What can the 8600GT Handle?

Dell has some pretty slick deals at the moment for upcoming college students, as well as coupon offers. I was looking to buying a fully loaded 1520, but I had some questions on the graphics card. I know the 8600GT is one of the best mobile graphics cards at the moment, but would this thing be able to run Oblivion at settings which would look like the Xbox 360? What about games such as F.E.A.R, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and Rainbow 6 Vegas? If this Dell can perform on task with these games at high settings, then I think I'll shoot for one. Thanks in advance.

 

Well, the laptop in my sig (which has the same card approximately) has been received by a few lucky members in our Sager forums already, and from what I hear, games like Oblivion run just fine on it.

 

hmm, you should check the asus forums for a 8600 gt detailed analysis (under the comparison between 8600 gs and the 8600gt) from what I remember, it can run Fear at the highest settings with around 20 fps. They never tried oblivion, but 8600gt has high overclocking capabilities, coupled with rumors that it can be as strong as the old 7900gs, it should play oblivion, at least on middle quality, very well.

 

expect anything up to 2007 to run just fine. it will run stuff from the next year or so VERY well. after that it might be a little insufficent for playing at maxed quality.

 

The 8600GT should be ok for 2 years or so. But when the next generation stuff start coming anything under an 8800 or X1950 card will be crying. IMO If you want the laptop, get it for today's games and it will run these games at a decent res with most of the goodies turned up.

 

Nothing wrong with modern games right now, hell, I still play Rome: Total War and that game came out in '04!

 

Wish you luck .Just try DIRT at high settings-you'll see...

 

there's a big problem when people think that the 8600gt is so future proof that it will run games well in 2+ years. Maybe on very low settings you'll be fine. This card is really for the modern games out right now in the very near future. If you really want to play graphic intense games and want a laptop, buy a cheap laptop and get a desktop with at least a 8600gts. If you really want to have true gaming on the move, you need to spend big money on that sager with the 7950gtx ($3500+).

 

any guesses as to when is dell going to offer the nvidia 8700M GT? i know toshiba is taking orders for it already...

 

i don't think they are going to unless they made an announce that they are. The 8700m gt is just a higher clocked 8600m gt. I don't think it's worth the additional price.

 

thanks md. also, i plan on doing a lot of video editing on my laptop (not much gaming tho). it is necessary to get an 8600m gt, or will a slower card suffice? i plan on using the laptop for at least four years in college if that makes any difference.

 

From my experience, for video editing, it's more important to have plenty of RAM and fast HD.