Geforce 8700M GT vs. Geforce 7950 GTX + New games

Hello,

Title says it all; I'm buying a Rock Xtreme 770 laptop, but I can't decide which GPU I should put in. The choice is between a 8700M GT (GDDR3) and a 7950 GTX also GDDR3(I think?). And I know that currently the 7950 is atleast from what I've read, far ahead of the 8700.

What about in the future, when most games become Dx10 compatible. Is there a possibility that the 8700 will overtake the 7950. For instance in Q4 2007 when games such as Crysis and AoC are released?

All advice is appreciated as I'm really stuck between those 2. I'd really like to run future games at decent settings, so please tell me which of those 2 would give me the best fps!

Laptop specs are following:

Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz,4MB,800MHz
Nvidia GeForce 8700M GT 512MB (DX10)/Geforce 7950 GTX(DX9)
WSXGA+ X-Glass rock logo
2GB DDR2 800MHz RAM (1 Module)
100GB 7200rpm S-ATA
Windows Vista Home Premium


Regards,
Poul Schlünssen

 

offer=pointless
mouse=incredible

in the states the g7 and copperhead are about the same price and i like the razers feel and responsiveness slightly more, logitechs drivers are probalby better tho. the deathadder is still even better than all of them for less money.

 

the 8700 is on par with the 7950. I'd go for the 8700 just to be more future proof

 

I Apologize for double posting, but what are you talking about?

 

He accidentally posted in the wrong thread. He meant to post here.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=137525

 

LOL sounds like he is in the wrong section OR he is so in love with the deathadder its on his mind 24/7

 

Could we stay on topic please

Won't the 7950 give better framerates than a 8700, which according to reviews is just an OC'd 8600?

 

Well, I'd go for the 8700.

Why? Future of gaming will be on DX 10, not the DX 9. Why buy a DX 9 card that will not have DX 10 capabilities in the future?


How long will the laptop last? 2-5 years maybe for you.

In 2-5 years, all games will be with DX 10.

So, if I were you, get the best DX 10 card available now, rather than a DX 9 card.

 

But you get better eye candy and it'll last longer because it's dX10

 

But why pick a Dx10 card if it isn't capable of running on high settings and show all the eye candy anyway?

Think I'll be going with the 7950 now and upgrade to a Dx10 card in a year or so. The Clevo M570RU model supports upgrading (To a 8700. Anything above 8700 is uncertain).

Regards,
Poul Schlünssen

 

The 7950 is technically more powerful in terms of DX9, either choice will give you an enjoyable gaming experience though.

The 8700m GT is what I would go with myself though, as it will allow for DX10, and in time might be required for some games. Plus you can say you have the newest/top of the line notebook DX10 card for a little while.


Since it allows for upgrading, then that's exactly what you should do. Get the 7950 now, and upgrade later.

 

If you have some time I would wait for a good review of the 8700.
And it's important what resolution you want to play on, since 1920x1200 might be to much for a OC'd 8600 with dual 128mbit interface
Luckily there will be reviews soon.

 

Provided that you have the $$$ . . .

 

Well he was the original poster saying that, so I figured it meant he had the money, heh.

 

Doesn't make sense to me why anyone would spend 2k for a gaming laptop with a sub-par dx10 graphics card. Do you see any Dx10 games out there? I don't. My guess is your going to be waiting a long time for a good dx10 game to come out. Do you really think they are going to make games that will only play on a dx10 card? If they do I guess they don't want to sell many games. I think you and I need to do some research on where dx10 is heading...and if game developers are seriously thinking about producing dx10 games.

My guess is, my favorite games and your favorite games that we play now runs best on a 7950GTX. By getting an inferior card just because it's DX10...your really cutting yourself short IMO.

I think your only real option is the 7950GTX or wait for the 8800GTS/8800GTX Go if you must have dx10.

 

Thanks for the replies. Gonna go with a 7950 to begin with and upgrade later to a Dx10 card. Clevo M570RU will hopefully support powerful Dx10 cards not yet released.

Regards,
Poul Schlünssen

 

buying the 7950 is the best choice in my opinion. I'd rather play at high settings in dx9 in stead of playing with medium/low settings in dx10. In real gaming the 8700 wont be very good especially if you want to play future dx10 games.

 

Reviews say that 7950GTX is like an overclocked 8600 because they test it on DirectX 9 games. Let the DirectX 10 games come out, then you will notice that 8700 is superior than the 7950.

Personal advise, if I was in your place, I'd go for the 8700 without even looking.

 

I think you got it backwards....the 8700 is like an oc'ed 8600.

