Any Hardcore Gamers here? I need you!

Hi, Im buying a M1530 soon with a 8600m GT and all the reviews I have seen say its a good card, but they only test with Games on max / high settings without any tweaks etc..

So what I want to know is, Are there any Hardcore Gamers here, who run games
at more optimized mid / low settings with Configs for greater performance?

I would love to see some Results of Games like COD4 / UT3 / CSS / TF2 running at low settings,

Can the 8600m GT hit 80+ fps in these titles with the right settings?

Any input greatly appreciated, these forums are great

 

Nice choice of notebook! I think you might be interested in this thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=209066

Cheers

 

I notice you have an 8800gt in your desktop machine. I know its loads better than the 8600m gt but how do you compare the two?

Do you think you still get satisfactory performance from the 8600?

I had to sell my gaming rig recently, and Im worried that the M1530 won't be able to fill the void

P.s That thread is good, but as you can see, The Op was trying to get the best visual quality possible. I need the opposite The very max fps possible at low / medium settings

 

I have not received my 1530 yet. It's due to arrive March 3rd, so I am sorry I can't compare the 2 yet

Well looking at some of those games (like COD4) running between 20-50 FPS on max at 1280x800... I would think your performance is going to significantly increase with med-low settings. Are you looking for maximum frames for MP? That'd be the only reason I see you needing more than 30-40FPS on average. I'm pretty sure an 8600gt will do you fine if you are not concerned about eye candy. And you can also lower the res for more FPS, which might be a good idea on a 15" screen for better aim at long distances. But sadly I can't test anything for you yet, otherwise I would.

Edit: duh just re-read your 1st post of course it's MP

 

Im not getting my M1530 for 4 months! Maybe something new will be out by then, It would be nice to see some of your results when you get yours, keep me informed please.

Low graphics is the only way to play MP games! It gives a significant advantage, both visually and performance wise It should be more than capable of playing TF2 and CSS I imagine, UT3 and COD4 will be the challenge

And what about the CPU? Here in Ireland it ships with T5450 (1.66ghz 2mb cache) I think the bump to the 2ghz T7250 is good value, but do you think the next jump to the 4mb cache T7500 (2.2ghz) is worth another 100 euro?! It suddenly makes the laptop very expensive...

 

yeah im looking to get one soon , is there any advantage to 4gig in 32bit VISTA os?

also be interested in gaming performance
Performance not eye candy

 

i play cod 4 mp with no depth of feild, glow, and spec map at 1024x768 and get a stable 80 fps. my 8600m gt is overclocked also.

 

With Vista, like XP, 32-bit will only allow useage of 3GB. For XP I'd say no, but for Vista I'd say the extra useable GB will help in some instances with gaming performace considering Vista's larger memory footprint.

 

I'll see what I can do about those tests in March. As for the CPU.. it really depends on what the system is being used for. For general everyday stuff T5450 is fine, even for FPS gaming it should be alright. But it might be worth it just to go T7250 simply because 2GHz will give you longer life out of your lappy and/or help with resale if necessary. The 4MB cache will not do much for MP game performance on those games you mentioned IMO. If it's too rich for your blood don't bother.

It is also worthy to note that in 4 months Dell may likely be offering a totally different configuration. There will be Penryn CPUs fairly soon. At first they are going to be on the santa rosa platform but a newer platform for Penryn may arrive in 4 months? And I think they are going to introduce the LED screens on the 1530 as well. So for now I wouldn't worry too much about what you see as "in your budget". 2-3 weeks before you want to order is the time to start really paying attention and do your research, not just Dell but other notebooks too. The deals in Dell Canada change every day, sometimes more than once a day

I really started looking about 3 weeks ago. Then over the last week I was playing around everyday till I thought they had the right deal for me. Even then I called Dell and got an even better deal than the website

 

Yeah I should just forget about it for a few months, If I keep check the different deals everyday I will go crazy

Tell me more about calling Dell? Do you just sweettalk them into giving you a better deal?!

 

If you really want great performance, the Alienware m15x offers an 8800m Gtx. Much better than an 8600 and will last you longer. Just saying.

 

Can't afford that kind of notebook and the battery life is terrible

 

Oh not much to say about calling Dell really. The notebook I configured online would not let me go with 1GB of Ram, 2GB was the minimum. I didn't want anymore from Dell because they charge 4x the price. So after I read my internet config and price to him, I asked him about just 1GB ram. He told me I need at least 2GB with Vista. I said I know, I have 3GB sitting here for it and I don't want to buy more than 1GB from Dell. So he talked to a supervisor and came back with 1GB and dropped the price $70. I bought 3GB of Ram for $50 on my own. So it was totally worth it