ati graphics on laptops

[David Becker]

Steffen Kluge wrote:
> On Fri, 2005-10-07 at 12:02 +0200, David Becker wrote:
>> Why should you get higher fps? The ATI 200M is an x300 derivative, most
>> likely using shared memory without any onboard memory, so everything
>> goes over the PCI Express bus.
> 
> I'm getting 2275 fps in glxgears with my Mobility Radeon X300 laptop.
> I'm also getting 70 fps in ppracer at 1280x800, 32bpp, all effects
> enabled.
> 
> This one has 64MB dedicated video RAM, so X300 doesn't necessarily mean
> shared.

It probably explicitly states it's an x300, which may have some onboard
memory. The 200M chipset includes a graphics controller derived from the
x300 which almost always has no onboard memory (I have yet to see a
counter example) .

I returned a laptop with an x300 which claimed to have 128MB on board
memory. The frame rates were high, but it looked as if it was single
buffering despite the fact that the program used double buffering. The
same program on a lesser GeForce Go 5200 with 32MB dedicated VRAM had
slightly lower frame rates, but better (smoother) rendering.

It get's more confusing when you realise that most x300's are SE
editions, with a mere 64 bit memory bus. Most manufacturers conveniently
drop the 'SE' when specifying the graphics controller. Then, the amount
of memory is almost always totalled over the (small) on board memory
plus the available shared (augmented) memory.

Maybe your graphics controller has 64MB on board. If so, then it likely
can augment at least that amount from system memory. What laptop do use?


Regards,

	David