NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS vs. Discrete nVidia FX370M vs. NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M

Hello folks,

I am choosing a laptop to buy, and I am currently undecided between a DELL Latitude E6400, a DELL Precision M2400 and a Sony Vaio CS. Their graphics cards are important to me because I like to play games, but build quality and performance are also important. So please can you folks advise me which of these cards are good for gaming?

NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS (from Sony Vaio CS)
Discrete nVidia FX370M (from Dell Precision M2400)
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M (from Dell Latitude E6400)

Thanks in advance!

 

All of those cards will be very close in performance.
None of them are good for gaming.
Top will probably be the FX370M (geforce equivalent of 9400, followed by the 9300M then the 160M (both are the same card, Geforce will have drivers optimized for gaming, quadro will be for 2D work).

 

Okay, thanks for the tips. Is it possible to "revert" the drivers on the Quadro 160M, to optimize them for gaming? Will it make much difference?

 

It is possible, but it won't make much of a difference. I suggest you fill out the "What notebook should I buy?" FAQ (and make a new topic) as your selection does not really meet your own requirements for gaming.

 

Thanks again for the reply!

Actually, the E6400 was suggested after I made such a post. I have been looking around at it, and I believe I will buy the E6400. The Sony is ugly and, worse than that, heavy (I've checked at a local store), and the E6400 is around 250 euros less than the M2400.

You couldn't know from this thread, but I am a mild gamer. I don't mind using medium or even low settings, and I play mostly old games (at least 2-3 years old) as I work too much to play current games anyway. In other words, performance (CPU, RAM, build quality) is more important than gaming and entertainment (GPU, speakers, large keyboard).

Thanks again!

 

if that quadro 160m can overclock as good as mine (140m), then you're good for gaming too

 

the latitude actually games quite well with the stock drivers, you dont have to hunt around for geforce drivers.

quadro drivers are also optimized for stability

 

the quadro 160m and Quadro fx 370m are the same cards, G94 based chips basically the same as the 8400m GS. They both are fairly weak for gaming graphics (good for business graphics), and both are crippeled by a 64 bit memory bus. Beware.

 

Like I said, I don't want to run the latest games (only Fallout 3 and Gothic 3, and then low settings will be enough). Portability and CPU/RAM are more important than gaming capability. I just would like to get a laptop that is reasonably portable (i.e. lightweight), but still has a decent graphics card. I haven't found any other than the Latitude E6400 that was to my liking (Sony CS is ugly and has bad costumer support). If you can suggest a similar laptop from another brand, I'll take a look