xps m1530 graphics card

I keep on hearing that the m1530's 256 8600m gt comes with Gddr3 memory which i have no idea what it is! they say it's better then ddr2. By how much? and can anybody tell me if the graphics card actully comes with gddr3 because the website doesn't say. So is this a good graphics card? I'm planning to play spider man 2, harry potter 1,2,3, oblivion, gears of war, cod4, bioshock,crysis,assainins creed and the up coming mass effect.

 

the 8600M GT is a great card, and yes it comes with GDDR3 memory. This memory I believe runs at higher speeds than DDR2. With my experience with DDR2 is that when I tried overclocking it, the highest speed I could get the memory to was 400 MHz (I think, if my memory hasnt' gone on me), while people with GDDR3 memory could get as high as 600~700MHz.

 

My cards speeds.... Core 475MHz, Memory 400MHz. DDR2 stock speeds. I can overclock to 525MHz on the memory no problem.

 

475core/702memory are the default clocks for the GDDR3 version. Which you can OC a very good ammount.

 

400MHz is the stock speed for most ddr2 8600m gt's.I can only push mine to about 449MHz.

 

Hey guys this is gonna be a resource thread for m8600 Overclockers who might not know what to shoot for.
Overall the 8600 is a dynamic OC card and each card can have highly variable OC clocks.

But generally people will OC to around nearly the same clock speeds..or not, but if you're new to OCing, this will serve as an estimate of how much you can OC

For the sake of clarity please list your video driver version, and Core/Memory clock speeds, if you have a 3dmark06 score, please post also. Please note if you're using a different OC software rather than rivatuner. What are your temperatures while running most games?

 

My m8600gt Oced to

590/880

driver 174.74

running stable with average temp at 76 while running games

 

if you can't even spell 8600m gt correctly, you might wanna stay away from OCing.

 

ok so the m1530 grahpics card comes with the gddr3? but i checked the website and whats with the ram having ddr2? are they both two different things? and the m1530 comes 4 gigs of ram is that great?

 

What would be the best drivers to use on the vNidia m8600gt running Windows PX?

 

What are the stock clocks in the M1530?
I've done a search, and found various numbers, so I'm pretty curious now.

Rivatuner doesn't autodetect properly at all (I'm using Forceware 174.31 driver)... so I want to set the stock clocks manually.

I've found:
475/700
605/625

Also let me know what the shader clock should be, just want to make sure rivatuner is linking them (core+shader) correctly.

Thanks in advance.

Edit - oops, meant to post this in the Dell forum. Please move if possible.

 

i think it's 475/700. the other number you found is probably an overclock.

 

Dont get confused between regular memory and graphic memory..
Regular memory is DDR2 and graphic memory can be GDDR2 or GDDR3.

Right now on a Santa Rosa platform, you can only use up to a DDR2 regular memory, but the XPS M1530 uses a GDDR3 graphics memory, and its got 256mbs, and you could get up to 4GB of regular memory..

 

i heard the 174.74 is the best but i use the 169.04

 

think of it this way:

the ddr3 graphics memory is ONLY for the video card...

and the 4gb ddr2 memory is for the entire system, and the video card might even borrow some of that.

 

No, the 475 is the stock clock on the DDR2 card...at least that's what my DDR2 is. Depends on which clock you're talking about though.

The DDR3 card definitely outperforms the DDR3.

I've had 3dmark06 score ~4100 when I was running XP

And I've heard of scores in the 5000+ (perhaps high 5k range) with the DDR3 card.

EDIT: I didn't read your post thoroughly

I've stably OC'd my rig (DDR2) to:
Core: 590
Memory: 490
Shaders: 1180


I stand corrected, I thought both clock-speeds were higher stock =\

 

475 is the stock clock on the gddr3 variant, too. the memory clock is what separates them.

 

475/702 is stock clocks.

 

There were a lot of threads on the 8600M-GT and the Dell XPS M1530; in the future, check the last few pages of discussion for similar threads before creating a new one. Thanks.

 

Windows Pixies?

 

WHAT?? Windows Pixies?? NEW OS??? OMG i gotta get that

 

Okay so stock clocks (DDR3 card) are 475/702. That's what rivatuner autodetected mine at, so it must have actually been right. Now I'm wondering what some stable (for others) high clocks are that I can try out, but everyone's definition of stable is different so...

What games did you play and for how long? Any artifacts visible?

Also, is artifacting different when the memory is o/c'd too high, vs. when the core is o/c'd too high? Or will the artifacting look the same for either case? Just curious if there's a way to decipher between the two.

 

Why is it sooooo important to overclock? If you need more performance. Buy a new notebook with a better card in it. Don't forget that overclocking can cause huge problems with heat. Laptops cannot get rid of heat anywhere near as well as desktops so overclocking is really not the best idea.

 

It's not "important" but it's great. I ran my previous laptop overclocked for 5 years, and I'm still typing on it now. Nvidia cards run overclocked forever quite happily in my experience, and probably even moreso if you set up an overclocked profile for gaming and keep it underclocked at other times.

Basically it allows you to have the graphics performance of a computer of a heftier form factor (and/or higher price) without having to deal with either of those downfalls.

For me personally, the M1530 was an excellent balance of performance and size/weight (far lighter and sexier than most of today's DTR's, and still offers a WUXGA screen etc). However I really did want an 8700M GT DDR3 at minimum, and running the unit in the M1530 overclocked gives at least equal (very likely better) results with the greatest of ease. So basically, I get to have my cake and eat it too. It's not an 8800GTX, but hey, it's going to game pretty damn well especially for a system of its weight and size.

 

Good point. I have a 14.1" notebook so can't get rid of the heat as easily. Then again I don't have any problems playing games with settings set as I like. Once my notebook gets past it's 1st birthday I'll think about modding it to allow better cooling (Read cut bloody big holes in it) and then maybe look at overclocking it.

 

I'm running Windows Pixies SP4!! Freakin awesome!

 

Hey, I think it is safe to say a Mr. Rogers make-believe Windows Pixes is still better then the real-world Windows Vista

 

never! Windows RG is the bestest in the world!!

http://www.deanliou.com/WinRG/

 

The DDR3 version is about 30% faster than the DDR2.

i have a m1530 with 2.2ghz core2duo, 3gb ram, 8600m GT obv and i run cod4 seamlessly at high settings, bioshock very well on high settings, crysis ok on med settings and assasins creed ok on med settings (however, assassins creed is quite poorly optimized for pcs right now).

Bottom line, you can enjoy most modern games (with the exception of crysis) with great graphics and fps.

 

Wha..?

Of course the GDDR3 version is better than the DDR2 version, if that's where you're getting at. It won't show in most games, but at some newer games, the GDDR3 version can probably have some settings higher.

 

Why would it only show "in some newer games"? The GDDR3 versions, is a faster card. Period. No I am not "bashing" the DDR2. Just trying to understand that you are saying

Are you saying that it won't matter with a older game, because even with all the settings maxed it will still perform well on the 8600M GT regardless of the memory clock? Because it is not going to push the card anyways?

I can think of oh I don't know a dozen games off the top of my head that the GDDR3 version, will perform better then the DDR2 version just because it is a faster card.

COD4, TF2, HL2, WoW, Fear, Crysis, UT, Gears, Assians Creed, etc.......