• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

8600 Go laptop graphics card

I just want to know if it's good.

I doubt I plan on playin' video games.

I just need a super fast laptop, even if it doesn't come with an advanced 3rd party video card.

Maybe I'm lookin' at the wrong laptops, but need a big HD, core2 CPU and somethin' loaded with memory, xpress and pc card slot so I can use an X-fi or Audigy 2 ZS for mixin' music and play Starcraft

14.1 preferably

I need something cheap so I'm not breakin' the bank

but I still want to know what the Geforce 8600m is capable of, from user-input or your personal opinions
 
From what I have seen, the 8600M GT in the MacBook Pro (not shilling or anything just the numbers I know off hand) can run most of the modern games on High Settings, at 1440*900 without any issues. Whether or not this will be enough for say, Crysis, remains to be seen, but I have heard (and seen screenshots, can't recall where off hand, so feel free to disregard this as hearsay) that the MacBook Pro (2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM, 8600M GT 256MB) runs Bioshock at native res, at High settings, and gets 40+ FPS, so definitely playable. I have also seen [L = "http://barefeats.com/rosa03.html"]this[/L] that shows that the 128MB version of the card is not much worse than the 256MB version, so you do not have to get that in order to get great performance.

So, I would look [L = "http://www.newegg.com/Product/...tion=&Ntk=&srchInDesc="]here[/L] where I have chosen machines that have Core 2 Duos, and the 8600M GT. Pick from those if you like, check out Dell from which you can get a 14.1" that has an 8400M for around $1500 (after upgrading hard drive, optical drive, and CPU) or the 15.4" that has an 8600M GT for around the same price (after upgrading RAM and screen)
 
How would the 8600m gt stack up against the x1600, both 256mb? I'm looking at the MBP & will be playing COV on XP. Would the ATI card have any advantage over the 8600 128mb? TIA
 
There are two primary variants of the 8600m GT.

One is 256MB, GDDR3; the other is 512MB, DDR2. The GDDR3 version is much higher clocked than the DDR2 version, and can only be seen in a handful of notebooks such as the Asus G1S (ugly), the Asus V1S (expensive), and the Asus C90 (no battery life).

The 512MB DDR2 version, which I have in my laptop, the Sager NP2090, is adequate for a lot of modern gaming. Resolution can't be native on my screen for a lot of these games (WSXGA+ 1680 x 1050) as the 8600m GT is crippled with a 128-bit bus.

So, for moderate gaming power for today's games, the 8600m GT is fine, but if you want all the bells and whistles in games today, you're better off getting a desktop or a 17" notebook that has the 7950 GTX or the 8700m GT, the former being more powerful as the 8700m GT also has a 128-bit bus and is pretty much an OC'd 8600m GT.
 
www.notebookreview.com you will find so much information in the forums on the 8600m it will make your eyes bleed.

But basically with a 14.1" screen, you don't really have much of a choice. The 8600m is your best option so you might as well take it.
 
Originally posted by: onlyCOpunk
www.notebookreview.com you will find so much information in the forums on the 8600m it will make your eyes bleed.

But basically with a 14.1" screen, you don't really have much of a choice. The 8600m is your best option so you might as well take it.
Click to expand...

It's actually a 15.4 inch @ 1440x900
 
My laptop is:
C2D 2.2GHz
2x1GB ddr667
8600GT M

I ran 3dmark05 and 3dmark06, and ATM I'm having trouble remembering exactly what I scored. I think it was around 6k in 3dmark05, and 3k in 3dmark06. Not too bad for a $1700 laptop.

1680x1050 and 7200rpm HDD btw.
 
Originally posted by: m1ldslide1
My laptop is:
C2D 2.2GHz
2x1GB ddr667
8600GT M

I ran 3dmark05 and 3dmark06, and ATM I'm having trouble remembering exactly what I scored. I think it was around 6k in 3dmark05, and 3k in 3dmark06. Not too bad for a $1700 laptop.

