(another graphiscs thread) Graphics on a budget

Hi there,

I am looking at buying a new Clevo from Logical Blue One, but am tying myself up in knots deciding what graphics card will be suitable.

The laptop is somewhat of a treat to myself (not that I've earnt a reward), and is to get me through university. I know this laptop will be fine for that (only concern is battery). I also, obviously, want it to be used for gaming. In saying that, I am not a huge gamer, primarily because my current laptop is so old I can barely run word, and my family desktop is not overly suitable for games (it'll run them, but it needs reconfiguring really). I don't see myself becoming a huge gamer, but I do still like some of the higher intensity and more modern games (I was enjoying BF3 on a friends computer the other day).

I have only mentioned the start prices of these laptops, as everything else I can customise the way I want, I'm just stuck with graphics.

Option C
First up we have the P150EM
The start price of this is $1589.00 and comes with a standard screen.
The graphics options (in my budget) are (default underlined):
1) nVidia Geforce GTX660M 1.0GB GDDR5 Dedicated Graphics [Subtract $60.00]
2) nVidia Geforce GTX670M 1.5GB GDDR5 [ETA 14th August]
3)nVidia Geforce GTX675M 2GB GDDR5 Dedicated Graphics [Add $179.00]
4)AMD 7970M 2GB Graphics Card GDDR5 [Add $199.00]

Option B
Next is the P151em1
The start price of this is $1,439.00 and with a 95%Gamut gloss screen as standard (it actually costs a dollar more to get standard matte..)
The options (default underlined):
1) nVidia Geforce GTX560M 1.5GB GDDR5 Dedicated Graphics [Subtract $80.00]
2) nVidia Geforce GTX670M 1.5GB GDDR5 [ETA 14th August]
3) AMD 6970M 2GB Graphics Card GDDR5 Dedicated Graphics [Add $129.00]

Option C
Lastly is the P151EM1B
The start price of this is $1,339.00 and also has the same 95%gamut gloss screen.
The options (default underlined):
nVidia Geforce GTX560M 1.5GB GDDR5 Dedicated Graphics [Subtract $80.00]
nVidia Geforce GTX660M 1.0GB GDDR5 Dedicated Graphics
AMD 6970M 2GB Graphics Card GDDR5 Dedicated Graphics [Add $129.00




There are small differences between the laptops (backlit keys, rubberized finish) which don't matter that much to me, as the rest of the options are standard across them. So the only differences between the laptops, for me, is the type of graphics card that can go in them. If I were to choose the nVidia Geforce GTX675M 2GB GDDR5 over the AMD 6970M 2GB, it's actually costing me $300 more.

Hopefully that all makes sense (you can see why I'm a bit confused) - and to make it all worse, the AMD 7970 problems aren't making it easier to decide.

Thanks in advance anyone

 

675/670 is old technology (580/570), so more heat and the 7970 is around 40% more powerful. 675 is around 16% more powerful than 6970

 

Even though the 7970M has some problems, it's still a great card.

But I would go with the P150EM + GTX660M.

That will give you good battery life and no problems to deal with.

Then you also have the option to upgrade the GPU down the road.

 

So even with the problems, the AMD7970 is a significantly better card, and has the potential to become even better (if they fix said problems)?

And am I right in saying, that in terms of performance, it goes AMD7970 2GB>GTX675 2GB>AMD6970 2.0GB>GTX670 1.5GB>GTX660 1.0GB>GTX 560 1.5GB? With battery life being the inverse of that?

At which level can you stop running higher intensity games with maxed settings?

 

In terms of performance, you're right.

But the 660m should give better battery life than the 560m (28nm vs 40nm).

I don't know the answer to the last question.

 

The 7970M is the only card on your list that will max out all current games with at least 30 FPS. For high settings, however, you can probably go as low as the 660M.

It really all depends on the games you play. If you play BF3, you will prefer a better card than if you play MW3.

 

Alrighty, thanks guys. That clears a lot up.

I'm also in contact with affordable computing, and I asked for a quote on some specs I was considering. They said they'd get back to me, as they were expecting the AMD7970 to come down in price on Tuesday or Wednesday... To speculate, does this mean that AMD have accepted it's problems and aren't fixing it, or it's just been out long enough to be dropped in price?

 

It's hard to know for sure the answer to that question. I would speculate that they're dropping the price simply because the card's been out for around 3 months and Nvidia have also recently reduced the price of their 680m. If AMD do leave everyone with a Sager and 7970m high and dry with no fix, they can be assured there will be far less people buying their next card that is released. They cannot ignore this issue as it pretty much is crippling its full potential atm.