8600 Notebook Video Cards

Question

sorry about beating a dead horse..... I posted this in the old thread but they don't seem to get bumped... and the last reply was over 4 months ago in it...

but I'm looking to buy a laptop soon... I know for sure that I don't want a XPS... so I decided on the 8600

now is this thing for sure... you can not fit/order a mobility radeon 9700 in a 8600?? I mean the 9800 is already out, I'm going to be two processors behind if I order this thing... is it still going to be able to play games like IL-Sturmkovik/NFSU2/HL2/DOOM2/COD with only the 128MB 9600??

if not does Dell plan on making a new version of the 8600 that can fit the newer cards anytime in the future?? the xps is going to be a battery drainer and the 9200 is ginormus, so I don't want either...

most of the stuff I'm going to be doing with this laptop is running CAD/CAM programs along with some photo editing, but I still want to be able to entertain myself...

thanks

edit: I probably should have posted what options I plan on

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 755(2GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WUXGA
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
SAVE $50!(Savings included in price) 1GB,333MHz 2 DIMM
24X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive with Sonic RecordNow
128MB DDR ATI's MOBILITY® RADEON™ 9600 PROTURBO
60GB Hard Drive at 7200RPM
Dell® Wireless 1450 Internal Wireless (802.11a/b/g, 54Mbps)

Message Edited by RunsWithKnives on 11-15-2004 12:10 AM

ejn63 · Answer

There is no 9700 card for the D-chassis systems like the 8600. You should probably consider a 9200 system.

RunsWithKnives · Answer

I don't want a 9200 because it's so big.. I need something I can travel with

amazingspeed11 · Answer

It is highly unlikely that Dell would release an ATi Mobility Radeon 9700 or a 9800 for that matter on the Insp 8600 line. 9700s and 9800s are geared more for enthusiasts notebooks and DTR (desktop replacement notebooks - big and heavy) whilst the 9600 is more of a mainstream model at this time. So, if you're looking at a notebook like the 8600, I guess you're out of luck if you're eyeing the 9700 and/or the 9800. This is the case too with many other notebook manufacturers.   I recommend you surf to www.tomshardware.com or www.anandtech.com to check out the previews of the Dell Inspiron 8600 with 128MB ATi Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo on their site. (Or do a google search). And then determine if the frame rates in the games you want to play are fast enough for you.   I do believe however that the 9600 Pro Turbo is factory overclocked, therefore the performance if not, would be somewhere near a 9700 only a bit lower. If you heat mod your chip, you can further enhance the performance by slightly overclocking it. :)   Cheers. Amazingspeed :)

cademetz · Answer

The MR9600 is not factory overclocked... and in fact, it is underclocked. The MR9600 actually uses a Radeon 9600 Pro core. If you don't beleive me, pull the heatsink off and have a look. However, because of heat issues, the core had to be dropped down to 337MHz (or thereabouts). The heatsink Dell used for the MR9600 is bascially thermal foam. In short, it is JUNK. With the copper heatsink mod, I am able to safely and stably hit 375MHz on the core. The memory is clocked at 243MHz (446MHz DDR) from the "factory" which is MUCH lower than the memory a Radeon 9600 Pro would use. However, my MR9600 uses Hynix 3.3ns chips and those chips should be good for about 300MHz. I have safely and stably overclocked to 295 (590 DDR) on my memory chips, which also now have copper heatsinks on them.

If you are planning on doing "heavy" gaming, then you don't want an 8600. Not solely because of the GPU, but because the chipset (the 855PM) only support 4X AGP and this chokes the MR9600 even more. Also, while the extra cache of the Pentium-M is very helpful, it cannot make up for the severly limited 100MHz (400MHz QDR) FSB and PC2700 DDR memory.

If however you plan to do light-medium gaming and portability is a strong desire, than the 8600 is perfect. I have played Halo on my 8600 and it is enjoyable. Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield is also very enjoyable even at 1600 x 1200 (without AA/AF). I also play Star Wars: KOTOR on my 8600 and can play at 1024 x 768 with 2X AA / 4X AF with very playable framerates. Some of the games you mention will most likely bog the system down more, but the extra RAM and extra MB of cache and 500MHz extra of process power will help over what I have.

Another thing to point out, is that the sound card will negatively affect game performance, and at times pretty severly. The AC97 based sound card the 8600 has isn't worth the PCB it is printed on. In short, the sound card relies on the CPU for a good deal of sound processing. I finally got a (very cheap, given it's age) Sound Blaster MP3+ External Sound Card. My main reason is that it has EAX capibilities which the three games I just mentioned all can use. I would strongly recommend an external sound card (preferably USB 2.0 based) to help out some with the sound.

Message Edited by cademetz on 11-17-2004 03:41 PM

amazingspeed11 · Answer

hehehehe...understood.

However when I was refering to factory overclock, I wasn't cross referencing to desktop counterparts. What I really meant was that over the 'standard' 9600 core, the 9600 Pro Turbo was slightly overclocked... or at least to what I knew at the time. Of course you can't put in an overclocked desktop card into a notebook, it wouldn't make any sense ;). But if I remembered correctly, the core and memory clock speeds of the 9600 Pro Turbo is slightly higher than the 'standard' 9600. Hope that clears up some of the confusion. :)

Cheers.
Amazingspeed. :)

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8600 Notebook Video Cards

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