Laptop Graphics Card Question

[LPzaz]

Hi there,

I am not a computer expert but know enough to get by, I am a little bit annoyed at the moment because I bought a laptop which according to it's seller has a 512mb Graphics Card,

He even did dxdiag in the run screen and showed me the card is a x1300 Radeon with 512mb ram.

But the more I read about this card the more it is rated as a rubbish graphics card and I only ever see people referring to it as a 128mb graphics card.

This does not make sense to me, how did he get it to display 512mb graphics but everyone says it's a 128mb graphics card.

Have I been screwed...........

Thanks for helping me, this is what the dxdiag shows the card as:

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: ATI Mobility Radeon X1300
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 (0x714A)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_714A&SUBSYS_30AC103C&REV_00
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Default Monitor
Monitor Max Res:
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6614 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 5/10/2006 11:27:38, 258048 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: ati2mtag.sys
Mini VDD Date: 5/10/2006 11:27:22, 1543168 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-320A-11CF-5A6A-A610A1C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x714A
SubSys ID: 0x30AC103C
Revision ID: 0x0000
Revision ID: 0x0000
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D ModeWMV8_B ModeWMV8_A ModeWMV9_B ModeWMV9_A
Deinterlace Caps: {6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{552C0DAD-CCBC-420B-83C8-74943CF9F1A6}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: Not run
D3D7 Test Result: Not run
D3D8 Test Result: Not run
D3D9 Test Result: Not run

 

[Yami]

According to Wikipedia, your graphics chip is 128MB. It would suck either way, though.

Comparison of ATI graphics processing units - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It says the memory is shared, though, so it has 128MB of it's own memory, and then it nicks the other 384MB from the normal RAM. So, technically you're right, and the salesmen was wrong, mostly.

If you're wondering how powerful your chip is, look at this list we have here http://www.techist.com/forums/f84/laptop-graphics-cards-ranking-list-165525/
You'll notice yours is at the top of the "Class 4 Barely Games-Capable" category.

 

[hikaricloud]

Possibly, the reason it says 512mb is it's taking 384mb of memory from your RAM.

 

[Jorsoft]

Yeah it uses Hypermemory which means there's 128mb on the card itself (dedicated) and it can use up to 384mb of your system's memory (shared). So in total it can use about 512mb. The gpu is normally configured to adjust the amount of ram it borrows from your system dynamically to achieve the best performance but sometimes you can change this in the BIOS. So I guess the seller wasn't wrong entirely, but it was rather misleading since it's technically not a proper 512mb gpu.

 

[IBM/PS1]

yeah that's why i don't go to future shop. The techs usually know nothing.