Help with Video Card

Hopefully you guys can help me decide on which new video card is my minimum requirement. Right now I'm looking at a new laptop for college. I want it to last four years, and play my current selection of games very well and some new ones at decent levels. Thus, it would need to play:

Battlefield Vietnam - High levels, graphics-intensive. Probably another Battlefield title as well; Vietnam is the best I currently have because BF2 won't run on my current rig (at all).
Civilization III - Very processor-intensive. 2D graphics. I don't know if any of you have tried to play it on entirely maxed-out settings, but it needs much more than a P-4 2.66 GHz.
Civilization IV - Very memory-intensive. Runs decently well on my current rig already (although I haven't played it on settings as maxed-out as I have CivIII).
Halo 2 for PC - Probably will get this at some point; want it to run well and has to have good enough graphics that I can see my enemies and not get lots of lag (lag is a big problem now in BFV)
Age of Empires III - Seems to run fine now, but next iteration probably will be more demanding.

That's the types of games I'm playing. I'm hoping my new laptop will be able to run games of this type that come out through the end of 2009 without difficulty. Specifically I'm looking for minimal lag time and decent graphics settings - medium by the end of 2009 is fine, even low, so long as it looks good. Example: Right now Battlefield Vietnam looks worse than Battlefield 1942 on my computer (and I'm pretty sure it's not horrible design). I'd rather have newer games look better.

Some cards I'm considering (please comment on whether each would meet my goals). All other specs are as equal as possible in these configurations:

nVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS - I was ready to buy a Dell Inspiron e1705 with this one until they yanked it from the website yesterday. I still might get it on a Gateway NX860XL. nVIDIA lists its memory bandwidth at 42.2 GB/s, 256-bit memory interface, 9 billion/sec texture fill rate.

nVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 - Much more readily available than the 7900; I could get this one on Toshibas or HPs. Slightly concerned that it wouldn't be living up to expectations by the end. I'm assuming unless otherwise specified, I would be getting the 7600 GS; nVIDIA doesn't have its stats posted on the GeForce 7 page.

ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 - From what I understand it is almost identical in performance to the GeForce Go 7600.

GeForce 8400M GS - Seems to be HP's video card of choice for the 8 series. Am I correct that it is not dedicated, but Turbo Cache? Is its performance better than the GeForce Go 7600? Will I notice a difference from getting a non-dedicated card (I've always had dedicated)? nVIDIA lists its memory bandwidth at 9.6 GB/s, 8 stream processors, 64-bit memory interface, 3.2 billion/sec texture fill rate. *Don't know much about this one.

GeForce 8400M GT - Found a Sony VAIO VGN-FZ190 CTO with this option. Is this card dedicated? What can its performance be equated to in the 7 series? Is it safe to assume this Sony has 256 MB? nVIDIA lists its memory bandwidth at 9.6 GB/s, 16 stream processors, 64-bit memory interface, 3.2 billion/sec texture fill rate. *Don't know much about this one.

GeForce 8600M GT - Will be on Dell Inspirons e1520 and e1720. Not sure what else in my price range. I'm almost sure this is dedicated. From what I've heard, its performance is nearly equal to the 7900 GS. nVIDIA lists its memory bandwidth at 19.2 GB/s, 16 stream processors, 128-bit memory interface, 3.6 billion/sec texture fill rate.

The GeForce Go 7950 GTX is a bit out of my price range.

Thanks a lot. Just when I was getting the 7 series under control, the 8 came out. I'm not an expert on what all these numbers mean in terms of performance, either, so help is much appreciated.

 

At the very minimum you should get a Go7600/X1600. I'd rule out the 8400M-GS because it is not a very high performer. The 8400M-GT is a considerably better card, it is on par with the Go7600/X1600. Ideally you want an 8600M-GT, especially if you want to game for a while. Consider the Sager NP2090/Compal IFL90.

