Nvidia 8600M performance, general discussion

I didn't notice that part
Then yeah, the DDR3 version will be better. Higher clock speeds and a greater overclocking ability.

 

Well, I went to that driver site and got the latest one for Vista 32-Bit. It doesn't work...

 

Could you elaborate? Try following the Driver Update Guide.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=64910

 

Wouldn't using drivers from the desktop video card force the notebook video card into the desktop's standard clock settings?

 

No, the card will still run at the same clocks it is programmed to run at regardless of the drivers installed.

 

Yea, I pretty much knew the answer, but you can't be too careful when planning to overclock.

 

what are the best 8600gt drivers?

 

No such thing.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=64910

 

Why u allways say that 8600GT is better than 8600GS? GS have a better spec. (without stream processor.)
GeForce8600M GS GeForce8600M GT
Stream Processors 16 32
Core Clock (MHz) 600 475
Shader Clock (MHz) 1200 950
Memory Clock (MHz) 700 700
Maximum Memory 512MB 512MB
Memory Interface 128-bit 128-bit

 

Why do you answer your own questions?

"(without stream processor.)"

 

How does this card hold up with dynamic lighting turned on? I did some searching and found someone with a g1s stating its playable. Can anyone else confirm?

 

i played stalker last night on my 8400m and it ran pretty well on medium settings, if thats any help.

 

That wasnt with dynamic lighting though. I tried stalker on the 8400m already.

 

I figured it out now. Thanks for your very detailed topic.

 

check the most important specs, the number of stream processors. even with higher clocks, because the GT have double the number of stream processors its pixel fill rate is much higher.

an analogy, which high way will have more cars passing through a certain point in 1 hour.

a 2 lane high way with each car traveling at 70 mpg
or a 4 lane high way with each car traveling at 55 mpg

 

i doubt it, my desktop's 8600GT( 600 core and 800 memory ) can't handle stalker with object or full dynamic lighting,,, without that 3rd party patch that is.

 

What patch are you talking about? The float32 one?

BTW Here is the thread where someone was able to run it with full dynamic lights on 8600m GT:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=132584&highlight=stalker+g1s

 

yep, makes full dynamic lighting run smoothly

 

OK, heres the scoop. As I write this there is an aching desire within me that burns with the intensity of a thousand suns to buy a Sager NP2090 for a gaming rig and school. HOWEVER, as I look at games coming out soon, like Crysis, Fallout 3, and FREAKING FAR CRY 2!!!!11!!!one!!!1!ELEVENTY!!!1! I cant help but feel that buying now will leave me with an under-par comp when these tasty bits of gaming goodness finally hit the shelves. What I want, nay, NEED to know is if the 8600GT in the Sager will be a good card for the next 2-3 years, or if theres going to be a 9 series appearing in laptops anytime soon (I hear the 9 series will be out in/around 2008, and the 9800GTX is supposed to kill a 8800Ultra in SLi)

Will my 8600GT be a solid card well into the future, or will I order and come to lament my purchase as I do now over the very Dell I'm using now?

 

just answer yourself this, do you think a 6600 (not 6600GT) is a good card for current games. A 6600 is a 2-3 year old downclocked version of the mid-range 6600GT card.

laptop gaming and longevity don't really mix that well

 

Maybe I should use the $1400 that I was going to spend on the Sager and build a desktop? What can I get for $1400 though?

 

sorry cataclysm your in the same situation as i am, u just gotta accept it, and get watevas new at the moment, and hope it lasts. the 8600 will play games coming out in the next year or two at medium settings fine. As far as the four year from now games, im sure the 8600 will still be able to play them, even tho without all the bells and whistles. It'll be playing them betta than the 7950 will, with no DX10 support , considering those games 4 years from now will probably be DX10 only by then. Personally im going 8700 SLi which will be ready next week, even tho i kno the 8800 will probably be a big leap in power, i/we cant wait, college is coming soon!

