UPDATED - The Mobile Graphics Card Info Page - Most GPU Qs answered

Hey all...thanks 4 Ur advise...I ve gone ahead & bought a Toshiba Satellite A100 with the following specs:
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2400 @ 1.83 GHz
15.4" WXGA TFT LCD With crystal bright
80 GB SATA HDD
512 MB RAM
ATI RADEON X1600 GFX CARD
with 256 MB VRAM (dedicated)
BT 2; Wifi a/b/g; ieee; firewire; 4 USB 2; 1 seriel port; HD DVD play back without booting Windows; etc

 

That is a great laptop you have there has33 but there is one major problem in my eyes. Why did you ever bought that notebook with 512 MB of RAM? I mean, you really need 1 GB or 1.5 GB to fully use the power of the Core Duo and especially the videocard. I strongly recommend you to upgrade to 1.5 GB, I can assure you that it is worth it.

Charlie

 

Ofcose Hitman...it was 10:30pm by the time I finished the purchase n non of the shops would oblige...but already paid the cash 4 it & 2moro morning arround 8:30 am I will ve 2GB of RAM (2X1 GB DDR2 533MHz)...now the only problem is how m I suppose 2 play HL2 E1; Oblivion & Rouge Trooper on just 512MB of RAM 4 the next 8 hrs ???
Well it shouldn't be a problem as non of the VRAM shared.

 

Hehe I think you can wait for 8 hours, can you not? I would format my laptop in that time, install the latest drivers and especially videocard drivers. Also do defragmantation a few times, it is very very important for games like Oblivion.
Then if your DDR2 arrives, you just install it and plaaayy!

Charlie

 

ُSorry,But Isn't anyone going to continue/restart/organize/complete the list on 3dmark05 scores?
I mean this one:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=50029
the table was very effective for me buying a W3J...

 

I'll probably unsticky it soon, considering that some of the info in there is quite dated. Doesn't look like MrYman has been around that much.

 

Thank you...

 

thanks for this page of info i learnt alot, but still need advice

im a graphic design student and have been looking for a pc laptop to do my work on and have found this


its got good specs and is at a good price but not knowing much about graphics cards im unsure how well programs like photoshop, illustrator, dreamweaver and flash will work on it. i play games ocasionally like sim city but will mostly be using this for flash and dreamweaver work. is the ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1400 adequate for these programs, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

http://www.shopacer.co.uk/sess/utn;jsessionid=1544ea09ca35174/shopdata/0130_Notebooks/0033_Aspire/0117_Aspire+5670/product_details.shopscript?article=0090_Aspire%2B5673WLMi%2B%3D28LX%3D252EATD05%3D252E160%3D252EVOD%3D29

sorry heres the link

 

Chaz thanks for your guide to mobile graphics cards. It was clear, concise and very helpful.

I have a decision to make and would like input from you all. I am trying to decide on whether to buy the Acer Aspire 5672WLMi with the ATI RADEON X1600 with 128 MB VRAM (dedicated) and 1 gig of ram (two 512mb sticks) OR get the same model Acer but configured with ATI RADEON X1400 with 128 MB VRAM (dedicated) and 2 gigs of ram (two 1 gig sticks).

The X1600 configured Acer Aspire 5672WLMi would cost me about $120.00 more than the X1400 configured notebook, but I would obviously get 1 gig less RAM and if I were to add more RAM I would have to take the two 512 sticks out and pay more money to get two 1 gig sticks in order to get the X1600 configured Acer with 2 gigs of RAM.

Although I am not a huge gamer, I do play about an hour a day of gaming. The games I play are COD, FEAR, UT, and Quake 4. How much faster is the X1600 compare to the X1400 for these games? Will I see a significant boost in Frames per Second between the X1600 and the X1400? Is the extra cost and the 1 gig less of RAM really worth it for the X1600? What would you guys do? Any thoughts Chaz?

Thanks in advance for answering.

