What graphics card do I need in a laptop for games?

I'm looking to buy a second hand laptop, used or refurbished, and I think I need to stay away from integrated cards, but buy something which has a dedicated GFX in it. I don't know what laptop to buy before I know what graphics card will run the games nicely that I want to play. I'm not looking to play crysis type games. But I want to play point and click adventures. I know most people think they're easy to run on any old graphics card, but the later games of this genre are a bit more demanding, such as 'Amnesia Dark Descent' if you know of that one. Here's the spec it requires and if you watch the trailer, it might give you a better idea of what I'd need to run it.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent

I think that game, which is the closest my type of games gets to fps, is probably the upper limit of what I'd need to run the games in my genre, so whatever runs it well should run everything else fine I imagine.


Also, the specs for this game, which is cartoony point and click:

The Next BIG Thing System Requirements and The Next BIG Thing Requirements for PC Games

According to those specs, it seems I need something at least equivalent to GeForce 7800 GT, Radeon X800 XT, Radeon X1000/GF 6.

My budget is probably going to have to stretch. I was looking at this HP Compaq 6910p Laptop - Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz / 4Gb Ram | eBay

but I'm not sure it'll cut it, and it has integrated graphics. I'm not expecting to have something equivalent to my 5850 since my budget for a laptop isn't high enough, but something with some decent grunt.


Many thanks for any help.

 

The newer Intel HD 3000 IGPs inside the current Sandy Bridge notebooks are certainly a step up in performance compared to the older Intel IGPs, but if you want a inexpensive notebook with a good GPU you might want to take a look at some of the stuff AMD has.

Both AMD Brazos APUs (E-350 to E-450) and AMD Llano are really good notebook CPU+GPU packages.

What are some of the tasks you will use the notebook with other than "point and click" games?

 

Only wi-fi browsing and gaming. My desktop is my main pc. I suspect those ones you suggested are out of my price range, they're probably going to be around £300 to £400. I can stretch to about £250. I've seen plenty of refurbished laptops on laptopsdirect, and I can't find one with dedicated graphics. How about this one? GRADE A1- Acer Aspire 4552 Windows 7 Laptop A1/LX.R6202.022 - Laptops Direct

It's A1 condition meaning it's brand new, only box opened, and it has integrated RadeonHD 4250 (256MB dedicated memory)
Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 support. Any good?

 

Blimey, this 4250 seems pretty good. Think I might go ahead and buy this laptop. The games I'm going to run probably won't even need as much graphics processing as COD4.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Gameplay - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 - YouTube

 

I can recommend the Llano's. Great machine that overclock and undervolt well.

 

No doubt too expensive for me. What model are you talking you about?

I've found a possible purchase, an Acer Aspire 5742G which I think has i3 2.4GHz and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 540v with 512 MB dedicated video memory for £299 brand new.

 

It should be able to run COD4 close to max settings

A 540v is pretty much a underclocked version of A HD4570 and it will run most games on low to medium settings

 

Thanks. I thought I was onto a bargain with the Acer Aspire 5742G, but it seems they made a mistake by keeping it listed. When I noticed the 'buy now' button was missing, I realised it must be sold out.

I'm at a real loss as to what to get now.
I'm only going to use this casually and don't want to be spending hundreds of pounds. There's loads of laptops in my price range with excellent spec, fast enough cpus, enough hard drive. It's just finding a damn graphics card that will play everything well which is pushing my budget up and up.


So what model of laptop are you talking about with the llano and brazos? You never said. And I can't find much info on different models. I can only find these http://www.click2buydirect.co.uk/le...4-3300m-4gb-ddr3-500gb-dvd-rw-dl-amd-rad.html
http://www.ebuyer.com/275878-lenovo-thinkpad-edge-e525-laptop-nz62guk

Looks very good. And is that AMD Radeon HD 6480 a good gpu?

 

DV6z here in US you can get base model for like $600. Add dedicated GPU, better CPU (although realizing not entirely necessary), and 1080p screen, will cost you about $800 with coupons.

 

I think you could find a good bargain on Dell Outlet UK, but you would still break your budget compared to the first notebook you listed.

The Arrendale notebooks got a pretty usable IGP if im not mistaken.
(Also battery life is top notch.)
http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/...n=3201&SC=lowToHigh&c=uk&cs=ukdfh1&l=en&s=dfh

 

Thanks HTWingNut and DEagleson. I'm struggling to find anything on dell outlet within my price range that is suitable.

But anyway, wow, what do you think of these? Didn't think pcworld would have anything which wasn't overpriced and underspecced.
Which is the better gpu/cpu combo here for gaming? That radeon 6310M would be a good dedicated card, no? Or maybe it's not dedicated.
Would either of these be better than a laptop with a 4250 gfx and good enough to run those games I linked at the start of the thread, or are they
just no good?


