Low to mid level gaming GPU lifetime?

When I say lifetime I mean the viability of the GPU as a gaming GPU that's capable of running newer games. I've been wrestling with the idea of buying a laptop with lower end gaming GPU due to the high cost of high end GPUS, in some cases the price of the laptop nearly doubles for the high end horsepower. I'm wondering if it makes more sense to buy the most powerful GPU you can get or if buying a lower end GPU can last me long enough til the next gen low end GPU laptop comes out?

Would a low to mid level GPU keep me going for 2 or more years? Or is their lifetime less than 1. I'm thinking Go6150, Go7200, X300, X1300.

Regards,

Mike

 

At the moment short, the current low end crop is about to get too slow with the release of DX10 and higher details. Look above my Low end if your going long term on my GFX chart.

 

Probably less than one if you want to run the latest and greatest games.

Probably ten or more years if you only run the games that it can run today ;-).

 

lol, I think you want my "The Current Trend of Gaming and Graphics" rant.

The card will last a couple of years or so. Maybe a little less, we have to see what happens when the DX10 cards hit the market.

 

Thing is we have had refreshes of DX9 and the mid-low end has stayed the same:

9600 --> x1300 its been 4 pipes 128bit mem. I have a feeling its all about to step up a notch.

 

Argh, forgot about the whole DX10 thing comming up. How soon before DX10 makes it's entrance? This being the case, for gaming sake, I guess waiting for a DX10 capable card is in order.

I'm not really in that group. I'm just trying to gauge the price/performance options. It just bugs me that I'd be wasting a CPU such as the X2 on a low level GPU. Meaning that the CPU could still be viable, but the GPU would kill the system.

Mike

 

With vista and knowing microsoft, but its reasonable to expect 1st quarter next year.

 

I just hope my x1600 with 128mb ded. will last me a while. Im sure it will game pretty well for a couple of years according to the charts.

 

Well, i've got an x200 which should last me a while.

 

DX10 is not an issue for the next year or two atleast. We will see perhaps a couple of games with DX10 support just to amp the thing, but nothing else.

A mid-range card would stand up for the task for atleast 1-2 years but ofcourse with a decrease in detail & resolution. The gamedevelopers will not just recode 2 yers of coding because MS opt for DX10

 

I hav a 9600XT and sometimes, it beats the crap out of a X1400 or a 7400

 

9600xt 500/300(600) vs x1400 432/400 and 7400 450/450(900) 64bit

It will not beat the crap out of the x1400 EVER, in mem bandwidth limmited cases especially it should beat the 7400 for obvious reasons, however both these cards do have SM3.

 

I got about 2500 in 3dmark05. A little bit of overclocking and watercooling. Nothing much.

 

Compare links?

 

Lol, that can barely play new games as it is, how could you possibly expect it to last any longer in gaming terms? It doesn't even run some of the newest games actually....

 

X200 does not run my SW:KoTor [anyway , I have my iBook G4 for KoTor fever...I just love playing that games]

X200 does fine for Warcraft III , WoW and many other games . It should last me for 4-5 years. I am happy , at least I could run the games. I dont really care if I need to run it on 640x480xLow. Aslong I could enjoy the game on-the-go...Its a pretty 'good' IGP Card

 

I got a 1960points in 3dmark05, btw, the clock is 600mhz/210mhz, normal are 500mhz/200mhz, scoring just 1700.

 

Benchmarks are just that: benchmarks. They dont equate to real world performance. x1400's perform very similar in benchmakrs to an x700, but the x700's are better by a good margin for gaming and most other tasks.

 

i don't want to be an ass , but those are the lowest range of mobile gfx card , they'll be able to run current games barely at low resolution and not on the highest settings , so i wouldn't expect them to live anymore then the moment you buy them pretty much ;p
if you want some life out of the laptop in gaming you need a x1600 or geforce 7600 at least , those can handle current games properly on high settings and should last for some time .