Re: My GT540M

[kamale]

Hey guys,

I actually purchased an Acer Aspire 4743G about 2 months ago now. So far its performing real well. But just that it comes with this annoying "Optimus" technology. From the specs i noticed that the CPU and the GPU is so called "Boostable" to a further performance level once its put on load.

What i'm more curious about it, it stats here my GT 540m comes pre-built with 2gb ram. Apparently it stats here, with Turbocache it can be boosted to 3674mb. I'm wondering is this even for real and how would i know. Coz when i'm not running anything i'm using the built in Intel HD graphics. Once games are launched only then will it switch over.

I wanna make sure games i play utilises the full 3gb of "boostable" GPU memory any idea how i can track this or implement this?

 

[AntiZig]

I've heard similar models of ATI cards that had a "sideport" for extra memory to be installed. Problem is, none of the manufacturers/vendors provided any of this "upgrade memory" that you could buy. I don't know for sure but might be the same deal with nVidia cards

 

[kamale]

I've heard similar models of ATI cards that had a "sideport" for extra memory to be installed. Problem is, none of the manufacturers/vendors provided any of this "upgrade memory" that you could buy. I don't know for sure but might be the same deal with nVidia cards

Nah its not a hardware extension. It literally has that amount of memory but only triggered by this "Turbocache" technology. Problem is i kept looking online for GT540m with 2gb ram and i couldn't find any.... Searching for this turbocache extended memory was even more of a headache. So right now, i really just wanna know how much it has and how much its output memory is.

 

[cbrunnem]

something isnt right with all of that. max amount of memory supported by the gt 540m is 1.5gb. also i have never heard of that feature. i think that you might have been sold that under false advertisement. i could be wrong but idk about that.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-540M.41715.0.html
if you go to >system information > components > display. it will say how much dedicated ram you have beside adapter ram.

 

[kamale]

something isnt right with all of that. max amount of memory supported by the gt 540m is 1.5gb. also i have never heard of that feature. i think that you might have been sold that under false advertisement. i could be wrong but idk about that.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-540M.41715.0.html
if you go to >system information > components > display. it will say how much dedicated ram you have beside adapter ram.

Here's a pic of my system info, it stats the intel HD which is used to run under normal mode. And when throttled there is the GT540m with 2gb memory. From this i believe that it does have standard 2gb memory. But what about the so called "Turbocache" mode that can turbo it up to 3674mb memory.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/15/systeminfo.jpg/

 

[AntiZig]

I haven't heard of any tech that would allow you to magically turn 2Gb into 3Gb. And even then, that will only give you more vRAM, the processing power of the GPU is still the same

 

[kamale]

I haven't heard of any tech that would allow you to magically turn 2Gb into 3Gb. And even then, that will only give you more vRAM, the processing power of the GPU is still the same

So basically these specs that state "Turbocache" on the GPU and "Optimus" is well, a load of crap? It just increases numbers but doesn't affect performance? Guess i've been duped then.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboCache
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Optimus

 

[cbrunnem]

So basically these specs that state "Turbocache" on the GPU and "Optimus" is well, a load of crap? It just increases numbers but doesn't affect performance? Guess i've been duped then.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboCache
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Optimus

yeah you were duped. http://www.nvidia.com/page/turbocache.html

your gpu doesnt have that feature and it doesnt look like they have used it in a long time

 

[AntiZig]

turbo cache is just - let your GPU use your RAM for GPU processing
nothing special

 

[kamale]

Ok so basically it means, only if i have extra ram will this turbocache be able to take over some physical ram and use it for graphic processing. Thats what i see printed on the laptop and i doubt Courts would false advertise right?

I'm very sure it has optimus.
http://www.geforce.com/#/Hardware/GPUs/geforce-gt-540m/overview

I finally understand now what this turbocache can do. I gotta get me some extra ram. Maybe bumping it up to say 8gb? Would that help a little in improving my graphics? Judging from what turbocache does.

Sorry one more thing, how would i know whats the highest speed ram i can get for this laptop?

 

[cbrunnem]

Ok so basically it means, only if i have extra ram will this turbocache be able to take over some physical ram and use it for graphic processing. Thats what i see printed on the laptop and i doubt Courts would false advertise right?

I'm very sure it has optimus.
http://www.geforce.com/#/Hardware/GPUs/geforce-gt-540m/overview

I finally understand now what this turbocache can do. I gotta get me some extra ram. Maybe bumping it up to say 8gb? Would that help a little in improving my graphics? Judging from what turbocache does.

