Help on notebook video cards

cow_moo

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I have 2 friend that are both concerend about their notebooks video card for their new laptops (both HP)

Question 1: Which is better the 8600M GT OR THE 9600M GT

Question 2: which is better the HD 3200 or the GO 7150 and could they play oblivion



 

frozenlead

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the 9600m GT is marginally better performing than the 8600m GT.

The HD 3200 is better. I'm doubtful the 7150 could spit out oblivion, but the 3200 can't do a whole lot better. It'll be really low, if anything.
 

cow_moo

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my price range is up to 750$ USD for my second friend. So I need a video card that at least can play oblivion on low at decent framerates. I found a toshiba for 750 that had a X1250 mobility and a AMD Turion Zm 70. Any suggestions
 
Hrm..... Integrated solutions like the X3100 or the X1250 are most likely not going to play Oblivion at anything that would be enjoyable. The $750 price range is a tough sector for people looking for systems that can play some games.
 


It would certainly be better than an integrated solution, but it's still a low end dedicated card. It may be able to cope with Oblivion, but at low res and ow settings. Ideally, you'd want to get either an 8600m GT or HD2600 or 3650 if you want to play games decently.
 

TheGreatGrapeApe

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Really anything below an HD2600/GF8600M you should then get a capable 2D intergrated and then a console.

An HD3400 will do in a pinch, but really it's going to be weak in many areas.

My HD2600 is fine for older games and ok for newer games on lower settings, but it's over a year old, if I were buying now it (or the euivalent GF8600) would be the minimum, anything less, save money get a 780/790G solution or something similar (GF8200) and then use the savings on a cheap console IMO.
 

TheGreatGrapeApe

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The 3450 will be fine at low to medium settings, but it still does depend on resolution. You have to tweak to find the best fit.

Sure you could run at 1280x800 or 1440x900 with grass turned off and everything turned down low, but is that really a good Oblivion experience?

IMO it will depend on the resolution you are targeting and for such a card I would say target something that is a 4:1 ratio scaling resolution, it keeps your image fairly crisp without interpolation yet allows you good performance while keeping features enabled.

So for 1280x800 that would be 640x400 and 1440x900 is 720x450, you need to tweak the ini file for some of the resolutions, but that's how I tend to play stressful games if the card won't handle native resolution with the settings I prefer. Crysis is the one I have to play at 720x450 when enabling all DX10 features.

For native resolution at medium settings you will need at least the HD3650, and even then it will be tough in Oblivion for anything above 1280x800 IMO.