• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Mobile Graphics: AMD vs Nvidia

C

Calwen

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 30, 2003
Messages
107
Quick background: I'm heading to medical school this August (yay!) and I need a laptop. The chassis and other specs I can figure out on my own once Ivy and the 28nm mobile GPUs surface in the coming months. Price notwithstanding, I'm hoping you guys can help me make the decision between an AMD or Nvidia system, based on your personal experiences.

1) Drivers: if memory serves, driver updates seem to hinge upon the laptop manufacturer. However, I was wondering if that is still the case today. Can I stay up to date with the mobile GPU? How do the AMD and Nvidia updates compare in this respect?

2) Power: I'm more or less familiar with Nvidia's Optimus tech, but not so much with AMD. From what I understand, you can switch the AMD discrete graphics on and off based on application profiles. To be honest, I'm more interested in leaving the discrete card disabled and just using the Ivy Bridge on-die graphics. 90% of the time I plan to be running around using my laptop for silly stuff like medicine. Any idea how this works on AMD's side?

3) Performance/Price: Nvidia's mobile cards seem to carry a hefty premium for their performance. Last I checked, the 580M costs an additional $300 over the 6990M. Do you find this premium worth the price? (This question also applies to #1 and #2).

Thanks for the help!
 
1) and 2) According to Anandtech Nvidia provides a reference mobile driver that supports Optimus Switching technology. How I understand it is you just install Intel graphics driver first then not just update your Nvidia driver.
See this article.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4839/...hable-graphics-vs-nvidia-optimus-technology/6

3) As for price, GTX 580m is now only $75 more expensive than 6990M. So Nvidia is competitive with price also.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5064/nvidia-geforce-gtx-580m-receives-major-price-cut
 
I update the mobile graphics all the time and it doesn't suddenly stop anything working. The mobile drivers come with an extra option to set application default device kind of thing. You don't have to do anything special to set it up. The drivers I use come from nvidias website, and they get updated as often as the desktop drivers (even the betas).

I'm guessing AMDs version is the same as optimus and is probably done in the same way with profiles.

Remember that a 580m is not equal to a GTX 580 like how a 6990m isn't anywhere near a 6990 (it isn't even a dual GPU).
 
nvidia's driver support is much better on the mobile side then AMD, its not really AMD's fault since the OEM's try to lock their crap down so you can't use AMD's desktop/mobile drivers. where as on the other hand Nvidia completely ignores the oem's and allows their drivers to work on both mobile and desktop without having to do anything special. but AMD is starting to push the OEM's like Nvidia and allowing you to use desktop/mobile drivers from AMD instead of the oem's.

like deathprincess mentioned, the names are miss leading like all mobile gpu's. the GTX580m if i remember correctly is a really low clocked GTX560, and the 6990M is a downclocked 6870.

but as you state in your post if you are going to run with the gpu's off 90% of the time, why even bother buying a laptop with either of those gpu's? if you're only going to use it for gaming for 10% of that time you could easily just get a latop with an HD6500 or low end nvidia equivilant, there is no point in waste that much money on something that will rarely get used and if at all show a huge improvement in performance.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
nvidia's driver support is much better on the mobile side then AMD, its not really AMD's fault since the OEM's try to lock their crap down so you can't use AMD's desktop/mobile drivers. where as on the other hand Nvidia completely ignores the oem's and allows their drivers to work on both mobile and desktop without having to do anything special. but AMD is starting to push the OEM's like Nvidia and allowing you to use desktop/mobile drivers from AMD instead of the oem's.

like deathprincess mentioned, the names are miss leading like all mobile gpu's. the GTX580m if i remember correctly is a really low clocked GTX560, and the 6990M is a downclocked 6870.

but as you state in your post if you are going to run with the gpu's off 90% of the time, why even bother buying a laptop with either of those gpu's? if you're only going to use it for gaming for 10% of that time you could easily just get a latop with an HD6500 or low end nvidia equivilant, there is no point in waste that much money on something that will rarely get used and if at all show a huge improvement in performance.
Click to expand...

Alright, good to know about the driver support. That was my main concern. I apologize if #3 made it seem like I'm considering either one of those GPUs; I'm actually waiting for the 28nm parts before making a decision. I'm hoping for something like a small, low power version of the 5870M (which I think is roughly equivalent to an underclocked 6850, if I recall correctly). Price isn't really a problem for me at this point, especially since I'm about to take out $300,000 in loans at 7% annual interest :eek:

What's another $1,500?
 
Calwen said:
Alright, good to know about the driver support. That was my main concern. I apologize if #3 made it seem like I'm considering either one of those GPUs; I'm actually waiting for the 28nm parts before making a decision. I'm hoping for something like a small, low power version of the 5870M (which I think is roughly equivalent to an underclocked 6850, if I recall correctly). Price isn't really a problem for me at this point, especially since I'm about to take out $300,000 in loans at 7% annual interest :eek:

What's another $1,500?
Click to expand...

A stock 5870M is essentially a slightly downclocked 5770 (still above a 5750). Nvidia just shipped their 600 series mobile graphics to laptop manufacturer's, but from what I've been reading it's not a new process like the Kepler series on the desktop front. Instead is just a revamp and boost to the 500 series.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-Introduces-GeForce-600M-Series.66966.0.html

Those are all low and lower mid cards, but they are the 600 series and just a revamp of fermi.

