gtx 485m reviewd with miss sandy b

I was just checking eBay. There are no MXM HD 5870 GPU's but an HD 4870 costs $300. I guess I'm having a hard time seeing how an aftermarket HD 6970 would cost less than $500 when released, probably more like $600-$700 minimum and no guarantee it will exceed GTX 485m.

I'm two inches from getting the NP8170 with GTX 485m. I guess I'll sleep on it and decide tomorrow and send in the money that way I can forget about it.

 

The Mobility 5870 can be had for < $400, from just about any reseller who wants to sell one. Forget eBay.

The 6970M is coming from a $180 chip. AMD does not inflate prices like Nvidia. Even at a 3x markup, it will be $540.

I don't trust them at all, but Eurocom has the 6970M listed at $368 USD. They won't be off by more than $100. I think babayhemi (I think it was him) said something about ~$450.

 

RJTech has the 470M for $730 and the 480M for $940. I wouldn't expect less for a 485M.

 

I did it. I got the 485m. I figured it was a sure thing, reasonably priced, performance was spectacular, and I have always gotten the lesser GPU wiht my other laptops and always kinda wished I had something a little more powerful. I figure in about a year (or sooner if needed) I can update the CPU when prices drop a bit. CPU's are much easier to find than GPU's and should run me much less money than a GPU update. And maybe drop in another 8GB RAM. Heck 2x4GB DDR3 is now less than $100. Maybe 1600MHz will be cheaper than that in a year.

Then in maybe 18 months or so look at a new GPU if something is worthwhile and available. Hoping to get two and a half years or more out of this laptop (with upgrades of course).

 

Congratulations. Should be a kick in the grass. I may follow you soon, perhaps with a little more CPU.

 

I don't remember if you have GTA IV or not but if you do, I would be very interested to know what sort of performance you get with full res and all high settings with your new setup.

 

I do have GTA IV, and I plan on benching and reviewing this machine.

I would have gone with an i7-2720QM but I already spent over my budget by a decent amount and adding another $160 on top would be purely torturous. I figure I can always add another CPU in six months. They're readily available and a cheaper upgrade option than a GPU.

 

htwingnut I keep reading your posts all around this thread and congratulations to the GTX 485M pruchase - excelent pick (i remember you were about to buy GTX 460M which is about 40% less powerfull and therfore not powerful enough for Full HD High Details gaming (crysis, metro, gothic and few other very demanding games).

But the reason why I am typing this post is becase I want to say this: As you know Core i7-2630QM is more powereful than already powerful Core i7 950 and there is no way it would bottleneck such a slow graphic card (desktop wise) as GTX 485M! We are not talking about SLI or CF here and this most powerfull laptop gpu will never (95%) be bottlenecked by your cpu (faster than 950 3.06GHz) in high/very high details where CPU performance is somewhat negated.

Sorry for this looong post I just cant watch think someone that highend desktop CPU performance is not enough for midrange class desktop gpu (top notch laptop gpu) Good luck with your goodie

2630QM is best CPU price/performance no doubt and if anything for you is unplaybe, it will still be even witch 2920XM

 

You're absolutely right. Even if it's hard to admit for notebook lovers like us.

However, if you want to get 3 more FPS in MMO's (so you can have 103 instead of 100/sec) or wait 2 seconds less while passing a turn in strategy game it might worth an upgrade
But SSD would be a better upgrade than a higher CPU within the same generation (loading the texture for exemple).

 

I agree. If you've got the budget and are ok with omitting the optical drive for a single drive system, and going with a secondary HDD in its place, spend the $150 on the Intel 80GB SSD for your OS and apps. In the case of the 17" best of both worlds.

 

You should be able to find the 485M for around $755 when they become available.