would the 330m be a decent upgrade to my 9600m gt 512?

I am wondering what the gaming performance differences would be between these cards.

Thanks!

 

About 20% according to the data in notebookcheck. I am not sure if 20% could be called a decent upgrade or not.

 

3Dmark06 (I assume you are talking about the new Mac, then 3Dmark06 will be more appropriate since I doubt a Macbook can really play any newer games that has similar setup as vantage):
9600M: 5163
330M: 6539

Not a lot of difference, and considering that the new MBP's version of 330M only has 256/512 ram, difference is even smaller.

 

That's the 9600M GT. The 8600M GT (which is in the 15" MBP) gets ~3300 in 3DMark06, so he'll be roughly doubling the performance.

That said, the 330M is anemic compared to what Apple could have put in there. A Radeon 5650 would use less power than the 330M and perform faster.

 

The topic is 9600M though, perhaps a typo.

 

No. My DDR2 8600M GT matched with a 2.5 GHz C2D gets 3960-3980 in 3DMark06 (depending on the drivers; all at stock speeds). The GDDR3 variety that is in the MBP is significantly faster so I would guess going from that to 330M would be on the order of a 40% increase -- not trivial, but nowhere near doubling.

I think they wanted the Optimus GPU switching for battery life.

 

If this is for gaming, I must say, Apple failed pretty badly this time. You know your hardware's bad when your knockoff (Envy 15) decimates you in both price and performance. $1800 base price for the 15", I mean didn't the Envy just sell for $950?

 

do you really think the market that buys macs want a gaming machine? you think macbook pros are competing with the envy as a gaming laptop? yes for half the price you can get an hp envy with better hardware components(apple owns in build quality). I however will never buy hp due to crappy customer service and defective laptops. my opinions are based on mainstream laptops from in the past and dont know about the envy series but in general hp is garbage.
EDIT: i own a vaio z but have used macs

 

I wouldn't say Apple has great build quality... Also, while the HP consumer side isn't anything to write home about, their business side is one of the top in the industry.

 

their business side is make laptops cheaply and make large profit which should be everyones goal. they are successful on the business side however their laptops are not high quality. im not arguring that they arent the largest computer manufacturing in the world (or are they #2 and dell #1?) but that they put out inferior products(not components)

 

Apple doesn't manufacture anything... It's all outsourced.

BTW they don't even design the MacBook Pro, the design is outsourced to a Taiwanese firm.

Apple is purely a brand name.

When they say you dump thousands for just the name, it's really really true...

 

I definitely disagree that HP business (Elitebooks) are not high quality. I would rate them much better than the MBP in terms of build quality and support.

 

ok so back to the original quote. apple is not trying make the 15" mbp compete with the 15" hp envy. and yes this has little to do with the thread about an upgrade in gpus. sry for getting off topic. hp vs apple could go on all day in another thread.
EDIT: mind you a dumb comparison to begin with

 

I don't think so. The 15" HP Envy is a beast in it's own right.

The new MBP just follows the same formula of adding new hardware to make Apple fans believe it's a worthy upgrade to spend another 2K on it. But it also follows their long battery life, running cool formula.
- And you know Apple fans are going to rush out and upgrade to this new version even though the new version has a higher price tag than before and barely any noticable change in performance.
- But hey, I'm not an Apple fan so I'm exactly sure what drives these nutheads to throw away money. When I upgraded, I upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7, from the first generation of core 2 duo to i7 720QM and from 8600 to HD5870 with a larger screen with higher resolution with 10X the HDD space and 4X the ram, and I spent less than before... So I really really don't understand Apple fans, they baffle me.

Envy while has taken almost all the cues from MBP in creating an attractive notebook, also offers the alternative, looking good while providing power.

 

I think the OP's TITLE should give you a bit of cue as to what the OP might be asking for, no? Or did you even read his main post?

 

I totally agree with this...

The envy is a way better option than the apple...looks like its been cemented for sure now..... I can't and nver had much to say about apple macbooks ... ..

 

hey , i said that hes asking about upgrading gpus not upgrade between apple and hp...

 

This is what you said, yes? Now, go read about the OP again. This thread is about the OP and his 9600M GT, not the market that buys macs.

 

He owns a 15" MBP

Few days ago, the current 15" MBP used a 9600M.

The newly anounced has 330M

Let's use our heads a little bit.

 

so are you trying to say that apple is trying to make a gaming laptop to compete with the envy 15? they put a 330m in there not a 5830. if they were trying to beat your beloved envy why the hell didnt they put a card comparable to it....maybe they arent trying to match the envy nor compete with its market....
yes the OP is asking about the gpus but if the OP is buying a laptop for gaming why did he buy a mac? he didnt want you to tell him that the envy with a superior graphics card will be able to beat the new macbooks with the 330m in gaming because hey thats not what the hell they were designed for

 

I'm saying that Apple made a stupid decision sticking with Nvidia. The card uses a lot more power than any ATI card to do the same job. So they could have had the same thermal envelope and faster graphics, or a lower thermal envelope and the same graphics.