1680x1050 and 7200rpm HDD btw.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm looking at for $1844 at MacMall, it has a 128mb 8600 or the 2.4 C2D with a 256mb vc & bigger HDD for $500 more. They are 5400 drives, was the 7200 an option or did you upgrade that yourself? What's with the gloosy screen option?
 
don't they have a new thing that allows you to install maxos on a pc? it might significantly cheaper to go that route.
 
Originally posted by: Emission
Originally posted by: waffleironhead
Is this indeed a card? or is it integrated? Most portable systems are integrated not "cards".
Click to expand...

This is indeed a "card", not integrated.
Click to expand...

indeed? please link me to the card then and the system using it...I thought mxm was dead.
 
It's a decent card. I can play any game maxed out at native (1280x800 on my NP2090) except for UT3, SupCom and Crysis (of the games i've tried).

There is a significant difference between DDR2 and GDDR3; however, as Syntax Error pointed out, the choices for the GDDR3 version aren't exactly expansive. Also note that the MBP card is slightly underclocked GDDR3, much like the x1600 of last-gen's MBP is also underclocked.

For comparison, these are a couple of games I've tried:
HL2: Maxed settings, full HDR, 16x AF, 6x MSAA, 1280x800. FPS: 70-300 ~ish
HL2:Ep 1. Maxed Settings, Full HDR, 8x AF, 2x MSAA, 1280x800. FPS: 50-70 ~ish
TF2: Maxed Settings, full HDR, 2x AF and no AA, 1280x800 (Mostly because I am a FPS nut on MP games). FPS: 50-70~ish
ET:QW. Maxed Settings, 2x AA and 4x AF, 1280x800. FPS: 45-60+ if unlocked
Guild Wars: Maxed Settings, 4x AA and 8x AF, 1280x800. FPS: Solid 60
UT3: Detail Max except World Detail 4/5, 1024x768. FPS: 45-60+
Crysis DX9- All Med except texture detail high, 1024x768. FPS: 35-55
Crysis DX10- About half and half Med/Low. 1024x768. FPS: 35-50
Far Cry- Maxed out, 2xAA, 1280x800. FPS: 45-60 (?) (All I know is that this was very playable)
FEAR- As far as I could tell, ran well on max settings. Had weird driver issue where FPS tanked after 10 minutes of play, supposedly fixed now but uninstalled and too lazy to check.

All these games represent the settings I could use to get playable (comfortable) FPS.

If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Basically, the card is pretty good with games. It should be able to at least play all upcoming games for a few years, although not at high settings and DX10. Purevideo decode is nice; I don't have much HD content so I haven't been able to try Purevideo HD, but the decoding for normal definition content, as well as image enhancement, seems like a nice improvement.

Power consumption is decently hefty. 1:30 is the average I get with heavy gaming on my battery (a 9 cell) on Maximum Performance settings, and 4:30+ on Power Saver (GPU downclocked).

Heat and noise aren't really issues, at least coming from a Celeron 2.0 Netburst and 845GM laptop (ugh, so slow...)

indeed? please link me to the card then and the system using it...I thought mxm was dead.
Click to expand...
Waffleironhead: This is a MXM-II dedicated card with 128 (for 8600M GS w/ 1/2 the shader ops) to 256-512MB of VRam. MXM is not dead- it's just that its primarily used for OEM's to perform maintenance faster, as the introduction of proprietary slots made MXM upgrades virtually unheard-of. Not all notebook GPU's are integrated- god forbid.

Here's the link to the specification page for my NP2090. I know it doesn't say much about the GPU, but look to nVidia's webpage and the 8600M GT is listed as a dedicated card.
 
it runs excellent on my mbp with the 128MB 8600GTm. i play nfs prostreet on pretty much high settings, and crysis on low-medium at 1440x900.
 
Originally posted by: vanvock
Originally posted by: onlyCOpunk
www.notebookreview.com you will find so much information in the forums on the 8600m it will make your eyes bleed.

But basically with a 14.1" screen, you don't really have much of a choice. The 8600m is your best option so you might as well take it.
Click to expand...

It's actually a 15.4 inch @ 1440x900
Click to expand...

Either way it's the best card in that size of notebook, unless you chose the HD2600 route. If you want anything more powerful you have to step up to 17" laptops. But those get more into desktop replacements. But yes like others said you have to watch out for the DDR2 vs the DDR3 version, and ram size and all.

Like I said notebookreview.com will have so much information on the 8600m, it's basically what every topic is about and there are some extremely knowledgeable people on those boards, complete with benchmarks and many many many reader reviews.
 
Originally posted by: shadowofthesun
It's a decent card. I can play any game maxed out at native (1280x800 on my NP2090) except for UT3, SupCom and Crysis (of the games i've tried).

There is a significant difference between DDR2 and GDDR3; however, as Syntax Error pointed out, the choices for the GDDR3 version aren't exactly expansive. Also note that the MBP card is slightly underclocked GDDR3, much like the x1600 of last-gen's MBP is also underclocked.

For comparison, these are a couple of games I've tried:
HL2: Maxed settings, full HDR, 16x AF, 6x MSAA, 1280x800. FPS: 70-300 ~ish
HL2:Ep 1. Maxed Settings, Full HDR, 8x AF, 2x MSAA, 1280x800. FPS: 50-70 ~ish
TF2: Maxed Settings, full HDR, 2x AF and no AA, 1280x800 (Mostly because I am a FPS nut on MP games). FPS: 50-70~ish
ET:QW. Maxed Settings, 2x AA and 4x AF, 1280x800. FPS: 45-60+ if unlocked
Guild Wars: Maxed Settings, 4x AA and 8x AF, 1280x800. FPS: Solid 60
UT3: Detail Max except World Detail 4/5, 1024x768. FPS: 45-60+
Crysis DX9- All Med except texture detail high, 1024x768. FPS: 35-55
Crysis DX10- About half and half Med/Low. 1024x768. FPS: 35-50
Far Cry- Maxed out, 2xAA, 1280x800. FPS: 45-60 (?) (All I know is that this was very playable)
FEAR- As far as I could tell, ran well on max settings. Had weird driver issue where FPS tanked after 10 minutes of play, supposedly fixed now but uninstalled and too lazy to check.

All these games represent the settings I could use to get playable (comfortable) FPS.

If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Basically, the card is pretty good with games. It should be able to at least play all upcoming games for a few years, although not at high settings and DX10. Purevideo decode is nice; I don't have much HD content so I haven't been able to try Purevideo HD, but the decoding for normal definition content, as well as image enhancement, seems like a nice improvement.

Power consumption is decently hefty. 1:30 is the average I get with heavy gaming on my battery (a 9 cell) on Maximum Performance settings, and 4:30+ on Power Saver (GPU downclocked).

Heat and noise aren't really issues, at least coming from a Celeron 2.0 Netburst and 845GM laptop (ugh, so slow...)

indeed? please link me to the card then and the system using it...I thought mxm was dead.
Click to expand...
Waffleironhead: This is a MXM-II dedicated card with 128 (for 8600M GS w/ 1/2 the shader ops) to 256-512MB of VRam. MXM is not dead- it's just that its primarily used for OEM's to perform maintenance faster, as the introduction of proprietary slots made MXM upgrades virtually unheard-of. Not all notebook GPU's are integrated- god forbid.

Here's the link to the specification page for my NP2090. I know it doesn't say much about the GPU, but look to nVidia's webpage and the 8600M GT is listed as a dedicated card.
Click to expand...

thanks for the info!
 
Originally posted by: vanvock
Originally posted by: m1ldslide1
My laptop is:
C2D 2.2GHz
2x1GB ddr667
8600GT M

I ran 3dmark05 and 3dmark06, and ATM I'm having trouble remembering exactly what I scored. I think it was around 6k in 3dmark05, and 3k in 3dmark06. Not too bad for a $1700 laptop.

1680x1050 and 7200rpm HDD btw.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm looking at for $1844 at MacMall, it has a 128mb 8600 or the 2.4 C2D with a 256mb vc & bigger HDD for $500 more. They are 5400 drives, was the 7200 an option or did you upgrade that yourself? What's with the gloosy screen option?
Click to expand...

Mine is a dell inspiron 1520, and the 7200 was an option. The glossy screen was an upgrade also - I can't remember the spec, but I got my employers to pay for it. 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top