The 7000m series is also essentially doing the same thing on the mobile front, with a rebadge of 6000m (at least in the mid to lower range stuff).

AMD and Nvidia will probably release their 28nm laptop stuff eventually, but I wouldn't expect much until Q3 or later. MAYBE sooner in Clevo/Sager notebooks, but for Asus/Alienware/MSI to update their gaming series you're probably looking at getting it a bit after school starts for you.

Granted, I've been purposefully out of the mobile loop since Novemeber-ish. It's far to expensive of an area to be an enthusiast in (at least on a normal salary).

Are you getting rid of your desktop? Becaue if this is for school I HIGHLY recommend forgoing a dedicated graphics card all together. Gaming on a laptop is nice when you're on the go a lot, but if it's mainly for working on (and you'll still have your home rig for whatever little spare time you end up having), I would focus more on getting a crap ton of battery life and not worry about the graphics card.

Something like an x220/x220t with the 9 cell (6 cell on the t) and slice battery.
 
I've got an Acer with AMD switchable graphics. Updating is a little sketchy without new drivers from the vendor (updates are very rare). You have to go into the BIOS and set is to use the discrete GPU only, then install the AMD drivers of choice over the top (if you uninstall, you'll have to start all over by installing the newest drivers from the vendor before moving on to drivers from AMD). Finally, you switch it back to switchable graphics in the BIOS.

The newer version (4830TG) has an nVidia chip instead. However, though, don't overlook these. They're thin, light, with decent enough battery life and a GPU that's really not all that bad for gaming.
 
When are you considering buying the laptop? And what resolution? size?

I'm thinking an AMD APU might be exactly what you're looking for. Generally, they'll perform better as far as battery life goes than options with equal graphics performance. Llanos can be undervolted quite significantly and the upper end models have enough power to offer great gaming performance on 720p.
 
You can always mod the .ini file in order for the basic AMD/ATI driver to install and unlock all the normal features. I always did this on my old gaming laptop that I use to have a few years back. Also, check out the guru3d.com forums as well. They have a dedicated driver section for both Nvidia and AMD/ATI cards that is very informative. They will also point you to where you download modded drivers for your mobile video card.

In the near future with thunderbolt (pcie bus) coming out on a lot of laptop, some companies plan on building a graphics card inside of a case that you can plug into your laptop (if it can handle the graphics) and game off of that...I can't remember where I read it, but there were a few on display at CES this year
 
Bomo said:
AMD and Nvidia will probably release their 28nm laptop stuff eventually, but I wouldn't expect much until Q3 or later. MAYBE sooner in Clevo/Sager notebooks, but for Asus/Alienware/MSI to update their gaming series you're probably looking at getting it a bit after school starts for you.

Granted, I've been purposefully out of the mobile loop since Novemeber-ish. It's far to expensive of an area to be an enthusiast in (at least on a normal salary).

Are you getting rid of your desktop? Becaue if this is for school I HIGHLY recommend forgoing a dedicated graphics card all together. Gaming on a laptop is nice when you're on the go a lot, but if it's mainly for working on (and you'll still have your home rig for whatever little spare time you end up having), I would focus more on getting a crap ton of battery life and not worry about the graphics card.

Something like an x220/x220t with the 9 cell (6 cell on the t) and slice battery.
Click to expand...

It's true; who knows when the 28nm mobile parts will be widely available. I'm hoping by July, but if it's Q3 then I may be out of luck. I definitely plan to keep my desktop for work and play. The laptop is primarily for school, but ideally it would be able to play games on low/medium for vacations or for when I need a break. At the moment -- and this really depends upon which school I end up matriculating into -- battery life isn't the most important factor. At my current top choice, we essentially work in "pods", where I would have a locker and my own desk. If I decide to attend the lecture hall (everything is posted online now), all seats have their own outlet. ~5 hours seems pretty typical for laptops with Optimus tech, and that's fine for my purposes. While working in the hospital, I'll need an iPad for handling medical records and charts. That's where maximum portability is needed, but at that point the laptop will be useless.

Thanks everyone for the input. I'll probably go with a mid-range Nvidia card, assuming they manage to come out in time. I'd like to minimize hassles for school and it seems like Nvidia makes things a little simpler/less time consuming.
 
There are many reasons AMD's entire marketing department got fired, and since nobody seems to know about it, I'd put their Mobile Switchable Graphics in there. Plus they need a catchy name for it too instead of that description.

I use it all the time, the first time you run an application you teach which GPU each application will use. And that is all there is to it, not any harder than that. If you have an APU you can also crossfire it depending on laptop config.
 
Bomo said:
Are you getting rid of your desktop? Becaue if this is for school I HIGHLY recommend forgoing a dedicated graphics card all together. Gaming on a laptop is nice when you're on the go a lot, but if it's mainly for working on (and you'll still have your home rig for whatever little spare time you end up having), I would focus more on getting a crap ton of battery life and not worry about the graphics card.

Something like an x220/x220t with the 9 cell (6 cell on the t) and slice battery.
Click to expand...

Weight is also a consideration.

Take it from me. It sounds like nothing having to carry around 10+ pounds of computer every day. It isn't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top