NVIDIA 650M - DDR3 @ 768p vs DDR5 @ 1080p?

Obviously 1080p is better quality image but which would offer better performance in games? I get the impression bandwidth only becomes vitally important at 900p+ am I right? Would there be significant differences in current PC games?

 

Well in theory if you go for a 720p panel, or 768, the DDR3 version should output the same performance of ddr5 @ 1080p. By that i mean the same FPS average.

I would go for a small machine with 768p and gtx 650 such the clevo 11". Great balance for power and mobility.

 

Thanks. I am considering 768p for cost reasons. I would barely be able to afford GDDR5 @1080p and there would be significant cutbacks on other laptop components i.e. HDD and CPU.

 

to further agree on your selection, i would say that even if the 650m is a great card, it still a mid range.
Going with a 1080p panel means that probably youll be force to scale back resolution, and blurryness will ensue.
Picture degradation and stuff, you know.
Going for a 768 native panel should help you in a myriad of situations. Yeah the estate is smaller but you dont have to worry about possible drawbacks, while keeping the same perfomance.
When a panel is ran at a native res, hardly youll see those differences. And 720p gaming at high settings with that gpu cuts it.

 

Good to know. I always hated having to turn the games to non-native on my VAIO (in sig). The ATI 5650, although a good GPU for the price at the time of purchase, was nowhere near enough to game at 1080p and I learnt my lesson to only get a 1080p panel if I can afford a GPU powerful enough to drive it! That VAIO died by accidental water spillage and this 650m laptop is it's replacement through insurance compensation of cash settlement. Technically it should be like-for-like replacement but I've managed, with some shopping around, to afford a laptop with a better GPU so I guess I'm lucky.

 

What's your budget? The Sager NP6165 with GDDR5 should cost you about $1000 with a quad core ivy bridge and Windows 7 and comes with 1080p screen, 8GB DDR3 1600, 500GB 7200RPM HDD.

 

Around £700.

Thanks but that model appears to be America-only and is not available in my country (UK).

 

funnything is 5650 could play low requirement games like fifa and pes and burnout paradise dirt 3 driver san francisco at 1080p at 30fps mid-high.

gt 650m would play these at 60fps. I am sure every game would run at over 30fps a lot at 60fps at 1080p on a 650m.

notebookcheck shows every aa and af on so with maybe 2xaa, it should run at 60fps or even with no aa.

 

Actually, it is in the UK.

Just up the CPU and RAM and you'd be set.

 

Oh right! The irony is this is the exact laptop laptop I was referring to in my OP! Thanks though!

In the end however, I have decided to go for the Samsung with 768p & DDR3. I know the screen will be far inferior at only 768p and performance not so good in games. However, I prefer the design of the Samsung vs the business-like appearance of the Optimus. The Samsung has a slimmer chasis and also far superior battery life. I also get double the HDD storage I would have been able to afford in the Optimus. The JBL speakers with subwoofer will also be a bonus. Overall it seemed like a more balanced system suited for my needs.

I still think that the Optimus is a fine laptop but honestly it's mostly the design and bulk which put me off.

I plan on renewing my laptop when the next-gen consoles release and by then I will be able (hopefully, knock on wood) to purchase a high-end laptop by then as I will (again hopefully) by employed and no longer a poor university student! I am looking forward to reviewing & benchmarking the Samsung tomorrow! It will be an upgrade in every way (except screen quality) to my previous Sony VAIO (in sig), which was a very nice machine may I add, infact i'd still have it if it wasn't for accidentally killing the poor thing with water (oops)!

Thanks again for your info & advice everyone

 

I hope you've used a 768p screen before. Outside of gaming, the real estate is disgustingly small.

 

Meh. I've used 768p for years now. I swap back and forth between 1080 and 768 and I don't think it matters as long as it's the native resolution.

 

Yes I have used a 768p before; my HP laptop before my VAIO had a 768p screen.

It will take some getting used to. I've taken 1080p for granted 'till now. But I will learn to adapt.

 

No way, the 650m gddr3 @ 768p will definitely be faster than the 650m gddr5 @ 1080p by quite a bit. At 1080p, shader output will be holding back performance far more than memory bandwidth for the gddr5.

At the same time, I'd still go 1080p because the extra space is much nicer imo.

 

The real question is how it does at 1800p (new macbooks).... I think we all know the answer but it'd be awesome if could play some games at that Res... maybe d3?

 

I believe this is why they 'just' doubled the pixel count on all sides. It offers great compatibility with older apps and it allows for gaming in 1440x900 by having 4 pixels display one, so the image won't be blurry. The 650m can't really run more demanding games in 1080p on high settings anyway, so at that crazy resolution I don't think it has a chance to playably run any modern game.

 

Yep it should be fine at 1440*900, both image quality and performance wise. It's also a more reasonable resolution for the 650m

 

You would need a pair of 7970m cards to play native.