 

See my post here for a rough idea of how the Go 7950 GTX and 8700M GT compare. The summary: The 8700M GT isn't worth it. The 8700 is gimped by its lack of memory bandwidth (about half: 25.6 GB/s vs. the 7950 GTX's 44.8 GB/s, mostly because of the 8700's 128-bit memory bus) which drastically cuts its performance, especially at high resolutions and AA where memory bandwidth becomes a bottleneck.

The Go 7950 GTX will provide a better (or at least, prettier) gaming experience. DX10 allows you to add neat effects like per-pixel lighting and soft shadows, but those features take a crap-load of processing power that the 8700M GT just doesn't have. You'd have to disable DX10 effects to get a playable framerate anyway, and then you'd just be left with a weaker card running in DX9 mode. Also, it will be a very long time (several years, more than likely) before games are DX10 only (most games today still support older DX versions), and by then neither card will be able to play those games well anyway.

 

You've hit the bullseye!!

 

If you intend to change your notebook in 2 years time, get the 7950GTX then. For 4 or more years, then the 8700M

 

All of this is based upon the assumption that the laptop 8 series will actually be able to run DX10 games at highest settings. If you're really a gamer, you should buy a good desktop -- get a cheap lappy for whatever work you need to do with it.

 

If I could simply find out if the Clevo M570RU could accept a better dx10 graphics card than the 8700, I would buy without thinking. It if could be upgraded with the 8800 or something like that, then I would have nothing to worry about, right?

 

Emm, yes and no... basically u need to flash/update the bios if they dun support the gpu.

 

Well in that case, I'm back to my original plan of waiting three more weeks and reconsider what I'm going to do! Man, this laptop better make me coffee in the morning for how much I'm working and how much I'm paying for it!

 

Yup, that would be really great if it does allow the card, but there's no guarantee that the 8800M will fit within the heat/power envelope of the M570RU. I wouldn't rely on upgrading to an 8800M, since it may or may not be a possibility.

Personally, I'm going with the Go 7950 GTX now (since I need it before college starts again in August - I can't wait until winter for the 8800M), and then maybe in 2 or 3 years buying a new laptop, when even an upper mid-range DX10 card will be much more powerful than anything that's out now.

 

There is no point in getting 8700M as in less than 1 year you will be able to get 8800M. There are too many flaws in 8700M that it is not worth it.

DX10 may sound like the best thing but it is not. The additional of very little eye candy comes at a very heavy performance price. DX9 will provide plenty of eye candy for another 2+ years. DX10 is not the future of gaming just yet as there will games that will DX10 and designed for windows only and games that will try to capture more platforms.
Game developers are looking in OpenGL more and more now due to fact that it is platform independent and in less a year it will be updated to provide just about all the effects DX10 offers. DX10 has its strengths but Microsoft has caused quiet of few problems for game developers as it is Vista only and that platform cannot even touch XP 's install base for another 2-3 years. So you can expect most of upcoming DX10 games to be DX9 capable.
The only games that are DX10 or Vista only are the ones coming out of Microsoft own studio to try to get people to install Vista. Example Halo 2 PC ...being a DX9 and outdated game was forced to be Vista only. You can hack it to get it work on XP without any issues. Shadowrun is another title out MS studio which is being forced to Vista only even though it runs just as good with all eyecandy on XP with a little hacking.

 

That's very true. I mean heck, OpenGL can do this:

in real time. Direct3D ain't the only graphics API in town.

 

If I were you I would get the NP9260 based off of clevo 901c (I thinhk, can't get all the numbers right). It includes the 7950 MXM IV which can be upgraded to the 8800M.

 

well you guys are forgetting the fact that 8800gtx isn't even announced..... 8700gt might be here to stay for awhile.

 

Nope, the 8700M is placeholder for 17" laptops until the 8800M series comes out, nVidia decided that the 8800M would come too late and then decided to supplement the 8400M and 8600M with a card that could be used in 17" laptops - anyone find the release date of the 8700M (1 month later despite it just being an oced 8600)

 

Well, in sumarry, if you pay a high price for these laptops with the highest performance dx10 cards right now, you are in the wrong. In other words, use those coupons!

 

Imo..people say its better to future proof your lappy by getting dx10 card now..but in a year from now..this card will be lucky to play dx10 games on medium settings...what good will it do to futureproof ur lappy with a dx10 card if the card will be too slow to play games in a year?

I'd chill till the 8800s come out..or SLI becomes available on vista os at least.

 

I'll say it again. If you want to game, get a desktop. They're cheaper and more powerful. "Gaming laptop" is a bit of an oxymoron imo.

 

Some of us don't really have a choice though. I love PC gaming, but I go to college out of state and I don't have a car. It would be a bit difficult drag my desktop and 20" widescreen on the plane with me (and I don't trust UPS to not destroy my stuff shipping it back and forth all the time), so I'm getting a 17" gaming notebook for transportability and power.

