GAMING: Upgrade e1505 to ATI x1400 or buy a new laptop?

Hey guys, just need some expert advice here...

I have an e1505, Intel Core Duo 1.83 GHz, 4GB RAM, with an x1300 ATI graphics card. I've got my main HDD running Vista, and I'll probably stick with it.

Gaming is a big hobby for me, but I'm not a fanatic. I made the mistake of not spending the extra $100 for the x1400 when I bought this laptop a couple years back. Even with 4GB of RAM (and optimized drivers and Windows tweaks), the x1300 is a bottleneck.

Even in World of Warcraft at 1024x768, I have a hard time staying above 30 FPS. With more intensive games like Bioshock, I have to run at 800x600 with all settings on low, and I can barely maintain 25 FPS.

I've done some reading and found out that I CAN replace my ATI x1300 with the x1400. There are lots of vendors selling the x1400 on eBay for around $100. I'm not sure how hard this is to do, but I assume it's a bit harder than replacing RAM. Either way, I'm sure I could handle it.

But is the x1400 really going to make that much of a difference for $100?

I'm considering trying to sell this laptop as-is, with the hopes that I could sell it for $400-$500. That might be a stretch; I dunno. I haven't been paying attention to the after-market.

If I did sell it, I assume there are some Dells out now for around $800-$1000 that would come with a better graphics card, like the x1600, or something even higher? I could probably save money by installing my own RAM and bigger HDD later...or perhaps buying a model with an upgradable graphics card, just like we can do with the e1505's that aren't integrated?

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. Bottom-line: I don't need a monster gaming laptop, nor could I afford one anyway. I just want to be able to run my semi-modern games at around 50 FPS on respectable settings, and maybe play the occasional high-end game like Crysis at 30 FPS on low settings.

If I sold my e1505, what's the modern Dell 15.4" equivalent that I'd be looking for? Or, back to the beginning question; would I be better off just spending $100 to replace the x1300 with the x1400?

Thanks in advance,

Josh

 

The X1400 basically sucks too. You should have a look at the Studio 15/XPS M1530 if you are sticking with Dell and getting a new laptop.

-H.B.

 

Getting an x1400 wont do much for you. I would try drivers as an x1300 should be able to max WoW at that res. I ran WoW on a 200m IGP back in the day and at 1280x800 I ran low-med settings and the x1300 was alot stronger then a 200m as that IGP was based off the x300 from an older generation.

 

I don't think it's drivers. I'm updated to the most recent ATI drivers (via Mobility Modder) for the x1300. Newest version just came out a couple weeks ago. And usually ATI drivers are pretty stable, especially for older games. I tried Omega once, and it seemed to be worse.

So you guys really think it's not even worth the $100 to upgrade to the x1400 with twice the physical VRAM? Just buy a new laptop instead? Jeez, I hate the system where we have to replace entire laptops instead of GPUs.

I did some checking to see what Dell's offering around the $800-$1000 price range, and I wasn't very impressed with any of the graphics cards offered. Most of them looked like they were benchmarked just 30% or so above the ATI x1400....

On a side note, maybe with 4GB of RAM, I need to just turn the entire page file off. I've read it can speed things up if the system is forced to use only RAM or Readyboost cache.

 

the 8600m gt will run circles around the X1400 (yes you can get the M1530 with the 8600m gt for $999 with a coupon).

 

I just noticed that actually.... Not to be too picky, but how would you say the 8600M GT compares against that ATI RADEON HD 3650? From what I can tell, those are the two highest cards Dell offers in that price bracket...

I know they both technically clock in around the same, but is it well-known that one is substantially better than the other?

 

from what I here they are pretty much equal.

 

If you're comparing the 8600GT in the XPS 1530 versus the 3650 in the Studio 17, generally the 8600GT is a bit more powerful, plus in this case it's a DDR3 version with faster RAM versus DDR2 RAM for the 3650, so the difference will be more pronounced.

The 3650 is ATi's equivalent part though.

And yeah, the x1400 was a JOKE when it was new years ago. Super low end part. Not remotely worth spending money on now (frankly the 8600GT/3650 were disappointing when they launched a year ago, and more so today, though they're in an entirely different league than those old x1300/1400 parts).

 

Hell the IGP in my tablet would run circles around the x1400. But yeah I would say look for a new laptop as the x1300 should be playing wow very easily.

The 3650 that Dell offers is a generation above the 8XXX series and actually performs slightly slower then my 8600mGT ddr2. The ddr3 8600mGT in the XPS is considerably faster then mine so XPS 1530>Vostro 1700>studio 17.