----------------------------------- josh Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:25 pm Laptop Graphics Cards ----------------------------------- Hey Guys, I am helping my dad look for a laptop for my little brother and my mom to share. It has to have pretty good graphics (good enough to play games like Battle for Middle Earth and stuff like that), but I don't want to go all out and get somethign like an Alienware. Size does not really matter becuase it is only going to be moved around the house (thats why we are not getting a desktop though). The thing is I really know nothing about laptop graphics cards and what a good one would be. I was looking at this laptop in the futureshop add [url=http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10070869&catid=11520]Here which does have a seperate ATI graphics card, but I don't know how good it is. Do you guys think it is any good? The card is a ATI Radeon Xpress 200M THANKS!!! -Josh ----------------------------------- rdrake Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:43 pm ----------------------------------- Despite the fact that it's separate, it's still shared memory. Basically, 128 MB of that 1024 MB RAM you have can be put towards graphics use. This is much slower than if your video card has its own dedicated memory. From reading your post, I get that you're just looking to play some games, correct? Just don't expect too much out of a laptop graphics wise, they're typically not designed for that. Simply put, you can play some games, but it will be slow and is not recommended. I would highly recommend you look at reviews of that particular model from other consumers before buying. Some models have known problems which could make you regret your purchase. Remember to always research before making a large purchase like this. ----------------------------------- Andy Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:54 pm ----------------------------------- asus custom built is your answer ----------------------------------- Neo Sun Mar 19, 2006 8:25 pm ----------------------------------- asus custom built is your answer http://www.notebookforums.com/images/smilies/yeahthat.gif ----------------------------------- josh Sun Mar 19, 2006 9:33 pm ----------------------------------- That would be good, but he doesn't need to be able to play really high quality games. Just good enough so that if he plays a game like Guild Wars or something, he can do even low quality graphics but it will still run smoothly. ----------------------------------- Andy Sun Mar 19, 2006 9:48 pm ----------------------------------- the [url=http://www.ati.com/products/radeonxpress200m/index.html]xpress 200m uses an RS480 core, which is equivalent of a RV370, also used in the X300. since the X300 uses ddr400 vram natively on a desktop, you shouldnt be getting much of an performance hit with ddr333. i'd recomment something with at least an RV4xx core, X700 is RV410. the mobile asics will have it's own name, ie X1800 mobile is M58, X1600 mobile is M56, Radeon 9600/9700 is M10, but for simple references, just compare them to their desktop counterparts ----------------------------------- josh Sun Mar 19, 2006 10:02 pm ----------------------------------- Thanks for the advice :) ----------------------------------- Neo Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:57 pm ----------------------------------- the Or simply, the one with the higher number is better. :wink: ----------------------------------- Blade Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:44 pm ----------------------------------- Or simply, the one with the higher number is better. :wink: the higher number isn't necessarily better according to andy. specifically RS480 is still a higher number than RV410.. :roll: ----------------------------------- Andy Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:21 pm ----------------------------------- okay, i'll give you guys a quick breakdown Rxxx is the mainstream series, they were all once the enthusiast cards. ie: R580 = X1900, R520 = X1800 R480 = X850 R420 = X800 R300 = 9800 RVxxx is the second rate cards, they use the same core as the Rxxx series, but has some goodies taken out of it. ie: RV515 = X1300 RV530 = X1600, RV410 = X700, RV370= X600, RV350=9600 and RSxxx is the onboard series ie, Xpress200 uses RS410, i dont know too much about IGP, but yeah, you get the point ----------------------------------- Neo Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:47 pm ----------------------------------- Or simply, the one with the higher number is better. :wink: the higher number isn't necessarily better according to andy. specifically RS480 is still a higher number than RV410.. :roll: But notice the difference, RS and RV. So according to andy higher number is better, provided that they are the same series or whaterver... :wink: ----------------------------------- Andy Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:51 pm ----------------------------------- once again, not necessarily. http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/02/15/ati_preps_r590/ this R590 is less powerful than the R580... wack? yes i know... damn marketing ppl :evil: but it's ok, the Rxxx may lie, but the names that start with X dont X300