Laptop graphics cards?

dannyo666

Hey guys,

Dont think my exact question has been asked before.Im looking to buy a new laptop for €300-400 in the next few days.One of my main uses for the laptop would be games.Now i was always planning on buying the laptop and then getting a used graphics card for €50-70 and id be off but i just found out that you cant put normal desktop cards in a laptop(maybe thats wrong i dont know),they have to be special laptop cards.I will only ever play Football manager 2010 and Silent Hunter 4,i want good graphics but im not looking to be blown out of the water(no pun)with my budget.My question has four parts

1.On the dell website some laptops come with a 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330-Is this a good card for the games i mentioned?

2-Are there some laptops where you can put in your own graphics cards-How do i identify these laptops in shops?

3-Should i get a laptop with ati or pci express or does it even matter?

4-If its no probs putting in my own card,what is a good card for me which i will buy second hand of ebay for €60-70?

Thanks for the help

x in the city

dannyo666 wrote: »

Hey guys,

Dont think my exact question has been asked before.Im looking to buy a new laptop for €300-400 in the next few days.One of my main uses for the laptop would be games.Now i was always planning on buying the laptop and then getting a used graphics card for €50-70 and id be off but i just found out that you cant put normal desktop cards in a laptop(maybe thats wrong i dont know),they have to be special laptop cards.I will only ever play Football manager 2010 and Silent Hunter 4,i want good graphics but im not looking to be blown out of the water(no pun)with my budget.My question has four parts

1.On the dell website some laptops come with a 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330-Is this a good card for the games i mentioned?

2-Are there some laptops where you can put in your own graphics cards-How do i identify these laptops in shops?

3-Should i get a laptop with ati or pci express or does it even matter?

4-If its no probs putting in my own card,what is a good card for me which i will buy second hand of ebay for €60-70?

Thanks for the help

you wont get a cheap laptop for 400 quid for games, period.

and you cant readily upgrade gfx cards, certainly not in your budget.

best bet is go onto adverts and buy a 2nd hand dell xps or something with dedicated graphics.

and that ati is a crap card, good for cm for thats about it

Voodu Child

Forget about upgrading a laptop graphics card. Its possible in rare circumstances, but you're talking high-end gaming laptops like Clevo, experienced/enthusiast users, cards costing more than your entire budget, etc. Its just not something you want to even think about.

Here is a list of laptop graphics cards, in approximate order from most powerful down.

Your budget doesnt allow for anything high-end or even mid-range, so basically you just want to try and do the best possible for your budget. Thats all you can do, buy the best you can afford and live with it.

HD4330 is quite low end, but it will allow you to play some older games. Im not familiar with the ones you mention, but if they are a few years old and you can tolerate lower settings, you might be okay. Like I said, buy the best you can afford, and if thats just a 4330, not much you can do about it. Its better than an integrated solution at any rate.

Overheal

Assuming the 4330 is any better than a nvidia 8400 series you'll be fine for light gaming on older titles or with lower/lowest settings. Anything more is out of the question typically.

No you certainly cannot just pop in a desktop card. The GPU for a laptop is very typically a little cracker sized square that is soldered onto the motherboard. Chances for upgrades of this component are typically nil.

If you want to do PC gaming then I strongly urge you to consider a desktop instead, and leave laptops to the purpose of almost anything else.

For the games you mention you might be just fine on a laptop, but you want to check the requirements for your games against the laptop specs.

maglite

You could go for a laptop with external graphics card and an additional moniter. But it would be easyer maybe cheaper to get a desktop.

fuelinjection

Yeah, as has been said ... you are talking netbook money. Not gaming machine.
Have an Acer Aspire 8930 for the past 12 months and it is awesome for gaming ... cost me 1000 euro but I will use it for the next 3 years so it is not obsolete at all yet. I can upgrade the current video card , I checked on Acer blogs/websites and lots of people have done it as well as over-clocking the CPU. The laptop runs so cold even while gaming online (compared to my old Toshiba and Sony) that I believe the upgrade will work fine - not that i need it yet, I run full 100% graphics on Warcraft no problem.
A friend has a Dell XPS and it gets very hot and slow in the warm weather so i would be carefull what you buy and upgrade. Might be a cheaper option to spend another 400 euro and you get something that you can game on for a few years.

Alanstrainor

My 3+ year old laptop can run silent hunter 3 on medium graphics and has a significantly worse graphics card than the one mentioned. It was an ATI x300 or something, which is worse than the nvidia 8400.

dannyo666

Jees!That answered my question.Didnt think things were that bad-So id be looking at least a grand for even a mid-range gaming laptop,thats a bit of a joke.Maybe ill just stick to the Desktop after all-Its just a pity i have a Dell Dimension 31000 which cant be upgraded i think

Thanks very much for the answers lads-its a big help

Voodu Child

dannyo666 wrote: »

Jees!That answered my question.Didnt think things were that bad-So id be looking at least a grand for even a mid-range gaming laptop,thats a bit of a joke.

I wouldn't say things are bad, you just get what you pay for. You mentioned your budget was €300-400, and that is the absolute bottom of the barrel when it comes to laptops. Most of the time you'll get an integrated graphics solution, so even getting a discrete card like the 4330 at that price is fair going (i havent seen a link to the model you are looking at).

Mid-range is in maybe the €600-700 bracket, you definitely don't have to spend a grand. You can certainly get something with a 9600M GT or better for that money, and it'll be a good performer. Thats just what a mid-range laptop costs these days tbh.... think back a few years and you could barely buy any laptop for that kind of money.

ATI are launching the 5000 series of cards, so you'll see more performance per buck over the coming months. Acer are launching the 5740G with ATI HD5650 for around £600 LINK. From early reviews, that card is a stormer and will probably be the benchmark for mid-range laptops. Its equivalent or slightly better than the Nvidia GTS250M.

dannyo666

Thanks lads,after listening to all your thoughts ive decided to just get a desktop and put in a new grapics card in a few weeks,although i hate desktops,but with my budget itl have to do.If it wasnt for you guys i would have gone out and just bought a laptop and been stuck with it unable to put cards in,a tip of the hat to you all and happy new year-Legends!



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