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.

    Best laptop graphics card under 300 euro (~400 us dollars)?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by dantes12, Feb 18, 2014.

  1. dantes12

    dantes12 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hi everyone

    This is my first post here. But I often read this forum as the main source about high end laptops.

    I would like to know what would be the best graphics card for my m17x r3 laptop under a budget of 300 euro or 400 us dollars. My previous GPU was gtx 560m and now it does not work anymore.
    Also, when I buy this new card what else do I need to buy, e.g x-brackets, what kind of thermal paste, thermal pads.

    I was thinking to buy the gtx 580m but I have read here that it has throttling problems.

    I hope I did not ask to many questions.
    I would appreciate an answer from you
     
    dantes12, Feb 18, 2014
    #1
  2. J.Dre

    J.Dre Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    3,700
    Messages:
    8,323
    Likes Received:
    3,820
    Trophy Points:
    431
    The GTX 680M.
     
    J.Dre, Feb 18, 2014
    #2
  3. dantes12

    dantes12 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Does GTX 680m cost less than that?

    Does the x-bracket of GTX 560m work with GTX 580m?
    Also do I need a custom drivers to make that work?
     
    dantes12, Feb 18, 2014
    #3
  4. J.Dre

    J.Dre Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    3,700
    Messages:
    8,323
    Likes Received:
    3,820
    Trophy Points:
    431
    The GTX 680M is around $400-$450 on eBay and performs like two 580M's would. You want a 680M, trust me. The brackets should all fit fine. You may need different thermal pads, though. Not sure about that...but 98% of the time it's plug and play. The 680M can also be overclocked to exceed stock 780M performance.
     
    J.Dre, Feb 18, 2014
    #4
  5. dantes12

    dantes12 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I don't think overlocking would be a good thing (I am not an expert on that though) because my last GPU died because of heating.
    One more question: the part of the heatsink which touches with the GPU does not have that black quadratic think (i think is there to avoid direct touch with the gpu borders) anymore. Do you know what that part is called so I can buy it and put it there again?
     
    dantes12, Feb 18, 2014
    #5
  6. J.Dre

    J.Dre Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    3,700
    Messages:
    8,323
    Likes Received:
    3,820
    Trophy Points:
    431
    J.Dre, Feb 18, 2014
    #6
  7. dantes12

    dantes12 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Thanks for the suggestion.
    Do you know what thickness should have the thermal pads?
     
    dantes12, Feb 18, 2014
    #7
  8. ajnindlo

    ajnindlo Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    265
    Messages:
    1,357
    Likes Received:
    87
    Trophy Points:
    66
    Just another vote for the 680M, it has best performance per dollar and can over clock to match current stock cards. I don't have AW so I don't know that side of it.
     
    ajnindlo, Feb 19, 2014
    #8
  9. TomJGX

    TomJGX I HATE BGA!

    Reputations:
    1,456
    Messages:
    8,707
    Likes Received:
    3,315
    Trophy Points:
    431
    Or get a 7970M which you can always overclock and even close to stock beats the 780M....
     
    TomJGX, Feb 22, 2014
    #9
  10. TBoneSan

    TBoneSan Laptop Fiend

    Reputations:
    4,460
    Messages:
    5,558
    Likes Received:
    5,798
    Trophy Points:
    681
    Performance of the 7970m is really good for the price. But they die easily. I and countless other users have had these time bombs totally crap out. All things considered a 680m is a much better card in every way, especially OCed performance.
     
    TBoneSan, Feb 23, 2014
    #10
  11. TomJGX

    TomJGX I HATE BGA!

    Reputations:
    1,456
    Messages:
    8,707
    Likes Received:
    3,315
    Trophy Points:
    431
    Well the clevo ones do but not the Alienware ones....
     
    TomJGX, Feb 23, 2014
    #11