video memory upgrade on hp laptop

I have a new laptop:HP Pavilion dv9700t Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz 3GB 240GB (120x2) 17" bluetooth/webcam/mic/fingerprint reader DVD?R/RW / Wireless 4965AGN / Vista Home Premium, with NVIDIA Geforce 8600m gs video card with 256mb, can i upgrade the video memory to 512? and how do I do it? do I have to replace the card or just the memory?

 

Are you sure the video memory isn't 512mb, my newly ordered dv9700t has the 8600M GS which is 512MB dedicated. The other option you would have had would be the 256MB 8400M GS, is that what you have??
Either way, I would ditch the HP drivers and get them from http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/



These are much much better, and If you do some reading you'll find that just because one card has 512mb dedicated compared to the 256mb dedicated doesn't mean the 512 is performing better.

BTW, you can right click on your desktop in vista
Choose Personalize
Choose Display Settings
It will tell you what card you have to verify
Click advanced settings
It will tell you total, dedicated, system, and shared memory

 

To answer your questions you cant replace the video memory or the card.
But if you're having some issue with something (gaming etc) you could post the details of that here and we'll see what we can do

 

According to Nvidia's website this geforce 8600m gs comes in 128, 256 & 512mb dedicated. Mine has 256 dedicated. I wondered if I could upgrade the memory to the 512 & if I would have any better graphics?

 

Besides not being able to upgrade your GPU, adding more video memory doesn't help. There is no difference between an 8600m GS with 256 and one with 512. Check out the mobile Graphics Card Info page where Chaz states: Video memory is not that important, stop asking if 512MB is better!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=39568

Here's a more detailed explanation using the 8600 GT as an explain:

1.Is a GeForce 8600M-GT 256MB DDR2 better than a GeForce 8600M-GT 512MB DDR2?
This is a very common train of thought – more video memory must mean better performance. This is not true – the video card itself matters much more than the memory it has.

In this case, both cards have the same performance. The 8600M-GT DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH POWER to use more than 256MB of memory. It has a limited 128-bit memory bus. Only cards with a 256-bit bus or greater are going to be able to use more than 256MB of memory. It is not worth spending any extra money on a mid-range card like the 8600M-GT with more memory. There is no performance gain to justify the price.

Why can't it use more memory effectively? Here's a primitive example. An office worker can use a maximum of three computers at a time. If he is given an additional three computers, is he any more productive? No, because he can only use three of them to begin with. The extra three do nothing.

 

Better graphics? No. The extra memory wouldnt come into play in games for any significant performance increase. All i can reccommend is try some different drivers for your video card from laptopvideo2go.com and see if they make any difference.

 

1. 8600M GS already has 512MB RAM.
2. No, you can't upgrade it, since the card is soldered to the motherboard. Well, you could, but you'd have to know about that type of thing and it'd probably void the warranty.