upgrade/downgrade performance question

Seikosm · 04-14-2005, 10:29 AM

My home pc is currently clocked at 1.1ghz, with 512 RAM, and a 128mb vid card. With this setup I am able to run all the latest game just fine. Not on the highest settings of course, but I still get steady framerates. If I were to purchase a laptop that doubles my current processor and RAM (so 2.2ghz 1gig RAM) but drop down to a 64mb video card, would my performance be increased, decreased, or pretty much remain the same? How big of a difference does that 64mb really make, and can it be made up for by increased processor speed/RAM.

**Sarkast** · 04-14-2005, 11:07 AM

The ammount of RAM does not say much about the performance of a video card. So this question cannot be answered unless you provide more information:
What is the current graphics card. What is the 64Mb card/ adapter ?

What determines a video cards power most is the GPU, RAM interface and clockrates (plus many others) - ammount of RAM comes somewhere at the end.

So if you give us some more information we might be able to estimate how your new setup would compare to the old.

Seikosm · 04-14-2005, 01:09 PM

Ok, here's how it lays out. Currently I have desktop pc with an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ processor, 512mb RAM, and a 128mb ATI Radeon 9600 video card. I'm planning on purchasing a new laptop with AMD Athlon 64 3400+, 1 gig of RAM, and a 64MB NVIDIA GeForce 4 440 Go + 1394 video card.

**MD_Willington** · 04-14-2005, 05:09 PM

Not even a competition...The Radeon will wipe the floor with that Nvidia chipset...I'm non biased on this issue either since I have Geforce 4 440 agp cards in my home machines...

Decreased in a BIG way...

MD

**Sarkast** · 04-14-2005, 05:26 PM

MD is right - even though the laptops CPU is far superior the video cards are 2 diffrent worlds and you might not even be able to reach half the framerates in a game that you are used to.

Seikosm · 04-15-2005, 11:21 AM

Ok, for a couple hundred extra I could get Intel Pentium 4 640 w/HT Technology, 3.2GHz, 1 gig RAM, and a 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X600. It also comes with a 17.0" WXGA+ BrightView Wide Viewing screen as opposed to the 15.4" in the Athlon 64 build. How do you think that would pan out?

**Sarkast** · 04-15-2005, 12:20 PM

That would defenitely be the better choice. I am still trying to find some benchmarks for you so i'll have to post again later.

The following article is about the GF6600s - but they compare it to a X600. You can see they both perform equally good - and a 6600 probably offers 3 times the performance you are used to from your 9600. So with an X600 in that system you'd make a huge step forward !

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha...0bench1/3.html

04-14-2005, 10:29 AM	#1 (permalink)
Seikosm Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 20 OS: XP / Mandrake	upgrade/downgrade performance question My home pc is currently clocked at 1.1ghz, with 512 RAM, and a 128mb vid card. With this setup I am able to run all the latest game just fine. Not on the highest settings of course, but I still get steady framerates. If I were to purchase a laptop that doubles my current processor and RAM (so 2.2ghz 1gig RAM) but drop down to a 64mb video card, would my performance be increased, decreased, or pretty much remain the same? How big of a difference does that 64mb really make, and can it be made up for by increased processor speed/RAM.

04-14-2005, 11:07 AM	#2 (permalink)
Sarkast TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: NY Posts: 2,715 OS: WinXP	The ammount of RAM does not say much about the performance of a video card. So this question cannot be answered unless you provide more information: What is the current graphics card. What is the 64Mb card/ adapter ? What determines a video cards power most is the GPU, RAM interface and clockrates (plus many others) - ammount of RAM comes somewhere at the end. So if you give us some more information we might be able to estimate how your new setup would compare to the old. __________________ P4 2.4@2.9 / XP-90 / Albatron PX865PE Pro V2.0 / Kingston Hyper-X 512MB Dual Channel CL2-2-2-5 / Geforce4 MX440x8 64MB / WD80GB 7200RPM 8MB / Thermaltake 420W PSU --> SEE IT ALL GLOW <-- MBM5 - SpeedFan - PSU Calculator - MemTest86 - ThrottleWatch

04-14-2005, 05:09 PM	#4 (permalink)
MD_Willington Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: WA State & BC Posts: 587 OS: XP	Not even a competition...The Radeon will wipe the floor with that Nvidia chipset...I'm non biased on this issue either since I have Geforce 4 440 agp cards in my home machines... Decreased in a BIG way... MD __________________ Mainboard: PCC M848ALU / ECS L7S7A2 / ECS 748-A, HDD: Western Digital 40Gb, RAM: 2-256Mb DDR266 by Micron 4x AGP Card: 3DForce4-MX440, CDRW: Liteon 52x32x52, PSU: Antec True430, CPU: XP2200+ (AXDA2200DUV3C) *It's OK to be ignorant; it's not OK to play stupid.* *Never assume you are entitled to an answer. You are not.*

04-14-2005, 05:26 PM	#5 (permalink)
Sarkast TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: NY Posts: 2,715 OS: WinXP	MD is right - even though the laptops CPU is far superior the video cards are 2 diffrent worlds and you might not even be able to reach half the framerates in a game that you are used to. __________________ P4 2.4@2.9 / XP-90 / Albatron PX865PE Pro V2.0 / Kingston Hyper-X 512MB Dual Channel CL2-2-2-5 / Geforce4 MX440x8 64MB / WD80GB 7200RPM 8MB / Thermaltake 420W PSU --> SEE IT ALL GLOW <-- MBM5 - SpeedFan - PSU Calculator - MemTest86 - ThrottleWatch

04-15-2005, 12:20 PM	#7 (permalink)
Sarkast TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: NY Posts: 2,715 OS: WinXP	That would defenitely be the better choice. I am still trying to find some benchmarks for you so i'll have to post again later. The following article is about the GF6600s - but they compare it to a X600. You can see they both perform equally good - and a 6600 probably offers 3 times the performance you are used to from your 9600. So with an X600 in that system you'd make a huge step forward ! http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha...0bench1/3.html __________________ P4 2.4@2.9 / XP-90 / Albatron PX865PE Pro V2.0 / Kingston Hyper-X 512MB Dual Channel CL2-2-2-5 / Geforce4 MX440x8 64MB / WD80GB 7200RPM 8MB / Thermaltake 420W PSU --> SEE IT ALL GLOW <-- MBM5 - SpeedFan - PSU Calculator - MemTest86 - ThrottleWatch Last edited by Sarkast; 04-15-2005 at 12:25 PM.

04-14-2005, 01:09 PM	#3 (permalink)
Seikosm Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 20 OS: XP / Mandrake	Ok, here's how it lays out. Currently I have desktop pc with an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ processor, 512mb RAM, and a 128mb ATI Radeon 9600 video card. I'm planning on purchasing a new laptop with AMD Athlon 64 3400+, 1 gig of RAM, and a 64MB NVIDIA GeForce 4 440 Go + 1394 video card.

04-15-2005, 11:21 AM	#6 (permalink)
Seikosm Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 20 OS: XP / Mandrake	Ok, for a couple hundred extra I could get Intel Pentium 4 640 w/HT Technology, 3.2GHz, 1 gig RAM, and a 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X600. It also comes with a 17.0" WXGA+ BrightView Wide Viewing screen as opposed to the 15.4" in the Athlon 64 build. How do you think that would pan out?