X205-SLI1 and X205-SLI3 - Toshiba's False Advertising - Only has 256MB VRAM!

There's been some discussion about this on other threads, but I think this issue is worth starting a new thread for.

I've had the Toshiba X205-SLI1 for almost 1 month. My one major complaint about the X205-SLIs is that there is ONLY 256MB of usable video RAM in the machines and not "767MB total: 512MB DDR3 discrete memory + up to 255MB shared memory w/NVIDIA® TurboCache(tm) technology" as stated in all of Toshiba's specs as well as in all of their PR and marketing materials! I called Toshiba's tech people and they confirmed that there is only 256MB of usable video RAM in the X205-SLI machines and not 512MB (nor 767MB). The tech people at Toshiba even agreed that Toshiba had made a mistake in their published specifications. As a follow-up, I called Consumer Relations at the Toshiba corporate headquarters in the U.S. on this issue and so far, they have not rectified this situation in an acceptable manner to me (they've "offered" to buy it back from me so long as I agree to this within 3 days. They're not very flexible.).

The dual video cards with the aggressively promoted 512MB (and 767MB) of dedicated video RAM is the primary feature set that makes this notebook so unique and sets it apart from the pack. This claimed large amount of supposed video RAM is the reason that Toshiba and the press are touting the X205-SLI as a true "gaming" notebook. For there to be less than 1/2 the amount of claimed video RAM is a substantial and material misrepresentation in my mind. So, in the end, I really feel that I didn't get what I paid for and Toshiba is falsely advertising and materially misrepresenting the product. I'm considering my options at this point.

What's your opinion about the way they're marketing this thing?

 

I think if you understood how SLI works, you wouldn't be so upset.

 

I understand that the SLI only really kicks in for specifically enabled SLI games but feel free to explain it to me (and anybody else) how they can claim what they claim.

While you're at it, can you explain why when I go to the NVIDIA site and run their software scanner, it says that I don't have an SLI enabled machine? Point being that if I can only use the SLI functionality of this machine with SLI enabled games how am I supposed to do that when all indicators scanning my machine say it isn't really SLI? Seems like circular reasoning to me and it also seems like it's a bunch of hype that I will never be able to utilize.

 

This might be a dumb question, sorry, but do you have SLI enabled? Mine shows up as having SLI using their scan tool.

 

Yeah, that's ok...ya never know! Yes, I have SLI enabled.

 

Are you using the stock Toshiba drivers or have you done a clean install and downloaded new drivers?

 

I UNDERSTAND how SLI works But I also can READ what the marketing and the sticker right on the X205-SLi3 that I HAD say it says 512mb dedicated vram with 256mb shared system up to 768 total video memory available.
Instead what Vista and several other utils SHOW is 256mb vram with 767 shared system memory for a total video memory of 1023mb. No matter what everyone wants to believe those are the facts. I really liked this laptop, it has THE BEST sound I've ever heard in a laptop, beautiful display, quite, ran cool, etc But in real world everyday use and play it is NO better nor faster than my Asus G2S-A1
Luckily I purchased from a Vendor (costco) who took it back after 19 days with
NO Hassle. When Toshibas hardware catches up with there Marketing I will be right there buying one again

 

Bah. Like its the first time.

Toshiba also clearly stated as "4Gb of RAM supported" for the models that had older chipsets that could actually only 3-3.5Gb max even in x64 mode. But nothing came out of it, and know why? Because on all their spec pages there are a small typeface disclaimer below that they do not have any responsibility on these statements.

 

I have the Toshiba SLI-3 laptop. You mention using new drivers, but when I go to Nvidia website they tell me that I must use the original manufacturers drivers?
Can other drivers be used succesfully on these laptops?

 

if you read this board and do some research you will find all of your answers. this board is a wealth of knowledge.

 

Hello! Thank you for reply. I've been searching and yet to find a clear and detailed recipe for success. I have read that laptopvideo2go has some drivers, but that site shows as being down. I am looking at a conscise guide written for someone not that familiar with optimizning laptops. I see many are advocating switching to XP, but I want to do that as a very last resort since the laptop shipped wth Vista Ultimate and came preconfigured.