 

Well, if you get a notebook with confirmed MXM graphics, you could upgrade later on. But to be on the safe (and a lot cheaper) side, I would build a desktop. With $1.5K you could get an 8800GTX, 320GB HDD, 3GB RAM, and some other nice stuff.

 

I agree with Romanian, it would be far better to keep the laptop for school and have a desktop for gaming. You could get a so-so system now, and once the games you are waiting for come out, the current high-end desktop graphics cards and whatnot will have dropped in price as well. Currently my laptop handles most games just fine, and once it can't run any newish games I will get a desktop to take that aspect over for it. Besides, most games I already play only at home, the only one I play in class is chessmaster and that is not very system intensive.

 

If dont need notebook just want it because you can get it with yourself to friends lan party dont buy it. Ordera taxi and get your desktop with you. If really need notebook then you sucklike me . I dont want to buy an midrange card or an old technology powerhouse like 7950GTX I concidered that I will wait for 8800 maybe I will have a nice notebook on januar or for christmass. If really dont need notebook dont buy it for gaming. If can wait wait just a little in nowdays just a 8700GT SLI can be powerfull dx10 gaming. If cant wait try buy with 8700GT maybe it will be able to survive next couple of years. Good luck and write your decision I am interested

 

Doesn't it lower a whole boatload of settings though?

 

I decided to build a desktop instead. Since I only play games at home and if I want to LAN I can just take the whole thing with me. Its going to cost me $200 more to build one than to buy my laptop because I need a monitor. Im doing research now, but PCGamer already has a parts list in it for people like me. Im building mid-range system. Im debating whether to get a cruddy GPU and wait for the 9 series or spend $500 on a soon-to-be outdated 8800 GTX.

 

Agreed, laptop gaming and longevity don't last to well at all.

I bought my S96Jm with X1600 256mb expecting to play future games on medium settings, some of the demos out now and I can't even play them on low.

 

If you get a desktop build your own. You can save $300-about 600 bucks rather than buying it from dell, alienware, whatever.

 

OK, here it is:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115003
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143080
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128050
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341002
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106055
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116142
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001094
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126179

Gunna cost me about $400 more than I want to spend because I need a monitor (My other one is 10 years old), keyboard (Same age as my monitor) and Vista (Not an OEM, I want to be able to re-use it.)

 

1400 for a desktop? top of the line everything.

 

the processor is severly overpriced. for a little bit more might as well go quad core (Q6600)

 

Thanks! I'll get this than
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

However, now its $500 over. Will there be lots of multi threaded applications for a quad core CPU or should I get a $200 2.13GHz C2D?

Also, someone mentioned getting a 1:1 ratio between the FSB and the RAM clock speed, how do I do this?

 

You seem to be lacking a mouse and soundcard.

 

mobo has integrated sound



sound cards are overrated unless if you have 5.1 or 7.1 systems

 

I dont really think of any laptop as a true gaming machine, the very capeable ones are usually just easier to carry desktops that lack upgradeability as well as portability, if you want a real gaming monster, you need a desktop plain and simple, in the end its usually cheaper, and it can grow with your needs as well, where a laptops gaming lifespan is pretty short, and even the latest and greatest machines will still fall well short of maxed out gaming desktop.

 

I dont need a sound card and I already have a good mouse.

It appears that Ebay is selling the case I wanted at a cool $100 discount compared to Newegg... also a good $70 off a compatible mobo, but that auction ended too quick...

 

I was in the same situation as you are, but I ended up ordering the Sager 2090. I can't really upgrade my computer...it's fairly old and I would need to 'upgrade' every party of it save maybe the harddrive, so it would really just be me building a new computer. But I figured that the 2090 will serve my purposes. Plus, I've never owned a laptop and I really like the potential of portable computing. =) I'll probably save up some money and build a new desktop though eventually.

 

Nobody knows for sure how long the 8600 cards will stand up over time. Much of it will depend on the game developers and how taxing they make the games on the graphics engine.

