Which ASUS G73 Laptop? The ATI 5870 or NVIDIA 460M model?

[gramware]

Here is another buying recommendation question -- kind of. I am stuck between two different ~$1700.00 ASUS 'gaming' laptops. Both laptop models are completely identical to each other with one exception. Which one is the graphic card. I am not sure which is better. So I ask, which mobile graphic card is better -- the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 or the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M?

NVIDIA has always powered my laptop and desktop. Furthermore, I have been very happy with the NVIDIA experience thus far. Yet, I am not a die-hard Nvidia fan-boy. I just want the best for my buck.

The reviews are great for both versions of the laptops and/or graphic cards. This is based off reviews written by Amazon's buyers and NotebookCheck.Net's experts.

On paper, the ATI 5870 is a slightly better than the GTX 460M. However, the ATI 5870 has been out on the market for longer. So the drivers are mature. Is this the reason it leads GTX 460M on benchmark tests? Is it possible after the NVIDIA's GTX 460M drivers mature it will meet and/or exceed the ATI 5870 ? Is the extra features that NVIDIA offers make it the better choice? Features such as CUDA, PhysX, and 3D Vision. Also, based off the reviews, it seems that the NVIDIA powered laptop is overall quieter and cooler.


Reference Links
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Amazon's Page - ASUS G73JH-B1 (ATI 5870) -- http/amzn.to/dtH29X
Amazon's Page - ASUS G73JW-A1 (Nvidia GTX 460M) -- http/amzn.to/c7Nxdb
NotebookCheck's Review - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M -- http/bit.ly/aqcisg
NotebookCheck's Review - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 -- http/bit.ly/bA3LrD

 

[raza715]

5870 easily the better one. Plus it produces less heat compared to GTXseries

 

[humbe]

I'm in no way an expert on these matters, but I'm considering buying now too, so I have tried to see what people are saying. I've heard the following:

- ATI card seems to be noticable (~10%) better on DirextX 9 content. NVIDIA card may perform better in the future as it has native DirectX 10/11 support.
- ATI card is older, and have more mature drivers. NVIDIA performance may improve and even go above ATI performance in the future.
- NVIDIA card runs cooler as it uses less power. (Well. Raza above seems to think the opposite, so you might want to check source for who's gotten the right information)

I'm going for the NVIDIA alternative. Another change is that the CPU is newer and a bit better on the NVIDIA model, at least the ones I've seen here in Norway. Though the ATI version isn't sold anymore over here.

 

[raza715]

5870 is fully Dx11 supported and sold way too much on newegg. And Btw Nvidia beats ATI easily in Dx9 and older games but in new games both are almost equal but better value goes with ATI plus runs cooler than nvidia in mobile versions. Telling my personal experience. BTW here you go bro http/www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
As you can clearly see 5870 is beaten by GTX460 and above GPUs but i am telling you the background story i.e nvidia GTX mobile runs much more hotter than ati which produces overheating issues, so as far as it is laptop matter i would go with ati simply because of better battery timings,less power consumption and less heat.
If you can manage overheating issue then nvidia is the way to go.
Hope it helped u.

Regards

 

[Maziar]

Actually no.
GTX 480M runs hotter than 5870M but that's not the case with 460M.It runs cooler and will give more battery life.
http/www.anandtech.com/show/3998/asus-g73jw-geforce-gtx-460m
Idle battery life improves by 49%, Internet battery life is up 26%, and x264 playback is up 41%. HWMonitor even reports a wear level of 5-6% on the battery, despite over ten charge/discharge cycles, so potentially you could see even better results. However you slice it, the GTX 460M looks to be far better at idle power use than the 5870—for that matter, even the GTX 480M competes well with the HD 5870. Obviously you’re not going to buy any of the gaming notebooks as an all-day mobile solution, but it’s nice to at least get two to three hours if you need it.

 

[raza715]

yeah confirmed. Nvidia latest GPU are using optimus technology in which GPU consumes same power as integrated Intel HD graphics during idle conditions.