Is a 64mb 9600 enough?

[Grailyn]

I used to be a hard core gamer. I still keep a serious gaming rig at home. Looking for a new laptop for work. It really is mostly for work, but I do want to do some gaming on it. I don't mind turning some of the settings down, but I want to make sure pretty much everything out now, and coming out withing 6 months will at least play ok on this. Again I don't mind turning stuff down, but I'd rather not have to set everythign to the minimums either.

Basically do I really NEED to get a 128mb 9700 or better, or do you think I can live with the 64mb 9600?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

If you want "ok in 6 months", get the M9800, given that an 8-pipe solution is the "low end" of current-generation hardware.

- M4H

 

[AmigaMan]

I can play Call of Duty, Neverwinter Nights, Command and Conquor Generals, KOTOR, and MoH:AA fine with my 9600Pro 64MB. I have an HP NC8000 with a 1.7Ghz non-dothan CPU and 1.5GB RAM. C&C is a little slow when a lot of objects are on the screen at once. But overall I'm satisfied. If I had a chance to get a 9700 or better I'd do it. While my laptop is decent for most games it's also my only gaming rig (unless you can count a Duron 800 with a 3dfx Voodoo3 as a gaming rig). Since you already have a good gaming rig at home, it may not be worth it spending more money on a better card.

 

[spdfreak]

The 9600 64MB card in my Emachine 6810 overclocks like crazy. So if you don't mind OC it when you are playing games, it might be fine. My 3d mark 01 score goes from 9500 to 12000 when it is OCed. The problem with the 9800 is that it only comes in very expensive, high end laptops like the XPS. But if you can afford it, I would get it.

 

[Grailyn]

Let me rephrase. This will not be my main gaming machine. It will be an on the road I'm glad if I can just get the game to load and play it more than anything machine. Will I be totally unhappy with this like I am right now with my 16mb 7500?

 

[AmigaMan]

Originally posted by: Grailyn
Let me rephrase. This will not be my main gaming machine. It will be an on the road I'm glad if I can just get the game to load and play it more than anything machine. Will I be totally unhappy with this like I am right now with my 16mb 7500?

You should be fine for 6 months then. The 9600 Pro has at least a year or two before it becomes 7500-ish. At least I hope so, I doubt I can get my boss to spring for another $4,000 laptop next year. Unlike you, this is my primary gaming machine (on another partition of course .

 

[theblackbox]

I think so. My winbook w360 has a 9600 with 64mb, and it does well with everything i do, and doesn't consume too much energy. The only thing i don't like is the newest omega drivers have issues with dvd playback, but i'm sure that'll get fixed.
I use mine for all kinds of work and entertainment, and it does well with games like battlefront, bfv and dawn of war.
It also does well with programming, video editing, and picture editing.

But when it comes to mobile gaming, it works just fine for me.

 

[bigal40]

Originally posted by: Grailyn
Let me rephrase. This will not be my main gaming machine. It will be an on the road I'm glad if I can just get the game to load and play it more than anything machine. Will I be totally unhappy with this like I am right now with my 16mb 7500?

No if are just using it to play on the road it will be fine. I have an a amd 64 3000, 512 ram and a 9600 64mb and i run doom 3 at 1024x768 at medium quality fine. I play UT2004 and America's Army great at 1280x800 with 2x aa/4x af. Moving up to 4xaa and 8xaf is kind of pushing it but on some mpas it is still playable. NA das someone already said it is easy to overclock quite a bit.