The desktop you're looking at constructing right now will serve you best if you don't plan to travel anywhere with it, and you want maximum upgrade ability down the road. If you go that route I wouldn't spend too much on it since the price of desktop components drops pretty quickly since faster and larger (hard drives/memory) parts are constantly coming out. A component you pay $200 for now may be going for $60 in a month or two.

You mentioned school: will any of your classes require you to use a computer for anything beyond typing reports? If you're taking any computer related courses then a notebook might be of benefit there, but for most classes its usefulness would be limited.

Besides the Sager 2090 (which is a very good notebook) other notebooks you could consider are the: Asus c90s, Sager NP5790, and Sager 9260

You probably know all the benefits of the 2090, so I will not repeat them here.

Asus C90s (which Asus has committed to making a higher powered graphics card available for upgrade in it at a later time), so it is upgradeable. (Maybe more future proof than some of the other notebooks).

C90 +'s:
upgradeable GPU
Desktop processor with a high FSB
over-clockable
Movable (rotating) 2.0MP camera
integrated finger print reader
HDMI video output

C90 -'s:
no robson turbo memory (compared to other notebooks)
less pleasant touchpad (according to some reviews)
3GB memory limit
lower battery life (compared to the Sager notebooks)


The Sager Np5790 (which you can now get an 8700 card in).
NP5790 +'s:
8700 card
Two copies of Windows (64-bit and 32-bit)
Free media center remote and IR receiver
integrated fingerprint reader

NP5790 -'s:
Heavier than the 2090 and c90 (~8lbs as opposed to ~6lbs).
More expensive (than the 2090 and c90)


Sager 9260

9260 +'s:
Dual graphic cards supported
Two copies of Windows (64-bit and 32-bit)
Free media center remote and IR receiver

9260 -'s:
heavier than the 5790, 2090, and c90 (~11lbs)
More expensive (than the 2090, C90, and 5760)

Another thing you could consider is getting a desktop that meets the recommended setting for the games you plan to get (but nothing more powerful than that), and see if you'd have enough for one of the lower priced notebooks. (Contact the game companies as most of the games you mentioned are pretty far along and they should be able to tell you what hardware will work well with there game). (This is the way a couple of people on the forum have gone recently).

 

Hey people, I'm about to order an Inspiron 1520 with an 8600M GT graphics card. Is a 1.5GHz duo processor good enough for this card or do I need a better processor?

 

I would upgrade to at least the T7100 if you plan on playing future games, maybe the T7300 if you plan on playing intense RTS type games. The 1.5GHz should be fine for general use though.

 

Ok, I was planning on upgrading that processor anyway. Thank you very much for the advice, Odin.

 

ok so i talked online to a dell representative today about the 8600m gt for the inspiron 1520, because that is what i was looking at getting. Well i asked him if it comes with gddr2 or gddr3 memory and what are the clock speeds. He said the core clock was 600mhz and it came with gddr3 memory. He never told me the memory clock though. weird considering everyone is saying that it comes with gddr2 memory, stupid dell.

 

The Dell rep doesn't know what he's talking about. It comes with DDR2.

 

ok so i am looking at buying the inspiron 1520 like a lot of people here i guess. The specs i am getting are the t7300 2.0ghz and 2 gig ddr2 667. The 8600m gt is 100 dollars more than the 8400m gs. Is this still worth it, considering it has gddr2 ram and slower clock speeds. I want to be able to game with decent settings and such.

 

Yes, the 8600M-GT will always perform much better than the 8400M-GS. It is well worth it if you plan on gaming.

 

odin is correct. Any version of the 8600GT will destroy the 8400.

 

Question about overclocking... Those of you who overclock, do you use one of the cooling pads below the laptop? The belkin or Targus? Thanks,

SXO792

 

I've gone through so much reading. Please can someone explain what is better 8600M GT or GS or send me a link where to read about it.

 

Generally speaking the GT will be better amigo.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8600M.html

This thread is nice too:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=125246