acer 6930g GPU 9600GT 1GB dedicated memory

hey guyz..i'm 2 days far from buying a new acer 6930G with a 9600GT that has a 1GB dedicated RAM..i was wondering whether this GPU dedicated memory is DDR2 or DDR3? the DDR3 version of the 9600GT graphics card,naturally,scored higher in benchmarks:
http://optimitza.cat/news/2008/09/0...m-9500m-9600m-mobility-radeon-3450-3470-3650/
i can't find the laptop with these specs on acer website..i'm concerned abt how much the drop in performance would be if it was a DDR2 GPU say for games like fallout 3, farcry 2..thnx

 

I think it's DDR3. I know I've read that somewhere.

There isn't a masive difference between DDR2 and DDR3, I am not sure how much it is, maybe something like 10%.

Anyway, 1 GB of vRAM on a card like the 9600M GT is just a masive waste of vRAM, 512 is more than enough.

 

Im pretty sure the 1gb 9600m GT is DD2. While the 512mb one is DDR3.

 

how much of a difference do you think there would be from these 2 versions of the Acer 6930G laptop

a) T6400 2.1ghz & 1 gig 9600M GT DDR2

b) P7450 2.0 512mb 9600M GT DDR 3

laptop a) is £587 and laptop b) is £678

Would there be a huge difference in gaming and anything else?

All other components are the same.

thanks very much

 

The difference in gaming will be huge. It is around 1000-1500 3DMark06 points so definitely go for the option B (only if the 512MB version is the GDDR3).

Check this link
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9600M-GT.9449.0.html

If you look around in that site you see that the 8600M GT DDR3 has a higher 3Dmark06 score than the 9600M GT DDR2 version. I know 3DMark06 score is a synthetic tool so it doesn't give you a real comparison but still shows something. In the same page there are some game benchmarks (some of them are quite old games) as well so you are going to have a more clear view.
The memory type gives a big difference in the nvidia cards. That means you can have higher graphic settings and more fps (around 20-30% depending on the game, settings and the resolution). The difference in the CPUs would be negligible, but still the B option has a better CPU, the P7450 is 2.133 GHz has more cache (3MB) memory and higher FSB (1066 MHz) than the T6400 (which is 2.0 GHz, 2MB Cache and FSB 800 MHz).
Go for the B option.

 

Thats a good post thanks nklive.

Bearing in mind i wont be using it for intensive gaming - mainly as an all-round machine. And mostly playing pre 2008 games. Possibly the most demanding games i would want to run on it are Medieval 2 Total War and Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. I play mainly RPGS and adventure games.

And installing XP on it should make it run dx9 games better no?

 

Thanks SilverSurfer
If you think £90 is a lot for your budget, yes go for the option A but I think the option B is a good deal between the two options. Total War would appreciate more CPU and Stalker more GPU but with the option B you are on the safe side if you know what I mean. After all there might be a new game that you would love to play in the future. But generally, I don't think any of the options will disappoint you. I just always go for the ''a bit more'' option.
As far as concerns Windows, forgive me but I am a Vista fan boy. I love Vista and I wouldn't change them for XP. To me (I know I might be alone here) Vista are more straightforward, stable, nicer and quicker than XP (I think I am in my Dream bubble ).
Installing XP would probably in most cases give you more fps but the difference wouldn't be the same as it is between DDR2 and DDR3. And after all, do you want to go down that road, looking for drivers, making more threads in these forums where most people stay with vista, driver's updates that might not be compatible with XP. My suggestion would be, once you get your laptop (A or B), do a re-installation of Vista or XP. Most of the problems with Vista comes from third-party software (bloatware in my opinion) that are written initially for XP (hence you see some instability in Vista). But even if they are written for Vista, you just don't need them. When I got my laptop it had 80 processes running, after clean installation of Vista and some services tweaking, I have now 40-43 running processes, it makes a huge difference in your experience with Vista.

 

Does anyone have a link (In £) or the model number for the DDR3 version?

Thanks.

 

better get the 512mb gddr3 version.. it peforms 30-40% better than the ddr2 one..