Dell Studio XPS 13 9500M Video Card

Hello,

I saw the Dell Studio XPS 13 laptop and noticed it had an NVIDIA GeForce 9500M - 256MB. It didn't say GS, GT or anything. I also took a look at plasmas awesome video card chart but only saw the 9500M GS on it. Are they the same card?

If they are not the same card, what other video card is it comparable to? Hopefully at or the same as the HD 3470. Other specs on the dell if needed is as follows:

Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz
4GB DDR3
320GB 7200RPM

Thank you for your time.

 

from what ive heard and maybe someone can help me on this i actually heard that it is a 9400gs + 9200g SLI/geforce boost(something like that) combo....

 

The name is 9500M (no GS, no GT, etc.) -- it is not a physical card, but a combination of 9400M G and 9200M GS, which nVidia labeled 9500M, think of it as a virtual name. The two cards can run in Hybrid SLI mode. Hope that helps.

 

no, it's what Red Dragon said. it's not a 'real' 9500 card, and the suffix for the one in the Dell is GE. expect performance to be closer to the 9400M G than an actual 9500M xx.

 

Thanks for the quick replies. By 9400M G, do you mean the 9400M integrated? I'm comparing it to cards on plasmas video card list. Basically, I would like to know if it can play WoW, L4D, and steam games on low-med settings with 50-60 fps. I posted it on the 'Can it run it' sticky so I hope it's ok that I said it here too.

 

yes light blue these game should run on medium just fine

 

apparently, yes.

http://optimitza.cat/news/2009/01/1...340-is-in-fact-a-9400m-g-9200m-gs-hybrid-sli/

 

Sweet beaver, thanks for all the help everyone. Keep up the great work.

 

3DMark 06 scores are beginning to pop out in forums, I've seen scores of 3100-3400, that's similar to a 8600M GT DDR2, not bad for a 13".

 

So just to recap, the Studio XPS 13's 9500m is about on par with the XPS 1530's 8600m GT?

 

No, the M1530 uses the DDR3 version, that is considerably faster.

 

that's a bit optimistic

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9500M-GE-Hybrid-SLI.14029.0.html

and i'd still rather use the GDDR2 version of the 8600M GT if given the choice.

 

I am curious about this as well. I am starting training for my MCSA (eventually MCSE), and part of the program they give you a $1000 Dell gift card towards the purchase of any Dell PC.

I already have a 17" notebook, a 10" netbook, and would prefer a 13" notebook.

I can get the XPS M1330 with 8400m GS video or similarly equipped, with slightly better CPU and more memory, get the Studio XPS 13 with 9500m.

Would game playing be better with the 8400m GS or 9500M then? Would most default to the 9400m GS since not all games support SLI?

I thought the "SLI" of this particular configuration was supposed to be transparent to the system though, and handled by the chipset, so that it would always offer a boost in performance.

Also, can the system run on the 9500m mode on battery only?

Thanks!

 

I can definitely say that the 9500 is no comparison to the 8600. It's noticeably slower for gaming. I attached my 3Dmark06 score of 3548 which is very respectible but the card can't even play COD4 at 1280x800 with AA off without being a bit choppy. The 8600 was able to play it at 1440x900. However, the textures and graphics do look better than on the 8600. The LED screen is absolutely amazing.

On battery you can use the 9500. All you have to do is switch to high performance. I would think this card out performs the 8400, although I have very little experience with an 8400. The system area where the vent is does get quite hot on high performance but the temperatures according to HWMonitor are not that high. It's a great machine, my favourite laptop by far. I wouldn't say its a gaming machine, but it can game at 1024x768.

 

I am currently an owner of M1330 with (slightly OC'd) 8400M GS, proudly running Bioshock med/high 800x600 and Fallout 3 Med (textures High, no Water reflections) in 1024x768 with 20+ FPS .

I also have Studio XPS 1330 arriving tomorrow and I did quite a bit of research on the graphics solution. I will be using it for gaming apart from work so I'm looking for an improvement over the current 8400M GS. To get right to the point:

- The graphics solution in Studio XPS 13 is actually branded as 9500 M GE (not G, GS or "")

Here are the links:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9500M-GE-Hybrid-SLI.14029.0.html
(no 3dMark scores at the moment)
http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_9500m_g_us.html

- 9500M GE combines an integrated 9400M G and a dedicated 9200M GS in PowerBoost mode (switchable)

- 9500M GE is considerably faster than 8400M GS and slower than 8600M GT (not in benchmarks, but in actual games). Nvidia claims around 3300 points in 3dMark06, 8400M GS scores only around 1380 points. The dedicated 9200GS itself scores higher than 8400M GS, at 1770 pts. Paired with an integrated 9400M G which scores over 2000 pts on its own, this is clearly a big improvement

- This review on notebookcheck http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Studio-XPS-13-Notebook.14081.0.html discussed the graphics performance of 9500M GE in great detail as compared to 8600M GT.

