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Inspiron E1705 video card memory
I just ordered an E1705. I have several questions that i can't seem to find answers to. My first question is about the Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950 GM. What is the memory on this card, and will the card be capable of running 3-D. I am not concerned with it being able to run it well, but would like to know if it will be able to run at all.
My second question is actually about the memory. I am not certain what they mean by "shared dual channel ddr2 sdram". it is the "shared" part that is confusing me.
My third question is concerning the 5 in 1 card reader. what cards will it read?
Thank you for your help!
Thank you so much for your reply! I just spent over an hour on the phone with 2 different people in customer service and was told that the card reader would read ANY card, which i knew wasn't right. I was also told that the reason the memory was considered "shared" was because their were 2 memory slots being used instead of 1, which i also knew couldn't be right.
My son loves to play Everquest II and Camelot, but i really don't want him playing on my new laptop. He just wanted to know if they would even run on the laptop at all.
thanks again for your reply!
Excrazymac
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Posted February 28th, 2006 01:00
Everquest II probably won't run smoothly at all. Dark Age of Camelot (I'm assuming is Camelot) will probably run ok.
Personally, I'd upgrade the GFX card if it's not too late. It's somewhat of a shame to hamstring a dual-core system with such a slow gfx card.hunterelite
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Posted February 28th, 2006 08:00
The GMA 950 allocates a FIXED amount of memory for graphical processes. This DDR2 memory can't be used for anything other than GPU memory. So, you can do two things:
1) Upgrade to more memory so that you can have more memory for running processes.
2) Upgrade the integrated 950 to an Nvidia Geforce Go 7800 (non-GTX).
3) Not do anything because the performance staisfies you!
Excrazymac
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Posted February 28th, 2006 00:00
The Intel GMA (Gfx Media Accl.) 950 can run SOME limited 3-D. Don't expect Halo, Half-Life 2, or Doom 3 type games to work (most have graphical glitches). However, you should be able to run Unreal Tournament 2k4, Quake 3, Half-Life 1 games just fine at low-res.
Second concern:
The "shared" part is actually because you are using the GMA 950. The GMA 950 doesn't have any memory of its own to use, so it borrows DDR2 memory. I'm not sure if it allocates a fixed amount or changes, but you can bet that 64 to 128 (maybe 256) megs of your DDR2 memory is going to the GMA for display purposes.
In this situation, I would recommend either making sure your order has 1GB+ of DDR2 memory or upgrading to the 7800 Go GFX card.
Third concern:
The 5-in-1 reads Secure Digital (SD), xD, Memory Stick (MS), Memory Stick Pro (MS Pro), and MMC formats.