 

that may be true im not familiar with performance/wattage ratios but someone earlier was comparing an 15 envy to the new 15 macbook citing price difference and use of different graphics cards which is completely irrelevant. if you want a 5830 for gaming get the envy but most people who buy macs dont buy macs for the high-end graphics which is exactly why apple didnt out a high-end graphics card in there. so yes for half the money you can get a envy but the truth is if you were gonna buy a new macbook not having a 5830 doesnt really factor in too much

 

here's my take on things: the OP stated implicitly he wants a gaming notebook, so I said the Envy 15 is better for him than the MBP. Do you agree with me or disagree? sheesh
Like many have pointed out, an overpriced status item will always just be an overpriced status item, yes, there is a market for it, which gives it value. No questions about that. But the OP came to a notebook forum's video card section and asked about video card performance, so I gave him an answer that has some technical content rather than "if you want a macbook then just buy one! you have no choice anyway, so why ask about the video card?"

 

i can agree that if you want a gaming notebook yes the envy is better suited for that. however, you said apple failed if they are trying to make this a gaming notebook and that the envy does indeed beat it in price and performance. my question to you is do you think apple is trying to compete with the envy? also hp has their envy series and apple has their pro series. do you think that the pro series is apple's gaming series as hp's envy series is their gaming series? and yes before it was hp envy it was voodoo pcs which were gaming pcs

 

I think the HP Envy is no longer a true gaming PC. HP definitely saw the success MacBook Pro has among those who are very conscious of how pretty their notebook is and made those adjustments to the Envy. Which is too bad since Voodoo was a great gaming PC company.

 

good point +1

 

Going back to OT ...

The 330M is a solid card as far as mid-range ones go ... however, I wouldn't recommend getting it as a replacement for the 9600m GT because the performance difference is not really there to justify it in my personal view.

Furthermore, the 9600m GT can be easily overclocked by 25% and reduced in voltage to 0.89V under the said OC resulting in a faster (just above 9700m GT - although the 9600m GT IS the 9700m GT anyway but with lower stock clocks) and cooler card.

So getting the 330M wouldn't really be worthwhile really.

As far as performance/power/costs go, I would personally look into ATI midrange solutions that either go above the 330M, or into entry high-range gpus containing a 256bit bus or GRRD5.

 

My fault I did mean 8600Gt 512 as my sig states my current setup. I use the notebook for work and play and I like the macbook for a few reasons:

1. Style and build...yeah I like the feel of the frame and the clean looks.
2. I use bootcamp so I run windows for games and work and Mac OS for my music recording stuff and other creative things.
3. I like to game so I need decent power at least able to play the latest games at decent framerate and quality.

My old MBP in my sig is great and served me well but its getting old and will need to be replaced eventually.

Thanks for the comments!

 

not gonna happen with the 330.
newish games you can prob run at native res on low or low/medium settings. and stay above 30 FPS
I have a 330 1GB in an i5 HP and its NO gaming card thats for sure.

when I get my MBP 15 and 17" then I can say for sure.

 

hmmm well I thought my current MBP with the 8600 GT 512 did fine, it ran crysis at medium settings no problem...yeah its no high end card but its no slouch either. if I want flawless gaming I go to my desktop and my 295gtx.

Is the 330 WORSE than my 8600GT? Or has apple downgraded its midrange graphics offering by todays standards as compared to 3 years ago?

 

Of course the 330m is better.

 

The 330M is slightly better than a 9600... its the same type of low-mid-range card with a few refinements.

Unless you have a way to bring the macbook down to around 900-1100, you are being horrifyingly ripped off.

A reminder, Apple reliability/quality is now tied with DELL. (so mediocre at best)

Unless you absolutely MUST use OSX, Macbooks are not recommended for anyone. (Even if you hate Windows, buying a non-apple laptop and loading *nix is looking really good right now.)

 

The 330m (provided it's GDDR3 or DDR3) is definitely better than your 8600m GT in every retrospect.

Raw speed wise, I'd say you will experience about 40 to 50% increase (if you game at the same resolution as with the 8600).

Finally, when you take into account a smaller manuf. process, core/shader/memory speeds, plus larger number of pipelines ... yeah, the 330M is a definite improvement.

Also, I agree with the quality of Mac's being mediocre or at least on par with other manufacturers of regular laptops.

Personally, I never saw any need in Macs due to their horrifically high price tags (and the fact you can get a much better laptop for that price) plus I get my job done on an equal level of speed and efficiency using Windows.
But this is just a personal preference.

 

it is not worse but seriously isn't much better.. u don't want to get a Macbook.. it's just not worth the price... its too average for gaming with a super high pricetag.. i would consider something like the envy 15 or MSI GX640 if u want a gaming notebook which is light..

 

Well, it IS much better when compared to the 8600m GT, though I agree there are better options out there.