Another laptop that could be good for games?

[Alfred K]

IMPORTANT. LOOK AT POST #3 for the laptop I actually bought.


Hello! I want to buy a laptop that will run games decently. After a lot of searching I found this laptop>

Dell Inspiron N5520

Here are it's specifications:
Processor:
Intel® Core™ i5-3210M Processor, 2.5 GHz
Ivy Bridge
Screen: 15.6” HD WLED Backlight
TFT Active Matrix
TrueLife

RAM: DDR3 6GB

Graphics:
AMD Radeon HD 7670M 6GB

OS:
Microsoft Windows® 7 SP1 Home Premium 64

To me personally it seems pretty decent. Here are the games that I would like to play on this machine: Rome Total War, Medieval 2, Empire on lowest, Stalker Call of Pripyat, Fallout 3;NV on low, Skyrim on low, FIFA 12, Starcraft II, Diablo III

Do you think it will be able to run these games? All help is appreciated

[Bolkonsky]

That chip will play just about any game on low, on medium it will play a lot and on high, well not very many.

[Alfred K]

Bought an another laptop today. It's an ASUS A55VM. Quick stats here:
Processor:
Intel® Core™ i5-3210M Processor, 2.5 GHz
Ivy Bridge
Screen: 15.6” HDWLED Backlight
TFT Active Matrix
TrueLife

RAM: DDR3 6GB

Graphics:
NVIDIA GT 630M 2GB

OS:
Microsoft Windows® 7 SP1 Home Premium 64

[Bolkonsky]

Ah yeah, that's definitely a little weaker. Will still play most if not all games on low, though.

[Alfred K]

Ah yeah, that's definitely a little weaker. Will still play most if not all games on low, though.

Yup... But as long as it can handle Medieval 2 Total War I'm fine with it
Plus got a real good deal on this one compared to the Dell price, only 599 Euros for the whole pack (a new product, so it's discounted) in comparison to Dell's 680 Euros, and the Dell didn't even have an OS.

[karamazovmm]

My HD 3000 can handle m2tw.

Whats your budget?

You are getting gpus from last year, try to look for this years models

[Alfred K]

My HD 3000 can handle m2tw.

Whats your budget?

You are getting gpus from last year, try to look for this years models

I wasn't looking for anything above 700 €. Since it is not an integrated chip anyways, I suppose I can UG when it gets old.

Jakethe_Snake15;11823408[/COLOR]]
Aren't those this years models? Last gen would be AMD/ATI's 6xxx series, and Nvidias 5xx series if I remember correctly. But yeah...that 630m is a bit weaker, but if you're happy with it, you're happy with it.

If you believe notebookcheck.net, then the card was released in last year.

Karamazovmm;11823409[/COLOR]]
they are basically rebrands of last years models.

Nvidia rebrands:
610m, 620m, 630m, 640m LE (some models), 670m, 675m

AMD rebrands:
7670m, 7500m series

the 630m is basically a 425m/430m/435m/525m/540m/550m/555m(some models), its quite dated

Basically it is completely identical to the 540m, just a different name.

[Jakethe_Snake15]

Aren't those this years models? Last gen would be AMD/ATI's 6xxx series, and Nvidias 5xx series if I remember correctly. But yeah...that 630m is a bit weaker, but if you're happy with it, you're happy with it.

[karamazovmm]

they are basically rebrands of last years models.

Nvidia rebrands:
610m, 620m, 630m, 640m LE (some models), 670m, 675m

AMD rebrands:
7670m, 7500m series

the 630m is basically a 425m/430m/435m/525m/540m/550m/555m(some models), its quite dated

[karamazovmm]

and the 540m is the same thing as the cards that I posted.

try to look for the hp dv6, it comes with a 650m, the inspiron 15r comes with a 7750m, avoid the dell xps line, it has some serious throttling issues. The asus N line comes with the 640m and the 650m but those are the DDR3 models, and are slower than the GDDR5 model, that comes in the dv6 for example.

and no, you cant upgrade the gpu in most notebooks, this can only be done in certain workstations models, for example the thinkpad w530 cant do it, since the gpu is soldered, and some gaming models, basically they need to have the mxm slot (its a pcie interface standard created by nvidia and adopted by amd as well).

Models that can upgrade the gpu:
MSI G series, AW m17x, m18x, dell precisions, hp elitebook w, clevo/sager NP series and thats it

[Alfred K]

and the 540m is the same thing as the cards that I posted.

try to look for the hp dv6, it comes with a 650m, the inspiron 15r comes with a 7750m, avoid the dell xps line, it has some serious throttling issues. The asus N line comes with the 640m and the 650m but those are the DDR3 models, and are slower than the GDDR5 model, that comes in the dv6 for example.

and no, you cant upgrade the gpu in most notebooks, this can only be done in certain workstations models, for example the thinkpad w530 cant do it, since the gpu is soldered, and some gaming models, basically they need to have the mxm slot (its a pcie interface standard created by nvidia and adopted by amd as well).

Models that can upgrade the gpu:
MSI G series, AW m17x, m18x, dell precisions, hp elitebook w, clevo/sager NP series and thats it

Thank you very much for replying It seems that the Asus N series is not available in my country, and there is also some strange thing going on with the hp dv6 as well, since the graphics in those are even weaker than 540m. I suppose it's the regional thing where US gets one thing, Germany, France, UK the other and the Eastern Europe gets the same models as Russia/China. By the way, your laptop buying guide was a lot of help, thank you for that too

[karamazovmm]

that laptop guide is quite dated, I dont have the guts to redo it

but anyway, whats the gpu in it? it should be at least the 630m, since thats the base model in us, if its the 7690m (which can be either the 6750m or the 6770m, the only difference between those 2 are the clocks) its the last year model, maybe with an ivy cpu in it.

and try to look at those inspiron

[Alfred K]

If you mean the Asus, then it does have an Ivy Bridge and 630m 2gb. If it is the hp dv6, then -1GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7470M GDDR5 Discrete Graphics . But, idunno, maybe it is stronger than the 630m

[karamazovmm]

nope it isnt, I was talking about the dv6 from last year btw, I dont know what core the 7470m uses, probably its a 6500m core, which is a 5650m core

[Alfred K]

Yeah, it seems that all the big GPU producers do is juggle with some numbers and sell something that has been around for a very long time. *sigh*

[karamazovmm]

one notebook that I failed to mention is the sager/clevo 6165, look for sager resellers and boutique builders, most of europe is covered by those resellers/builders, I dont know if you can find one thats going to fit your budget though. But those can be found at the same price in the US