ATI Mobility 4570

Hey all, just bought a new laptop for Xmas and was setting it up (i.e. uninstalling shovelware), and I ran the Performance Index, this is on Win7. Well I get:

CPU: 5.9
RAM: 5.9
Desktop: 4.1
Gaming: 5.8
HD: 5.8

See that 4.1 there? What gives? Is desktop performance really that bad with this vid? But I'm scoring a 5.8 for gaming? So I can play MW2 but can't open Word? Like what? My wife will primarily be using this for desktop stuff and perhaps some HD video editing. I'm worried about this 4.1.

I guess I'm asking what this is going to mean for me.

The rest of the specs are
C2D @ 2.2Ghz
4G 800Mhz RAM
500G HD

 

Windows Performance Index is a very bad indicator of performance.

 

Don't worry about the performance index. As Forever Melody pointed out, it's a poor benchmark for your system's performance. I would recommend running PCVantage and 3DVantage if you want to see some more reliable and accurate benchmark numbers.

 

I think the more accurate question would be, is that card gonna be alright for day to day desktop usage, the odd game (at moderate to low settings) and some HD Video editting?

 

Sure, it should suffice for those needs.

 

I guess within my price range ($750), I really couldn't expect much more than that and it definitely beats any onboard Intel solution. A config with a 4650 was $250 more and it used a Turion II instead of a C2D. And this came with a BD Drive, which was unexpected. Overall a good purchase I hope. I guess I can always disable Aero is it begins to be a problem.

 

You won't have to, that's plenty for those uses.

 

I have a much weaker card (which I just overclocked) that gives me almost the same WEI scores. That's how inaccurate WEI can become.

Actually, you could expect a smoother Aero performance from that card as compared to mine, and most definitely compared to Intel solutions rolleyes so no sense worrying about anything.

 

Even Intel solutions can handle Aero; it's not exactly a demanding graphical feature. My old GMA950 handled Windows Vista's Aero and there was no slowdown whatsoever so I doubt you'll have any trouble with the HD4570 which is worlds better.

 

The 4570 is a perfectly capable graphics card. The only reason for the lower score in the desktop category is because it has lower clock settings when it's not being used for 3D rendering. You will have absolutely no trouble running any Windows graphical components, including Aero, and it's quite good for gaming as well. When I had my Studio 15 equipped with the 4570 256MB, I played Modern Warfare 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 at native resolution quite smoothly.

 

I don't even think there's mention of gaming(unless it falls under "desktop stuff") so the HD4570 would even be overkill lol

Even HD video editing is mostly covered by the CPU at this point in time.

 

Just to give you an idea of how bad WEI is, my 3650 gets a 6.1 for gaming. I have seen people with 9800M GS's, that had 5.8's, however, in really world performance, any laptop equipped with a 9800M GGS would own my 3650.

 

Thanks everyone, that's what I was hoping to hear. Sounds like she's going to enjoy this Xmas present, she'd better, considering I sacrificed my own gifts to afford buying it. Well if she doesn't I'll just claim it as my own.

 

There you go, that's the spirit.

 

WEI is super inaccurate... if you want real benchmarks look at 3D Mark 06 or 3D Mark Vantage.

 

Those are gaming benchmarks though and not even super accurate at that. How often do we see a card get a 2X better score in 3DMark than another only to get 10% better in an actual game. It's no secret that NV and ATI tailor their drivers specifically to show better scores in these bench tests. But that's all besides the point, this machine will very rarely be used for gaming. If you'll see back to my original post I said that it was the desktop performance score I was concerned about.

I can handle this not playing a game well, it wasn't bought for that reason and a relatively inexpensive laptop. But if it's chunky just browsing in windows, they're be hell to pay...

 

No benchmark is wholly accurate; Windows Experience Index included. In fact, it's more innacurate since driver changes can significantly increase or decrease the score. I once went from ATI Catalyst 9.7 to 9.8 and my WEI dropped rather than increased, but the graphics performance increased. Bottom line is that you shouldn't trust WEI.

The HD4570 should perform fine for all tasks and if something is chunky, there's a problem seeing as integrated graphics can accomplish the tasks you asked.

 

Right, well thanks everyone. I think we can consider this closed.