GTX 285m vs HD Mob. 5850 (performance/portability)

I think either one will suit my needs just fine since I play mainly RTS/RPG games and is just going to be used for a whole lot of Blizzard games.

But which one runs cooler in terms of being able to conserve battery at low load/idle? I know the ATI is 40 nm and the nVidia is 55nm but I heard the 285m runs surprisingly cool when not being pushed?

This is also assuming the gddr5 version of the 5850. Does gddr5 create that much more heat than gddr3? I know the 5870 > 285m in terms of performance. Should I assume the same about the 5850?

Thanks in advance

 

isn't 5850m ddr3?

 

it comes in multiple versions, some ddr3 and some ddr5 (i.e. the GX640)

 

The 5850 will have much better battery life, and will run cooler at full speed. With GDDR5, I don't think anyone knows the actual numbers yet, but it's going to be in the 280/285 range, especially considering that the 5870 trounces the 285 while dissipating only 2/3 the power.

 

Uh, well, the GDDR5 version of the 5850 paired with an i5 430m gets 12k 3DMark06 at 1280x1024, which is very, very impressive. I think the 285M probably needs an i7 paired with it to get that much.

 

just to confirm, the 5850 will consumer less power even at idle? Naturally when actually gaming I won't be running off battery

EDIT: so I guess ATI really is THAT far ahead right now?

 

Yes, yes they are that far ahead. The 285 is just an overclocked, slightly tweaked 9800. NVidia hasn't had a new architecture in a number of years, and barely even a new process (which always saves power if you do it right). They JUST released Fermi, which is a badly done new process AND new architecture, and it won't move mobile for a long time yet.

ATI has some circuitry in the 5 series that can put the GPU in an ultra low power mode when it's not rendering anything. It will be good on battery. I mean, I get a differential of 3 hours gaming/7 hours non-gaming on my Envy (with the slice battery). There's some serious clocking down going on, and it's not the CPU eating the power because on battery the CPU is limited to 1.2GHz.

 

Ahead on the hardware, but driver support could still use more support though.

 

I can download a new driver. I can't download a faster or lower power-use chip. Besides... the drivers do what I need them to do. Games FLY on my Envy, and there's no graphical corruption or anything. I can even overclock it with an official tool from ATI. I can't see a need for more than that.

 

what a shame, I'm debating whether to go GX640 or wait a few months for the GT660. I want the USB 3.0, RAID 0 hdds, and better speakers but if the gpu is gonna kill my battery AND still perform slower, as a student, I might need to just go 5850.

 

USB3? The only thing that might need that bandwidth is external storage, and the GX640 (like my Envy) comes with an eSATA/USB combo port that can power an external drive and connect it via a single eSATA/USB cable. How much faster do you need?

 

haha well usb 3.0 is just a bonus and a future proofing tactic. I plan to use the laptop for 3-4 years (yes I know it's a better idea to just buy a mid range laptop every 2 years but I have other circumstances where I have to go big now)

I'm mainly in it for the RAID 0, I'm too gunshy for SSDs becuase I fear the degradation.

 

...you fear degradation but you're willing to risk RAID0 which doubles the chance of failure? Go SSD.

 

The GTX 285M has been optimized to have low idle power consumption, though the HD 5850 probably has a slight edge. As for load power consumption, the HD 5850 is pretty demanding (more noticeable in their desktop line). TDP values aren't power consumption values so even though the HD 5870 having a 2/3 TDP, doesn't mean it consumes 2/3 less power than the GTX 285M. If the OP needs a laptop now, the two GPUs would be pretty close in performance (with a slight edge to the GTX 285M) and power consumption (with a slight edge to the HD 5850), so I'd look at other factors - mainly the screen and CPU, which are just as important in determining overall power consumption. And most of the consumer SSDs have better reliability than HDDs. Don't be worried about degradation, it's not a problem.

 

You're probably right, I guess the thing I really have difficulty is sacrificing the HD space and not wanting to carry an external around. With a dual hard drive system I would prob create a hybrid setup with the raid and have a smaller 80GB SSD just for the OS and some apps

Screen is better on the dual hard drive laptop as well so I really can't make up my mind. Either GPU will be more than enough for my needs, just worrying about those long 2-3 hour lectures without a plug

 

No, the TDP alone doesn't guarantee that. What implies it is that both chips are made of silicon with very similar material structures that guarantee that roughly the same amount of energy is lost to heat during processing, thereby making the TDP very close to a good estimate of how much energy they will consume. It's not a direct correlation because the TDP can be measured differently, but silicon is silicon. Show me where the 5850 uses more than 2/3 of the power of the 285 under load at the wall with a Kill-a-watt or something similar, or proof that Nvidia now has room-temp superconductor fabbing techniques and I'll believe you. Until then, I call shenanigans.

 

Don't forget that the overall design of a chassis can sometimes have more of an impact on temperatures than individual clocks or TDP.

 

well , USB 3.0 isn't that great.. for normal drives , e-SATA has been found to be better... but even for SSD's , USB 3.0 won't be an improvement.

 

Sorry that's VERY INCORRECT. Otherwise chips 5 years ago that had the same TDP as they do now would consume the same power. That's not at all correct and TDP is not in the slightest comparable to power consumption.

That is horrible misinformation. I don't wish to be unkind to you, but clear errors have to be corrected before anyone reads them as truth.

 

If this is true, then my decision on the GX640 remains. I'm gettin it. Btw, with i5+5850, can you confirm whether or not Starcraft 2 can run on ultra well even if theres tons of units/players in a battlenet game?

Thanks for the help

 

In 06 the 5850 is around 200 points sm.2 and sm.3 behind the 5870, while i can't quote how decent this is in true performance, it'd have to be pretty dam powerful, just alittle behind its older brother.

I'm sure starcraft 2 will fly on it, even with the i5..