GTX 480M , W880CU benched

Geforce GTX 480M，2GB 256bit GDDR5，Dx11，PhysX，MXM3.0b，100W

 

So the GTX480M is slightly worse than I had expected. A Vantage score of 8000 isn't very impressive with these overclocked 5870/5850 scores floating around. Before a final judgment we need to see what sort of overclocking headroom this card has.

 

Um... these are just pics taken from other reviews that have been out for awhile now.

 

if you run linux on your laptop, ati sucks... a bit faster bench mark is nice,,,but other things must be considered

 

Ok, here's why this isn't impressive at all:

Both Stock 700/1000.

 

We simply need to wait until we can overvolt the GTX 480M to 600/1200/750 ;-) Then we compare GTX 480M @ 600/1200/750 to Mobility Radeon HD 5870 @ 850/1000 and we'll finally have a winner...

 

Why 850 core for the 5870? Mine goes up to 930/1250 with relative ease. If you're going to do accurate OC comparisons, then clock the 5870s to their proper max limit. In fact, AW M15x owners have been hitting close to 1000 mhz on the core with their 5850/5870s.

 

Joker, your 5870's benching already triggered a helluva heat wave in Europe. Add 480M's and the planet explodes

 

True, don't know why I came up with 850, probably because its the stock HD 5770 clock. However, to keep temps down and give more oc headroom where it really counts it might be a better idea not to touch the memory clocks. Both cards have plenty of bandwith for 1920x1200/1080.

 

Actually the additional bandwidth helps quite a bit with the 5870s, especially at 1200p. Besides, you originally were making comparisons of both cards OC'd so that's why I pointed out that you need a higher max OC for the 5870 in that case.

 

wait for the clevo X7200 and X8100

I7-980X 3.33GHZ / I7-990X 3.46GHZ + GTX 480M SLI

 

am so confused, shall i get a laptop with i7-740QM + GTX 480M? (W880CU)

or i7-840QM+ ATI5870 ? (W8760)

the benchmarks are so close as far as FPS is concerned.
The 480M is more future proof maybe; tessellation-ready for all the upcoming DX11 games?

 

The questions are:

1. Do you think the extra performance is worth $500?
2. Have you ever, or do you think you ever would, pay $600+ to upgrade a laptop GPU.

 

price diff is $450 and by that i would buy an extra quarter of games releases. Am addressing the future proof aspect of the GTX 480M; instead of upgrading it next Fall 2011 i would do that in spring 2012. I would enjoy an extra quarter of new DX 11 games, specially if those are tessellation heavy games.

that' the reasoning behind it..

Money is not an issue anyway, am talking about FPS solely.

 

If money is not an issue I would wait for the x7200 its right around the corner.

 

your i7-940XM can be OCed to 4000MHZ by using the EVGA e-LEET software

so it is not necessary to chose the X7200

the looks is ugly compare to the M17x

 

Well that's a matter of taste, for me the alienware design is too unprofessional, I like the classy Clevo design. The reason for the X7200 is 6 core and 100W GPU SLI support.

 

The problem is, even though the 480m beats the 5870 in tessellation performance, neither card can give playable frame rates in any true heavy tessellation situation, or even DX11 in general.

Like the other dude said, if money is no object, wait for the x7200.

 

Exactly, only SLI and OC will buy you playable fps in DX11 games. Then again MR HD 5870 CF might be just as good and you get MR HD 5870 CF for the price of one GTX 480M which basically says it all. It's always wise not to throw out money so you can save some for your next laptop or for still expensive components like SSDs, overall no matter how much money you have, money is always an object.

 

Tessellation is a gimmick right now anyway. It's just like how HDR was with the 6800 series. They aren't fast enough cards to really use the technology.

New PC Games, The Best PC Games Coming Soon - Top Upcoming PC Games at IGN

All those games are either very good or good. I don't think any of them support tessellation.

List of games with DirectX 11 support - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's a list of the DX11 games that exist and are upcoming.

Metro 2033 runs like crap on my GTX 480, it was around 23FPS on the intro level. Next generation of cards (not the refresh) are the cards to get with tessellation.

 

I prefer the clevo design more to AW.

 

Yep, the first generation to support any feature is always obsolete when that same feature becomes mainstream.

It's hard to walk into a business meeting and pull out pimped out gaming rig. My Clevo has no stickers, tags or lights. As far as they know, it's the same as their Thinkpads.

 

money is not issue as long as am in the 2000'sih range including shipping ($150 to my location), so the x7200 is an issue i guess, not an alternative.

