ATI Firepro M5800 Vs Quadro FX1800M Contradicting Fact!?! Need Help Choosing.7

So i was wondering if i could get some help with choosing which one is better for my HP 8540w laptop.

I looked around the internet for benchmark testings and here is what i found.

ATI FirePro M5800 - Notebookcheck.net Tech

NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

3DMark 06

FX 1800M scored 4 percent more

3DMark Vantage

FX 1800M scored -11 percent.

Cinebench R11.5

FX 1800M scored -8 percent

SPECviewperf 11

FX 1800M scored 40 percent more for solid works and etc.(SolidWorks is modeling &simulation program used for engineering)

Also, FX 1800M cost about $400 more to get as an option.


Edit.
both FX1800M and Firepro M5800 come in 1GB GDDR5 ram and 1GB DDR3 version.
However, in 8540w, FX1800M has 1GB GDDR5 ram and Firepro M5800 has 1gb DDR3 Ram, so i am not even sure the benchmark i found is even correct comparison...

So i am extremely confused. Is ATI Firepro somehow as just good or better than Nvida Quadro FX 1800M even though it is a lot more expensive??

I am mainly going to use the laptop for gaming. Cost may not be an issue, so please let me know which graphics card is better based on performance.

 

For Gaming, go FirePro M5800. The M5800 is literally a re-BIOS'ed Radeon 5730M. The FirePro is just more optimized at OpenGL and CAD development software than the Radeon equivalent for DirectX and Gaming. However, the 5800M can easily take Catalyst drivers meant for Radeon very easily with a simple softmod.

In contrast, the Quadros FX1800M is based off of the dated GT 335M GeForce. However, it has been modified a bit on the hardware and software levels to really crunch though OpenGL and CAD applications very well. nVidia modded Quadros cards to a point that it is difficult to make ForceWare gaming drivers to work on them properly. Therefore, they suffer in gaming performance vs. FirePro's, especially against the newer-generation M5800. However, when you are just taking about CAD and graphic-creation, the Quadros can take an edge, despite the older hardware. The reason is that nVidia really works hard to push every inch of OpenGL out of the Quadros, unlike ATI which just does a shallow BIOS modification.

Therefore for you sake for gaming as the primary motive, I'd go with the FirePro and save your money. It is technically better for gaming on the hardware level, since the 5730M is a superior card to the 335M-related Quadros and it is more moddable and adaptable to the DirectX drivers for gaming than the Quadros.

Also, the reason the Quadros is expensive is that nVidia really spends a lot of R&D making sure Quadros cards are pushing tremendous optimizations for expensive CAD and content creation software. However, it is still not great as a gaming card.

 

thx for the answer, but is does FX 1800M having GDDR5 while Firepro having DDR3 relevant?? Would GDDR5 give FX1800M a boost??

+rep

 

The newest Geforce driver Release 275.27 by Nvidia supports:

This driver supports the following NVIDIA notebook GPUs (please refer to the Products Supported tab for exceptions):

ION notebook GPUs.
GeForce 8M, 9M, 100M, 200M, 300M, 400M, and 500M-series notebook GPUs.
Quadro 5000M, 2000M and 1000M notebook GPUs.
Quadro NVS-series notebook GPUs (only those that support DirectX 10 or higher).
Quadro FX-series notebook GPUs (only those that support DirectX 10 or higher).

I have a Nvidia FX 770M and the Geforce driver install without any problem.
I also tested the Nvidia Quadro mobile drivers.
In my opinion the Geforce driver perform better than the drivers for Quadro mobile GPUs.

 

The memory type definitely makes a difference. GDDR5 is far superior to DDR3; however, exactly how much better depends on what type of things you'll be doing with your laptop's GPU. It would be best to ask this question and answer my question in the HP 8540w's owner's lounge so you can get real scores/FPS results from owners that have the GPU that you'll be purchasing.

 

buy the ATI, then buy a $200 FX 3800m off of ebay(GTX 280)

 

NO. NO NO NO.

8540w and 8740w = BIG differences, to be literal roughly 2x as big a card.

the only sensible upgrade attempt would be this card, and it would probably work. BTW its gddr5.

Wholesale del M14x HD6770M 1G DDR5 MXM3 VGA card

 

Side note, I have 2 fx 1800m gddr5. The performance is not so amazing. Its about that of a 9700m GTS and quadro fx 2700m.
I think we are at a time when smaller MXM A cards should be as good as the old g92s.
But if you really want one buy it from me for 150$ instead of a 400$ upgrade.

Unfortunately we wont see any better quadros in smaller 15.6" mxm A machines, they will be the quadro 2000m I think but it will take a while to make it into a notebook. Also, it wont be better than the 6770m or gt 555m gddr5.

 

for gaming on pro cards go ATI, I dont have the 8540 but the 8740W and for over $900 LESS my m7820(mr5870) is much faster than fx3800 I was running. before and even seems faster than the 5000 in a coworkers

the 5800 being essentially a 5730 is still a good little card.