LENOVO G575 15.6" £299.99



LENOVO G575 15.6" Laptop - Black at cheap prices | PC World

Processor AMD Dual-Core E-350 1.6Ghz 1Mb Cache memory
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
RAM 4gb, DDR3
Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 6310M


this video shows crysis on lowish settings playing pretty smooth with the same cpu/gpu, so can't be too bad? I'm not even really gonna play anything as intensive as crysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQLxP-gIlL0
............................................................

HP Pavilion G6-1189SA 15.6" Laptop - Sonoma Red £399.00

HP Pavilion G6-1189SA 15.6" Laptop - Sonoma Red at cheap prices | PC World


Processor Intel Core™ i3-370M
- 2.4 GHz
- 3 MB L3 cache
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64
RAM 4 GB, DDR3
Graphics card Intel HD, up to 1.66 GB

 

listen to me.

i bought my laptop for 629 cad. which is like 200 your dollars

get a laptop with the 5650m inside. runs all games high. and is dirt cheap

dont listen to the other people. they are rich

 

Well, what laptops have that card?

 

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Scroll down there is an endless list just after the benchmarks. Card should handle most games on low-med for the year.

Also not sure how easy it is to find around you but if you can get an Asus K53TA it seems to be a match made in heaven for you.

 

at 1366x768 it handles all games high. even metro 2033

 

try google or one sec

 

Thanks godly_skillz. I'll go through the list of notebooks with that 5650. I'll see if I can afford any of them. I don't feel optimistic though!

Thanks mate, stupid me, I never scrolled down enough.

Oh yeah, believe me, I tried and lost! Here's my other thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...rds/611251-asus-k53ta-bbr6-gaming-laptop.html


Honestly, though, I've just looked at quite a few youtube videos with the
E-350/ HD 6310M running crysis, crysis 2, colin mcrae, some other MW type game, and they all run great. Surely it's good enough to handle the 2 games in my opening post, 'amnesia' and 'next big thing'?

 

As I thought, very expensive for a laptop with the 5650. Around £700 new.

But, is this worth bidding on? I'm tempted.

Acer Aspire 5553G 15" Laptop Computer RRP£350 NR | eBay

Testing
We have tested this item and can confirm that it is in full working order.

This item comes with the following accessories:
Battery
Power Lead
Mains Adaptor
Instruction Manual
Original Box
Please note NO other parts or accessories are included.
Please see photos for everything that is included with this auction.

We cannot vouch for the battery's ability to hold its charge. I wonder if it'll mean a new battery, which is about £48

Condition
This item is in good cosmetic condition. There may be a few minor cosmetic marks to the casing. Please refer to photos for details.

Original RRP - £350

Product Specification
Brand: Acer
Model: Aspire 5553G

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium
Processor: AMD Phenom II N950 Quad-Core 2.10GHz
RAM: 6GB
Hard Drive: 750GB
Optical Drive: DVD RW
USB Ports: 4
Card reader: Yes
Screen Size: 15.6"
Graphics Card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650

 

very worth it

 

I hope the final bid doesn't exceed a certain amount and that I can bid at an affordable price in the last minute before it ends. Be interesting to see what it fetches, but for a high spec like that, I imagine it'll be out of range for me. We'll see.

Also, there's this one. Only 7 RTB day warranty.

Acer 7551G 500GB DDR3 AMD PHENOM II TRIPLE CORE N834 HD5650
Buy it now £425 (* includes £15 shipping)

17.3 inch Acer CineCrystal™ LED TFT display with High Definition + resolution
1600 x 900
2.1GHz AMD Phenom II Triple-Core N830 Processor - 1.5MB L2 Cache and 3600MHz Front Side Bus
4GB RAM DDR3
500GB SATA Hard Drive
ATI Radeon HD5650 graphic card
Up to 2815MB DDR3 graphic memory (1GB dedicated)
Built-in 1.3MP WebCam and Microphone. Built-in WiFi b/g/n
Built-in 5 in 1 Memory Card Reader. DVD Dual Layer writer.
3 x USB 2.0 port. HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet and VGA ports.
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - English version
MANUFACTURER REFURBISHED

IN VIRTUALLY NEW CONDITION
COMES WITH BATTERY
AND POWER SUPPLY
BOXED

 

Personally, I would not recommend any mobile AMD cpus except the newer Llano cpus. I had some really bad experiences with mobile AMD cpus in the past. They heat up like crazy and they are slower than their evenly clocked Intel counterparts.
It is just my opinion and recommendation.

 

hi
friends , im harry,
i m not kow more about this but i thinks this is useful for you.
thank you
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ATI RADEON HD 5670 – SERIES GRAPHICS CARDS FROM AMD