What happened to the 511MB 8600M GS?

Oh Man!

I just bought another DV9500T to duplicate the 9500T I already have, and I just noticed that th high end graphics card offered is a 256MB 8600M, and not the 511MB 8600M that is in my current 9500T.

What happened to the one with 511mb?

Is there any chance they are the same card, and HP just labled the discriptions different?

What sort of perfomance change should i expect?

Whats the real difference?

Please note that I did search around for answers before posting),


Thanks in advance
Joe

 

I'm willing to bet that they're the exact same card. It's just an issue of taking into account virtual ram.

For example, my 8400M GS labeled with 383MB of memory. Now, it's labeled as 128MB. Your operating system may choose to allocate the virtual ram differently, but it's always there.

Hope this helps.

 

hmm interesting.. is there a way to find out what the virtual ram is? I also have the dv9500t with the 8600...

Alex

 

When they say 511mb Video ram, They actually include the shared amount of memory it draws from 1 gb of RAM in the Cpu. So the amount of video Ram you can actually have is 256(dedicated) +Xgb Ram * 255. When you configure with 1 gb of RAM you have 256+255 =511mb. 256 MB 8600GS is identical to the 511MB.

The 256 MB Card is the exact same as the 511 MB so there should not be any performance change.

I can understand your confusion as initially i was also baffled.

 

I've found a way, although it isn't the most fun.

Right Click my computer, properties. Click the Windows Experience Index. Click View and Print Details. Under graphics information, it'll show shared memory.

 

Yep, HP just corrected the numbers to show the amount of discrete memory available to the GPU. Previously they labeled the cards by including the amount of virtual memory available. I bet they figured it was misleading to consumers who thought they were getting 383 (8400m) or 511 (8600m) MB of dedicated memory when that wasn't the case.

 

JoeCHecht
I was ready to purchase a DV9500t and also noticed the graphics card change. Are you happy with your notebook so far. I was going to order with the ultra bright screen display.

Thanks

 

Yep, it's like "hey I bought a 160GB, but I only have 148GB!" lol

 

its still the same card, except now they are labeling the amount of dedicated RAM it has, instead of dedicated RAM + shared RAM. same exact card, and same exact performance

yeah i hate that!!! i got the same HDD

 

Always read the fine print on the hardware.

 

Yea some laptop companies like to add the dedicated and shared memories and label that as the graphics memory. I think dedicated memory only come in 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB, not 511MB.

 

^ yea 383MB is a pretty random number lol.. who came up with that figure?

 

I absolutly love my DV9500T. I just bought 2 more (one for my wife, and one for a emergency spare). Upgraded to the 7700 CPU, and took advantage of the 30% discount on the twin 250gb hard drives (came out cheaper than buying them 3rd party). The 7500 and 7700 have the intel virturalization stuff built in, so it runs VMWare workstation really well (turn on the option in the bois setup). Add 4 gigs of ram for about $170, and you are cooking with gas.

My only dislikes are the choice of locations for the USB port on the front right side (on models sans the fingerpprint reader), and the location of the express card slot. Both interfere if you are right handed and using a mouse. I also dont really like the silver finish where you rest your hands, as it seems to pick up skin cells after several hours of use, and needs to be scrubbed clean.

Other than that, the machine rocks. Its fast, gets awsome battery life (I keep mine at a full blast setting with a super bright screen setting, and can easily get 2 to 3 hours on a battery charge. I love the higher resolution of the screen (I did not opt for the ultra bright view).

Joe