In the review I find the scores relating to COD4 especially a bit lower than the actual performance of the card, since some users reported COD4 @ 1280x800 'a bit choppy sometimes', which would indicate good performance in a slightly lower resolution.

Hope this clarifies things!

 

Good to hear. Thanks.

 

Hm i want to see a straight up face off between this and the ATI 4570 i saw Gen's video of the 4570 and it ran COD pretty good.

 

I can film it with my digital camera! What format can I upload?

 

You should be able put it on youtube and then upload it straight here , thanks!

 

are the xps systems worth getin or are they just overpriced?

 

Here you go fellas, COD4 @ 1280x800. Note, this is using the 182.46 drivers. Even though 178.75 and 178.86 yielded higher 3dmark06 numbers, I felt the gaming was really bad with those drivers. 182.46 is the best I've seen so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fI45fe-Mn0

 

amazing you promised and you delivered +rep!

This game ran really fluid! Was that at medium or high or a mix of both?

 

Thanks!

The texture settings were on automatic, the water and other details I left on normal. These same settings with the Dell supplied drivers were really choppy so I'm happy with the 182.46 version.

 

You get these drivers from laptopvideo2go?

Do you get any screen flickers under normal circs? The 179.48s give me an annoying flicker...Could be user error, as I am new to the nVidia card scene...

 

Yep, good ol LV2go!

With the 178's I did get flickering with an external monitor, not so much on the laptop display. With 182, I get no flickers.

 

Sweet. Thanks, I'll give them a go after I get my work done. Stupid school work, always getting in the way of more important things like making games run better...

 

Nevermind, 182.46 is letting me down. I don't think any good drivers exist.

 

Glad my mind has been too preoccupied to bother with the switch, then. Thanks for teh update.

 

Hey people i have been playing
HAWX *only runs good with little stutter everything on low*

CoD4 *anti alitialising off 1024x768 glow off ragdoll off rest all on texture everything on high*

NFS Carbon *1024x768 4x anti alitialising low road reflection the rest on high and visual treatment low motion blurr off

what driver runs best with the SLI because if i play with just 1 card on NFS carbon it runs better then with SLI on, i do see little difference in CoD4 when using both cards but not much. does nvidia need to make a new driver for this or are my expectations from SLI on these 2 cards to high?
HAWX runs pretty ty on DX10 everything on low i t still laggs a bit in heavy combat and CoD4 is not tht good either. im somewhat dissapointed but i hope the new drivers will make up for it also this lappy runs anoyingly hot 78celcius was my top temperature measured by speedfan and everest ultimate

 

How would this card runt TF2 on a external monitor 1600x1200?

 

I doubt this card will run games at 1600x1200. Right now you're lucky to run games at 1024x768.

It's an interesting card because it does well in 3dmark06 scores but the drivers just aren't there yet. Right now I'm using Dell's 178.98 which are fine for everyday use but they are far from optimized. I know DOX is working on a hybrid set of drivers - I tried the beta version and it didn't go over well. We'll have to wait around a bit before we can have a decent set of drivers.

 

Not even tf2 on low settings? My 5 year old computer with a 9800pro manages that ^^ Well, not with vista though.

I beleived that todays mid-range cards were compareble to older high-end sationary. Suppose Im wrong then.

 

Maybe! I haven't tried it - I think eventually it will but right now the drivers are terrible.

 

I would like som benching on TF2 ^^ Ive tried it with a mobility 3470 and that card couldent even run it smoothly with low settings and 1280x800` (lenovo T400) Is that gme really so demanding?

 

I thought the hybrid 9500M was supposed to give about the same power as a 8600GT?

I only have the 9400M in mine right now but I planned on getting a 1340 with a 9500M & LED screen eventually.

 

Well, 3DMark scores came close, but actual gaming performance not...

 

If you look at http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9500M-G.9451.0.html it is compareble with 8600m GT and 3650 in game performance.

It seems like the tests were made by XPS 1340. If you click on the link "more info" (bellow the performancebar) is says that it was a XPS 1340 that made those scores.

 

COD4 is a mixed bag. sometimes it runs real high frames thing it drops to 30 ish when bullets are flying. and this is running 800x600 all low no aa or af.