 

The X1400 should be fine for those purposes. Also consider the Dell Latitude D820.

Go for the X1600, it's worth the extra $. There will probably be a 50-75% performance increase with it over the X1400. The X1600 has a lot more processing power at its disposal. 1GB of RAM should be fine for now - it's the best thing to neglect when you buy the system, because it can be quickly and easily be upgraded later. Can't say the same about the graphics card.

 

Contrary to popular belief, those programs dont require a graphics card. They're RAM and processor intensive. Any processor now-a-days will more than work for them, and as long as you get 1GB or RAM or more, you're set. Even an Intel intigrated would work just fine.

But to contradict this, an intigrated graphics card eats up some of that precious RAM these programs want. I recomend at least a small dedicated card (Like the x1400) so you still have access to all of your RAM.

 

How would performance compare between 7900GS and 7800GTX?

 

The Go7800GTX is a stronger stock card, but the Go7900GS can be overclocked a lot and easily beat the Go7800GTX.
It's also worth it to note that the Go7900GS consumes considerably less power than the Go7800GTX (20W vs. 40W).

 

I havn't been on this sticky for a long time! Anyways, the 7900GS is just like the 7800GS. A weakest card in the 7900 series. Although the 7900GS is newer and may sound a lot more powerful, the 7800GTX is faster.

 

First, I wanted to say thanks - this thread is a lifesaver. I've been scouring the web for one organized, informational site with laptop gpu reviews and had no luck until I happened upon this thread/site.

Second, I'm considering getting a Dell laptop(Core Duo 1.83, 1GB RAM, X1400) as kind of a transitional pc and replacement laptop until Vista finally comes out. I want to save money for my Vista desktop so that's why I'm looking for a bargain. At $1200 is this Dell a good deal and will it play games like HL2, FEAR, and Oblivion at medium settings at a decent framerate? I'm pretty sure it will but kind of just need a couple of expert endorsements before pulling the trigger.

 

Hi,
I'm looking for a new notebook(proc: intel core duo with speed 1.66/ 1.83 ghz), and seems like the game i'm going to play most is Pro Evolution soccer 5. I just happened to read somewhere that the game is not quite graphics-intensive. In that case, which of the three is most preferable-
1) Integerated intel graphics media accelarator 950 + 1gb ram
2) ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1300 with 64 mb installed video mem + 512 mb ram
3) 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 + 512 mb ram( less preferable than the first two due to cost issues, so basically i'd like to choose betn the first two and avoid the third as far as possible )

Any advice?

Thanks in advance
Suyash

 

Avoid the integrated Intel chip, that's not good for games. If you want the notebook to be more future-proof when it comes to playing next-gen games, then the X1400 is the best choice, but if you are really strapped, then the X1300 should play that game fine.

 

To game, you should get at least an ATI X700/X1600 or Nvidia 6600/7600. Trust me, I've had experience with Intel GMA I trust me, IT SUCKS. CTD on BF2 and ultra low FPS in HL2. What do you about that now??

Daniel

 

Hello,

There are many people concerned by chosing between 2 Laptops, one is equiped by ATI X1800 (FJS X1546) and other by 7900 GS (Tosh P100-198) So I would to know if there is a big differnce of performance between these two high end cards:

In Games ?
In Office work ?
In Video Processing ?

Thanks for ou help , this will help alot fo people to choose the laptop so if anyoen can give some result base answers.

 

chaz, the 7900gs on a dell 9400 (e1705) can be overclocked?

what software would I need please?

thanks

 

i think its worth sticking the go7600gt256 on the list as its in quite a few new sony vaio AR series laptops now

 

In gaming, the Go7900GS will handily outperform the ATI X1800 - the two are not very comparable. You'l find the most performance improvement with the Go7900GS when running games at higher resolutions.

You won't see a difference between the cards in anything other than 3D games.

Make sure you do a thread search in the forums for stuff you want to find out:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=64385

I will add that, thanks for pointing it out.

