Mobile graphics Intel Extreme 2 vs radeon 9600

[boran]

Hi, I'm getting a laptop this summer, and I'm torn between a laptop with an Intel Extreme 2 graphics chipset and one with a radeon 9600 mobile chipset.

Let me state first of al, I will NOT play any games on this laptop, I have my home system to do that, so performance of either is not an issue.

The main issue is compatibility and power usage, which one of the two will run the most stable, and which one of the two will consume the least power ?

I'd think the radeon would be more compatible (everything I read the intel graphics has issues with stuff) but i'd think it would also consume more power, with it's integrated and high speed memory and such.

also (this is not as graphics related), the one with integrated graphics comes with SDR memory and the one with the 9600 comes with DDR memory, how much does that make of a difference for a Pentium Mobile 1.6 ?

 

[Cerb]

Does the one with the 9600 use SDR SDRAM?
The Pentium 4 suffers severely with SDR SDRAM. DDR is a must.
If it's a Pentium-M 1.6, I still don't see why it'd have SDR SDRAM (don't know if they make such a beast, but don't know for sure they don't, either).

PC2100 RAM is the absolute minimum to use for a P4, laptop or no.

Now, to answer the main question, not doing 3D work IEG will only be a little behind. But with SDR SDRAM, you'll feel every little bit of it.

 

[Mingon]

Try and find out if it is intergrated or discrete i.e. does it have it own memory. I would guess the likelyhood is the 9600 has 32/64/128 mb of its own memory which gives a nice little boost in some encoding apps as its not restricitng the sytem

 

[boran]

the 9600 has 32 MB of own memory, the IE2 uses shared memory.

and I will not get a P4 mobile, but a Pentium Mobile, and i'd like to know how much those suffer from less memory bandwith, I know P4 is quite bandwidth happy, but is the mobile too ?

 

[Mingon]

Originally posted by: boran
the 9600 has 32 MB of own memory, the IE2 uses shared memory.

and I will not get a P4 mobile, but a Pentium Mobile, and i'd like to know how much those suffer from less memory bandwith, I know P4 is quite bandwidth happy, but is the mobile too ?

I would hazard a guess and say its not going to make alot of difference but for resale value alone go with the 9600

 

[IntelUser2000]

I can't see how Pentium M, can have SDR RAM. There is no such RAM available, if you are talking about Intel chipsets. Heck, the first Pentium 4-M chipset introduced, 845MP was DDR266 compatible minimum!!!

 

[IntelUser2000]

Well, what I meant was, there is SDRAM, but there is absolutely no supporting chipsets for SDRAM for Pentium 4-M and later.

 

[boran]

you're right, the exell file I had (downloaded from the HP website by teh way) sais it has SDR memory, whereas now if I look at the model number (nx5000) I see that it has DDR. but I'm going with the 9600 tho, I need all the avialable ram I can get.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Maybe you missed the few million press releases on it, but ATI mobile chips consume very little power thanks to their ability to both dynamically downclock and shut down unused parts of the die (3D core, TV-output, MPEG2 decode) when they're not required.

Buy the R9600-equipped one and be happy. Very happy.

- M4H

 

[Bartokomus]

i'm on my work Dell right now; P-M 1.4 with 1024 ddr. It has the Radeon 9000. It's a snappy little thing but not for 3d; my old Athlon XP-M 2500+ had the IGP 320 and it was much better it seemed. Where do/did these two product lines merge/overlap?

 

[boran]

the desktop 9600 is approx the level opf my Ti4400 I have in my main rig (for DX 8.1 and under) and definetly better in DX9, so I dont think you can compare a 9000 vs a 9600, my only worry is the mere 32 MB video memory, I know it's not like i'm going to use FSAA on the thing, but still, it's a bit small imho.