ATI x200m? change to 256mbs??

how can change my graphics card (ati x200m) in my prserio r4000 to a 256mb because every1 says u can but i dont no which way to do it

 

in the Bios you can determine the amount of RAM to be allocated to the video card. Max 128mb which means that you will have 256mb total since the card already has 128mb dedicated. Check to see this but as far as I know 128mb of dedicated memory give better performance in games than 256mb.

 

Very true - if the extra 128MB is shared, it can potentially decrease performance.

I would keep the amount of shared video memory down, seeing as you only have 512MB of RAM.

 

What if you have 2gb of RAM?

 

Well, you can try it out and check whether you see some improvement/decrease in the quality of the games you play. You can always disable it in the BIOS. Memory has some effect on the performance of a graphics card, but in the end a 200m is a 200m and will never offer the same performance as a X700.

 

This really does not help in my experience. I tried it once and it made no difference whatsoever but here is how you do it if you want to try:

1. reboot computer and when you see the opening compaq screen press F10. This will take you to the BIOS.

2. Go to the Advanced tab and you will see something that says Video Graphics Mode and next to it it will say Sideport. Go on that and press enter. You will see three choices, Sideport, UMA, and UMA+Sideport. Choose UMA+Sideport and press enter.

3. You will then see another option for Shared Graphics Memory. Go on that and press enter. You will see four options, 0 MB, 32 MB, 64 MB, and 128 MB. choose whichever one of those you want and exit out of BIOS and save it.

This will now have you sharing memory to bring your video card up to 256 MB. However, as I said you will likely not notice any difference and it will take memory from your RAM. Anyway, it won't hurt to try it and to get it back to what it was just go back to BIOS and reverse the directions. Good luck and happy computing!

 

The boost in RAM doesn't hurt, but it doesn't help much either - the extra RAM would be better spent helping the system, rather than the GPU. Try using ATI's catalyst drivers - you'll see more noticeable performance gains at different settings rather than boosting the RAM.

 

isn't the 200m faster than the x700 in real-life applications?

 

No. The 200m is basically the entry level card. The X700 is the top dog in ATI's lineup. The X700 is much faster than the 200m. It has among others better graphics core, more pipelines and higher clock frequency. But the X700 is not the best solution for everyone, the major difference you are going to see between the 200m and X700 is when you are gaming and in high def videos. These tax the GPU more than just say playing a DVD or playing an older 2D game. For playing a DVD you probably wont notice any difference between the 2. So it depends on your needs, but to sum it up the 200m is not faster than the X700 in any real life application. The difference might only be negligible and most people wont notice it.

Read the Notebook graphics card guide in the Notebook Guide section for detailed info on the performance of graphics cards.