Need advice on mobile graphics card

Devastator · 2009-10-27 16:12:23

Hi, I have been having some hardware issues with my current laptop (Asus G1S with NVidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics), and I am considering to replace it with another one (hopefully more durable).

I have heard a lot of good things about ThinkPads, however they mostly come with either Intel or ATI cards. One interesting T500 setup I've seen was using ATI Mobility Radeon 3650, which is better than my old one 8600GT. However - I suppose I would lose some 3D performance due to drivers.

I am going to use Linux mostly, and I would like to have a pretty strong 3D performance there - is that possible to achieve with the current drivers? (I'd even use the ATI ones if necessary) Or perhaps should I look for some other alternative?

I just need something that would not stop working out of the sudden, without any reason after a year or two, and still it would be nice to have 3D performance close to the 8600M GT.

Devastator · 2009-10-28 09:48:14

Okay - the previous post might have been not clear enough. So again, in short:

How good are the current ATI drivers?

Lich · 2009-10-28 10:08:15

I have an ASUS with a x1600 ATI card (512MB video), and it works great with radeonhd (one of the 2 community drivers). Widescreen worked out of the box on every distro I tested on, and I also have a dualhead setup with it (laptop PANEL + CRT monitor). When I was dualbooting Windows I could play Doom3 with full options (that's my gfx benchmark ).

Last edited by Lich (2009-10-28 10:09:31)

Devastator · 2009-10-28 10:11:05

Cool. And how is the 3D performance in Linux?

Lich · 2009-10-28 10:22:19

I was able to play Doom3 and Neverwinter Nights with a bit of a FPS push when I was using the official driver (fglrx) but nowadays I play nethack exclusively, so I can't tell you about that...we'll just have to wait for someone else

Last edited by Lich (2009-10-28 10:23:38)

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#1 2009-10-27 16:12:23

Need advice on mobile graphics card

#2 2009-10-28 09:48:14

Re: Need advice on mobile graphics card

#3 2009-10-28 10:08:15

Re: Need advice on mobile graphics card

#4 2009-10-28 10:11:05

Re: Need advice on mobile graphics card

#5 2009-10-28 10:22:19

Re: Need advice on mobile graphics card

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