Deciding on GPU for p150sm

Hey guys, I'm currently in my third year of college and its right around time to replace my old Acer so I've decided on the p150sm. I'm a casual gamer, right now I mostly play only TF2 and other FPS's so I don't really need the power of the 770M or HD 8970M, but since this is the last computer that my parents will help me pay for, I'm looking to get something that will still be at least in the upper low-end 4-5 years from now. Do you guys think that the HD 8970M is worth the extra money compared to the 770M? Keep in mind that although higher performance of the 8970M is nice, I'm more interesting in its ability to resist becoming obsolete.

 

Casual Gamer ?, i have gtx 770m i play all games with different settings i think 8970m wont have as good drivers for a long time with nvidia making gtx 770m more effective over time.

My opinion is i think you should choose the gtx 770m.

 

I also would go with the Nvidia cards, their driver support typically is better.

 

When it comes down to ability not to become obsolete it simply comes down to raw power and the 8970M has a large lead over the 770M.

 

To fight it becoming obsolete, get the fastest gpu you can.

 

If you are not gonna want to upgrade to a new machine every year (like I did), then go for the best performance you can get.
The question remains if you should go all out on a nvidia gtx780m or buy the cheaper amd 8970m (with the risk of bad driver support with that Enduro thing).

Next year I will be upgrading to a new machine and by the looks of things, I will be getting it with nvidia gtx870m series.

The last perfectly working GPU for AMD was 6990m, which had no switchable graphics, but worked perfectly for all applications + gaming.
It even had higher scores for CAD programs than the nvidia....

 

I can tell you now, the 8970 is what I got in mine, and it's awesome. 80fps in Mechwarrior online

THe driver issues are less and less with each driver release, and honestly I've had no problems.

If you get the 8970, feel free to message me and I can help you with a few tips I've gained from having that same laptop

 

I can vouch that the 8970 is working great for me, too. I've upgraded to the latest beta drivers, and have seen significant improvements in DX9 games. I have the P150SM from Mythlogic (and will get around to editing my signature someday..).

 

See and I am the opposite, I had an 8970m in my P150SM and had nothing but problems at all times. I sent it back to my reseller and upgraded to a 780m and it runs great no problems, runs much cooler and doesn't have any of the issues I was having with the 8970m.

In all honesty the 8970 has the potential and the hardware to be an awesome card but it just did not work for me in the games I like to play.

 

Well that depends on the problems, you have to hit some pretty major ones to bring the 8970M to the same level as the 770M.

 

I wont lie, I was PISSED with AMD for quite some time when it came to drivers and the 7970m. I swallowed their garbage and bought their flagship GPU. Promises were coming left and right but results were so far delayed that honestly I had stopped gaming for a while. I was leaving my GPU to mine Litecoins for quite a while which actually ended up being quite lucrative for me. My 5 weeks of mining before they went way up in value netted me 1200 litecoins and I sold at $2.94 each. Oh yeah, I paid just shy of $1700 for this laptop too. lol

Getting back to the subject at hand - I have to say knowing that the 8970m is pretty much a modded version of the 7970m - results should come much much faster for this GPU if they are not already there. I'm sure there wil be some improvement as there always will be, but you shouldn't go through anything that us 7970m owners did a year or so ago. Also - you may want to consider which games you play the most. If its going to be BF4, I wouldn't even think about it any longer considering the partnership between BF4 and AMD. The difference would probably be less noticeable in something like a 780m - but for any of the GPU's that are a few steps down - I would have to venture to guess the AMD chips are going to start to really take the lead.

On the other hand you may just find yourself in a scenario where most of your games prefer the drivers from Team Green. Nvidia has consistantly shown they are the undisputed leaders in terms of driver support. I look forward to the day that AMD puts more of a focus and more importantly more resources on the development of drivers for their products. Considering all of the changes, I'm sure it has little to do with a desire to provide better support as much as it is a lack of ability to deliver because of resource and money issues. Things seem to be on a bit of an up trend for them, hopefully that will continue in terms of results and more importantly sales. More sales will mean more money in their pockets to hire more people to help in the development process.

 

Well with mantle hopefully that can push microsoft to tweak directX and get more performance for everyone.