 

There have been several topics that point out that the 7900GS is better then the X1800. Power consumption, heat, speed, overclock potentials... The 7900GS has it all.

By the way: what happend to your avatar Chaz? I really liked that other one, looked very cool.

Charlie

 

I'm testing out a new one today; if I don't like it by tonight, I'll change it.

 

Yeah, the 7900GS is better and faster but anyhow, the X1800 is much harder to find, the only one I've seen is in the Alienware 5750.

 

I currently have an IBM Thinkpad R40 (Pentium M 1.5GHz w/ 1280 MB DDR, Radeon 7500 32M) laptop that is getting a big long in the tooth so to speak. I've been playing WoW[1] for ~1 year on it and have been happy, but it's getting to be time to update it. I am pretty picky[2] when it comes to my laptops and have almost decided on the Lenovo 3000 N100 2.0GHz Core Duo with the nVidia GeForce 7300[3]. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this card. It's the G72MV-64MB PCIe 16x TurboCache card, which seems a little small but compared to what I have currently it seems like a leap in the right direction. Any encouragment or discouragement from people with this card (in a similar laptop or the same laptop[4]) would be awesome!

Thanks in advance!
--mernisse

[1] World of Warcraft
[2] I refuse to purchace anything from various manufacturers for various reasons, I won't say who or why in here, so
please refrain if possable from suggesting any alternative laptop brands. I also will NOT concider ATI for any reason.
[3] http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/notebooks/3000/n-series/index.html
[4] Extra points rewarded for responses from people running Linux.

 

This might have been covered but I am confused. I am looking at a dell Inspiron E1505 laptop. Its going to have 1.86ghz duo core, 1 gig DDR memory, 15" display, 80 gig hard drive. My main question is about the graphics card. I have read a lot about the 256MB Radeon X1400 hypermemory. This is being offered as a $100 upgrade. However for $130 the 256MB Nvidia Geforce Go 7300 Turbo cache is offered. Based on what I have read in this posting, the ATI is a superior card, or am I wrong. Is it worth it for the Geforce Go 7300 Turbo or is the X1400 the better card. I will be doing some casual gaming (Doom 3, Quake 4, Call of duty games, Fear even if at lower resolutions). Will these cards be able to handle these games decently and which one is better? Thanks.

 

Hey wmbear,

If you are going to buy the Dell be sure to go for the X1400, it is really worth the upgrade! The X1400 is far better then the 7300! Especially for games like FEAR etc.

Wow Chaz great avatar but it kinda made me scary hehe

But really a cool avatar... I still think that captain with the microphone was the best.

Charlie

 

Thanks for the response. I am just confused because the 256 MB Nvidia Geforce Go 7300 Turbocache is $30 more than the 256MB ATI Radeaon X1400 Hypermemory. Any ideas why this could be?

 

^ Because Dell enjoys ripping people off. Alot of people who don't know any better end up paying more for an inferior card, which means more $$ for them.

 

Yes iza is correct.

Go for the X1400 wmbear. You wont regret it. It is a great low-budget videocard.

Charlie

 

The X700 is much much better then the 7300Go. So if you are a gamer, go for the X700. The CPU difference isnt so big for gaming, but there is a difference when it comes to multi-tasking.

Charlie

 

Hey All,

I just got this laptop from Dell:
Inspiron 6400
Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2600 (2MB Cache/2.16GHz/667MHz FSB)
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife™
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHZ, 2 DIMM
256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™
120GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
Dell Wireless 1500 Draft 802.11n Dual-band Internal Wireless
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ HD Software Edition
Dell Wireless 1500 Draft 802.11n Dual-band Internal Wireless
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
8x CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW)

I almost got the Geforce go 7300 till i read all your reviews. but the X1400 was the best that was offered with my laptop. My question is:
1) does the %33MHZ ram bottleneck the 677MHZ processor?