Sorry one more thing, how would i know whats the highest speed ram i can get for this laptop?

your gpu has optimus but its up to your laptop manufacturer to support it. most likely you have it and its being used right now. also you screen shot shows the amount of ram that your intel graphics has to use not your 540m.

regarding your ram question. 1333mhz is that fastest supported ram for an i7. if you have an i5 im sure its the same.

finally regarding turbocache, sorry to burst your bubble but you do not have it and adding ram will not add performance if you already have 4 gb. no one has ever heard of it and ive never seen it on specification sheets. and its not on the supported features list on nvidias website. you just dont have it, you must be confused with something else.

 

[kamale]

your gpu has optimus but its up to your laptop manufacturer to support it. most likely you have it and its being used right now. also you screen shot shows the amount of ram that your intel graphics has to use not your 540m.

regarding your ram question. 1333mhz is that fastest supported ram for an i7. if you have an i5 im sure its the same.

finally regarding turbocache, sorry to burst your bubble but you do not have it and adding ram will not add performance if you already have 4 gb. no one has ever heard of it and ive never seen it on specification sheets. and its not on the supported features list on nvidias website. you just dont have it, you must be confused with something else.

Regarding the Intel HD, what you saw was the above part look lower and you will see the GT 540M. Imageshack has gone down the drain for hosting pics its not even in full size hold on lemme get better pics.

And below is what is stated on my laptop. If this is true as everyone says its fake. I would most likely be taking it up with courts for false advertising.

 

[cbrunnem]

idk you make a compelling case but its not even on nvidias website under the 540m.

 

[kamale]

idk you make a compelling case but its not even on nvidias website under the 540m.

LOL exactly why i'm baffled as well........ I notice most 540m come with 1gb memory, mine has 2. So weird.

 

[AntiZig]

you should go by whatever the manufacturer has got on their website, the stickers the marketing department slaps on the machine are known for not being very accurate

 

[kamale]

you should go by whatever the manufacturer has got on their website, the stickers the marketing department slaps on the machine are known for not being very accurate

I'm sorry for dragging this thread for so long, i searched acer websites and its like this model doesn't exist on the official sites.

http://www.acer.com.sg/ac/en/SG/content/series/aspire

But i found this

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Aspire-4743G-482G50Mnkk.51069.0.html

Which isn't mine LOL, this is getting really annoying. Its my laptop is a whole other breed and isn't available on the official sites. Its like a modded set.

 

[moccamaster]

I've been wondering the same thing mate - I just purchased a laptop with gt 540m and also got the impression that it could utilize some of the physical system ram memory to up its performance - tried to find info on that but couldn't...

I bought a laptop with 8gb ram (not because of the gfx-card though), but when I ocasionally play a game it would be cool if it could suck up some power from these 8gb.

Also I have to agree - stating it could be boosted this way is such a factual statement, that I would be really surprised if there were not a gram of truth to it... A company like nVidia could not live with such a hoax on mainstream gfx-cards like the gt 540m! (as I understood it the gt550m should be the same story with ram-boost from system memory)

My 2 cents - keep it up. We are lots out here who wants to know about this

 

[moccamaster]

A small update:

!!UPDATE!!

Just tested this in a fairly easy manner - with 4GB ram vs. 8GB ram and the turbo cache is not about boosting the existing ram - it refers to the gfx-cards ability to utilize system ram:

Here are what nVidia control panel tells me:

with 4GB ram:
Total available graphic memory = 2806 MB
Dedicated video memory = 1024MB DDR3
Shared system memory = 1782 MB

with 8GB ram:
Total available graphic memory = 4095 MB
Dedicated video memory = 1024 MB DDR3
Shared system memory = 3071 MB

Hope this helps

 

[kamale]

Whoa hey nice find. So this means, with more physical ram, the GPU is able to use some of it? Just to double confirm your analysis.

Damn i'm dying to get extra ram. As it is its performing very well for a pretty budget laptop. And i have it on like up to 3 - 4 days straight and still performing well.

I play alot of Rift online and it still holds its grounds.

 

[moccamaster]

True buddy - well, you can't just keep plugging in Ram. The card can utilize up til 4GB - so in that regard 6GB or 8GB of system ram is probably optimal - me using 8GB ram on 64bit Windows 7 leaves enough for the card to max out and my system to perform like a charm.

Game on!

 

[cbrunnem]

try running some test to see if there is improvement over 4gb. i would be surprised if there was though....

 

[moccamaster]

True. Well, it can't hurt.

The question was concerning this turbo cache expression - which I have shown to refer to the gpu's ability to suck up system ram
I just got the latest 280.26 driver and tbh I don't intend to test performance with 4GB vs 8GB system ram. I'll leave that to an individual more committed than I