How much better is this than my current?

Current:
Processor: AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 TL-62 (2 CPUs), ~2.1GHz
Memory: 3966MB RAM
Card name: NVIDIA MCP67M
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 7150M / nForce 630M

One I'm looking at:
Processor: 667MHz frontside bus, 2MB L2 cache and 1.83GHz processor speed
Memory: 4GB DDR2 ram
GFX card: NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GS with 512MB dedicated graphic memory; up to 2303MB total available graphics memory; S-video output and HDMI interface

I got my current because I didn't notice the graphics card was that sucky, but I saw this one in a paper for 150 dollars more, and I'm trying to do a little gaming, and 128MB video card isn't cutting it.
Plus the current is a 14.1 and then one I'm looking at is a 17inch.

You think it's be worth the extra 150 for 3 more inches of screen, upgraded graphics card, but a little slower processor?

 

You have to consider a few more things, mainly weight and size, 14" to 17" is not just 3", its alot more.

 

I'm not really worried about size too much, just having a fast reliable gaming laptop.

 

What exactly are the 2 models being compared?

 

i bet the intel processor speed is about the equivalent of the amd and i'm even more sure the same if not better power efficient. you sure the 8600gs is 512 megs of ram? i thought 256 was the cap on that particular card. the 8600gt has 512 megs, but 256 is for external monitors. the 8600gtx i believe has 512 and can utilize it all for a game. but other than that, think about battery life and portability for the 17 inch laptop. that 3 inches is a big jump like coriolis said.

 

I agree, three inches is quite big.
And I copied and pasted the graphics card for that laptop from bestbuy.com
I was also looking at these two laptops:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101154
&
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220303

Those are quite small and are around the same price as my current.
The second one says it has 1024 dedicated memory for its video card...

 

oh doodoo. i wouldn't go by what these websites are saying about dedicated memory. many of them are plain wrong, lying or misrepresenting. discrete and shared are two different things and many of these websites don't get or mislead to get you to buy and sometimes peeps don't through the hassle of returning because of the beauracracy you have to go through. when buying from a big name such as best buy, circuit city, walmart or even newegg do some research on the graphics cards. they just add discrete, or even say the shared capable memory is dedicated and pass it off as dedicated. that's poo. sometimes you can get different flavors on a particular series of card. i.e. the only cards with 1024 megs of ram are sli in sli mode or the new graphics with 2 gpus onboard. and somebody correct me if i'm wrong on that. the high end cards are coming out with more than 512 megs or will be coming out like that soon?

 

The asus with the hd 3650 will be the best for games and the 8600 will only use 256 meg effectively with games as it has a 128 bit bus.

 

You think it would run most of the games out?
And would I be able to overclock my processor to maybe 2.5GHz-3.0GHZ?

 

ATI 2600 specs
http://ati.amd.com/products/mobilityradeonhd2600/specs.html

ATI 3650 specs
http://ati.amd.com/products/mobilityradeonhd3600/specs.html

So how much dedicated memory do they have?
I mean, they have alot of like technical stuff on there and I'm not sure exaclty whats what.

 

If your not worried about size weight etc., then I would go for the 17" with a 8600M GS as is "resonable" for gaming, but a 8600M GT or HD2600 would fare a lot better, and might be in the same price range. 8800M's would be great for what you want, but then again they cost $$$

 

I'm currently looking for a 14.1 or a 15.4 with an 8800M series video card.
So the HD2600 is better than the 3650?

 

Doesnt the HD3650 only have a 128 bit bus? Does this mean that the ATI cards aren't going to see much advantage to having 1gig of vram? Or do the ATI cards handle things differently that allow them to take advantage of the increased amount of ram more effectively than the Nvidia cards?

 

Only the Alienware m15x has a 8800mGTX in a 15.4" formfactor.

I believe there is a clevo in the works though.

I would recommend you just go for a 8600mGT/ HD2600/ 3650 in a 15.4"

I don't know why you are considering a 8600mGS unless you are on a tight budget. But if your looking for fast graphics. The ones above will do fine.

