3800M vs GTX285M - what kind of hit?

I posted a 'what gaming laptop should I get' thread, but I'm also wondering how well the Precision M6500 will do.

i.e. A directly swappable M6500 would come in reasonably handy and I'm wondering instead of buying a completely different machine, whether I should just retain another M6500 for entertainment use. This would also mean that I can have a similar visual theme throughout my (physical) desktop. The look of the thing is kind of important to me right now as I'm on a minimalist desk surface tip.

Assuming an i7-920 + GTX285 vs the i7-920 + 3800M, what kind of relative performance versus a desktop GTX280 are we talking about, and what kind of tangible performance hit can I expect for the Quadro vs 285M in titles like Crysis @ 1920 x 1200 (or maybe a notch lower)?

 

3800m and gtx285m are g92 core gpus. about half as powerful as your desktop 280.

 

A 50% drop in performance over a two-year-old desktop GPU?

Srsly?

Maybe I do have unrealistic expectations after all... I mentioned a single desktop GTX280 as it is the absolute lowest level I'd consider for gaming.

 

Wait, your *lowest* level is one of the *highest* desktop GPUs available???

Is that even necessary? A single GTX280m can max most games on a 1080p laptop, minus AA/AF. Just not Crysis.

 

laptops have space, thermal, power and many other constraints that a Desktop simply does not, and never will have. Everything has to be within the thermal budget and power output that the small / medium sized power supply can handle. Compare that to a huge dual fan PC power supply and you start to realise how amasing what we can accomplish on gaming laptops today is.

What I stated is generally obvious but I think many easily forget about this when talking about gaming laptops or mobile GPU's.

 

yes. 10char.

 

It was the highest available - two years ago. Two years.

I know that most of the titles I want to play will run acceptably on a single GTX280 (non-M) if I have to - yet I know that Crysis does become unplayable on it sometimes, depending on the onscreen items.

If it's below that for sure - and three agreements seems to make it the case... I thought laptops were a compromise in terms of GPU, but I didn't realise the compromise was that much at the top end. And what I'll be coming down from is a dual-295.

I guess I'll have to remain a desktop gaming guy. Perhaps a recase into something more unobtrusive / integrated into the decor is in order.

 

not quite two years old.
you will sacrifice alot if you make the change to a laptop. it's limited by power, you can't shrink a 200w card to 75w expect something similar.
you can still get decent performance if you go crossfire/sli, it should max out every game at 1920*1200.

 

I guess you can always go with an i7 laptop either mobile or Desktop CPU typr and pair it with an external solution such as the Vidock 2 housing a Desktop GPU.

 

The bandwith limitations on it will still put it below a GTX 280 though. Even a desktop 5870 will only get around 13,000 in 3DMark06, due to the bandwith limitation.

 

Is there even a GTX 285M out?

 

Has showed up in some of the Clevo machines, but hasn't actually hit users yet as far as I know.

Should be improved once PCI-E 2.0 ports start showing up on laptops?

Might actually use that as a future option.

 

I hope so...

Yes, the Clevo X8100 is confirmed to have two of them in SLI. But the GTX 285M is just a higher clocked GTX 280M, so you could get the same results by overclocking a GTX 280M if you have one.

 

The GTX 285M will be available in Clevo notebooks and available for separate purchase by the end of this week.

 

Yep, it is already out and my GTX 280M has been upgraded to the GTX 285M in my recent W860CU order. They said they already have them in stock and ready to install too.

 

As I put in the other thread about gaming laptops, it's clear I'll have to do more research into finding out just what I'll be giving up in practice.

As you know SLI isn't the be-all in all cases, as I've certainly been finding with the 295 from time to time - so while some games will scale well with 2 GPU's others don't so much. Given the compromises inherent on a laptop I was figuring going for one top-end card might be a better idea. However with the top-end cards being the state they are - and I didn't realise that - I figure it would be better to wait and see.

I think I will look for ways to make my gaming rig more compact and decor-neutral, and perhaps slung horizontally under the desk if possible. And maybe next year I'll take another look.

Thanks for the comments, guys.