GTX 660M, futureproof ?

I think with the arrival of the next gen consoles, the devs wont downscale every game to console resolution and graphics, so i think requirements for game are gonna get higher and higher, should i take the lenovo y580 and OC the GTX 660M to 1.1Ghz with Turbo (~P3200 3D Mark 11) or wait for a laptop (not a gaming one, the y580 style) with optimus and the next gen mid-range graphic card GTX 760M (768CC) basicly a GTX 650 Ti which would be more future proof i think, but has any laptop-manufacturer announced a new product with that card yet ?

 

lets see the flaw in the logic

the ps4 comes with a 7970m basically, probably faster than it at stock

the 660m is not even half the power the 7970m, when you OC both, it becomes hilarious

so no as long you want to future proof, you either step it up, or leave the room.

however if you want to play games I would wait for the new models

 

Similar question:

How future proof is 675MX and 680M?

Can you run games at high setting 2-3 years from now with 675MX?

Can you run games at ultra setting 2-3 years from now with 680M?

Thanks

 

If you need the laptop now then go for it. I have the ge60 with gtx660m and i have no problems with it because it allows me to play the game that i love (dota2 )with everything on and maxed out on 1080p giivng me 50-70 fps. If your goal is to futureproof then i recommend saving up for the next gen "high end/top of the line" cards because I dont see how you can future proof yourself if you get a midrange card and expect to play next gen games on high settings.

 

I think you can run any game 2-3 years from now. The question you should be asking "will it give you playable fps?". depends what is playable for you. For some 30 fps will do, for others it should be 60fps or its not playable. Going back to the question I think it can easily give you 30fps in any game at high 2-3 years from now but ultra is another story(i think). Resolution is also another thing to be considered

 

Nothing is futureproof anymore so wound not worry about it. Just get a laptop if you need one...

 

I had 660m and upgraded to a 7970m... lets just say you can't fairly compare the two cards.

 

This is impossible to answer. One could only assume games are going to get more and more intensive, So I am going with no. Even 680m/7970m's are struggling with the likes of Crysis 3.

Be patient and wait for the 780m at least. I am tipping that once people get tinkering with the BIOS and overclocking they will be beasts.

 

All fair and good answers to OP. Just too reinforce you can't really "future proof". It is a great misnomer. Also if we are talking notebooks, desktops still do crush us and they future proof by swapping new cards in.

You want to be close to the edge then 2 years is long in the tooth. I do get OP really just wants to maximize and I don't blame. We all want longevity. Buy now and replace more frequently is my advice.

 

Tis simple, if swapping the gpu is important for longevity, buy a notebook that can do it

 

MXM and swapping all sounds good on paper. Even with notebook cards that in theory can swap. It is not realistic. You have the choice of one maybe two cards and the cost is prohibitive. I know they make them but there is no current good selection or reasonable priced GPU upgrades. The supply chain does not exist.

So no swapping notebook GPU's is not practical. When you want to upgrade you will spend $900+ for the GPU and be stuck with a CPU that is two cycles back. I can buy brand new current for $1500 why would I save a 2 year old CPU/chipset/MoBo? Sandy Bridge or Westmere?

 

thats the problem with all pcs currently, be it desktop or notebook.

I can put a titan in a i7 950, but its going to be throttle by the cpu performance. I can change the m15x with a 7970m, however the i7 940xm aint enough

 

660m is not "futureproof". Will it work for games in 2-3 years? Probably. At 720p and 30-40FPS with low or medium settings perhaps. You can look at it a couple ways. Buy a high end laptop that will likely last you about 3 years understanding after 2 years you will likely have to drop details significantly and/or resolution, and then upgrade to a new video card (as long as it's compatible), and possibly CPU. Or buy a mid-range GPU laptop and in a couple years buy another mid-range GPU laptop. Will probably both get you 4+ years and cost about the same in the long run, except going the top end route you get to play games at higher detail and resolution and newer games for a longer time. Just have to invest more up front. That being said, I'd much rather update my laptop every 2-3 years because even though it sounds great, like everything else, things break down over time, accidents happen, etc. Not to mention newer technologies in I/O (USB, etc), LCD's, storage, etc change drastically over the course of 2-3 years not to mention power consumption and battery life.

Sure in 3 years time you could buy an upgraded video card, add more, possibly faster RAM, but your machine will probably consume more power, run hotter, and not enjoy the benefits of newer tech.

So I take the third route. Buy a top end GPU laptop every 2 years. Sell my old system for about $600-800 and put it towards my next $2000+ laptop.

 

exact, but i was more asking about "wrong time to buy" because of the new GTX 760M, cause i'm gonna switch my laptop (give this one to my father) with a new one so...
kinda 1 month and i will have to pick a new one.. not enough for the GTX 760M to be available in "mainstream" systems like Lenovo's or Dell Inspiron SE etc.. ?

 

What's your budget, seeing as you have to buy one within 30 days?

Whatever that budget is, get the best GPU you can and ride it as long as possible.