 

or a 8600m GS which runs better than a 8400M GT

 

I would go with the go 7900Gs, Ive heard good things. But if you wait a month or 2, the 8800m will be out.

 

OK, thanks. Looks like HP is out, then. So it goes like this...

Lowest: 8400 GS
Minimum: 7600, X1600, 8400 GT
Better: 8600 GS (missed that one the first time around)
Best: 8600 GT, 7900 GS

Are the 8400 GT and 8600 GS dedicated? Or does it not matter all that much?

Wow, I'm pleasantly surprised with the Sager options. I thought Sager would be way over my budget, but I've got everything I was planning to get configured for $1653 - much less than Gateway's. And with 512 MB graphics memory. 4 GB memory option is quite reasonable, too, probably enough to justify the cost. T7500 isn't too much more either. So I have five questions on it:

1. I'm pretty sure Sager said you could sent it back within 30 days if you didn't like it. So what's the point of the 30-day Zero Dead Pixel Insurance for $200?

2. The OS says it's a 32/64 bit edition. Does this mean both are installed, you get an actual regular non-OEM copy, or you get to choose at checkout?

3. How's the quality? Hinges, keyboard, scratch-proof-ness (not a huge deal but a plus)? Does it run very hot (relatively; I don't know what 50 degrees for example feels like)? Is it really just 7 lbs?

4. Where could I find a Sager in person? You can't test everything on the Web, after all. And where can I find some info on Sager besides their website? They don't have a Wikipedia page! Size, location, longevity, reviews, reliability, service, etc. 6 of 24 reviews of the 4780 on CNET cited bad service; anyone have experience with their service?

5. Where to buy? I've found sagernotebooks.com and powernotebooks.com; any opinion on which is best? Is sagernotebooks.com direct from the manufacturer? Both seem pretty similar.

Note: I'm not set on the Sager, but curious. I'd never heard of them before I started looking for a computer a few months ago.

Thanks again!

 

Question directly related to video cards: when I am comparing cards on this Wikipedia page, are the maximum bandwidth and fillrate dependent on how much memory a card has (and thus, should I halve the values of the 512 MB cards to get 256 MB values)?

 

Maybe ur asking bout the vrams, most 512mb cards have ddr2, which has lesser memory bandwidth than the 256mb gddr3 (which they onli have max 256mb vram to date), get the gddr3 if possible.

 

Yeah, I'll probably get GDDR3. But what I was trying to ask was:

All other things equal, do video card fillrate and memory bandwidth depend on how many MB of memory it has?

 

Answer to your question asking whether dedicated or not . . .

Yes, all of those mentioned are dedicated . . .

Sorry if this is too late . . . -_-a

 

Civ III and IV should be no problem on the 8600M GT, which I have in my Asus G1s. I haven't got to later ages with CIV since I got the laptop, but everything is pretty and smooth as silk at the highest settings on huge worlds up to the Medieval ages. Halo 2 seems a bit odd, since there is a strange delay of a fraction of a second between me moving the mouse and the view changing - at ANY graphics settings - but that's likely more due to drivers/poor coding of this particular game, since F.E.A.R and Doom 3 fly on very high settings.

If you need to buy now, the 8600M GT is the best card there - it's performance is definitely very close to the 7900GS', and since it supports DX10 there will be some games you can play with this card that you can't on any GF7 series card in a few years' time.

However, as mentioned, within the next couple of weeks there is an expected revelation of a higher GF8 card or two than the 8600M GT - the rumoured 8700M and 8800M. It's not clear exactly how quickly these will be available though - with the 8600M GT we had maybe a month between seeing news releases of which models would have them and actually getting the first ones.

Also, if the laptop size is of any importance to you, the 8600M GT MIGHT be the fastest 8 series card put into a 15.4" laptop, the others might only go into 17" and larger ones due to heating issues. And I suggest you have a quick check-out of the size and weight of 17" laptops in a shop somewhere, since 2" sounds like nothing but is actually a bit more of a deal than you might expect.