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

Nothing is going to make up for the decreased memory bandwith, besides lowering the resolution...

Honestly, if you're looking for an upgrade from your current gaming rig, go big. At least a GTS 160M, GTX 260M, or 4850. Avoid anything that isn't 256-bit or GDDR5. The i7 is a fantastic processor, but I wouldn't deem quad core mandatory for gaming, most games will run fine on a Core 2 Duo. In some cases, a difference can be found...

GTA4 really does take advantage of a quad core, and I would expect the i7 720 to do alright (better than a C2D), but I don't think it would perform exceptionally well. A QX9300 handled it quite nicely, but that's at 2.93ghz with a huge 12MB cache. Grand Theft Auto is a ridiculous system resource hog, but not in a good way that it becomes the ideal benchmark.

 

The 4670 is nowhere near the 9800M GS. Do not say it is.

 

No offense, Sir, but you have no idea what you are talking about.

First of all, 9700M GT is an overclocked version of the 9600M GT. 9700M GTS is a different card with 256 BIT memory bandwidth and it's much much more powerful than 9700M GT.

Second of all, 4670 is nowhere close to 9800M GS as Kevin stated.

 

Here are all 5 gpu's as ranked, in order, on notebook check. Don't know why the 4670 is even ranked ahead of the 9700 in this list.

 

Notebookcheck's list is flawed since it bases itself on an average of benchmark scores and said average does not take into account what machine and at what resolution said benchmarks were taken in.

 

Agreed, but even tho I would switch 2 and 3 on that list, that is a pretty accurate ranking for those cards for the discussion at hand.

 

Oh it's relatively accurate in general, just don't take specific listings too seriously. I mean, they're not SO bad as to say, put a GMA950 before a 9800M GS lol

 

So, now that the market has all these cards that seem to be all similar performers, does anyone have any concrete benchmarks / reasoning / links to websites that might give some insight into how these chips compare to one another? Of course there are the notebookcheck rankings, but it seems as though they just ranked them out of the blue with no benchmarks.

Oh, and all cards have GDDR3.

 

Reverse the order in your title, and there's your answer. Done.

Give the 250M GDDR5, and the order changes.

 

How significant is the difference between, say, GT 335M and HD 5650, do you think?

 

On paper, performance could be quite close. However, the GT 335M is a special case right now, as it is only found in the (tiny) M11x. Hence its low core clock, and the SU7300 CPU paired with it is quite slow.

 

The ASUS N82 is due to have the GT 335M. Do you think they'll have it higher clocked?

 

Hello,

Where does the new Nvidia GTS 360M fit in on the charts?

Thanks!

 

The GTS 360M is above the 9800M GTS, below the GTX 260M. It's taken the place of the now extinct 9800M GT.

 

How long are GPU release turnaround times usually?

Heres the deal, I don't absolutely need a laptop until I go off to college. Getting one in March/April would be nice and I"m considering it, but not necessary. Getting one by late May/June is what I'm really aiming for, but I can put it off until September when I actually pack up and leave for college.

I'm planning on getting a laptop with a single GPU solution - basically the 5870. To me, it provides great performance at a price thats still somewhat reasonable, as SLi/xfire solutions are just out of my budget. And usually the laptops are huge bulky monsters which is not gonna work for me, ideally I'd like something as slim as possible that still performs pretty well. Think the Envy 15, but with more performance.

Will anything significantly better hit the mobile markets by then? From now till September?

I know there's no way mobile fermi is gonna be out in that time, but ATI's 6x series is a possibility so I'm not sure..

So...wait till after cebit (which is what I"m planning on now) and just buy now or wait a while longer?
the MSI GX740 is really tempting me because it's pretty slim/light (1.38" at thickest point, ~7lbs for a 17") with the 5870, and I like how the brushed aluminum exterior looks (doh) lol. Since it's gonna be a general use laptop for me at college though, I find these things pretty important. It's also not garish with obnoxious lights and stuff everywhere, though the bright red highlights are on the border of that haha.

Either I get that or another similiar laptop now or within 2-3 months, or wait until September. Hm..

 

A little weird, would think the 360 be the better card.

 

Notice the difference in GTX/GTS. X-version is faster and therefore if there will be a GTX 360M, it will be faster. But so far it's like this

GTS 260M < GTS 360M < GTX 260M < GTX 280M < GTX 285M

You can check that also here, at the bottom of the page.

 

...where the 9800M GTS is seen in the Gateway FX P7805U with a Centrino 2 dual core Processor...

...and the HD 5730 as seen in the ASUS N71JQ with a I7 720Q quad core.

 

Wow, apparently the 8800M GTS is an 'enthusiast' card while the 9800M GTS is under 'high performance'...

