8400m GT question

Hey guys,

So I'm looking at a laptop for school and play. I've heard good things about Vaio's (and they look good) so I've been looking at them. Specifically, I'm looking at the VGN-FZ290.

I have a question about the graphics card in it though. I'll be using it to play Sim City 4, Condition Zero, Counter-Strike, and maybe Counter-Strike Source. Will the 8400M GT fall flat on it's face?

 

On the contrary. The 8400GT will breeze thru any valve games, so CS will run buttery smooth on your machine at relatively high settings. I had a nvs140m (which is the equivalent of the 8400GS) and ran HL2 and CSS at wxga res with high settings and the fps were 40+ pretty much all the time. The only instances where the fps dropped was if I increased the AA or AF too much. But even a little AA/AF will still net you good fps.

I'm not exactly sure about SC4 as I've never played it, but I can't imagine it's a really intensive game. So it should run it very well.

 

All of those games should run smoothly on a 8400M. You shouldnt have any problems.

 

SimCity 4 is actually quite demanding. Despite it being an old(-ish) game it eats away at CPU and memory like nothing else, especially when playing with large lots. The 8400M GT will be perfect for SC4 because after a certain generation of graphics card SC4 stopped experiencing increases in performance (I'd say ever since the 9800s/5900s). You CPU and memory will be the deciding factors in how SimCity4 runs but even then I'd say you're well set.

 

Okay, thanks guys.

One last thing, any major problems with the Vaios?

 

I remember they had overheating problems on the versions a couple years back but I don't think that happens anymore.

 

More out of curiosity, how does the 8400GT compare to a 9800? (That was my dream card back in freshman/sophomore year of college, never had the cash to buy one though)

 

The 8400M GT is a superior card to the 9800PRO/XT. If you think of the 6600GT as 9800XT's equivalent (although the 6600 is slightly better) it is easier to compare since the 8400M GT is roughly 30-40% better than the 6600GT.

 

Holy crap. I love how budget cards 3 or 4 years later can run alongside a top of the line card from the past. Which is why I dont buy top of the line vid cards.

 

It's called innovation and technology.

I mean look at today's budget cpus. A 1.4GHz c2d is a beast compared to a Pentium III 733MHz. And I remember one of the first days it came out my friend got one of those, and I was like holy crap that's badass Now I would throw up if I had to use such a cpu even for everyday tasks.