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    Nvidia GT555m vs FirePro M8900 (Gaming)

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by Caladdon, Mar 3, 2012.

  1. Caladdon

    Caladdon Notebook Evangelist

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    Whic of these cards provide the better overall performance for gaming?
    Nvidia GT 555m or FirePro M8900 - I'm aware the M8900 is the professional equivalent of the HD 6970m so how would these stack against one another?
     
    Caladdon, Mar 3, 2012
    #1
  2. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    M8900 will eat the 555m alive.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Mar 3, 2012
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  3. Caladdon

    Caladdon Notebook Evangelist

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    Could you give me an example in terms of FPS on say Battlefield 3 or any other PC game?
     
    Caladdon, Mar 3, 2012
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  4. Kevin

    Kevin Egregious

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    Pick a game: Skyrim, BF3, Crysis 2, whatever; the M9800 will be close to 3x faster at 1080p and High/Ultra settings.

    The 555M is two tiers below it.
     
    Kevin, Mar 3, 2012
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  5. Ghghgh7303

    Ghghgh7303 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ghghgh7303, Mar 3, 2012
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  6. maxheap

    maxheap caparison horus :)

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    professional cards overclock like crazy, I am sure m8900 can beat 6990m with a decent clock..
     
    maxheap, Mar 3, 2012
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  7. User Retired 2

    User Retired 2 Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    Hope your starting with a 144core GT555M to begin with, eg: M14x. The 96 core one (Lenovo Y570) is severly outclassed being not much more than a higher clocked GT550/GT540/GT525 with DDR5.
     
    User Retired 2, Mar 3, 2012
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  8. doombug90

    doombug90 Notebook Evangelist

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    I thought the M8900 and 6970m are the same card.

    If you are saying that an oc 6970m can beat the 6990m with a decent clock, then you are correct.

    Is there anything different between the M8900 and 6970m, hardware wise?
     
    doombug90, Mar 4, 2012
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  9. Karamazovmm

    Karamazovmm Overthinking? Always!

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    nothing they are the same card
     
    Karamazovmm, Mar 4, 2012
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  10. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    No CF connector.
     
    svl7, Mar 4, 2012
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  11. maxheap

    maxheap caparison horus :)

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    no they are the same hardware wise, but because of damn professional drivers m8900 is a little slower than 6970m (gaming performance), however it can oc to the point of 6970m oc'ed (which is over 6990m stock), that's what I mean

    EDIT: well, that's what I thought apparently, check this out

    http://forum.techinferno.com/genera...firepro-m8900-*update*-6990m-works-too-6.html
     
    maxheap, Mar 4, 2012
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  12. TheBluePill

    TheBluePill Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    I thought the Drivers for the Pro Cards make them very poor choices for gaming. AMD (and NVIDIA) both continually tweak and tune their drivers for game performance for particular titles.
     
    TheBluePill, Mar 4, 2012
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  13. Gearsguy

    Gearsguy Notebook Deity

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    So you can convert the 6970M to a M8900 but not the reverse? Since theyre the same card isnt it really just the process of making the GPU accept the 6970M gaming drivers?
     
    Gearsguy, Mar 4, 2012
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  14. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    Reverse works as well, it's all about the firmware of the card (VBIOS).
     
    svl7, Mar 4, 2012
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  15. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    AFAIK there might also have to be some changes to the resistor network around the card as well. Since people got mod happy they have put in some hardware differences to stop it.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Mar 4, 2012
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  16. doombug90

    doombug90 Notebook Evangelist

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    That is pure EVIL marketing EVIL! :D
     
    doombug90, Mar 4, 2012
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  17. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    This is pure speculation, or do you have source about this, Meaker?
     
    svl7, Mar 4, 2012
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  18. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Well I know for a fact you can't just flash FireGL/Quadro bioses on retail desktop cards and I know that in the Acer MXM thread that depending on adding in a resistor or two to the PCB (along with the bios chip as this was a brand using non standard MXM by having the Vbios in the system bios) that you could make the card identify as a workstation or normal card.

    The difference is in the software, the extra cost of the card is the extra certification and stability in the drivers for those professional applications and as such AMD/Nvidia want to protect that investment. I think that's fair.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Mar 4, 2012
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  19. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    Well, that might have been true for past Nvidia cards, but here we're talking about the M8900 / 6970m and it definitely works for this.
     
    svl7, Mar 4, 2012
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  20. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Link to that would be interesting to read :)
     
    Meaker@Sager, Mar 5, 2012
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  21. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    svl7, Mar 5, 2012
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  22. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Well it's the exception rather than norm i'm afraid.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Mar 5, 2012
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  23. garnet181090

    garnet181090 Newbie

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    HI. can anyone tell me how to flash my old m8900 fire pro into a HD6970M. I no longer do any work on the laptop. just wanna go pure gaming.
     
    garnet181090, Apr 3, 2012
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  24. garnet181090

    garnet181090 Newbie

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    i only see the reserve in the links..but no steps in how to make it the other way round..
     
    garnet181090, Apr 3, 2012
    #24