City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Laptop video card recommendations

Back_Blast

By Back_Blast,
Posted on: 2010-06-16 16:19 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs

 

Posted

Hey all, I'm currently in the market for a relatively lightweight laptop that can handle UM with good framerates. My current machine works just fine and can manage 40fps+ with some UM goodies @ 1680x1050; unfortunately it's a workstation class machine weighing 11lbs plus a 4lb power supply. I'm getting old enough that I really don't want to lug nearly 20lbs of computer bag around anymore.

I've been looking over the machines at Newegg and I'm a bit confused on the hierarchy of the video cards. I won't say money isn't an issue, but my main goal is good performance in a much lighter package... I'm willing to spend a reasonable amount to get it. I see ATI 4650, 5740, 5730 and Nvidia 310, 360, 220 etc cards... how do these fall out one to another?

I want to be able to at least equal my 7950GTX Mobility card on my Core2 workstation laptop core2 2.13GHz ... preferably beat it. Also, any thoughts on the i3 vs i5 vs i7 CPU... is the faster i7 worth the premium? Does the i3 compare well with the i5?

Thanks for any suggestions.

COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes

 

Posted

The Class 1 cards on the list should be capable of doing UM. They should all beat what you have now. Obviously the higher up the chart you go, the better performance you'll get.

For CPUs, broadly speaking, i3 < i5 < i7. However I'd say there's some overlap depending on the exact models in question. The main thing with i7 is it has quad core versions while i5 and i3 are restricted to dual core. For CoH, this matters little as it can't/won't take advantage of all the available threads. The main area extra cores can help with CoH is in multitasking. If you regularly play while surfing or having other stuff going on in the background, having more cores can help as the load can be spread across them, reducing or eliminating the impact multitasking has on the performance of any of those processes. Of course if you have other programs beyond CoH that can utilise the full power of a quad-core, then that could also make it more valuable and worth the premium to you.

It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.

 

Posted

Looking over Newegg it's a bit frustrating... the higher end cards seem to be mated with the bigger and heavier machines.

I found this unit with a 4650 that would do the job I need, but I'm a little concerned that it may be a bit underpowered CPU wise. Unfortunately the machines I like all seem to be 8lbs or heavier, and I wanted to stay in the 4-5lb range. From the comparison guide that card looks to be slightly better than my 7950GTX in my current brick... eh, laptop I mean and the performance is adequate. The 4650 also has a lower res screen which would help.

I'll be using the machine for light Photoshop work in addition to COH and other games. I doubt I'll use it for much heavy duty video work... that's what the older workstation will be for with it's 1.5 terrabytes of drive space.

I've had good luck with Asus laptops in the past; I have 2 of them I use in my business as webcasting machines and they've been workhorses. Of course those machines don't need all that much GPU horsepower.

COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes

 

Posted

Well, I think I've found one. I've just ordered an Alienware M11X laptop;

SYSTEM COLOR Alienware M11x, Soft Touch Stealth Black FT
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i5 520UM (3M Cache, 1.066 GHZ with 1.866 GHz Max Turbo Frequency) - Overclockable
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHz
HARD DRIVE 250GB SATAII 7,200RPM
BLUETOOTH Bluetooth Module, 2.1+ Enhanced Data Rate
WIRELESS CARDS Alienware M11x a/b/g/n 2x2 MIMO Wireless
LCD PANEL 11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED
VIDEO CARD 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M
SOUND OPTIONS Internal High-Definition Surround Sound Audio (5.1)

From what I can tell it looks like it ought to be able to handle what I want to throw at it at least as well or better than my current laptop in a 4 lb package. I should get the machine by the end of the week; I'll let you guys know how it works once it arrives.

COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes