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    Z series - Z540NAB vs NBB -- Are graphics specs really different if you upgrade the RAM?

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by rblue, Nov 22, 2008.

  1. rblue

    rblue Notebook Enthusiast

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    I love the Z but I'm cheap. PC Nation and others have the Z540-NAB for ~$1325 -- that's $100 cheaper than any other spec I've seen for a (new) Z

    The Z540NAB comes with 1 GB of ram and a 120GB HD. I'm going to upgrade to 3 or 4 GB of RAM - cheap and easy - and likely I'll upgrade the HD so I don't care about these variations in the spec vs the Z540NBB/NCB/NDB etc. EG the Z540NBB is ~$1425 for 2 GB ram (2 x 1GB sticks) and 160GB HD.

    BUT...

    1) When you read the detailed spec sheets from Sony Business (b2b.sony.com and search for "Z540NAB" etc) they show a difference in the graphics spec between the Z540NAB and the NBB...

    z540NAB...
    Graphics Processor: NVIDIA® GeForce® 9300M GS GPU with Total Available Graphics Memory of 340MB (max.) and Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD with Intel® Clear Video Technology with Total Available Graphics Memory: 280MB (max.)
    Video RAM: 128MB of dedicated video RAM
    Technology: Hybrid Graphics System
    Chipset: Mobile Intel® GM45 Express Chipset

    vs Z540NBB...
    Processor: NVIDIA® GeForce® 9300M GS GPU with Total Available Graphics Memory of 980MB (max.) and Mobile Intel® Graphics
    Media Accelerator 4500MHD with Intel® Clear Video Technology with Total Available Graphics Memory: 790MB (max.)
    Video RAM: 128MB of dedicated video RAM
    Technology: Hybrid Graphics System
    Chipset: Mobile Intel® GM45 Express Chipset

    I'm looking for some expert opinion from the group...

    Does it make sense that the only reason they report the NAB model as having worse graphics specs is due to the 1GB of system RAM shared between the CPU and the graphics and as soon as I add extra RAM to get to 2 or 3GB shared RAM, the graphics specs become the same as the NBB?

    If the NVIDIA 9300M GS is the same and the dedicated video RAM is the same (128MB), then the capability is the same, it's just the limited, shared main system RAM that's making the NAB specs worse, right?
     
    rblue, Nov 22, 2008
    #1
  2. Stone825

    Stone825 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Honestly since those cards aren't super powerful anyways you don't need more than 256mb of memory on them (even if it is shared with the ram). I think that they are using that max thing and determining it using the shared ram so i don't think you have anything to worry about.
     
    Stone825, Nov 22, 2008
    #2
  3. Skyshade

    Skyshade Notebook Deity NBR Reviewer

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    Yup, the amount of shared video RAM adjusts automatically depends on the system memory you have, so don't worry.
     
    Skyshade, Nov 22, 2008
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