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What current laptop GPU for good performance


Pete70

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Thinking about buying a new laptop. Current laptop I have is a Toshiba A215 with a ATI X1200. Runs most T2 missions. Bathory campaign was to laggy to play. Dark Mod unplayable.

 

What would be a good laptop GPU while keeping cost around $1000?

 

My desktop is a Dell Dimension E520 Dual Core 1.8GHz

ATI 4670 HD

2GB Ram

19" Digital Monitor

Vista 32 bit

 

Dark Mod runs great.

 

I recently learned that larger screens require better GPU's, need more pixels. makes sense. Maybe thats why I can play most T1 and T2 missions on my ASUS Eee 901 netbook.

 

Thank you, Pete

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When you look a mobile GPU's you have to keep in mind that they are usually half as powerful as the desktop versions with the same name.

 

So an X1600 mobile is going to perform like an X1300

 

So an X1200 mobile is pretty low on the performance scale...

 

I would say that the minimum is a GPU with 120 shader processors if you go by current ATI measurements, or 32 "stream processors" \ "CUDA Cores" for nvidia.

 

Currently, for ATI I would go for either a mobility 6700 or 5700 series.

 

For nvidia, I would go with a GTX525M or GTX425M series.

 

I am currently leaning nvidia because of ATI's driver issues for current hardware.

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Hi Pete

 

I have answered this questions many times in the past, so...

 

  • Where are you located (so I can check kit for you online)
  • Whats your budget

First of all, many-many thanks for all of the work you do with all the FM's that you make and helped others with. I am honored that you would take the time to reply to my question.

 

I am located in central Wisconsin, USA. Wausau, WI

 

I have recently read about the new (sandy-Bridge) cpu's coming out and was thinking about waiting for those. I am researching GPU's as stated in my question. I have seen gaming laptops from $800 up to over $2500. I guess my budget would allow $1000 to $1500. I do not play the newer graphic intensive games. I am 70 years young and Thief is my all time favorite. I played Diablo and the Baldur's Gate series from the very start. The only new game I anticipate playing is Diablo 3 and also Thief 4. Requirements for these games have not yet been given. The Dark Mod is amazing and I try to tell other friends about it. I hope the interest keeps up. Laptop battery time is not important, I just do not want to be stuck to my desktop playing these games.

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated

 

Thank you again, Pete

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Hey Pete

 

Congrats on still playing at 70, impressive to say the least!

 

Right back on topic, $1000-1500 is a huge budget, but in this day and age if we can savbe money we will so I will find the best bang for buck I can find. To help me narrow down what you need, can I ask the follow extra questions:

 

  • what are you currently using and what are its specs..?
  • why do you want a laptop instead of a desktop..?
  • do you want to be able cart the laptop around, so lighter the better.. are are you just looking form the power of a desktop in a laptop - which then is easer to move around the house etc..?
  • lastly what online retailers do you prefer to use? newegg, tigerdirect, etc?

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Hey Pete

 

Congrats on still playing at 70, impressive to say the least!

 

Right back on topic, $1000-1500 is a huge budget, but in this day and age if we can savbe money we will so I will find the best bang for buck I can find. To help me narrow down what you need, can I ask the follow extra questions:

 

  • what are you currently using and what are its specs..? (I am currently using desktop and TDM runs great. TDM is unplayable on my current laptop. Toshiba A215-S5837, AMD Turion 64 mobile TL-60 cpu, Ati radeon x1200 with shared memory.) This laptop was purchased mostly to run my wife's embroidery machine. I was not thinking about gaming until after I bought it. I did not think laptops had gaming capability.
  • why do you want a laptop instead of a desktop..? (I want to be able to move it around the house and not be confined to our den by the desktop. I do not intend to do any traveling outside the house with the laptop.)
  • do you want to be able cart the laptop around, so lighter the better.. are are you just looking form the power of a desktop in a laptop - which then is easer to move around the house etc..? ( Even though I would just be using in the house I would prefer less weight so it would be more comfortable on my lap while playing. For that reason I would like 16 inch or smaller screen size with good GPU, or like you say best bang for the buck.)
  • lastly what online retailers do you prefer to use? newegg, tigerdirect, etc? (those are fine, also amazon or mwave.com. Over the years I have purchased from almost all of them. During the 70's and 80's we used to buy parts and build our own desktop pc's. A lot cheaper then.)

Thank you again, Pete

 

 

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Right

 

I found this after about 30mins, its a bit on the pricy side but within your budget. The specs for the money is quite impressive, but its a bit larger than you asked for, but we have to start the search somewhere...

 

HP_Envy_17-1181NR_Angle.jpg

 

HP ENVY 17-1181NR @ $1099

 

NewEgg are cheaper than anyone else in the US for this laptop atm. There are 2 customer reviews on newegg and both aren't positive, but that's not a big enough pool of customer reviews to form an informed decision. So I suggest you do some googling to see if you can find any other customer reviews (don't rely on the usual bullshit from the likes of cnet etc as they clueless paid morons writing. So with that in mind I found a mini summary (sorta unbiased) review here

 

  • Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
  • Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz with 2.8Ghz turbo mode (this is intelsa latest quad core, with hyperthreading(acts like a octo core in certain situations))
  • Screen 17.3" Full HD @1920*1080P, with LED backighting.
  • Memory Size 6GB DDR3
  • Hard Disk 750GB
  • Optical Drive slot loading BluRay/DVD Combo drive
  • Graphics Card ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 (HDMI-VGA-DiplayPort) w/1GB dedicated ram (its the best way to have a gfx card in a laptop, a dedicated card eith its own ram etc)
  • Backlit keyboard, should you wish do a bit of gaming at night (this will be handy for T2/TDM sessions I imagine)
  • Communication Gigabit LAN and WLAN
  • 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
  • Ports - USB 3.0, USB 2.0, ESATA, 3.5MM headphone and mic
  • Dimensions 16.38" x 10.83" x 1.25" - 2.15"
  • Weight 7.51 lbs. (its a bit on the heavy side at 3.5kgs, but considering the size and what your getting its a good compromise.)

