What is the desktop equivalent to nVidia 8600M GT?

hi guys,

well, i know in general desktop GPUs are better to it's corresponding Mobile GPUs. i'm just curious to know in general what is the most closest performer to 8600M GT on desktops?

tomshardware.com normally release benchmarks for almost all desktop GPUs and they are pretty reliable. i just want compare 8600M GT against those benchmarks.

cheers

 

probably the 8600 gs

 

But there is no desktop 8600GS available if I recall.

For a DDR2 card, I would say a 6800Ultra and the GDDR3 a 7600GT XXX

 

Yeah the 6800 Ultra seems equal :O

 

According to this, I don't think so, I can get around 7000 3DMark05 slightly overclocked with the DDR2 version.

 

But those results are in 1280x1024 resolution, while the normal of 3d mark 05 is 1024x768.

I saw a test once (I don't remember the site) and the DDR2 8600M gt was a hair(3-5% if I remember well) slower than the desktop 7600gt.
The gddr3 version should be a bit slowe than the desktop 8600gt, they have the same memory clocks but the core clock is slowe on the mobile version(540x475)

 

This chart here might help.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/03/the_best_gaming_graphics/page6.html

 

jaslyn, a good one... well, looks like mobile GPUs are quite behind the corresponding desktop GPUs. i wonder why they call the same model name if there is a such gap in performance.

 

That is why they added the 'M' after the model number. They have never claimed to be on par with the desktop counterparts.

 

i know, but for them to call mobile GPUs the same model number there has to some sort of similarity. i'm guessing it may be the GPU core.

 

Your guess that the GPUs are simiar would be correct. The 8600m uses Nvidia's G84 GPU. This is the same chip used in the desktop 8600GTS and also I believe the 8600GT. The difference is that the desktop 8600GT is clocked at 625MHz while its mobile counterpart is only clocked at 475MHz. There is actually a post where someone tricked the Nvidia drivers into thinking their 8600mGT was a desktop 8600GTS and they got some nice performance gains from it.

 

Got the link to that?

 

i see...

But i suppose the main reason why nVidia keep the clock low on mobile GPU is probably because to keep the heat under control. desktops can handle bigger cooler system while obviously laptops can't. it may not be a good idea to over clock so much...

 

Actually the biggest difference is the mobile GPU's have fewer shader units and have the memory bus effectively cut in half, crippling the memory bandwidth. By controlling the memory bandwidth, you affect the overall performance of the card, and therefore power and thermals as well. Along with clock speeds, it is the perfect "tuning" tool to keeping these laptop cards under control.

The GPU is the same architecture found in the desktop parts though.

 

i read that post.the person got preformance gains cause he updated the drivers from the stock ones.even if the computer reads it as an 8600gt the spped wont increase and it wont magically become more powerful

 

OK, that makes sense now. I was wondering how changing the hardware ID then reinstalling the drivers made a difference. I was going to try it myself and see what happened, but I won't be bothering now.

Unless I'm just not seeing something, both the 8600m and the desktop 8600 have a 128-bit bus, so no change there. Also according to Nvidia's site, both cards have the same number of stream processors. If I'm overlooking or misreading something, by all means, please point it out. I'm always open to learning something.

 

I happen to have a 8600GT and a 8600M GT coincidentally.

Yes I thought that the mobile versions performed below than the desktop versions and to me the 8600M GT is slower than my desktop version but I wouldn't say greatly.

Would it be maybe more closer to a 7600GT or in between that and the 8600GT?

 

I'd say the 7600gt desktop is little bit faster than a 8600gt ddr2 and probably equal to a 8600gt dd3. Thats using 3dmark05/06 and from the limited tests i've done in CoD4 it get similar frame rates. I generally use to the rule that the lapto version is roughly equal to the previous generation desktop model. I.e a 8600gt lap to a 7600gt desk, a 8800gts lap to a 7950gt desk etc but again thats only roughly.

You've got to remember the incredible power reduction that has to be achieved to make laptop gpus survive lol. I mean 35W for a 8800gts hitting 90003dmark06! A 7950gt desktop card hits over 100Watts at speed.

Also remember that the desktop 8600gt is barely faster than the older 7600gt it was replacing.....it was a bit of a crap generation upgrade for the middle graphics market.

Dave

 

However, the 8600M GT GDDR3 is a solid mid-range mobile card..

 

Actually I'd say the 8600GT is better than the 7600GT and more closer to a 7900GS.