Confused about some mobile graphics cards

Trying to buy a new laptop and I am getting confused about graphics cards. I have it narrowed down to a few computers a HP nc8430, Dell Latitude D820 and an IBM T60p

the IBM has a 256MB ATI FireGL V5200 card

the Dell D820 has a 512 MB NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 120M with TurboCache2

while the HP has a 256MB ATI X1600.

Which one of these is the best? I like the IBM the best but would the HP’s graphics card be better?

I am going to be using the computer for the latest FPS and Racing Sims as well as Photoshop and Illustrator.

Let me know which card you think would be the best for my needs.

Thanks for the advice

 

The hp's x1600 probably has hyper memory.. THis sucks some of your memory for the GPU. This card is a pretty good card, but games that require 1 gig of ram will only have 750 if you get this card. You may want to get more ram if you get anything with hyper memory. I ran into this problem when counter strike kept running out of memory due to this same problem.

It is a good card though, just be aware of that. The X1600 is not the only card with hyper memory. Also look into this in any laptop. This really isn't an issue, as long as you know that's what it does.

 

Excuse me Tokuman but how do you know the HP is using Hypermemory? In this case, it is no!

The HP will be without any doubt your best choise for mobile gaming. The X1600 256 MB card is great for gaming, especially for the games you prefer (FPS).
If you are going to use your notebook most of the time for CAD and such programs, the IBM is better.

You are right, IBM is the best but I must say that the building quality of HP notebooks are also very very good. Much better then Acer or Dell!

Charlie

 

ATi has had some driver issues in the past and probably always will, but for moble gaming your options are limited, either the x1600 or the GeForce Go 7600 would make decent graphics cards for a moble system, though neither will run some of the latest games on their max setting usually a step down will run pretty well. As far as build quality, is it actually IBM? should be Lenovo or however it is spelt which from everythingI have read and heard their quality is sub par since IBM sold away that division. HP atm of the big brands seems to be the best but you can also look at whitebook places that can sell custom ordered units. Hope something here helps.

 

What? I'm confused. Every single article I've ever read on Hypermemory has indicated it will ONLY allocate system memory that is available. So if your game needs more RAM, it will NOT retain it to be used as video memory, but release it to be used by the system on demand. This, of course, can lead to performance problems if you have limited video memory for the functions you've enabled on video performance in the application/game, but that just means you need to lower the resolution or turn off some effects.

I also thought all ATI cards now support Hypermemory...it's just that the advertising terminology can be confusing, in relation to how much physical memory there is, versus advertising the total available with full access to hypermemory.

 

If you are going to be playing games, go for the Radeon X1600. The FireGL cards are optimized for rendering, not games, although they can play them.

The V5200/X1600 have all dedicated memory in your original post.

 

Thanks everyone for the advice I am going to go ahead and get the HP

Cheers

 

Of course ATI has had driver problems lol, name me a company who has not =)