1.5gb Gtx 460....worthwhile?

Hi guys.
I'm currently customizing my own laptop specs. It will mostly be used for gaming. I'm ok with computers but lack some knowledge particularly with graphics cards so need advice. I do think a lot of companies these days market with technical jargon and fancy names.

Anyway I'm torn between the radeon 5850 and 1.5gb gtx 460m. The latter is quite a bit more expensive and requires a lot more power. Can the 1.5gb version justify this in performance gains? Most of the laptops running on the 460m seem to possess the 1 gig version which is very similar to the 5850. Does half a gig really make any difference or is this just opportunistic money making from a company that has ran out of ideas? Also I am open to alternatives if anyone can recommend a good card that is also value for money.

 

You'll just need 1GB really. Any more than that is pretty much excess VRam Heck, even 512MB is just fine. If the 460 is much much more expensive, then go for the 5850. The performance difference isn't too much iirc. But if you can afford it, go grab the 460m

 

Sounds to me you are looking at a Alienware M15x that offers either HD5850 or GTX 460.

Go with the HD5850. M15x users have been overclock that thing so much it's actually faster than my overclocked HD5870M. And it's stable for gaming. The massively overclocked HD5850 spanks the GTX 460.

 

I have the 460m and a friend has the 5850...both cards are excellent. After overclocking my 460m I can achieve about a 8450 GPU only score in 3dmark Vantage....but I've heard of 5850's achieving over 10000 GPU only score! You honestly cant go wrong with either. You will probably get more "bang for your buck" with the 5850 but I ended up going with the 460m due to better tessellation performance.

 

Go with the 5850, see the link in my sig for proof that is in an M15x by the way.

 

I agree completely; it is tough to make a wrong choice here. I personally would go with the HD 5850 simply because it costs less money. The performance difference between the cards is not great and I doubt you would notice the difference between them playing games.

Also, I am not aware of any games that benefit from having more than 1GB of VRAM. Even with the 512MB graphics card in my desktop, I have no problems playing games with max textures. So, 1GB is fine.

 

On a related note, go with the 5850 but please please do not go into this thinking you can run 10k+ gpu scores especially right out of the box(I assume no responsibility if you turn it on set 1000+/1100+ and fry your card) some cards will never run 10k all of them are different even the same model. It took a huge a/c unit, after market paste/pads, and a lot of effort and fine tuning to get that gpu to that point. It should easily run at stock 5870 settings or above stock though which is plenty for games. Good luck whatever you choose.

 

i'd go with 5850... more than enough and you could OC to 5870M lvls which would beat GTX460M... not worth the extra cost unless you want CUDA or NVDIA stuff.. i don't need it so i got ATI..

 

If I may throw in an addendum to this - From my personal experience, it is easier to setup nvidia drivers for use on HD TVs when you need to use your laptop as a media PC. I built a media PC around a radeon 5570 (desktop) but the drivers seemed to be a big letdown in terms of video quality. Nvidia's options are far better on my gateway FX (hence why when it is done as a gaming PC it will become my media PC). But that is just my experiences and your mileage may vary. As all have stated, you can;t go wrong either way and there is very little reason for one to be "more right" than the other without there being a caveat. Example: Nvidia drivers are better for HD media. Caveat to that - Radeon drivers allow for undervolting so they are better for OCing. WHich leads to = 5850 is better for OCing which leads to better overall performance. Caveat to that - This does not always hold true and will definitely not be possible out of the box with stock settings.

If you don't really want to make a decision on this - Follow the money and get which one is cheaper. Take that money and go have even more fun.

 

Usually games require more than 1GB video memory at resolutions like 2500 x whatever with Supersampling AA or when you install high-res texture mods.

read this
How much VRAM do you need for today's games? - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net
and this
How Much RAM Does Your Graphics Card Really Need? : Introduction

 

^ Nice Links!