Don't forget, games are looking pretty good even on low-medium details these days. Turning off AA is one way to try to keep 1080p and save some performance. The great thing about PC games is you can scale it to your system most of the time. I just got done playing Far Cry 3 and Max Payne 3 somewhat recently, and I was fiddling with the detail levels and to tell you the truth there wasn't a OH MY GOD difference between low/medium and high once you get into the gameplay and story. Of course having a 675M (mid-high level these days) and I was able to play them at high with some caveats. I don't intend to replace this laptop until mid maybe late 2014 which will put me at the 2 year mark, and frankly 3 years since 580M level performance has been around, and I would imagine it will still allow me to enjoy games at that point.

A 660M would be a stretch, though you could probably make some sacrifices and still enjoy games, plenty of people are doing it. Not everyone cares about cranking up every setting at 60FPS. If you do care about that and you only have 30 days. You can either get an M18x with 2 x 680M, or if your budget is not that, something with a single 7970M/680M. Anything below that will start to put you into territory where mid-high settings (lets not even try ultra with anything currently on the market) for 2 years is a pipe dream.

 

I don't really care about playing @ native res i can play at 1600x900 or (like i'm doing now on my laptop) @ 720p it's not really a problem, same thing for shadows and AA, i just put them on LOW in every game

I just need a Good CPU (running VM's) with a huge resolution to multi task and for my engineering projects (IDE's) + a GPU that can give decent performance and let me play games for 3 years (even if i have to put everything on medium and 720p at the end)..

I contacted the reseller in my country and they said they will import Y580 and Y500 (dont know if its the refresh with GT 750M and he doesnt know if 1080p for the Y580) so i'm gonna wait for the information to be given to me before i can pick, else (if not 1080p) i think i'm gonna try to find a way to see if s.one i know is going on a trip to US or CA, and buy my a lappy from there. (this solution anyway is unsure :/) if no one is going to go there, gonna have to wait until a 1080p res laptop magicly appear in the offers here.

Buying a laptop in here is really a nightmare !

 

I've had my 660mGTX since December, and while I sure wouldn't call it "future proof", it performs pretty dang well for the money. Once again it's going to come down to resolution... I game at 1600x900, and play recent games (Crysis 3, FC3/BloodDragon, BF3, ARMA3, MP3, Infinite, XP10, PS2 come to mind) and have yet to have any issues. Play at high settings and fluid framerates, and temps never pass 70C even when tinkering with an overclock occasionally. I'm sure newer games will slowly start to require lower settings, but I don't see anything on the horizon to be too worried about at this point.

It's not a high end 780mGTX, but it doesn't have the price or power requirements either if you are willing to compromise on resolution just a bit

 

I bought a midrange laptop only so i can change it after 2 years of use... thats the main reason why you should go with that...

if not than throw an extra 500$ for a high end video card...

Bottom line is... do you wanna play the latest shooter at max 1080p 60fps for the next year or you dont mind going medium graphic for the next year?

After 2 years... its time to change.

 

Manufacturers intentionally release their hardware upgrades in a manner that almost guarantees that you will have to (or want to) upgrade in the near future. The next several years are charted out for hardware and software developers and they will continue to dangle the carrot in front of us all. Then best course of action is realizing this for what it is, and planning accordingly. My philosophy is to go high end, but not all the way (top of the line necessarily) because you will probably overpay and will likely never see a good return in your investment. When my laptop GPU becomes too weak I often switch to my playstation console for a while and wait for the right deal or configuration that meets my budget and needs. Although my gaming tastes are unique and undoubtedly vary from yours...

Expandability in a laptop is a nice bonus, but when it comes to your GPU it could prove to be more costly than just buying an entire new system. The other side of that coin is that if you have any issues with the GPU at least you have the ability to swap it out and don't have to swap the entire machine. Because of the close proximity of the release of the next generation of graphics hardware if I were you I would wait for the GTX 700 series. I personally have my eye on the 13" Clevo W230ST, and am setting aside my pennies to add it the family. I see you have your heart set on the Lenovo but that might only be limiting your possibilities. I don't know what brands are available to you in your country, but have you considered another gaming brand like Sager/Clevo, MSI, Asus, etc? I love my GTX 660M because it currently fits my needs well, and runs efficiently and cool in my current system. With that being said I am well aware of inevitable need to upgrade in the next few years. Hopefully the W230ST will pack enough punch to hold me over a bit longer, but that remains to be seen...

 

What is the performance gap between 680M and 675MX compared to the performance gap between 675MX and 660M?

Because upgrading to 680M seems ridiculously overpriced while upgrading to 675MX from 670M or 660M requires a lot less green.

 

then go for red

 

well, as i said they don't import good laptops in my country, they love dell inspirons and hp pavillon and lenovo G series, sometime you can find a middle high end lappy Y500 or Y580, else there is nothing, (may be an Alienware with GTX 660M or ASUS G75 with 670MX but you got to litteraly double the price ! way too much for a country which is falling apart)

 

I would say be careful about just buying a laptop with an MXM card. Alot of Clevo's now cut off what MXM cards can be put into them via the BIOS support, and not all Alienwares can take MXM cards without some kind of issue (HDMI audio issue, lack of fan control). Also buying a 680M MXM card isn't exactly cost effective.

Also no "card" is futureproof, just buy what you can afford.

 

as i said here, except the obvious issues that might occur on the transition