 

First of all, why would anyone at a business meeting care? And how many of you are actual board room type businessmen? I doubt many. Second, the system's fx lighting can be powered off making it look fairly inconspicuous--well apart from it's awesome chasis styling.

 

Same reason why I like Clevo design. It can easily pass as any other laptop.

 

I wasn't taking a shot at other designs, I was just saying that I like that Clevo's can be very plain if you want them that way.

As for people caring, you would be surprised. Appearance is everything in business and life. That doesn't mean it's the only factor, but it sets the starting point for the bar. If you're trying to convince business men that you're mature, respectable, etc, having a flashy gaming notebook is not a good place to start, especially if you're young. Or at least, it draws attention to a topic other than what you want their attention to be on. Powering off the lights would make a big difference for sure though, I have to admit. Working as a traveling Professor, I wouldn't feel comfortable pulling one out at a work function.

 

Also for those of us who use them in public places (or at uni for example) they dont have big neon badges that say STEAL ME!

 

Here we go again? You just joined...

I simply stated what I thought was best for me. Joker made some points, I'm guessing he'll respond one more time and that will probably be the end of it. There is no right answer when it comes to personal taste.

As far as Asus having better build quality, that's going to be a hard one to sell.

 

johnny i am considering to buy the ;aptop in your signature. I am an enthusiast gamer + businessman. any regrets so far?

 

Oh, you might get surprised! Most business meetings are boring to the bone and bringing a flashy beast can break the ice in some cases. You can say whatever you want regarding the "mature" and "accomplished" businessmen, but in reality, if you got what it takes to be one - it's not the laptop looks what should concern you.
I brought my M17X to many meetings in the past year to safely say - there's no negative impact of flashy lights on signed papers If anything - it's positive but yet again it's up to you. For me, dressing in "classics" and carrying a MBP - doesn't contribute to success.

 

I guess something like this varies from situation to situation. My last laptop was a huge eye catcher, and it would usually be my students that always wanted to talk about it. I found in meetings it would attract attention to me when I didn't want it, and distract others sometimes. Also, I had some of the older prof's (ie. with PhD's) see it as a cry for attention. Mind you, they could have just been insecure in general.

I agree with what you're saying: In the right audience it could be a positive. All I said, was that for me, it wasn't. Now I tend to fly under the radar unless I want to be heard, which is nice.

 

Do you drive something boring like a 1998 toyota corolla and wear the same boring outfit each day? I just find it funny how so many people try to typify business meetings as if they're some sort of borg collective hell bent on all being the same with no distinct personality or style because it's completely unrealistic. It just tells me most of them have had zero dealings in business. I'm a doctor (well 3rd year but close enough) by trade and I took my M17x to the hospital plenty of times when I was last doing my rounds in Miami and the people there loved it. Back home in California my family run several businesses and it's never been an issue nor should it. But for the insecure types that don't want attention, it's as simple as pressing FN+F7 to turn off all the lighting effects.

Now if someone simply doesn't like the way AW looks, then that's an entirely different matter. Everyone has their own tastes but the business excuse is getting tiresome and it's complete b.s. IMO. I think some random guy that was feeling insecure about his plain jane laptop made up that excuse and others ran with it.

 

Joker is clearly right, it should not be about your laptop. Although I can imagine that people are much more open minded about such things and in Europe it is still a bit too narrow minded. But I doubt anybody of us is actually moving in such high areas where Etiquette would forbid bringing a gaming notebook - and then again it would probably forbid bringing any notebook - but this will not happen in the business world anyway. For example, I'm doing my internship in Brussels right now and I'm pretty sure I would draw unwanted intention even if I just bring my W860CU. But in any case buying a different laptop solely for this reason would be a sign of weak character, and that is surely more detrimental in business than a carrying a gaming lapotp aroud... I just bought a netbook because I need the battery life since power plugs and public buildings are still two strangers at least in central Europe.

So, like Joker said, it's really just about taste. I just like the more simple but elegent design of Clevo better (except the D90X line which looked like some soviet military notebook).

 

I understand your point, I do. I've taught at Universities in Canada, Korea and Japan. I'm just posting my experience, and why I made the choice I did. Now it doesn't help that I'm relatively young and 6'4". Working over seas in countries that are all about age and face, I already stick out quite a bit, so I prefer to keep other means of doing so to a minimum. I can't speak to your work environment, because I don't know it and I wouldn't presume to.

