8700M Performance

I thought I might share my experience with everyone. I have a desktop that I built two years ago, with a 3500+ A64 processor, a 7950 GT, and 1GB of RAM. The processor is over-clocked to 2.7 with water cooling (from 2.2 standard), and the 7950 is over-clocked from the stock 550/700 to 590/780. With all this, I get an Aquamark3 score of about 85,000.

A lot of people have been poo-pooing the 8700M GT, but whilst I was walking around in Best Buy the other day, I happened across a floor model of the Toshiba X205 with the 8700M (256MB edition). The computer, mind you, was not optimized - it still had all the bloatware, the default drivers, etc. Yet, someone at Best Buy had decided to impress the tech-savvy people who would be interested in a machine of this expense by installing Aquamark3. I ran it on default settings, and, lo and behold - 88,000.

Now, I know what you're saying: My processor is crap (single core 2.7), and my RAM is lacking (PC3200, and only 1GB). But my computer can still play almost any game maxed without lagging. Oblivion, BF2142, Company of Heroes, etc., all play at medium-high to max settings at 1680×1050 (or whatever the max of that game happens to be up to that resolution). I am very satisfied with the performance of my desktop considering how little I paid for it.

So when I saw the result of the 8700M on Aquamark, I nearly fell over. The real world benchmarks are still scant for this card, and the drivers still young, but I find myself more and more excited about it - especially considering it will be available with a Conroe and in SLI on the Sager 9260 (I see 125-140,000 Aquamark scores on the horizon, and there are 8800 GTXs that score 140).

Anyone as impressed as I am?

 

Wow, in fact i am. Jeeezzz that is going to be one powerful card, but im still supprized that it was at Best Buy of all places.

 

Sounds pretty cool. I am getting my laptop probably next July-August since I am going to college. If I don't get my PS3, though, I will be getting the laptop in October-November of this year.

I hope I get my PS3 before Christmas and then I will get a laptop next summer. I also hope that Dell refreshes its XPS M1710 so it's cheaper and better equipped (which probably won't happen). I would even get a 1720 if they add the 8700M GT option to it.