Dell's GT 555M Graphics Card?

Looking at getting a Dell XPS with a GT 555M Graphics Card, but was wondering if there is another laptop in the same price range (under £900) with a better card. and how the 555 compares to my desktops GTX 260 black ed?

Don't mind lower ram and HD size as you can always upgraded, but not with GPUs.

Thanks in advance for your help on this (but please talk slow, im not to au fait with graphics cards)

 

The gt555m actually compares to desktop 9600gt, if not lesser.
The problem is that theres a limited memory bandwidth and a poor ddr3 vram, which kills the performance.
A desktop gtx260 sp216 can be compared, performance wise, to a gtx470m minus the dx11 support obviously.

 

You are kidding right? The 9600 GT only had 64 Shader Processors. The 555M uses Fermi tech at around 144 Shader Processors. It is more or less around the 9800 GT which has 112 Shader Processors and despite the 256-bit GDDR 3 and higher clocks, the 555M is just slightly under the 9800 GT due to its lower clocks and less bandwidth to the VRAM. However it does beat a 9600 GT easily and it even beats a GT 240 so...

 

The GT555M won't come close to your 260. You can get a refurbished Asus G73 which is under 800 pounds. I do remember some here who did that. The G73JH has a ATI 5870M which is almost a desktop 5770.

 

Geez man ive just realized ive posted 9600gt instead of 9800gt lol, but you got it.
Anyway cuda cores arent counting much dude, so dont base your thoughts on that number.
But yes 9800gt is a rebranded 8800gt iirc, but still.

 

Will have to look into the Asus G7, only ones iv seen so far have been £1400+

 

HP dv6/7 qe has the 6770m gddr5 which beats the 555m in the xps by a few thousand points in 3dmark06. Also look at lenovo w520 with the quadro 2000m.

 

Does the 6770M support switchable graphics?

Mr. Mysterious

 

Yes it does.

 

..........oh.

Well, the synthetic tests are one thing, but how do the two cards compare in real world usage? (Games)

Mr. Mysterious

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/566206-overclocking-gt-555m-card.html

Read this thread here and see what kind of performance they have been getting with this card in stock and overclock. The overclocking numbers are pretty impressive to see.

 

What?!?!?!? It says that it's better than the 460M????

Mr. Mysterious

 

That is impossible!

 

>_> Are you being serious or making fun of me? I'm really concerned that a 555M could beat a 460M

 

Since they new BETA driver came out for the 555m its been pretty nice in over clocking. I have been looking at the 555m too because MSI is coming out with it in there laptops and I was wanting to see what kind of performance it would bring. The XPS 17 is the only laptop out with it as of now. But if they can pull those kinds of numbers from that card overclocked, I think it will be a nice card to have.

 

It can't by miles (well not by miles but the point stands).

 

I know! Darn it, I'm starting to doubt my 460M right now >_<

Mr. Mysterious

 

Overclocked it will be alittle faster than your 460m, but if you over clocked the 40m it would be the faster GPU. But stock to stock, the 460m is faster. So dont go getting all bent out of shape. If you down loaded MSI Afterburner you could play with overclocking and look on here for safe overclocking tips for the 460m. I have readed that the 460m is overclock happy too.

 

Oh I know that the 460M is one of the best (ok fine, better) cards for overclocking....but still, lol. I was hoping that the stock 460M would be better than the highest stable 555M OC'ed.

Mr. Mysterious

 

I had the m15x with the gtx 460m, and all I can say is that the gtx 460m is one of the worst high end overclockers out there...

Dont get me wrong the card is very robust at the level of the HD 5870. The gt 555m (oced) could be close but not the same as the gtx 460m.

 

Really? I've read threads and posts from people who say that their 460M is very overclockable and is stable at those high speeds. Could it be that the AW's cooling system isn't that good?

In either case, I'm getting off topic, talking about the 460M more than the 555M, so I'll just be quiet.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Also the M15x has one of the best cooling systems on the market, Oced the card NEVER reached 70c... It overclocks good enough but you can hardly tell the difference on gameplay or in benchmarking.

More on topic:

I saw that the new alienware m14x will have the gt 555m, any info if it is mxm?

 

Probably not since it uses the same 3 GB one that is integrated in the XPS 17.

 

Thanks Lurch, really interesting read!

Never OCed before, but that thread made the thought of it a lot less daunting.

 

6770m 866/950 oc
Result

stock GTX 470m vantage :7494
stable oc'd 6770m gddr5 vantage: 7611

So yeah. Optimus GPUs are capable of 460m performance =D

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...dell-xps-17s-gt-555m-gddr3-6.html#post7326075
http://forum.notebookreview.com/7329233-post1292.html

 

oced 555m at 760(max oc limit) on the core gives p1749 on 3d11 where as a stock 6770m gives p1700 in 3d11

 

Yeh 555m is gimped by ddr3 memory. The only laptop I know of with 555m gddr5 is Lenovo y570 which isn't released yet. It should perform around the same as stock 6770m gddr5 but with higher power consumption

 

You do realize that Vantage takes in CPU as well and Sandy Bridge factors in a lot. The 460M with i7 is going to be affected dramatically when trying to run with a 6770M OC with SB. I like 3DMark11 results and so far at 1700-1800 3DMark11, it is still not touching the range of the 460M/5970M at around 2200-2300.

Also, the GDDR 5 version of the 555M is gypped on the Shader Processor count from 144 to 98.

 

Notebookcheck and this says it does ~1800 stock in 3dmark11. I don't know where you're getting 2200.

