ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 M54P, 128MB DDR

[ElSuperman]

Hi there, I've been looking around at laptops recently and I came across one with the mentioned in the title card. I've heard good things about the X1600, but then I realized they're talking about the 256MB version, I think.

Is this a cheap model trying to trick people into thinking they're getting something better than what they actually do get?

Anyhow, I'd like to know if anyone here has any knowledge about this card, thanks a lot.

 

[killernotebooks]

That is probably the new scam they have of a certain amount of dedicated GPU RAM, in this case 128 MB, and then the rest shared or hyper memory, in which the "extra" RAM, in this case 128 MB (in some cases 256 to up to 384 MB)

Now a couple things about this. First GDDR memory comes in flavors from GDDR1 to GDDR3, since they are trying to rip you off in the first place, which one do you think they are giving you on the meager dedicated RAM on the card?

BINGO! The junk! But why not? I mean, it isn't going to make a bit of difference how good the GDDR is on the card because half or even a larger majority is going to be of the shared variety.

In a dedicated video RAM situation it isn't like the system can ask the GPU for the extra video memory to help it out, but that is exactly what shared GPU memory does with system memory.

If memory is shared by the system, and needed by the GPU, the
* First thing that needs to happen is it needs to actually be available to allocate.
* Then the GPU will send a carrier pigeon to the CPU who then...
--->On an Intel system has to go through the offboard memory chipsets to get to the RAM
------> On AMD systems it skips the step of the offboard memory controller, but still has to wait for the...
* System RAM's latency, then...
* Back through that loop.

Sounds real fast doesn't it? No, of course not. I can't stand that these guys are selling pretty decent performing GPU's, then crippling them with a memory bottleneck. It makes no sense.

But, alas, it does make sense. They sell you on the idea that you are getting a x1600 card, you even see the big memory numbers. Then, after you get it, you wonder why it doesn't perform. It really isn't the consumers fault. They shouldn't be expected to have to research and know every freaking scam that the computer manufacturers are using.

When they buy a notebook and it is billed as a desktop replacement then make sure the desktop the computer dealer is claiming to replace isn't some FREE AOL machine that was $199 and 12 months subscription to AOL to begin with!

 

[HardWareBoss]

Or the $1600 and S1800 Latops with ATI 200 or Intel chip. Way to much money for those Laptops.

 

[ElSuperman]

Yeah it's amazing the amount of expensive junk I've run into recently.

 

[HardWareBoss]

Yup. You have to look at alot to find the right Laptop you want to spend your money on.