 

I will keep looking as its ill advised to settle on the first thing one finds etc.

 

-_-

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Right

 

I found this after about 30mins, its a bit on the pricy side but within your budget. The specs for the money is quite impressive, but its a bit larger than you asked for, but we have to start the search somewhere...

 

HP_Envy_17-1181NR_Angle.jpg

 

HP ENVY 17-1181NR @ $1099

 

NewEgg are cheaper than anyone else in the US for this laptop atm. There are 2 customer reviews on newegg and both aren't positive, but that's not a big enough pool of customer reviews to form an informed decision. So I suggest you do some googling to see if you can find any other customer reviews (don't rely on the usual bullshit from the likes of cnet etc as they clueless paid morons writing. So with that in mind I found a mini summary (sorta unbiased) review here

 

  • Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
  • Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz with 2.8Ghz turbo mode (this is intelsa latest quad core, with hyperthreading(acts like a octo core in certain situations))
  • Screen 17.3" Full HD @1920*1080P, with LED backighting.
  • Memory Size 6GB DDR3
  • Hard Disk 750GB
  • Optical Drive slot loading BluRay/DVD Combo drive
  • Graphics Card ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 (HDMI-VGA-DiplayPort) w/1GB dedicated ram (its the best way to have a gfx card in a laptop, a dedicated card eith its own ram etc)
  • Backlit keyboard, should you wish do a bit of gaming at night (this will be handy for T2/TDM sessions I imagine)
  • Communication Gigabit LAN and WLAN
  • 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
  • Ports - USB 3.0, USB 2.0, ESATA, 3.5MM headphone and mic
  • Dimensions 16.38" x 10.83" x 1.25" - 2.15"
  • Weight 7.51 lbs. (its a bit on the heavy side at 3.5kgs, but considering the size and what your getting its a good compromise.)

 

I will keep looking as its ill advised to settle on the first thing one finds etc.

 

-_-

 

Good price for a large screen, I started searching on newegg and found this 14" Toshiba M645-S4118X

 

 

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit CPU Type Intel Core i5-2410M 2.3GHz Screen 14" Memory Size 6GB DDR3 Hard Disk 640GB Optical Drive BD Combo Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M Video Memory 1GB GDDR3

 

$999

Would appriciate your opinion. Again, thank you for your help.

 

Pete

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I still love my Asus G50V. It has a Geforce 9800GS with 64 cores and it ran TDM great. It was my "desktop" for two years because my real desktop was a piece of crap. I chose a laptop at that time rather than a desktop because I wanted a laptop that could actually run Linux (my prior laptop was ATI and the graphics drivers are still beyond worthless for that).

 

This G50v would get the job done. They're going for $600 used, and this one has a faster CPU than mine did. If (like me) your only goal is to play TDM well, you could buy this used laptop and save the rest to get yourself a new desktop in a wile.

--- War does not decide who is right, war decides who is left.

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@LS - Never played with an Asus laptop, but they certainly look the part..

 

@Pete - ok the first difference that jumps out at re: the Tosh v HP, the GFx card in the Hp will utterly slaughter the one in the Tosh. The same goes for the Cpu on the HP, i7 (quad core 6Mb cache) versus i5 (dual core 3MB cache). The only thing the tosh has got going for it is the price at $100 less and its lighter by 2lbs and the smaller screen of course.

 

I tried to find some Asus laptop's on newegg of the same calibre as the Hp but they are all newegg's equivalent of a refurb (someone bought it, didnt light it and sent it back)

 

What has been your preferred make of laptop, or have a I asked you this already..?

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@LS - Never played with an Asus laptop, but they certainly look the part..

 

@Pete - ok the first difference that jumps out at re: the Tosh v HP, the GFx card in the Hp will utterly slaughter the one in the Tosh. The same goes for the Cpu on the HP, i7 (quad core 6Mb cache) versus i5 (dual core 3MB cache). The only thing the tosh has got going for it is the price at $100 less and its lighter by 2lbs and the smaller screen of course.

 

I tried to find some Asus laptop's on newegg of the same calibre as the Hp but they are all newegg's equivalent of a refurb (someone bought it, didnt light it and sent it back)

 

What has been your preferred make of laptop, or have a I asked you this already..?

 

I really do not have a preference for brand, mostly I review customer service. From what I have been able to find the HP Envy sure is a good buy. I have read reviews on this unit and almosy all comments are about the high heat on the gpu. I still would like a smaller screen though because my eyes are sensitive to light and a smaller screen is better for me. 15 inch would probably be ok.

 

I found this site http://forums.guru3d...ad.php?t=246595 and checked some gpu's in the class 1 section and have found that available laptops are either expensive or only available in foreign countries. Exception is your choice with the HP Envy.

 

Thank you, Pete

 

 

 

I

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