwise. But it can in no way improve performance over non-HM/TC cards with the same amount of "real" onboard memory.
Performance doesn't come near that, nor is it supposed to.

For one thing, GPU ram is much faster, literally 2-3x the speed. Second, the latency explodes when you need to transfer data all the way from system ram.