8700 GT @ 1680x1050 -- How's it do?

I just ordered a Sager 5791 from Xotic with a T7500, 4 gigs ram, Vista X64 & the 8700M GT gddr3 model. I went w/ the 1680x1050 screen because it was an extra hundo to add the 1920x1200 one and I don't like the way that high of a resolution looks on 17" screens. Plus I knew the 8700 GT would struggle a bit with that high of a resolution.

So my main question is this. How will the 8700 handle the 1680x1050 resolution with this rig? I'm looking to run most current & future games on at least high settings. 'Very high' or 'ultra' settings aren't that important to me. I'm also trying to avoid medium, but will do it if I have to. Main games will be Lord of the Rings Online, Hellgate: London, Crysis, etc.

It also says its user upgradeable, and this is my first laptop, so if someone can tell me whether or not I can swap a 7950 GTX in in the future if I so please, that'd be great.

 

the 8700gt will run more current games much better at 1280x800, which you can downscale to with your screen and it should look just fine.

 

it will not run all future games on high at 1680x1050

it will do even worse if you start turning up AA

 

I see... how about 1440x900? And does the image get stretched or look out of whack at lower than native resolutions?

Any knowledge about how easy it is to swap it out for a 7950GTX if i was so inclined?

 

1440x900 and 1280x800 are the same ratio as 1680x1050, so it shouldn't be stretched.

 

Wow! that's awesome news. I was actually trying to find a 17" w/ a native of 1440x900 and a 8700m GT but couldn't...

This excites me, 1440x900 should be perfect. Any news on how the 8700 handles that reso?

 

We did a review of the Toshiba X205 with the 8700M-GT:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3856
There are some game benchmarks in it.

 

And also note that your card will perform better than the laptop in that review, as Toshiba underclocks their 8700M-GT's.

 

Hi, I have that notebook, if you want just name the game, and the settings to run it in and I'll give you the results of how it runs.. w/ or w/o screenshots.

Oh and it's fairly simple to upgrade, just call Xoticpc, you can buy the 7950GTX from them by it's self. And swapping your video cards in an MXM notebook is pretty straitforward..

 

Incorrect, it will still stretch, but the image won't be skewed.

 

Thanks for the info so far. That's good news about being able to get a 7950 from xotic themselves if I need to. I just might do that if the first few months aren't that good gaming wise.

So can anyone from personal experience say how games at 1440x900 look on a 1680x1050 native display? Is it a badly stretched image, or just fine?

 

Unknown, you have the Sager I'm talking about?

If that's the case, and you have Lord of the Rings Online, The Crysis beta, Bioshock or the Unreal Tournament 3 demo, let me know how performance is at 1680x1050 on general 'high' settings. Then at 1440x900. that is if you don't mind.

 

I have that setup. From my experience, it depends on the game. Some games look acceptable even on 1280*800, like Bioshock and Oblivion, while a game look Crysis (beta) looked really poor at that resolution on my 17" screen. 1440*900 on the other hand, always look good and alot sharper/cleaner.

Problem is, my 8600 GT doesn't like playing at that resolution with the settings I like on some recent games. For that particular card, I'd say 1280*800 is the best performance/image quality compromise.

 

I've been offered a free upgrade to the 1920x1200 resolution screen on that same model I listed in my original post.

What do you guys think, should I do it? And if I do, should I really consider putting in a 7950 GTX? I'm getting Vista Home Premium so....

Advice is appreciated.

 

Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

 

7950 GTX is more powerful than the 8700GT generally speaking, however if the game is extremely shader-intensive and is new enough to have DX10 then the 8700GT would be the better choice (definitely for the former, the latter might need some time).

If you're keen on Bioshock, Lost Planet, World in Conflict or any recently released DX10 eye-candy game then keep the 8700GT. Otherwise the 7950GTX is a good upgrade.

 

1920x1200 is great for desktop space, but don't expect to game with that by any means with current or future games. Although it should scale well to 1280x800, 1440x900, or 1680x1050.

 

will do UT3 and bioshock, but I don't play MMO's so sorry, cant do LOTRo, and don't have the crysis beta :cry:

btw, mine's got the 1920x1200 LCD and it scales nicely to 1440x900 and 1280x800. running 1280x800 looks just as good as it does on my old S96J which was native to 1280x800.

 

I would definitely go for that upgrade since it's free. I am currently using a Sager NP5791 with a WUXGA screen and it is absolutely gorgeous.

 

Accidentally ran it in 1600x1000 MAX settings in DX10, but anyway, that gets around 25fps everywhere, with some dips to 18+fps
in spots where I catch multiple people on fire, etc.


And here's 1440x900 MAX settings in DX10, it averages 35fps everywhere with some dips to 24+fps



And now, UT 3 demo!

1680x1050 all settings at MAX, averages 30fps



1440x900 MAX settings, averages 40+fps

 

Damn unknown! Those are pretty suprising framerates. 25-30 is definitely playable, and at native reso even. Makes me feel more confident about the decision to get the 8700Gt.

As far as the screen upgrade, I don't know... I have a couple buddies with 1920x1200 17" laptops and imho the screen just isn't big enough. Everything is really tiny, and I've got decent eyesight. My desktop has a 24" Dell LCD w/ 1920x1200 and its' perfect.

However I really appreciate the info given by everyone so far. I'm most excited about the lower resolutions not jacking up the games. I was pretty worried about it, and I always hear to always run LCD's in their native reso.

On a different note, I'm really knowledgeable about overclocking on desktops (Got a e6850 to 3.6ghz & an e6600 to 3.0ghz) but I'm in the wind when it comes to notebooks. Does anyone with a Sager 5791 have any experience overclocking the 8700 GT or even the T7500? Any info is appreciated, same Sager model or not.

Regards,
J

 

Vista scales pretty well, so you can adjust the DPI settings if you feel text and icons are too small.

 

no problem!

Ok, about the res upgrade, if it's free then go for it! even if you don't like it being that small, it scales so nicely that it will still look perfect even down ressed on vista, and just incase you want to sell it further down the road, it greatly increases it's resale value.

Yes, you can OC the 8700GT, though I've only done it for testing purposes, and never keep the OC. But YES, you can OC the video card, and it does hold pretty stable.

About OCing the processor, well since NO laptop motherboards are made for OCing and neither are thier BIOS's it's only possible to software OC laptop processors, and the Txxxx from intel wont even hold stable on a 2.00-2.02 2.20-2.24ghz OC (I've tried! both T2500 and T7500) , so no you can't OC them.

 

Well, I told them to go ahead w/ the screen upgrade. Damn 199$ value, that is crazy. I can see what you guys mean about xoticpc. They are awesome.

And I'm basing it on your guys's comments that 1440x900 will look just peachy keen on the WUXGA. If it doesn't, I'll have to hunt down all your mothers.

Hopefully with the WSXGA screens on back order this means I'll get the notebook sooner. Maybe I'll do a full on impressions thread somewhere else.

 

Don't get your hopes up, they told me that all my parts were in stock, and I ordered the fastest shipping, ordered on sep 5th, got here on sep 25th, that was extremely dissapointing considering it was supposed to be at my door within 8 days of ordering, and everything was in stock..