This wasn't general advice, I just gave a reason why I liked my choice. As for clothes, I own a tonne of shirts and pants, and about 40 ties. I like to mix it up, but even though there's no dress code, I wouldn't wear a denim jacket and sneakers to work, even if they were nice. At home that might fly depending on the school, but here, it wouldn't.

When it comes to meetings, there are as many free and fun ones as there are ones that described. This is home and abroad, it entirely depends on who's in charge. So far, I just haven't been lucky in that regard.

Finally, sometimes I'm not paying full attention to what's going on at the meeting or seminar. I'll admit that. Be it because a section isn't in English, or because I've heard it before, or because I want to get my work done so I can enjoy my evening. I've never had a problem with misunderstanding, or following the directives of the meeting, but it's still somewhat unprofessional to do so. I don't want anyone to have extra incentive to look at my screen to see what I'm doing. In this case, it would be my own insecurity.

In the end, I would never tell someone not to buy a laptop because it will attract negative attention. It's just the choice I've made for myself and my situation.

 

I'd actually like to see 5870m and i5-520m setup in the game charts

 

With these benchmarks I see NO reason to spend the extra money on the GTX 480M, not to mention the extra heat and power issues that come with it. Seems like the only reason for the 480M is bragging rights.

I would save the extra money and go with the 5870 there isnt a huge difference in performance and for that cash you could go with a better upgrade like an extreme CPU or larger SSD.

 

I must admit linux drivers for the 5870m are pretty weak, especially when you are trying to use ubuntu as a media center like I am. Lots of tearing on video playback. I wish ATI stepped up their game in this arena, so that I could say the GTX480m isn't worth it.

But for a primarily windows users, and gamers, the 5870m is definitely the better choice. You get pretty much equal performance to the GTX480m.

 

which heat and power issues are you specifically referring to? It's a clevo, I'm sure it's fairly adequately cooled, and it obvisully works just fine with the power brick provided..

 

There are no heat issues, just power issues ... as in - you need a bigger power brick (160W). That's all.

 

power brick that come with w880cu is 180w.

 

The results of 480M doesnot looks promising. In most cases, 280M SLI(256 shaders) beats the 480M(352 Shaders) unless we have 480M SLI. So, I think I am happy with my R1.

 

they really nerfed the shader clock speed in the Fermi card, so that's why the 280's still kick butt.

 

for video editing looks like the 480 doesn't do the job

and for ease of reading threads can we all please stay on topic? I'm sure there's a AW vs Sager(clevo) aesthetics debate thread elsewhere XD

Thanks.

 

One of the reasons, besides slightly better fps, to get the 480m, are, maybe better driver support, cuda and physisc.
For instance i would like to have the 480m instead of the 5870 to use physics in sacred 2, batman 1 and upcoming 2, and mirrors edge, games i missed due to inadequate hardware.

And speaking of physics, why isn't ati offer something similar?
I thought with the appearence of open CL we would be gettin standardasied "cuda" like availability even from ati cards, but guess even that doesn't include physics.

One of the reasons i would go for the 480m or even the 460m.
But the thing is, strictly from the gaming point of view ATI wins hands down, considering price. Nvidia however offers additional benefits.

Any comments?

 

Issues was probably the wrong word. Just worse than the 5870, extra power consumption, ok solved by a larger PSU but still a little extra to carry around. And surely the whole system runs a little hotter with the 480M ?

 

Yup I agree. Physx does look nice and is a nice plus but your final statement sums it up, from a strictly gaming point of view...5870

 

For those reason, I think most people would go for Nvidia even if it's a bit more expensive. 10 - 20% is alright, but the GTX 480M is tripple the price of a Mobility Radeon HD 5870. That's just way too much for way too little performance, why they did not just wait a little bit longer and brought GF104 to notebooks which would have punished ATI for bringing out a card that is only marginally faster (at stock clocks) than the GTX 285M will remain a mystery. Anyways, the GTX 460M will be much cheaper though seeing that nealry all mainstream manufacturers will use this card in their laptops.

 

These benches are for 1600 x 900, but there are results for the 480M at 1080p, with and without 4xAA.

Those are the numbers you are looking to compare, when sizing up this monster GPU with cheaper 5870 systems. It is the elite pick to run every game smoothly at FHD resolution, but don't forget to rightly test it.

I request Vantage Extreme GPU numbers for the stock clocked Radeon 5870 and GTX 480M.

 

I'm just done work now, I'll do it when I get home.

 

The extreme setting requires 1920x1200, which most laptops can't do now.

So, here's what I did: I set it to high, then changed all the options to extreme and the resolution to 1920x1080.



Anyone can compare to this score by just using the same settings. Here are the results: