I'm planning to buy a laptop (Vostro 1700), and I need to know what video card I should get with it.
The 8600M GT costs $100 more than the 8400M GS.

The video card in my current PC is a FX5500 so I'm sure either card is a big upgrade.
I probably won't use 3D CAD programs very much but I do plan to run Beryl a lot. I might game a little on it, but I don't know yet.
Should I save $100 or just get the better card to futureproof my system?
Does the better card use more power? If so, how much?

Here's the page for the laptop:
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System .
If it doesn't work, go to Vostro 1700 Notebook and select "Smart Value Package".
If you see any other upgrades that provide more performance for the price, please tell me.
BTW, I plan to use it with Gentoo 64 bit.

Definatly go with the 8600GT. It will likely reduce your battery life but it's going to be a million times faster than that 8400GS. The 8400GS isn't that far off from integrated graphics whereas the 8600GT is a fully fledged graphics solution---with some great HD decoding power too.

THe 8400 is probably a nueterd version of the 8600..wich means much lower clock speed on the GPU and RAM, and it also only has 128MB ram, vs 256MB.

Its gonna use a bit more power of course...but its not like your going to a 8800 series, probably 5-10 minutes less time over a full charge.

As a guess...it is probably about twice as powerfull, if you plan on doing anything other than surfing the net, I'd go for the upgraded card.

Ah..here we go! Anandtech has the low down...and HELL yes that 8600GT is QUITE a bit faster, just look at the specs!

GeForce 8M Series Specifications
	8400M G	8400M GS	8400M GT	8600M GS	8600M GT
Segment	Mainstream	Mainstream	Mainstream	Performance	Performance
Stream Processors	8	16	16	16	32
Core Clock	400 MHz	400 MHz	450 MHz	600 MHz	475 MHz
Shader Clock	800 MHz	800 MHz	900 MHz	1200 MHz	950 MHz
DDR RAM Clock	1200 MHz	1200 MHz	1200 MHz	1400 MHz	1400 MHz
Maximum RAM	256MB	256MB	512MB	512MB	512MB
RAM Interface	64-bit	64-bit	128-bit	128-bit	128-bit
RAM Bandwidth	9.6 GB/s	9.6 GB/s	19.2 GB/s	22.4 GB/s	22.4 GB/s
Texture Fill Rate	3.2 GT	3.2 GT	3.6 GT	4.8 GT	7.6 GT

It has 4 times as mean stream proccesors..wich is like the amount of cars on a highway (For data transfer) not to mention a 128MB interface (Vs. 64) wich is like how many lanes are available, you will able to have alot more cars in 2x more lanes!!!!

THe clock speeds are faster, but that isnt realy what tells the real story...its those stream proccesors and the 128 bit memory interface.

AnandTech: NVIDIA GeForce 8M: DirectX 10 Goes Mobile

Though you can't see any raw number in the 3dmark scores...they use some obscure way of ratings its performance over the last gen of cards...they also dont compare the cards to each other, wich sucks, they only compare them to the equivalnet version of the old card, wich is kinda smoke and mirrors "Marketing" speak.

I would say that you are looking at 2 times the score in 3DMARK 06 between them, so like say the 8400 scores 1300 points..the 8600 would get 2600 points or more, and that is extremely significant for games since 3DMARK 06 is a very hard test on laptops in general.

Will I be able to use nvclock to turn down the clocks when I'm not running anything 3D?
I'll go for the 8600M GT.
Now, should I just stick with the standard option CPU or should I get a faster one? (I can replace the CPU later on if it's socketed.)

Quote: Originally Posted by tetrafluoroethane Will I be able to use nvclock to turn down the clocks when I'm not running anything 3D? I'll go for the 8600M GT. Now, should I just stick with the standard option CPU or should I get a faster one? (I can replace the CPU later on if it's socketed.)

Mobile nVidia cards automatically downclock for 3D.

If you want a faster CPU go for it - the 4MB cache doesn't make a huge difference but if you can afford it it's worth it.

Can anyone provide an idea of how fast the CPUs are?
I would like to compare them to a dual core Pentium 4 2.8GHz and a 3000+ Athlon 64. I just want an idea of how fast it is.

Quote: Originally Posted by tetrafluoroethane Can anyone provide an idea of how fast the CPUs are? I would like to compare them to a dual core Pentium 4 2.8GHz and a 3000+ Athlon 64. I just want an idea of how fast it is.

Well...comparitively, a 1.6ghz Pentium E2140 is quite a bit faster than a 2.8ghz Pentium D. So when you think that a 1.8ghz Santa Rosa Core 2 Duo has double the L2 cache, and the 2ghz model quadruple the L2 cache, they are going to be a fair bit faster.

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Mobile nVidia cards automatically downclock for 3D. If you want a faster CPU go for it - the 4MB cache doesn't make a huge difference but if you can afford it it's worth it.

I would disagree a bit here:

Though the extra cache is not a deal breaker for some people especially those that do little more than surf the net, it does have a noticable effect on quite a few apps, especially 3-D, encoding, ripping, editing and number crunchers...etc.

Typically, the older CPU's for laptops like AMD 64's used to go heavier on the Cache than the equivlant desktop versions because they used slower clock speeds to conserve power, and that helped to make up the difference.

I think of on die Cache like having "memorySticks" built right into the CPU, sure there are some light duty apps that could care less about ram (Or cache in this case) but when something needs it and doesn't have it...you WILL notice it!

Ever try runnign BF-2 with less then 2GB of ram? Your load times are in the toilet on 1GB, and it's "Laggy" for about the first minute, and games like Doom 4 stutter when going to another part of the level, or there lots of baddies coming at you hot and heavy.

Quote: Originally Posted by tetrafluoroethane Can anyone provide an idea of how fast the CPUs are? I would like to compare them to a dual core Pentium 4 2.8GHz and a 3000+ Athlon 64. I just want an idea of how fast it is.

I can't give you the exact numbers off the top of my head...I will make some up for comparrisons sake, so just hang with me for a second.

Ever heard of "IPC"?

That is Instructions Per Clock (Cycle)

Instructions Per Cycle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Something like the old P-4 based chips had around "10" lets say...so at 2800MHZ, you would be able to complete 28,000 "Instructions" per second.

An AMD 64 3000+ is 1800MHZ, and lets say can do "14" IPC =25,200, so it would be a bit slower...however at the same 2.8GHZ as the Intel, it would be 39,200

Core 2 duo has around 18 "IPC" so at 2GHZ, it can do 36,000, and at 3GHZ, it would be 54,000!!! (You can fill in the rest between 2 and 3GHZ)



IPC is just one peice of the puzzle...cache size, and other improvements to the arcitecture of the Core 2 Duo alos make it superior.

One thing AMD has that Intel doesnt have (Right Now) is the memory controller built into the CPU itself instead of in the Northbridge on the motherboard..but again, Intel did lots of other things to the core arcticture that mkaes up for it and then some!

Check out this article for more details.

AnandTech: Intel's Core 2 Extreme & Core 2 Duo: The Empire Strikes Back

I decided to go with:
Description

		SYSTEM COMPONENTS
		Vostro 1700 Qty 1 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB), Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic Unit Price $1,452.00 $414 OFF select Vostro 1700 Notebooks through Dell Small Business! Special offer - $414.00 Catalog Number: 4 BQDWL2J Module Description Vostro 1700 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB) Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic LCD Panel 17.0 inch Wide Screen XGA+ LCD Display Memory 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT Hard Drive 160G 5400RPM SATA hard drive Integrated NIC and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.08 Optical Drive 8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability Sound Card Integrated High Definition Audio Wireless Cards IntelJ PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Wi-Fi Mini Card Camera No Camera Productivity Software MS Works 8.5-Eng: Basic Spreadsheet, Word Processing and Calendar Program Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-Install) Norton Internet Security 2007 30-day Subscription Primary Battery 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery Limited Warranty, Services and Support 1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty with Mail-in Service Installation Services No Onsite System Setup Dell Support 3.4 and PC Tune-up DellNetwork Assistant 1.7 Miscellaneous Vostro 1700 Bluetooth Wireless Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) Purchase Intent Purchase is not intended for resale. Processor Branding Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor Labels Windows Vista™ Basic Dell DataSafe Online Data Backup No Online Data Back Up Installed Standard Vostro Services Tools No Dell Automated PC Tune Up Installed

TOTAL:$1,038.00

Is that a good deal?