Graphics question on T60

Do you have to have the ATI card to run vista at 100% - aero, etc...?

I was told that the Intel 950 wouldn't support aero, etc... the cool stuff of vista.

Thx.

 

Aero will run on the GMA950. It will also run on the x1400/x1300/FireGL, obviously.

If you only care about Aero, Intel graphics will suffice; however, if you want to do any gaming, then you'll want a dedicated card.

 

The answer is yes and if you plan on running Aero I would suggest a video card with 128 megs of ram minimum and two gigs of system ram.

 

Why? Do you have any proof to back this statement up?

 

It's common knowledge but if you don't believe me I guess there's only one way to find out. Aero is a system hog. You can get by with 1 gig of ram but if you plan on playing the latest and future games then yes I stand by what I said.

 

I had the beta of Vista Ultimate with 512MB of memory and Vista Business with 1GB of memory. Both seemed to do OK.

 

From Microsoft's website: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/systemrequirements.mspx

Home Basic


* 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
* 512 MB of system memory
* 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
* Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory
* DVD-ROM drive
* Audio Output
* Internet access (fees may apply)

Home Premium / Business / Ultimate

* 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
* 1 GB of system memory
* 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
* Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:

* WDDM Driver
* 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
* Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
* 32 bits per pixel

* DVD-ROM drive
* Audio Output
* Internet access (fees may

To Zaz: I purchased a dv6000t lappy from Staples which included Vista Home premium. It used the Intel Integrated graphics chipset and 1 gig of ram. I found that Vista on that laptop ran sluggish so I took it back.

In fact my I ordered my T60 with XP Pro. The way I want Vista to perform, I don't feel it's ready yet.

 

Newegg seems to be having a sale of 1gb RAM sticks. Buy two of those, and you should see a significant performance increase.

I am running XP pro, and I have page file (virtual memory) turned off, and it's quite a performance increase over when the page file was turned on.

On Vista, if you have 3gb of physical RAM, maybe you can turn off page file as well (just guessing), and that should give a pretty big performance boost.

 

It seemed to do OK for me, that's what I can tell you.

 

Where do you go to turn off or on virtual memory?

 

Right click on "My Computer" icon, choose "properties," click on "Advanced" tab, click on "settings" under the performance section.

While you are at it, you might as well turn off all the fancy visual effects.

Click on "advanced" tab, click on "change" under Virtual Memory section, then choose "no paging file."


But you should only turn off paging file if you have 2gb of RAM running XP. You should have at least 3gb of RAM if you are running Vista.

 

I agree 2GB of memory would be extremely useful, but it is by no means the minimum. I'm pretty sure you could get by with 1.5GB easily, and possibly 1GB if you compromise game settings.

Matt

 

Most basic config came with 512MB RAM. I do not think that is adequate for Vista Home Prem or Business.

For practical reason (without throwing your original 512MB) then you have to go for 1GB (add another 512MB) or 1,5GB (add 1GB stick).

I configured Y400 (GMA 950) with 1,5GB RAM and it is more than enough to run Vista Home Premium. Dont afraid to loose dual channel capability cause thanks to Intel Flex Technology, different memory size can still run in dual channel mode. CPU-Z show exactly that dual channel mode is running.