Solved! Video Card question for new laptop?

[scorch0062]

I am planning on buying an alienware m14x and was wondering if i would benefit much from upgrading the video card from the 1.5gb gt555m to the 3gb gt555? Someone told me that it wouldn't make much difference because of the 900p resolution of the screen, but i would notice any improvement by upgrading?

 

[jaguarskx]

Nope. You don't really need more than 1GB for 1920 x 1200 as long as the GPU is fast enough to access all that VRAM. If the video card is too slow to even access 1GB, then more VRAM would not matter.

The desktop version of the Radeon HD 5670 is an example of a card that cannot really make much use of more than 512MB of VRAM. The 1GB version gets maybe at best 1 or 2 extra frame per second at 1920x1200 and 2560x1600. However, that 1 or 2 extra frame wouldn't matter much for the HD 5670 when they are only getting in the low teens for frames per second.