 

What about the 9500M GS?
I'm waiting on my dad to get home so he can purchase me this laptop with:
Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5G
3GB DDR2 RAM
250GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS

That's a pretty good laptop, isn't it?
Like will it run call of duty 4, need for speed pro street, and other similar shooting games flawlessly?

 

I believe the 9500mGS is just a renamed 8600mGT gddr2.

How COD4 will run depends on what resolution you play it at.

But yeah, it's a good system and should be great for you.

 

But obviously, a 8800 would be more than twice as fast.

 

So a 8800GT is faster than a 9500 MS?

 

What about an 8600GT vs 9500MS?
Or even ATI 3650 1GB VRAM?

 

ATI 3650M > 8600M GT = 9500M GS

And...

8800 (Anything) >>> 8600M GT or 3650M or 9500M GS.

8600M GT gets around 3000-4000 3DMark06, same with 9500M GS. 3650M gets around 4500 3DMark06. 8800 GTX gets almost 10000. 8800 GTS gets 7000-8000.

 

An 8800GT is going to be much better than a 9500MS. Like he said, it's basically an 8600mGT. As for the ATI 3650, which I assume you're looking at the Asus M50-SA, it's probably going to be about on par with the 9500MS. It may be a little bit better but not by much. This is all based on initial benchmarks mind you.

I am going with the 9500m b/c historical Nvidia has had better driver support than ATI. Also, the M50-SA, the one with the 1 gig ATI 3650, has a resolution of 1680x1050. That resolution would be nice to have but for gaming I personally feel that the ATI video card is going to be under powered for that resolution. I'd rather get the M50Sv-A1 and be able to game at a resolution that is closer to the native resolution of the LCD. On top of all that, I am saving $250.

Edit: One more thing, the HD3650 probably isn't going to be able to effectively use all of the ram it has. Someone correct me if I am wrong?

 

so the ati hd3650 does have 1 gig of ram? that's incredible. i thought the new gfx cards from ati and nvidia with dual cores were going to utilize that much ram. what makes the 3650 special enough to even try and use 1 gig? i am guessing maybe it has 512 discrete and 512 shared? anybody?

 

I think the 3650 will have up to one gig shared then either 256\512 dedicated. It can only effectivly use 256mb in games as it has a 128 bit bus. The ati will outperform the 9500m gs in most games i would say, although different games are optimised for different hardware so it's hard to say how they will fare with future releases.

Edit: The 3650 supports Direct x 10.1 and shader model 4.1 so it has a difining edge for future releases

 

So the 3650 would be better than the 9500MS, for gaming that is?

 

I see you asking the same questions over and over again in multiple threads. I'm not trying to be a jerk but several people have already answered your question. As of right now it is too early to tell. Intitial benchmarks would indicate that it will peform SLIGHTLY better than the 9500m, but for the most part it will probably just be a few FPS in most games. Most likely the 9500m will end up with better driver support so it gets my vote.

Yeah it features this, but since this is a budget performance card, I can almost bet that any game that takes advantage of these features will be more performance hungry than what this video card will offer. This pretty much null and voids it's defining edge for me. Yeah it's got it but it's not even going to be powerful enough to utilize it on any game that will feature it.

 

What is your budget?

 

Yeah it features this, but since this is a budget performance card, I can almost bet that any game that takes advantage of these features will be more performance hungry than what this video card will offer. This pretty much null and voids it's defining edge for me. Yeah it's got it but it's not even going to be powerful enough to utilize it on any game that will feature it.[/QUOTE]

You're right about that Although the GDDR3 256mb version should perform alot better than the 1 gig ddr2 so it depends on which card you get. I think the one in question was the 1gig? So the 9500m gs would probably be the "safe choice". Here's a link for the 3650 specs

 

My big final answer is on the end of page 2. That should clarify things.

 

While not completely without use, 3DMARK06 scores rarely "clarify" things

Usefull for gauging overclocks, not much else imho..

 

Actually... There is a DX10.1 game: Assassin's creed. And using the DX10.1 codepaths with AA enabled gives you a 20-ish% boost. This is due to a removed render pass. DX10.1 will be removed in a future patch and then reworked, as it's not implemened quite the way it's supposed to be.

Here're the Benchmarks (allbeit with a HD3870X2) http://www.rage3d.com/articles/assassinscreed/