Wondering if the GX640 is right for me...

Looked around, and wanted to jump the gun on a 8670, but found out with s/h, and everything else, it was just too much $$$ for the bank. Reading about the GX640, got me interested again.

I'm just wanting something cheap for high settings for the basic FPS's (TF2, LFD2, CS:S), along with medium-high settings for Starcraft 2 and Diablo III (once it's out). Is this asking too much from the GX640?

Also, I plan on hooking this up to a 1680 x 1050 external monitor... Will the games mentioned above still run fine on their respective settings, or will I see some noticeable lag?

 

The GX640 is actually a bit overkill for those games lol. It will definitely handle those games easily.

If what you plan on playing are those basic FPS games I don't think you need the GX640.

 

The GX640 has a native resolution of 1650x1050, so that monitor won't give it any issues.

This laptop can play nearly any game on Ultra settings with high fps. The only exception is Crysis (it can only play on high settings with good fps).

SC2 EASILY runs on Ultra. I played a lot of it during the beta... 1v1 through 4v4, even 4v4 all comps (very cpu intensive) runs very smoothly.

CS:S? Is that Counterstrike: Source? If so, wow you don't get what kinda laptop the GX640 is!

The graphics card is one of the best mobile cards available, and it's overclockable to 5870 speeds.

This is no low-end laptop.

Edit: Ninjaed . Agree with the above post. If you only want to play those basic games, a lower end laptop may be better as it will have better battery life/etc.

 

Thanks for the quick replies. Maybe I'm still stuck on the era where my Dell 1420 was struggling with TF2 with an 8400GS... I'm guessing the ATI 5850 has come a long ways then. What do you guys think about it handling Diablo 3 or Deus X3 once they're released?

 

Diablo 3 is an issue,

nobody knows how graphically demanding it will be.

Maybe it would be about WoW, or a bit higher,

so an 5850 would work great.

It could be overkill, but I'd play safe..

 

Seeing as how Diablo 3 is by Blizzard, I imagine the GX640 should handle it fine. I say that because Blizzard does a great job optimizing its games so that they consume minimal resources for maximal graphics. Just efficient. SC2 has great graphics/animations/physics and it is fairly easily handled on Ultra settings.

I don't imagine Diablo 3 will be so much worse.

 

Yea like Zanner said Blizz does very well at making sure all its games run well on just about every conceivable built out there at the time of release. Granted it may not run on "Ultra" settings since we dont know what they are, but chances are you'll get damn close. Blizz isnt really know for making groundbreaking pretty games. But more of good quality games that just look good for their time.

As to deus x3 nooo freaking idea lol

It'll run sure, cant really promise you anything more then that.

And coming from a guy who is upgrading from and HP with the same vid card your gonna be happy. Im excited to rerun thru borderlands with more then 640x480 res this time lol.

 

this laptop is the best bang for the buck as far as a gaming laptop goes. The 3 year warranty is nice too!

 

Counter Strike Source: 1920 x 1080, max settings on all selections, max AA, max AF, Vsynch off (this would otherwise cap the FPS): Benchmark result:

197.98 FPS.



As for the battery: if you underclock the GPU to 100/100 on battery... it lasts 3+ hours with wifi on and surfing. Pretty impressive IMO.

Word of caution: the laptop is light. Yes. But once you add this power... uhh... brick to it, then not anymore...

One more thing. About those popular games you've mentioned. See the thing is this, those games, so far anyway, haven't been made out to be some sort of tech demo like Crysis was. Crysis is a 3 year old game that heavily stresses even today's high end PCs. The games you've mentioned are probably more designed to be run by average computers with average video cards, in which case, unless they come out in .. 3 years from now, the HD 5850 is more than enough.

 

Here's an idea what you can expect

 

^ thanks for that info. I'm guessing thats the same thing for TF2 right?

 

I am willing to sell my GX640 for around $950 (tentative.. might bump to $1000) + shipping.. it works perfectly, however, I don't need all of its gaming power. In fact, I have 0 games installed on it currently. So it's pretty useless with me.

PM if you want to talk more.

 

^ I wish you could have posted that 24 hours ago... I already put my order in yesterday...