Quadro NVS 120M

I'm leaning towards purchasing a Latitude D820 mainly for work. Right now I'm playing Civilization III on my desktop which is about 4 years old. I have read practically all posts concerning the Quadro NVS 120 M how it is built on the Geoforce 7400 platform and I have seen some of the 3D Mark 05/06 scores. The only game at the moment that I want to get will be Civilization IV and I wanted to know if anyone has tried that on the Quadro 120 and what there results were: I want to be able to play it without any issues no hiccups etc. These are what is required for Civilization IV:

Recommended System Requirements

Operating System: Windows® 2000/XP
Processor: 1.8 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent
Memory: 512 MB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 1.7 GB Free
CD-ROM Drive : 4X Speed
Video: 128 MB Video Card w/ DirectX 8 support (pixel & vertex shaders)
Sound: DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card
DirectX®: DirectX® version 9.0c (included) or higher

I'm mainly concerned whether or not the Quadro is DirectX 9.0c capable and the same with the pixel and vertex shaders. If you look at the specs of the 7400 then it would be, but I'm looking for real word benchmarks. Your help is appreciated, thanks.

 

I won´t say anything about how Latitude D820 will run Civ 4 because I have not tested it, and therefore I can´t say anything for sure but here´s a quote from Nvidia´s customer support (sorry, I don´t have a link to this quote).
QUOTE:
"Programmable pixel and vertex shaders are features found on certain graphics cards which allow users to experience movie-quality effects in next-generation 3d games and applications. Programmable shaders are handled in hardware on the graphics processing unit and therefore, can not be added to a graphics card through a software or driver update. Programmable pixel and vertex shaders are only supported by certain NVIDIA Geforce and Quadro based graphic cards. The following list of NVIDIA based graphic cards do not support Pixel Shaders (all other cards support this feature):

NVIDIA Riva 128
NVIDIA Riva TNT
NVIDIA Riva TNT2 M64
NVIDIA Riva TNT2/TNT2 Pro/TNT2 Ultra
NVIDIA Vanta
NVIDIA Geforce256 DDR/SDR
NVIDIA Geforce2 GTS/Pro/Ultra/Ti200
NVIDIA Geforce2 MX/MX100/MX200/MX400
NVIDIA Geforce4 MX/MX4000
NVIDIA Quadro
NVIDIA Quadro2 Pro
NVIDIA Quadro NVS
NVIDIA Quadro4 280XGL/380XGL/550XGL
NVIDIA Geforce2 Go
NVIDIA Geforce4 Go
NVIDIA Quadro2 Go
NVIDIA Quadro4 500 Go"

Hope this gives you some direction

 

I Don't know if the D820 in particular will play Civ IV, it should, as I've played it on my M5 Toshiba with 1 gig memory and the NVS 110M. Works great, flawless even. with all settings cranked to high.

 

http://reviews.cnet.com/Dell_Latitude_D820/4514-3121_7-31792100.html

That link goes to a CNET review of the computer in question. If you scroll down, after the main review, one of the user reviews talks about not being able to play Oblivion over 75% quality. I read this as saying it can play the game (quite well even) and should play Civ4 just fine. I play on a 9000 IGP on med settings and it does great. This is what you'll need to do though...find people who have actually played because no Nvidia PR will say for sure. Have you searched this site on the subject? I imagine you have. Hope this helps.

 

Klonny ... thanks for the Good news since your NVS110M I'm sure the NVS120M should fare the same or slightly better. So I guess your saying when you play it your card doesn't seem to skip a beat? I have checked all over the internet but only came across one individual who has tried Civ IV on a D620 using the NVS110M. Link - http://www.notebookforums.com/thread150745-3.html .

 

Civ IV works flawlessly! Well excpet for a minor goofy thing with the pointer...if you don't move it disapears..which might be on purpose..but the NVS 110M on my Toshiba works great. Also the 110M does a decent job on FPS like BF2.

I'm sure your D820 will play it great. Plus, the good news is that unlike Civ III that I used to play on my celeron when the other civ's move it is VERY quick, no more than say 3-8 seconds top for all other civiliations to do their thing.