I've got a Lenovo Ideapad Z580 that I'm trying to get some games running on. Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 needs 512mb of dedicated video ram to run on, but the Z580 only has 32mb. I've heard that the Z580 is supposed to have an nVidia GeForce that gets switched on, but mine doesn't seem to have one. Is there any way to allocate more VRAM from system memory (I'm pretty sure the "dedicated" 32mbs of VRAM is just shared from system RAM right)? Or maybe is this one of the rare laptops with space for adding a discrete GPU?

Go into your device manager and see if there's a GeForce detected there, just to check that it actually exists before attempting to turn it on somehow. Even if you did manage to trick the game into believing it had more video memory than required, you probably don't want to play on your Intel graphics chipset, right?

You do not have a discrete GPU. Install new drivers from Intel for your Intel HD 4000 integrated GPU.

It should run Black Ops 2 at low resolution and quality settings, but don't expect much more than that - it really isn't a gaming laptop.

I got it running and it loads some maps. The only problem is that the game freezes when loading certain ones and then I get booted out with a "lost connection to host" error. The game runs at a decent 45-50 FPS though when I'm in a game. This can't be the GPU right? And also, if it is... I have a realtek PCI ethernet network card in that laptop, would it work if I bought a discrete laptop GPU and stuck it in the place where my network card was then use a usb adapter for ethernet? Or are the slots not going to match up.

It could be the GPU if the game doesn't test for, and handle missing features more gracefully than freezing/crashing.

As far as putting a discrete laptop GPU into your existing laptop, that's probably a no-go, and definately a no-go through the Mini-PCIe connector in your laptop. When a laptop supports upgradable graphics, it does so through a different kind of connector called MXM. However, nearly all consumer laptops lack this connector, and instead solder the GPU permanently to the motherboard. You find MxM more typically in higher-end, larger, boutique gaming laptops like AlienWares or Sagers where the vendor allows you to choose which laptop GPU you want.

The reason you can't just pop any old discrete laptop GPU into any old laptop is mainly down to the cramped conditions -- you have to route the video out to the display somehow (which the PCIe connector lacks), and MxM cards put out a lot of heat, in such a small space this means the cooling solution is very dependent on the laptop chassis and component layout on the GPU itself. Its not that these issues couldn't be solved with appropriate standardization (and expectations), but in general it hasn't been attempted because its a solution looking for a problem.

Actually I heard that turning off shader warming helps on alot of cards. Does anyone know where to turn it off? The options screen doesn't seem to have any setting for it.