Difficult to compare these 3 video cards

[guybarth]

Hi,

I can get the following (all 3 systems have the same memory, warranty, and other components I want). All 3 systems only differ by the video card, display, and FSB

1) Intel® Pentium® M Processor 755 (2GHz/400MHz FSB)
128MB ATI's? Mobility Radeon? 9700
17" UltraSharp? Wide Screen XGA+ Display
1900 bucks

2) Intel® Pentium® M Processor 760 (2GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
128MB DDR ATI's MOBILITY? RADEON X300 PCI Express
15.4 inch UltraSharp WUXGA LCD Panel
1975 bucks

3) Intel® Pentium® M 760 Processor (2GHz/533MHz FSB)
256MB NVIDA® GeForce? Go 6800 Ultra
17 inch UltraSharp? Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife
2550 bucks

So, they are all the same stuff except for the display size/resolution, video card, and slightly different FSB. Which is a better video card, the x300 or the mobility 9700? I'm a gamer, would you pay for the 600 extra to get the 6800 Ultra and the better display? If I bought one of the first two systems, would it be simple to upgrade to the ultra later?

Thanks,

Guy

 

[quakefiend420]

i know in desktop cards...the 6800 is gonna spank that x300...badly

if the difference was the same with the notbook chips...i would definitley go for the 6800

 

[ribbon13]

Do you have to buy prebuilt? Seriously? I'm going to assume those are laptops then?

As a gamer, I would buy a laptop based on what I needed to do on the road, and not pay out the nose for a 'gamer laptop'. My vote is #2

Performance laptop -> Hi end LCD/CRT at home for gaming...

 

[guybarth]

Ya, I should have specified that, these are all laptops.

This is the first laptop I will own. I plan on getting an AC adapter for the car. I assume most airports have outlets, so the only place I can't plug in is on an airplane. So, I'm thinking I don't care so much about the power issue, am I living in a dream world?

I don't have to buy pre-built, but I can get a military discount through dell that makes it worth it considering my ability to build....

So, again, what is the difference between the x300 and mobility 9700? I assume the x300 is better because that is the one you recommended?

Thanks,
Guy

 

[fstime]

Gaming on a latop is stupid imo, I would get somthing with the most bettery life but if you really want to play games on your laptop get the 6800.

 

[guybarth]

Even if I want to do gaming, you think it is worth 600 bucks to get the 6800 Ultra performance gains and display? can I easily upgrade to that later?

 

[ribbon13]

Upgrading the video in a laptop wouldn't be worth it. It's not standard, would take an immense amout of work, and you would pretty much have to be an computer engineer to do something like that. Thus... NO.

 

[guybarth]

Yikes,

That makes the decision more difficult. I need to decide two things. 1) How much gaming I will do away from home. 2) How much is worth to me to have two computers at my house for gaming so a bud can play.

Thanks ribbon13

 

[Ike0069]

Minus the monitor, you can build a mid range gaming desktop for under $1000.
Then take the rest of your budget and buy a laptop for traveling.

 

[biostud]

6800 >>> 9700 >>> x300

 

[LTC8K6]

The mobility 9700 is really only a 9600, so it's not going to be too far ahead of the X300.

 

[imported_Hi]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
The mobility 9700 is really only a 9600, so it's not going to be too far ahead of the X300.

hmmm

last time i checked the mobile 9700 has double the pipelines then the x300
so yes it is far from the x300

 

[LTC8K6]

Check again.

The Mobility Radeon 9700 actually uses the 9600XT core. It has 4 pipes and 128bit memory. It performs between a 9600Pro and and a 9600XT.

 

[guybarth]

ike,

I could build my own desktop, but I won't for two reasons right now. first, i already have an alienware that is holding up quite well. 2nd, i'm in the miltary and go places all time. other buds bring their laptops, and we get time to game it up. so, i want my laptop to have decent gaming capability.

thanks

 

[guybarth]

i finally found some benchmarks to compare the x300 and 9700. yikes, the 9700 is definitely better. of course the 6800 Go Ultra smokes them both.

x300: http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041222/vga_charts-06.html
9700: http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/vga_charts-07.html

hmmm, i'm thinking the ultra and the better monitor are worth the money. Power....well, i'm not playing games on the airplane, just when they i get there, so...

guy

 

[LTC8K6]

Desktop 9700 has 8 pipes & 256bit memory.
Mobility Radeon 9700 has 4 pipes & 128bit memory.
Mobility Radeon X300 has 4 pipes & 128bit memory.

The Desktop Radeon 9700 will crush the mobility Radeon 9700 and X300.

Comparing the desktop chips is not valid.

 

[obeseotron]

Don't look at the benchmarks for the real 9700, mobile 9700's are closest to desktop 9600's. Still fast enough for casual gaming, but if you're running at a high native resolution on the laptop's LCD then it's going to be fillrate limited in anything newer. I'd skip the x300 completely.

Unlike the 9700, the 6800 go ultra (ultra is very important) is basically the same as the desktop version, and will play any game very well. It's also pretty expensive, you might want to look into a mobility 9800, which is actually faster than the desktop 9800 xt. It is an 8 pipeline version of the x800 (vs 12 in the pro and 16 in the xt. the 9700 mobility is 4 and the 6800 go ultra is 16) so its feature set is actually better than on the desktop. It should be a bit cheaper too.

 

[windraider]

anandtech had an article detailing the new XPS gen 2 notebook from Dell that had the 6800 go ultra in it here are results just from HL2, the rest you can read in the article. for hands down gaming, the 6800 go ultra keeps pace even with desktop cards. i know results are slightly scewed due to processor differences, and screen res. but for ultimate gaming on the go that's about the best it gets. as for upgradability, dell uses a proprietary version of the MXM module endorsed by nVidia, so all you'd need to upgrade to a new GPU would be for dell to make it compatible with their version of MXM, and you to buy it.
IMO for gaming grab the go 6800 ultra.
Cheers

edited for clarity