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General discussion

Toshiba A70 Memory Upgrade

by xelonth Jul 19, 2005 12:20PM PDT

Hey, i currently own a Toshiba A70 laptop.
(512RAM, 64mb video shared with ram, 3.06Ghz)
Whenever i use 3D programs for rendering or play games (eg UT2004) my computer starts to work really slowly. After i close the 3D program or the games my computer keeps working slow for another 10 minutes.
Is it because the RAM was used in full in the game so it takes time to unload? should i upgrade to 1Gb or 1.5Gb RAM? (plus if i upgrade i can upgrade my video card to 128mb since its shared with the RAM)
Thanx

Discussion is locked

7 Posts
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Toshiba A70 Memory Upgrade
by pip22 Jul 19, 2005 11:51PM PDT

The graphics chip in a laptop is not designed for game-playing (especially 3D ones). True, you could upgrade the RAM then assign more shared RAM to the graphics, but memory alone is not the only factor.
Video-cards designed for gameplay do indeed have lots of dedicated RAM, but they also employ a host of other cutting-edge technologies, as well as being compatible with the latest version of DirectX which game-authors rely on for their gaming code. With a laptop you can't upgrade to a card which allows you to take advantage of any of this technology. So by all means upgrade the system RAM - this will improve overall performance - just don't expect high-end games to run much better.

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Is this a P4?
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jul 20, 2005 12:12AM PDT

They slow down when they get hot. You have a nice laptop, but it's not a gamer's laptop. 512M is usually fine, but you can try going to 1G and putting it on a laptop cooling pad. But I doubt it will ever be a gaming laptop.

Bob

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Thanx
by xelonth Jul 20, 2005 6:02AM PDT

I will upgrade to 1G in a few weeks. Need to get paycheck first Happy. I will then try out everything and i will post any changes (or if no changes too).
What would be a good gamer laptop? Is it that it should be Centrino or something else too?
Thanx

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(NT) (NT) And yes, its a P4
by xelonth Jul 20, 2005 6:03AM PDT
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Just upgraded
by xelonth Oct 12, 2005 11:46AM PDT

Took me a while but i upgraded my A70 to 1GB memory. It definetly works faster both in gaming and running apps (rendering 3D images and everythign else). However i noticed something a bit odd, i am not sure why it happened. After upgrading my memory, my laptop added about 15-20 min to it's battery life (which is not bad). Could it be explained by the memory upgrade?

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virtual memory
by Andre Velloso Nov 18, 2005 4:09PM PST

since you have more memory, your computer does not have to use hard disk as virtual memory as frequently as it used to need before. hard disk "eats" more power because it is a mechanical system.

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Good to know
by xelonth Nov 19, 2005 12:06AM PST

Even though 10-15 min is not much, any extra time i can get is nice. So basically i bought memory and also got 15 min. Sweet deal.
Thank you

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