 

I'd say stick with vista, I did a clean reinstall, and with a few tweaks from many of the guides on this site, it runs great, totally acceptable, and I have no intention or need to go back to XP. As for the drivers, for some reason the laptopvideo2go site is down right now, but it's usually not, never have i seen it down, so just wait till it's back up and then you'll be good to go. They modify the .inf file in the Nvidia driver packages, and make it really easy to update to the latest and greatest drivers.

There is also a guide on this site that will walk you through it, search and it should pop up, I believe it's stickied in several places.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=64910

Here ya go, found the link to the guide on this site for ya

 

Sorry, got a bit sidetracked in the last few posts helping with drivers, but back to topic.... I don't really have a big problem with how it was marketed... Honestly, I never doubted that it was 256MB PER card, and fully was aware of that when I bought it.... The thing that got me interested in this was when SLIGUY came through here talking about how Toshiba solved all his problems and made it right, but couldn't say anything because of an aggreement with them not to talk about it... that whole thing sounded just too wierd to me.... so, that's why I pursued it with toshiba, and it did go to tech level 3's, but even they weren't really aware of what SLI even was.... and that's when I got the blow off, promised to call back yadayada, never heard a word, called them back, was told they were "working on it", and that's where I left it 2 weeks ago.

And I think that's ok. I'm not trying to get something for nothing, I was just curious more than anything. Everything I've read does seem correct as well, a bit misleading if you don't understand SLI and running 2 video cards, but they never said in ANYTHING that I read that each card had 512. It can be interpreted as that, but it doesn't specifically say it either. And then upon further investigation, other notebooks that do have dual 512MB cards say they have 1024, namely the Sager I looked up, so they're doing the same thing advertising wise.

Another point I read was that the 8600mGT with its 128bit bus can't effectively use 512MB anyway, so there again would it even really matter if it did have it? So far everything I've thrown at it has run great, the exception being I'd like Crysis to run a bit faster, but in reality the guys with Desktop SLI 8800's are cryin about performance as well, so 512 per card isn't gonna change anything there it seems for my experience.

Guess that's my thoughts on it, and I don't regret buying this thing one bit... for the money, I think it's still a killer bang for the buck machine, as a Dell I was pricing that would actually run anything noticably better is almost twice as much $$$! I'm getting 8000 points or so in 3dMark06, and for a notebook that you can pick up for under $2K, to me is doing something right.

For me, i'm happy enough.... this machine will definately fill the bill till the next great thing rolls around ha

 

Same here be77solo, I bought my sli1 understanding that it has 2 cards with 256MB each, heck this discussion was going on before I bought my sli1 and I just wanted a sli laptop for a good price so I could let my son have my 9349 laptop so he could play his games on that laptop and I just ignored the Toshiba marketing on the sticker that means nothing to me at all, I was looking at the Dell XPS and Alienware laptops as well and it would have cost me about $4000 to get that laptop configured the way I wanted it, so I am very happy with my sli1 for the price and performance it's worth every cent.

 

Perhaps Toshiba's marketing folks didn't understand that 256x2 in SLI = 256 total, not 512? vRAM is not doubled in SLI, it's mirrored. So technically you do have 512MB of vRAM across both cards, but only 256MB is usable for SLI.

 

whatever. you say tomato i say tomato.

anybody that knows anything about building a rig automatically knew when toshiba said 512mb physical and 256 vram what that meant.

it is only people that have limited knowledge of how sli and how rigs work that were confused.

there was some other stat on this computer that some one said they felt mislead by. wtf??? those people need to do some learning and then they won't feel mislead......

 

I didn't notice this before, but check out the 8600M GT specs from Nvidia. Pay close attention to the memory specs. It says the max memoryis 512 VRAM. A lot of manufactors are using the 256 config, but I did find this, this, this, this, and this.