laptop graphics

[Freedom_]

Hi,

Im going to buy a laptop soon, but I want to know what is the capability of the standard intel graphics media accelerator. Is it really worth to upgrade to a mobility graphics card? I'm looking at a ati mobility x1300.

Regards.

[pod86]

i have inspiron 6400 with intel graphics media accelerator 950, it works fine with some games like sports games and warcraft etc. But its no good with new games now days, eg. Counter strike Source, HL2, Quake 4, DOOM 3, all those high end graphic gaming. so it depends what you wanna play.
I also have put an x1400 into my laptop for testing (at work), and its much better. Eventhough it isnt an high end graphics card but it can run those games at low graphics.

if i was u i'll go for an expanded graphics card, not onboard intel graphics. cause in the long run its not good that u cant install games because the intel graphics wont support or run it at all.

cheers

[SLATYE]

Futuremark's ORB is a good place to look for performance comparisons.

The GMA950 is really best for old games (DX7 era). The X1300 and Geforce Go 7300 will both be a significant upgrade on that. For playing new games like BF2 and FEAR, you'll want to aim for a Radeon Mobility X1600. For running those games at high resolutions and detail settings, there's the Geforce Go 7800 and 7900 series (and even SLI pairs of those).

[Freedom_]

thanks for the reply guys.

I think i'll add on the mobility radeon x1300 for some gaming/future proofing for the laptop.

The dell offer im looking at is upgrading my ram from 1x 512mb to 2x512mb of ram. Is the Intel® Centrino® Duo Processor T2300 dual channel?

Would I need a external floppy drive as they are offering for $50? I thought they come standar in laptops?

cheers

[hobo-jo]

Originally Posted by Freedom_

Would I need a external floppy drive as they are offering for $50? I thought they come standar in laptops?

Looking on my 9400 it doesn't have a floppy, never realised until now. So no I guess they don't come standard. What use would a floppy drive be now anyway. Go CDR/DVDR or a USB stick.

[SLATYE]

Originally Posted by Freedom_

The dell offer im looking at is upgrading my ram from 1x 512mb to 2x512mb of ram. Is the Intel® Centrino® Duo Processor T2300 dual channel?

The i945PM/GM chipset (as used in the 6400) can support dual-channel. If possible, get DDR2-667 RAM (because the Core Duo has a 667Mhz FSB).

Originally Posted by Freedom_

Would I need a external floppy drive as they are offering for $50? I thought they come standar in laptops?

I wouldn't bother. Laptops don't have FDDs any more (no need - it's just extra weight) but most people don't use them anyway.

[Santa]

Just out of curiosity, whats the power consumption difference between the latest on board graphics compared to something like a 7300GO or 7600GO?

[SLATYE]

Originally Posted by Santa

Just out of curiosity, whats the power consumption difference between the latest on board graphics compared to something like a 7300GO or 7600GO?

As far as I can tell, the Intel GMA950 draws about 1w on its own (i945PM is 6w; i945GM is 7w. The difference is due to the graphics core). The 7300Go should draw about 10w.

There also seems to be an 'i945GT', which is like a fast version of the GM (running more than 1.5x as fast as the standard GM). That draws 15w, so the graphics core there must be doing 9w. I'm not exactly sure why Intel felt the need to overclock GMA950 video - but presumably they had a reason.

[fatphil]

i've got a 7600 go in my asus a8jm very happy, kills wow, q4 runs nice to (if only i could get it to run @ native ws res

[Doppelganger]

Originally Posted by fatphil

i've got a 7600 go in my asus a8jm very happy, kills wow, q4 runs nice to (if only i could get it to run @ native ws res

I'm considering getting the a8ja, can you run games at normal resolution? For instance could I run games at normal scaling with black bars down either side or is it stretched?

[T1tan]

of what i have gathered in my own research, if you have any aspirations to take on linux, don't go the ATi Route.

[Freedom_]

Originally Posted by SLATYE

The i945PM/GM chipset (as used in the 6400) can support dual-channel. If possible, get DDR2-667 RAM (because the Core Duo has a 667Mhz FSB).

Just wondering, any performance difference getting DDR2-667RAM? Dell is advertising an upgrade on their ram to "2x512mb DDR2 SDRAM".

It costs an extra $30 for "2x512mb 667mhz DDR2-SDRAM"

or extra $4.40 to upgrade to " 1x1024mb DDR2-SDRAM"

feels a bit suss to me, charging $30 for the same thing...

[SLATYE]

Getting the faster RAM will help the GPU's performance (for GMA950, TurboCache, and HyperMemory cards). It won't give the CPU any extra bandwidth (already limited by the FSB), but it may make the system more responsive.

I've found that on my current system, having the RAM in sync with the FSB definitely does result in a more responsive system.

EDIT: In order of decreasing GPU performance it should go like this:

2x 512MB DDR2-667
2x 512MB DDR2-533
1x 1GB DDR2-667
1x 1GB DDR2-533

Personally, I'm planning to go for either the first or third - the question is whether to get better performance or better upgrade options.

[iAl3xi]

sli 7900gs kill batteries hard. lucky i didnt get it and my dad got one (ordered from alienware us and shipped here by family friend)
shits on ym desktop but not worth it ;\

might as well have a desktop with a 20 inch lcd for half the price for that kinda thing ($3100)

[T1tan]

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=39568

a decent writeup regarding GPUs on lappies.