Nvidia 5200 Go AGP 4X Vs 128MB ATI Radeon 9600 PRO

Hi

Which video card should I get to run with my Centrino 1.6ghz processor?

64MB DDR nVidia® GeForceTM FX Go5200 Go AGP 4X

or

128MB ATI Radeon 9600 PRO


I was thinking that the bottleneck may be the 1.6ghz processor, so it
wouldn't make much difference upgrading to the 9600 pro graphics. Also, can
you EASILY overclock the Go5200 graphics to a similar speed, therefore
making upgrading to 9600 pro pointless?

Yes, I realise these a mobile graphics, but im considering this as part of
buying a notebook.

Cheers
Michael

Which video card should I get to run with my Centrino 1.6ghz processor?

64MB DDR nVidia® GeForceTM FX Go5200 Go AGP 4X

or

128MB ATI Radeon 9600 PRO


I was thinking that the bottleneck may be the 1.6ghz processor, so it
wouldn't make much difference upgrading to the 9600 pro graphics. Also, can
you EASILY overclock the Go5200 graphics to a similar speed, therefore
making upgrading to 9600 pro pointless?

You can't easily overclock much of anything in a notebook (without
setting fire to your lap, anyway).

Also, I don't think a 1.6GHz Pentium-M (Centrino) is slow enough to
bottleneck a 9600 Pro. I haven't seen direct benchmarks, but the P-M at
1.6GHz is probably faster than a P4 at 2.4GHz.

What resolution will your laptop's display run at? If it's high (above
1024x768), get the 9600 Pro. Otherwise, get the 9600 Pro anyway. You
can't usually upgrade laptop graphics, so get something that will last.
(Unless you don't plan on playing games on your laptop, then get
whatever's cheap.)

Sharp wrote:

Hi

Which video card should I get to run with my Centrino 1.6ghz processor?

64MB DDR nVidia® GeForceTM FX Go5200 Go AGP 4X

or

128MB ATI Radeon 9600 PRO


I was thinking that the bottleneck may be the 1.6ghz processor, so it
wouldn't make much difference upgrading to the 9600 pro graphics. Also,
can you EASILY overclock the Go5200 graphics to a similar speed, therefore
making upgrading to 9600 pro pointless?

Yes, I realise these a mobile graphics, but im considering this as part of
buying a notebook.

There's no real comparison between a 5200 and a 9600 Mobility, which I
presume are the alternatives. If it's a 1.6 GHz Centrino assume the
preformance of a much faster desktop P4--Intel looks like they're going to
have to go to the same "P-rating" scheme as AMD pretty soon--the Centrinos
are very efficient processors, giving much better performance than their
clock speed would suggest.

By the way, the 9600 Mobility is itself a very good overclocker I
understand.

Cheers
Michael

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Sharp wrote:
Hi

Which video card should I get to run with my Centrino 1.6ghz processor?

64MB DDR nVidia® GeForceTM FX Go5200 Go AGP 4X

or

128MB ATI Radeon 9600 PRO


I was thinking that the bottleneck may be the 1.6ghz processor, so it
wouldn't make much difference upgrading to the 9600 pro graphics. Also, can
you EASILY overclock the Go5200 graphics to a similar speed, therefore
making upgrading to 9600 pro pointless?

Yes, I realise these a mobile graphics, but im considering this as part of
buying a notebook.

Cheers
Michael



A totally unfair match, the 9600Pro will blow it out of the water and
**** on the 5200. They are extremely different cards.

A good match for the 9600Pro is a 5700. A 5700 Ultra GDDR3 can beat it
handily. But the 5700U was never a mobile chip, so a 6100/6200 GO would
be the closest match.

Get a better CPU though. You'll need at least a 2.6-3.0ghz P4 before
you start noticing the differences a video card will make. That said
however, a 9600Pro does "more" for a low end system than an equivalent
NVIDIA model.

While the Centrino P4-M's (acually a Pentium-M I believe) are VERY good
clock for clock compared to a generic P4, you will need something better
if you're serious about mobile gaming. Still, go for the 9600.

Get a better CPU though. You'll need at least a 2.6-3.0ghz P4 before
you start noticing the differences a video card will make. That said
however, a 9600Pro does "more" for a low end system than an equivalent
NVIDIA model.

Is this laptop going to be strictly a desktop replacement machine? I'd
go Centrino before P4 if battery life/heat generation is important to
you. Raw CPU speed is overrated; it's only part of the picture, and
most new systems mate a fast CPU to a mediocre system (because GHz
sells, thanks Intel) when money would be better spent building a good
balance.

My laptop has an XP1800+ and an ATI 320M graphics chip (equivalent to a
Radeon 7000). It scores 1612 on 3DMark2001.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6529082

Just for kicks, I dropped my old Ti4200 into a much older Pentium II
300MHz machine and ran 3DMark on that. It beats my laptop by over 60%,
scoring 2639.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=8228642

I'm not sure what that's supposed to prove. Other than don't skimp on
the video.

/ramble

The Pentium M comes in a variety of speeds. Up to 2ghz. And that processor
speed plus the 2 meg of cache (Dothan processor) and will hold it's ground
to any p4 on the market. And the Mobil P4 won't even be able to keep up with
it.

"deimos" wrote in message
...
Sharp wrote:
Hi

Which video card should I get to run with my Centrino 1.6ghz processor?

64MB DDR nVidia® GeForceTM FX Go5200 Go AGP 4X

or

128MB ATI Radeon 9600 PRO


I was thinking that the bottleneck may be the 1.6ghz processor, so it
wouldn't make much difference upgrading to the 9600 pro graphics. Also,
can
you EASILY overclock the Go5200 graphics to a similar speed, therefore
making upgrading to 9600 pro pointless?

Yes, I realise these a mobile graphics, but im considering this as part
of
buying a notebook.

Cheers
Michael



A totally unfair match, the 9600Pro will blow it out of the water and
**** on the 5200. They are extremely different cards.

A good match for the 9600Pro is a 5700. A 5700 Ultra GDDR3 can beat it
handily. But the 5700U was never a mobile chip, so a 6100/6200 GO would
be the closest match.

Get a better CPU though. You'll need at least a 2.6-3.0ghz P4 before
you start noticing the differences a video card will make. That said
however, a 9600Pro does "more" for a low end system than an equivalent
NVIDIA model.

While the Centrino P4-M's (acually a Pentium-M I believe) are VERY good
clock for clock compared to a generic P4, you will need something better
if you're serious about mobile gaming. Still, go for the 9600.