 

with stock clocks in gameplay which would outdo the other? and how much of a difference do you think it would be? also which will run hotter? i'm on the verge of upgrading and need to know which direction to go.
thanks muchly!


also, there is a gddr3 version yes? its not just ddr3....?


edit: also, the 4650 will be 1gb the 9600m gt will be 512mb

 

DDR2 is vastly inferior to GDDR3 so it would definitely bottleneck that card. The 9600GT would be better across the board. Yes, there is DDR3 and GDDR3 which are very different other than their name. 1GB of ram on those cards is not going to do much more than 512MB as they are fairly slow to begin with and not limited by memory capacity.

 

hmm. ok.... its just i think i remember seeing somewhere they got similarish 3dmark scores. so the 9600m gt will be substantially better...?

 

Yes, if we are talking DDR2 vs GDDR3.

 

The 9600M GT DDR3 matches with the 4650M DDR2 only cause the architecture of the M96 core is superior to the G9x. I'm not sure how GDDR3 matches up to DDR3 in real life experiences.

 

The 9600M GT GDDR3 is still better than the HD 4650 DDR2 overall; however, for a more accurate result, you would need to specify game, resolution, and settings.

 

ok thats fine... i can get the 9600m gt cheaper anyway
thanks!

 

i thought 9600m gt is only ddr2?

 

Incorrect.
My gpu is 9600m GT GDDR3.

Most gpu's come in all types of flavours ... although some manufacturers keep making ddr2 cards for their cheapness and suckering up people with the thought that having 1GB of ram on such a slow bandwidth would run even the most demanding games, when in reality, the cards would easily choke.

 

well all the ones in hp were DDR2... as far as i know... the GDDR3 version of 9600M GT with an OC should beat the 4650 DDR2.

 

The 9600m GT GDDR3 is an underclocked 9700m GT GDDR3 card anyway.
So essentially, OC-ing the card by 25% puts it on a level above (where it should be anyway).

The 4650 DDR2 to my knowledge is apparently close, if not identical to stock 9600m GT GDDR3 due to the new architecture (as it was already mentioned), but I doubt it's faster.
The GDDR3 version of stock 4650 mobile would likely be on the level of 9700m GT though.

But overall, the 4650 benefits from being on a smaller manufacturing process, and having a better architecture.
Though, I would still recommend getting the GDDR3 versions of gpu's.
Messing with DDR2 is just a simple no-go if you want to ensure performance in games that will last for some time.

 

ok... just one more part of the question now... which runs hotter?

 

Heat is more a function of the laptop's cooling capabilities than the actual power consumption of the GPU. So if you want a more specific answer, list out which company and model you're looking at.

 

what card would do better at higher res in game : 5870 or the 285m GTX? i am considering the Sager NP8690 which can be configured with either card while the 285m GTX is $55 more i would defo get the NP8690 with the 5870 over the Envy

 

get the 5870.

 

Easier Said The Done, I Live In UK - That Should Say It All!
i would get the Sager with the 5870 but cant find them for sale within UK

 

Kobalt Computers will have them soon. Give them a call.

 

I was looking for a GPU that will play games of the next 5 yrs atleast and one which won't bottleneck i7 720QM.

what category should i be looking in, performance or high end?

 

You would need to get the best GPU available, even then you would have to lower the settings in 2-3 years.

 

That would be...
No.1 ATI Mobility 5870
No.2 Nvidia 285M

Bottleneck is not the GPU, it's always the CPU, because upgrading CPU improves the overall performance of the GPU and not vice versa.

 

surely in any 2 machines with the same cooling one card will run hotter than the other.... but anyway its for the one in my sig, and will most likely have a coppermod.

(and my gpu maxes out at 58, when playing for about 3 hours and with no cooler)

 

is that a reply to this:

I was looking for a GPU that will play games of the next 5 yrs atleast and one which won't bottleneck i7 720QM.

what category should i be looking in, performance or high end?

 

Single Card, the HD5870M overclocked in a Clevo W870CU.

Moo's godly Vantage GPU score.

 

Answer is NONE, ZERO. You won't get that in a mobile form. If you want to keep playing the latest games with good performance I think you can only hope for 2 years, maybe 3 years.

But considering Sony has already stated they won't be upgrading the PS3 for another 5 years, and current trend is porting console games to PC rather than the other way around, there may be hope for PC gamers. We may not need to upgrade every frustrating 1-2 years anymore

Game developers do not set the requirements for their games based on mobile components, but desktop.

Let's compare the current desktop HD5870 vs mobile HD5870



Even the fastest Mobile GPU is about performance of a high mid-range desktop. The high end desktop to me is about a generation ahead already.

 

Do you guys know if the front page is updated?

cause i was wondering what is a better buy for a laptop a 330 nvidia or 5650 ati card?

 

ATI 5650 is a bit better in terms of performance. Plus it supports DX11.

 

anyone?

 

Where would u place ATI HD 5870 on this list?

 

You shouldn't look for cooler card but for better performer. But if you insist, I think ATI would be less hot.

On top.

 

What is the cheapest laptop with an ATI graphic card? The power of the card doesn't matter as long as it has a decent CPU. Anything like this available in a portable laptop?

Thank you

 

Any laptop that isn't portable?? Anyway you missed the subforum, maybe you can ask at the "What should I buy?"