 

Never mind I was looking at 5870M scores, which are a tad bit higher than the 460M and I do know that OC the 5870M will net you 2300-2400 a piece.

Don't get me wrong, they are a beasts of cards, but the thing is they are still not MXM and they are still have not reached on par the way they were shipped out of the factory. The 555M especially is tanked by GDDR 3.

 

Ok.....lot of cards being mentioned 460M, 5870M, 6770M, and so on......but do any of them come in sub £900 laptops like the 555M doses?

Its really hard for someone outside of the scene to get what is going on with GPU when even the benchmarking is so subjective.

To me a grand is a lot of money and I really want to make the right informed chose, as Im going to be stuck with what I buy for at least 3 year.

 

Some of these threads need to be roped back into reality a bit...

A 3dmark11 1824 is not close to the 5850, Nor is 1687 from the 555.

My "game" settings for the 5850 (825/1000) is 2783 on 3dmark11. And that's with the I7-720.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...werful-m15x-benchmark-thread-part-2-a-72.html

Vantage scores... Where do I begin. 7611 is a good score. The 460 stock hits 8k and oc 9k. The 5850 hits 9k all day long and 10k for the ultra benchers. I think one guy now has 11k.

To get back to reality, I think it's safe to say the 555 will be a lower model HI range card or a HI model -medium range card. I would also say it's a good value as not everyone can spend the money that's equivalent to a car down payment on a notebook.

So to sum up.. 6770m, 555nvidia nice cards... Good Value, Good Performance.

6970>6950>5870/5850/6870/6850>460m>6770>555m>540m

 

Good summary. + Rep.

 

OC'd vs stock 460m yes but no one really compared these cards to a 5850...

 

Well what confused people was that the 460M was suppose to be a on par card with the 5850M/5870M, but the fact this there is still a notable gap between the two and there is still a gap between the 555M and the 6770M.

 

Ok Im starting to get a handle on these cards now

Are there any Laptops with the 5850M under the ASUS G7/Alienware price range of £1300+

As from my point of view (admittedly its a layman's point of view) if you take a Dell XPS 17 and a Alienware M17x, both with say i7, 8GB Ram, 500GB full HD 3D the only significant difference is the graphics 555 v 5870M and a liberace disco keyboard.

Is a 5850/70 really £400+ better then a 555?

(if so, I will just save up a little longer for the Alienware/G7 laptop........but I do dislike the Alienware styling! )

 

A 5850 from Dell is about £180... you can still get a low-end configured M15x for example and upgrade to a 5850. Or maybe look at the NBR marketplace, there are some decent M15x around for about £900 as far as I remember.

 

I didnt know I could do that worth looking into!

(and where do i find the marketplace on here?)

 

Here is my 5850m gddr5 at bone stock settings...

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/9546/stock3dmark11.jpg

 

I would always say, if possible to get GDDR5 or better in a card. I saw in another post that the 555 with gddr 5 has only 98 processing pipes or something? I have not confirmed that but that is horrible that they would gimp the faster memory with lower pipes... The bottom line is that each card has a different performance profile. In my opinion 3dmark06 really doesn't reflect Game performance anymore. Vantage (which I dont have) or 3dmark11 is probably a better indicator. Why I come to this conclusion is that some folks score higher than me 14k plus on 3dmark06 and I have higher framerates in game at equal game settings. Both the 6770m and 555 will be good budget cards. I think if you can run with a few bells and whistles disabled in game you will be happy.

Best Wishes,

StevenX

 

Seems they only offer the 240M or 460M on the m15x, no 5850 according to the UK site

Any way to find out what models have the option of a 5850 without going though them all?

 

how about Medion Erazer which is based on msi laptops and its for £899.99
Medion Erazer MD97786 Intel Core i7-740QM 6GB/1TB 15.6" Black and Silver Performance/Gaming Laptop - Best sellers - Technology - Sainsbury’s
the problem with living in the uk is that you get ripped off alot, I'm trying to find you a laptop with an ati card at your price but most have gone up
because the 20% tax rise you had not long ago

 

That's an excellent deal, Portugeeza! Good find.

On a personal note, I'm a bit leery of MSI (even though I was in love with the GX660R only a few months ago) and what would ultimately prevent me from buying anything from them is their customer service. That can be taken care of by going through a reseller though...

Mr. Mysterious

 

mr mysterious yes there customer service is crap as I got a GX740 and have had some issues with it, but I did find a good repair company that are with msi so they sorted me out

 

NBR Marketplace


It's pretty easy to exchange the GPU as it is easily accesible (unlike to other systems)

Alienware offers the 5850 only in the M15x, the M17x r2 has 5870 as option (also as a CF option).
I don't know about other systems... notebooks with the 5850 with GDDR5 are not that common afaik.

 

I don't find those 3dmark 11 results that impressive.

I get the same score or close with my OCed 5730.

 

Stay on topic guys. Use offtopic or random thread for those types of discussions.

 

How dose the NVIDIA GT 540M in the XPS 15 stack up to the 555 in the XPS17?

 

It should be 20-30% weaker. There isn't much of a difference in between the cards.

 

Thanks Tom,

Think I will give that a miss then, looking at youtube clips im thinking 555 OCed is as low as I want to go to give the laptop a little more longevity for games.

Still looking at some 5850m, but £400+ for only the GPU being better is a hard pill to swallow. (that said, I like the MSI units with the 5850 as a standard mxm 3 type B card, so you will be able to upgrade to other high end graphic card)

Assume there is no way of fitting anything better to the Dell XPS 17 after sale?

And a big thankyou to everyone who has helped with this!