 

personally i want a laptop- but i also want to play games- so i could afford to buy a cheap laptop & a desktop but... i will end up spending a lot more money than i want to- especially if i want a decent video card for the desktop.

so personally im looking for a laptop that will play games- i DO however realise that technology moves so fast & that its IMPOSSIBLE to future-proof a laptop. anyone who's talking about future-proofing a laptop- doesnt know what their talking about- mobile video cards are no way near as powerful as desktop video cards- im not even going to hazard a guess at where they would rate- (low end)

half the ppl i can think of who want gaming laptops are college students who dont want to buy a gimped laptop with integrated graphics- personally id really love to get a gaming desktop but id be kicking myself since a laptop would be really handy for college.

 

You can get both a kick*** desktop and a cheap laptop for the price of a laptop that can play games worth a crap. This is what I originally did last year. I spend about $1200 on a great desktop and about $400 for a laptop that I could use for studying.

Any respectable notebook for gaming is going to run probably $1500ish, if not more. Even the new Dell 1520 when equipped for games is over $1200.

Personally, I think gaming is mostly a waste of time and would suggest avoiding it, but to each his own. *shrug*

 

Well, it's not too bad - the Go 7950 GTX is almost identical to a desktop 7950 GT, which at this point would be considered mid-range (it can be found for ~$160).

But I do agree that the price/performance ratio for laptops vs. desktops is horribly out of whack. My Sager NP5790 in my sig cost me about $2300. With $2300 you can build a desktop with:
-A Core 2 Quad Q6600
-SLI 8800 GTX's
-4GB of RAM
-1 Terabyte of hard drive space

Which would be about 3 times more powerful (as far as gaming performance) than my (now quite pitiful looking) 5790. I would much rather have that gaming desktop I just priced out, but unfortunately it just doesn't work out for my situation.

 

It depends on what games you play. My laptop plays my favorite games smoothly at maxed out settings....BF2, HL2, etc...so I think it certainly deserves the title "gaming laptop." I'd also like to say that I have a desktop with an 8800GTX inside...obviously, the 8800GTX wins...but I can't take that monster on the road to watch movies, play games, touch up the resume....connect to people's unsecured wireless broadband connections...etc.

 

Is getting an inferior card able to use much more demanding effects futureproofing? the 8700M cant compare with the 7950GTC in DX9c, I'm willing to bet that every game in the next 3 years will be DX9 compatible.

A) Not everyone will have Vista which is DX10 enabled

B) Not everyone will have a DX10 card, there are many people who do have the best DX9 card

C) It would be suicide to release a game thats DX10 only, it won't sell a lot because the majority of people have DX9 cards and OS's

D) I doubt that current DX10 cards would be able to handle DX10 games next year, look at the Company of Heroes DX10 patch, the desktop 8800GTX and Ultra struggle with it, wait until The CoH sequel comes out, I bet the 8800GTX won't be able to use max settings.

Add those reasons up and the 7950GTX still has a long life ahead of it....

 

I have just bought (currently awaiting delivery e.t.a 3 weeks!) Rock Extreme 770, had the same dilemma, 7950GTX or DX10....I opted for the 7950GTX, reasons being: 7950GTX is a pretty high end DX9 card, while the 8700M is a low to mid DX10 card. There aren't any DX10 games out at the moment so I would rather play the current crop of games at maxed out settings on the 7950 rather than going for something that uses DX10 and getting a performance hit. Plus it always takes a while for developers to get to grips with a new technology, when really good DX10 games starting hitting the shops, this could be a year away, the 8700M would probably be to slow. Plus, with the 770's chasis I can upgrade at a later date.....!

 

So the 770 does have MXM3? That's good to know how much did you pay for it? By the way if you're a student ABUSE the 3% discount .

 

770 can either have a MXM3 or 4 card afaik. In this case 8700 being the MXM3 and 7950 the MXM4

edit. it starts at £1200 with a T7300 2.0ghz C2D processor. But with a few upgrades you're quickly on £1500. For some reason I prefer Rock above Alienware.

 

is there a mentality that the nvidia 8 series cards don't properly handle dx9 threads? that is simply not true.

 

It'd be wrong to say that they can't handle them Dx9 threads properly, as they're still more efficient than their predecessors in the 7' series. However they were never ment to outperform the high-end 7 series cards, which many people seem to think.

 

I'm still wondering whether I should pay more for the better screen.

 

I'll be ok with the 1620*1050 since budget doesn't allow me for much more. If I had the little extra money I'd go for it tho.

Just don't expect newer games to run smooth at that high a resolution, even with a 7950 GTX

 

If that's the case then I wouldn't bother lol, I was checking atleast 60-80 FPS with that res (it's been ages since I've gamed) I guess the default 1620 will do me fine then . Now to justify paying £100 extra for the 7950 GTX >.<.

 

This topic might interest you all:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=138414