Upgrade from Nvidia GT 630M to GT 650M for a casual gamer worth it?

I am about to pull the plug on HP dv6t now. Is the upgrading the GPU worth it for $75? I am just a casual gamer.

The 630M has 1GB GDDR3 VRAM and the 650M comes with 1 GB GDDR5 VRAM.

 

Yes, because the 630M is just a weak 540M rebranded.

I would get the 2GB if I can, crysis 2 eats 1.3GB on 720P (extreme quality), on my 630M.

With a faster card, a 2GB memory would mean eliminating bottleneck and better resale value, plus the added bonus of future proofing if games in the future would take more memory

 

Get the 650m without a doubt. Its a much better card for that upgrade price.

 

Depends on what you mean by casual gamer.

If you want to play a first person shooter or a newer title, then yes definitely go with the 550.

If you are just going to play casual games like Zuma, Bejewelled etc. then no, it is not worth it.

 

If you might sell your laptop in the future, I suspect it would enhance your resell value beyond the $75. The 650m makes it a viable gaming laptop.

 

The upgrade from DDR3 to GDDR5 will also make a huge difference and $75 is a small price to pay.

 

650M can play most games at medium settings.

 

the difference in performance seems a lot bigger than the number of dollars you listed.

 

Thanks guys. I am going to upgrade the GPU, rather than regretting for not doing it later.

 

And you can easily overclock that gt650m ddr5 to 660m speed... minus the ram...

 

Acually, a laptop with a ddr5 650m and turbo allowed can be FASTER than a laptop with the 660m and no turbo (which is OEM optional I understand). The 650m can boost 15% allowing it to reach 845mhz and the 660m is stock 835mhz. My dv6t has the 1GB ddr5 650m and it runs at the turbo frequency in BF3. GPU-Z showed I was at 835mhz for a consistent period of time (as in I played like an hour or more). This means that if another manufacturer put a 660m in the machine and did not enable turbo or if the laptop ran too hot, that my 650m is just as good. (and cheaper )

The 650m is a good mid-level card that will let you play anything. It offers very decent performance at mainstream pricing. The 630m will do it for you if you want to play at 1366x768 on low or medium settings, but it is old tech (hotter, less power efficient, etc) and isn't near the 650m. If you are sure you don't want to play recent or serious games, the 630m may be ok. If you are unsure or think you want to play new games into the future, get the 650m. $75 isn't really that bad (it was $50 when i ordered though). The 2GB version will offer very very little advantage in most circumstances (although in some games it does make significant differences at high resolutions/settings). The dv6tqe with the 650m is a great value and I venture to say no other option matches the performance at this price.

USE THE 33% COUPON!!! Google "hp coupon" and you'll find it. Get the matte 1920x1080 screen ($100 upgrade using 33% coupon on your purchase) difference is night and day. Really. You won't regret it and you should still be in the $900 neighborhood. Good luck!!

 

Iron Dan, thanks for your advice. I know about the 33% off coupon, this price is just too hard to resist. I don't play any games as of now, but I might play some racing games (Need for speed) in the future. The 630M should be enough for that.

I am upgrading the display too. I do know that the kepler 650M would be more energy efficient than the fermi 630M. You are right, the HP dv6t is low priced for it's hardware. I was considering the Lenovo Y580, but it has a glossy FHD screen, so I didn't buy it.