'Hypermemory' vs. RAM?

Hello everyone! As you can see I'm new to this site, thank you for taking your time to read this!

I'm living in China at the moment and have decided to buy an ASUS notebook. However, at the computer markets here they can be a bit wiley and misleading.

The notebook in question (ASUS A8S7/A857... I'm not quite sure):

Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo T7250 2.0Ghz
2GB RAM
120GB HDD
ATI Radeon HD2400 Graphics card

My question is about the graphics card. They say it is 512MB graphics card, which is obviously BS. I'm guessing it's 128MB, or maybe 256MB. I know nothing about this sort of thing so perhaps you guys could set me straight on what it probably is.

My main question is, is it worth my while getting them to eat into my RAM and have a graphics card which virtually uses 512MB of memory, or 256MB of memory in the case of it being a 128MB dedicated card? Or not use any 'hypermemory' at all? Unfortunately, I have no more details about the card... sorry about all the guesswork. Also, I hope all that makes sense, I don't really know what I'm talking about here...! Cheers!

Edit: Just found a FAQ on this forum about it all. Having read it, still unclear about exactly how much shared memory I should use. 256MB in total should be ample, right?

 

It will only use the memory is needed, which will only happen in intensive 3d applications. The rest of the time, it's not going to take any memory.

 

Thanks for that. So assuming its a 128MB card, is it worth getting 128MB of hypermemory too. I am not a hardcore gamer, but I will be using my notebook for video editing and such...

 

Hypermemory is a feature of the card - you can't go and buy hypermemory. So if it comes with 128MB of RAM, it will take a max of 128MB of RAM as and when required.

 

having the feature Hypermemory is indeed a plus. for example, if i have two identical HD2400 (same clockspeed) one with 256mb dedicated vs. 512mb (256mb dedicated + 256mb shared). i pick the one with the hypermemory. because it is like a safety net. and it does indeed offer a slight performance boost compared to its non-hypermemory counterpart.

edit: it seems the OP dont know what an hypermemory is... well... like amol said; it is a feature of the card. when the dedicated graphic memory has been exhausted; it can dwelve into free space on your RAM, the maximum RAM memory you can take depends on the card.

depends on where you bought it; every computer market is like that... go buy authorized dealer/boutique if you dont want to be mislead, that way you can talk to real person (providing he/she is knowledgeable).

 

Yeah, the Chinese translation can be a bit tricky, but its worth it moneywise!! OK, so hypermemory is good, because it only uses it when it needs it, and doesnt permanently deprive me of that amount of RAM?

EDIT: ...aaand hypermemory and shared memory are 2 different things!?

 

I believe it is because AMD market hypermemory differently as well. nVidia typically market their card with how much on board memory it has, while AMD market their cards with how much memory it can utilize including 'borrowing' from the system RAM.

 

-no it doesn't deprive your ram permanently, you wouldn't even notice it. it only used the system RAM whenever there is free overhead. besides, you usually only used that much memory when gaming.

hypermemory and shared memory are the same things. Hypermemory is just the trademark of ATI.

have you ever used intel intergrated graphic (eg. GMA 950, GMA X3100)? that is an example of using shared memory.

 

If you like the notebook and price safe to go for not much they can do to GPU to make it good or bad it is what it is and HD2400 is OK CPU is good and 2GB's RAM good, if price is right buy it!

 

NO, it's not!
Shared memory is actually constantly set aside, it is not dynamic, and it does rob from system memory even when not needed. Hypermemory and Turbocache on the other hand are dynamic, and are only used when the system doesn't need that memory and when it does need it, the rest of the time it's not used.

Yes, however it's not as effective as Hypermemory/Turbocache, which uses dedicated memory with a sprinkling of dyanmically accesible system memory on top.

It's a good thing because it is only used when it's needed and the resources aren't already given priority to the CPU or DMA requests.

And Xcan, both market them the same saying the dedicated first and then, quoting the HM/TC number afterwards.

 

It seems a nice laptop.

I doubt a HD 2400 will need 512Mb of RAM. I mean, before it's used up all its RAM it'll probably be choking a whatever you're doing. I'd set it back to use 256Mb total. A HD 2400 really doesn't need more.

ATI and Nvidia do a better job when borrowing memory then Intel.

 

well yeah you're right.. i'm just creating a basic example as not to confuse the OP. the basic principle is the same isn't it? the difference is; the intel version doesn't have its own memory, so it need to always rob the system's RAM. oh and i just remembered this; the NVDIA solution is called TurboCache

 

The only reason I point it out is that you NEVER want shared memory in a gaming card, but alot of people treat HM/TC as if they are the same and inherently bad.

Often people refer to them as if they would take a 1GB dedicated M-HD2400/GF8300M over an M-HD2600XT with 512MB and hyper memory up to 1.x GB, or as if they need to 'deactivate' it somehow like in another thread because it's robing them from their desktop apps, etc. Also one person who cursed having it as an option.

I agree 512MB of dedicated memory with all the same specs, usually better than 256MB dedicated + HM (definitely if only 256MB HM), but like you said in the first post better dedicated+HM than just being stuck with that same amount of dedicated alone.

It's rare you need HM, but it sure is nice knowing it's there, and also that you don't have to monkey around setting it like you did AGP aperture size looking for the ideal based on some ancient formula (PS, 1/2 VRAM was BS).

 

Great! Thanks for your help guys! I'll buy you a beer sometime...

Turns out the card is 256MB, with the option of havng another 256MB as shared memory, which I'll say no to.... Now all that's left to do is to part with all my hard-earned money!