GeForce 9500M GS 512MB - GDDR2 vs GDDR3?

Hi Guys,

I posted a few weeks back asking for some general advice on a new notebook, and was delighted with both the depth of knowledge and the willingess to share it

Having made my choice based on the recommendations I received I'm hoping you can help me narrow down and fine tune my choice.

I've decided to go for one of the new Acer Gemstone Blue 18.4" notebooks, The main specs from two different retailers are as follows;

Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 2.0GHz 667 MHz 2 MB L2 Cache
4 GB DDR II SDRAM @667
2 x 320 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm
GeForce 9500M GS 512MB GDDR2 @ 677

(£899 / $1,783)

Or

Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 2.0GHz 667 MHz 2 MB L2 Cache
4 GB DDR II SDRAM @667
1 x 320 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm
GeForce 9500M GS 512MB GDDR3 @ 677

(£950 / $1,885)


Firstly, I've never heard of the 9500M shipping with DDR3 memory, so I am a little dubious about the claims the retailer is making.

Secondly, assuming it is true, is it actually worth it? I did browse the Graphics card FAQ before posting, but all it said concerning the matter was that "There can be substantial performance differences between cards with both memory types." but it depends on a card by card basis.

Therefore, considering that the first option ships with 2x320GB HD, is it worth the price differential for the DDR3 gfx memory on the second option?

In terms of gaming I'm not expecting 60fps on Crysis, but more along the lines of playable performance on the likes of UT3 and Unreal engine games in general (CoD4 etc).

Would be grateful if you can help me!

 

Unreal 3 will play very well on both cards, that engine is pretty good at running high on midrange hardware. Source games (Halflife 2, Portal, TF2, CSS) will all play really well on either card. CoD4 might need 1 or 2 settings lowered to medium, but otherwise I was able to play it at all high and 1440x900 resolution (though I have the GDDR3 version).

I think (way back when) we decided that between the 8600m GT GDDR2 vs GDDR3 model the performance increase averaged around 15-20%. Considering the 9500m GS is just a refreshed 8600m GT, you should ask yourself whether you want that extra 20% performance or 320GB of hard drive space. (36 FPS versus 30 FPS).

If the hard drive wasn't so huge I'd jump on the GDDR3 card, but 300GB of is hell of an upgrade... its a tough call.

 

Yeah, that's kind of the dilema!

On the one hand, I can never envision myself needing 640GB of HD space (although I recall saying that about my old 10GB HD as well way back when ), and purely from a financial perspective it makes no sense to fork out the extra $100 for the GDDR3 for the relatively average performance gain... especially when that's with HALF the HD capacity as well.

But then there's always that little nagging doubt in the back of the mind, you know?

Hmm...

I think that unless anyone can come up with a sufficiently compelling reason for the GDDR3, and considering that I have a lot less time for gaming these days than I'd like anyway, I'll probably opt for the cheaper GDDR2 version.

Thanks for your comments, I'm still a little bit undecided but it gives me a much better idea than before!

 

make sure that the second retailer didn't make a type or an error in the specs

 

Maybe to ease your mind just a little bit, it is possible that there are some very minor tweaks on the 9500m GS that improve its performance over a 8600m GT, so you'll be between 8600m GT GDDR2 and GDDR3 performance rather than equal to 8600m GT GDDR2 performance. And if that isn't good enough, I'd bet you can Overclock that card pretty hard if you want to, I've seen people with GDDR2 surpass my GDDR3 that way.

In every game besides Crysis, I think the card will run things fine at medium/high settings. Plus, with that second hard drive you can forgo using an external drive for games (like I have to do) and instead use it as a dedicated media/gaming drive. Games always get a nice little boost in load time and smoothness when they are being played off a non OS drive.

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Acer-Aspire-6920G-Notebook.8783.0.html

see the bench mark and you can easily guess it is the GDDR2.

and its performance is much worse than the ASUS M51sn tested here and ASUS F8SN4 tested at Notebookjounal:
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/469/6

Compare the Acer's score to the ASUS'.

The Acer's 9500GS can not be the GDDR3 version of of it.

 

Cool,

Thanks for the added insights. Based on the benchmarks and the negligable benefits I'd get from the GDDR3 I think I'll go for the machine with the bigger hard drive; as you say, it will give me extra storage and allow for a dedicated drive that isn't encumbered by Vista :laugh: (plus it's cheaper )

Thanks again for your help!

 

Based on the data you linked, the 9500GS GDDR2 performs almost as well as my 8600m GT GDDR3. Was that the point you were going for?

 

The notebook in my sig with a Geforce 9500M GS DDR2 scores 3802 in 3dmark06 with 174.93 driver at stock settings and in my opinion that's good enough.

 

you can always buy external harddrives but you'll always be stuck with the videocard.

 

any way that does not matter the Acer has the gddr 3 or 2 , it could not beat the ASUS F8SN with the same CPU , GPU combo.

and the aSUS is much cheaper, unless you are getting the Acer for multimedia or HD stuff, you should re-consider it, there are many much better deals than the Acer8920G.

 

the gddr3 version futureproofs your lappy better than the gddr2 version...if i were in your place, i would go with the gddr3 version (If it really exists)