The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    ATI graphics cards for notebooks

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by bobpar, Apr 30, 2005.

  1. bobpar

    bobpar Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I am currently looking at buying a laptop. I will be using it for engineering drafting, such as CAD, but I will also be playing games such as Half Life 2 and Doom 3. The GPU's I am considering are either ATI's Radeon 9700, or the Xpress 200M, both with 128MB of memory. Which card do you guys think would handle intense CAD programs and games such as the ones above better. The notebooks I was considering were either the HP zv6000 or the ABS Mayham, both with the AMD 64 3400+ and one gig of memory. Thanks for your help. Bobby.
     
  2. ofacto

    ofacto Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    If you plaining on gaming I would not go with the ATI Xpress 200M. I have the zv6000 with the 200M and it is good for light gaming, but not the graphic intensive games you mentioned. That being said I'm real happy with my purchase cause it plays Guild Wars fine and that the only PC game I planned (or had time to) playing. Also make sure to upgrade your hard drive to at least 5400 rpm, to lessen load times.
     
  3. happysquidman

    happysquidman Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    353
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    The Xpress 200m is a derivitive of the x300, which is not good for gaming. the 9700 will be a ton better. With that processor though you're not going to get much battery life...
     
  4. CrUmBs

    CrUmBs Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    31
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Yeah.

    I've got a, well, look at my sig, and I can play Half-Life 2 and Doom3 at reasonable resolutions.

    The battery life on my lappy is by no means excellent, but it's just fine unless you use it for intense gaming.

    :: Pentium 4 3Ghz :: 15.1" SXGA :: 512 DDR RAM :: 80gig HD :: Mobility Radeon M11 :: t3h pWnz0r ::
     
  5. lowlymarine

    lowlymarine Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    401
    Messages:
    1,422
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    56
    I have a Mobility RADEON 9600 along with the AMD Athlon 64 3400+ processor and 1024 MB RAM, and with only moderate overclocking to the graphics card, HL2 flies at max (1280x800) resolution and high graphics details.

    --------------------
    Gateway 7422GX: AMD Athlon 64 3400+, 1024MB DDR RAM, 64MB Mobility RADEON 9600

    AVERATEC AV3270-EH1: AMD Mobile Sempron 2800+, 512MB DRR RAM, 64MB (shared) S3G Unichrome
     
  6. CookieC22

    CookieC22 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    ATI 9700 as long as your system has reasonable decent RPM, but your going to have to watch the battery if your playing on the go. It won't last long playing those games you mentioned, I have never even tired those on a notebook.
     
  7. gecko

    gecko Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    50
    Messages:
    313
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    The gig of memory and amd 64 will do wonders for games. But definitly go it the 9700.
    The x300 series was designed to be a decent video card to run normal apps, and movies but at the same time be small and battery saving. So in short a better on board graphics card.

    One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.