I need some help with GPU card

[mrshane55]

I have an ATI Radeon HD 4200 card with 256mb dedicated vram and 500mhz clock speed. My cpu is Phenom 2 dual-core 2.9ghz. And the only game that will run at full speed is FFX. I cant run gamecube emulator either because its real laggy. So I've decided to buy a new laptop, I have some favorites picked out but wanted to double check if they would work better then what I have already. The ones I'm looking at are Gateway FX models. One has a Nvadia geforce 9800M GTS 1GB, one has a NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS, and the last has a 256 MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M.

So which is better ? I'm not worried about the CPU since they can be upgraded, I just need to know how these cards preform vs what I have already have and if they can run games like Black, Castlevania Curse of Darkness, Resident evil 4 and more demanding games other then FFX.

[xstyla]

actually all pretty much the same. all have 64 shader. same 9x architecture. but slight different clocks.

the 8800m gts is older and has less VRAM. burns only 50W. battery plus. but less performant.
the 9800m gts is pretty much the same chip, has got more clock and the 1GB version is die shrinked. 75W.
the quaddro 160 is some old trash. you don't want that. mislead and looked perhaps for...
the 160m gts is what you search. which is in fact the exact identical chip as the 9800m gts.

so in fact you should consider the cpu. which is what makes them different.

[NarooN]

Hmm, laptops generally aren't the way to go for emulation, but if you insist, I'd say definitely make sure they have a decent Intel CPU in there at the least.

[mrshane55]

So what would be the better pick ? My plan was to get a laptop with a nvadia card and throw in a CPU of about 3.3ghz or more dual-core with a sata 7200rpm hdd.

I've heard my performance would be different if I had a cpu over 3.2ghz dual-core, I have a Phenom 2 but only 2.9ghz dual-core and I have only a 5400rpm hdd. So would my ati radeon hd 4200 card work with a higher cpu and faster hdd ? I know something is bottlenecking performance but I don't know what.

P.s this is an AMD laptop with AMD motherboard so I can only replace CPU with AMD I'm assuming. Its a Lenovo Ideapad Z565.

[mrshane55]

And since the cpu socket type is S1 which is older I can not find any cpu better or faster then a Phenom 2 dual-core at 2.9ghz. This is another reason I'm selling this laptop and getting a better one. And I plan to buy one with Intel cpu and nvadia gpu.

[xstyla]

lenovo 565. i have the same. slight better spec. N830 tri core. perfect for pcsx2. reading my lovely notebookcheck again. socket is still S1. the biggest X2 you could do is the N660. this is what you got wrong. the 3.2Ghz is too much for the cooler. the N870 tricore would be the best fit. and... a lil kicker. you could theoretically put that X4 with 2.2 Ghz in. this is the most power the cooling system could handle. all specced with 35W. well theroretically. i'm not sure the cheap colling system could really deal with it or the plastic starts smelting.

nonetheless. you still have to deal with a bad graphics card. it's a cheap igp. it doesn't have own VRAM. you misinformed.

so the only option is to get a better laptop with a slight better graphics card.

[mrshane55]

I have an N640 but its dual 2.9ghz. But you say too much for the cooler, so in theory the heat sink could heat up and make the gpu hot resulting in poor performance. In Pcsx2 when playing a high demanding game my cpu meter shows its maxed out. A tri-core would be good but do you think it would also get maxed out in high demanding games ? My system states 2941mb total graphics, 256mb dedicated video memory, and 0mb shared memory. So under those statements I assumed it meant it had its own.

[fade2black001]

Why must you get a laptop? For the price of a decent laptop you can get a desktop that performs at least 50% better.

[mrshane55]

Because a good gaming laptop would mean I could take it anywhere and play all my favorite games, to me its the perfect setup. Plus newer models are coming out, one in mind is a Sager with 2gb Vram which can run any modern game but cost 1,800$. This is over kill for me, all I'm looking to do is run games like gta5 on pc, and castlevania curse of darkness on pcsx2. Also another good game is Resident Evil part 1 remake on gamecube. This laptop almost runs these games and if I got another one just abit more powerful then I think I'd be fine. With the money I make selling this one I can get a better one. You just have to know what to look for, alot of laptops out there cost a fortune and have poor graphics cards, but many out there have good cards and cost half of what the others do.

[xstyla]

no. i think your system like that runs fine. it's just too slow. the graphics card sucks a lil bit. and that "to much" was meant like: if you would put that X4 on the board the system in general would heat up alot more. i'm running the tri core @2.1 over an hour into 80°C range. and yes it maxes out. fully. and having a discrete graphics card ofc. maybe the X4 could do the same temps with the igp, but as said... the graphics card is sh*t. it wouldn't help much. it's software only.

maybe a desktop is an option. if not, a lot more recent laptop is needed.