2)what kinda games can i play with this system? and any ideas at what kinda detail levels? I would love to be able to play the newest stuff, but i understand that my video card is not the best out there. but it was the best i could get (please don't reply with "you should have got", cause this is what i'm going to have soon).

3) any other input you want to add would be great.

thank you all

 

It will not bottleneck it, no. Doesn't make a difference.

Maybe it would be a good idea to read the guide - page 1 of this thread.

 

Just another quick question from me: Is an x1400 better than a mobility radeon 9700?

 

Yes it is scorpio. The 9700 has around 1600-1700 3dmark05 points while the X1400 has 2200. The X1400 is also a newer generation card, so it supports new features.

Charlie

 

Perfect. My friend runs most games i like on good graphics on that card so it b great for me

even oblivion ran pretty nice on his laptop, though i'm easily satisfied with graphics

thx for the quick reply!

 

Hi guy's,

I am currently looking at two 14" laptops at Bestbuy but cannot decide wich one is better. These two models are the: Gateway MX3414 and the Compaq Precario
V3015NR.

Mostly for:
- Web surfing and e-mail
- Wathing video
- Listening to audio
- I'm not really in to games (some times I play drag racing games)
- I would like a nice glossy screen
- I will be carrying it around

I would really like for you guy's to help me decide.

 

Try this question in the What Should I Buy forum, and complete the FAQ along with it - just create a new thread in that forum. You'll get more responses.

 

Hey Chaz,

actually i did. and thanks to you I backed out of going with the Geforce go 7300 and picked the X1400. but i'm still kinda wondering. I've never owned a laptop. so i'm not sure what to expect, games wise. I know that set up is fairly solid. but i'm not sure if the extra ram boost and higher processor will help at all for a mid level card. I'm guessing it will, alittle, but not much. Still, i have no idea if i could play a game like F.E.A.R. and at what kind of settings with this setup... and especially Ghost Recon: Advanced War Fighter <-- i REALLY would like input if i could run that game.

thanks for the guide and answer those chaz,
Ryan

 

The GPU is the bottleneck in your laptop, so a faster processor won't help that much. The one you have (T2600 2.16GHz) is extremely fast, so you'll be getting all you can out of that card. The configuration you got on the whole is as fast as it gets (for that particular model laptop).

FEAR, Oblivion, etc. . . 800x600, medium settings sounds reasonable. Slightly older yet less-demanding ones (BattleFront 2, CS:S) will run just fine at 1280x800, maximum.

 

Which is faster, geforce go 420 or gma 950? I know that geforce go 420 is a dedicated card but it is older so I want to know which is better of the two.

 

Neither have a chance at playing the latest games. Hard to say which is 'better'. Probably the GMA950 since it comes in a newer notebook.

Don't put the same question in two different threads please, we don't allow cross posting.

 

The 950 is more than twice as fast as the 420. The old GMA900 was equal to the MX440.

 

pretty much equal in raw speed but the x1400 is newer and so has better compatibility and maybe better looking graphics. better hd playback as well

 

That's a wrong concept that people make. The ATI Radeon is just a older brother of the ATI X700 and X1600, so basically, it isn't as good as a X700 but is better than a Mobility Radeon X1400. I'll stick it somewhere between the two cards. The 9600 is the same type as the Mobility Radeon X1400, but just older.

 

Neither of them is faster than the Geforce 4. I played HL2 using a GMA900 and a friend's Geforce 4. The Geforce 4 had no hiccups or slow downs while the GMA found it hard to render some locations like canyons or caves. The GMA900 is almost EXACTLY the same as the GMA950 except the 950 has a bandwidth of 10 while the 900 has a bandwidth of approximately 8.

 

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the cross posting. I should have posted it here instead of the other thread since more people read here. If GMA 950 is better than 420 then i guess i wouldn't have a problem as of now since i can play my games on the 420 but only on low settings.

 

The GMA950 is kind of better but, the GMA950 will play less games and will experience severe lag when it comes to some areas in games. The GMA950 doesn't support much things or have much renderers.