Laptop Video Card and CPU Buyers Guide #1

Twitter : http://twitter.com/#!/WestCoastPCs
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/Westcoastpcbuilder
Google+ : http://tiny.cc/p4aig

Buyers Guide #2 ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhXKX2Uth_Y

This is just a quick (really quick) , rundown of how to make sure you are getting a half decent video card and also cpu in the laptop that you are purchasing.

GPU Chart :
http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5870-Crossfire.29486.0.html
CPU Chart :
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

When an integrated A-Series GPU is crossfired with a discrete card ....
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6775G2.57279.0.html

A-Series Laptops are just starting to hit store shelves, I will re-do this video once they saturate the market more. They are like the A6-3450M , A8-3850M and they have stronger integrated graphics then the i5-2410M but have weaker processors. This shouldn't effect the average user since the average user won't max out their CPU usage. So for under $600 if you can find an A-Series laptop for mild gaming, hit up the charts and cross compare with other laptops!

For gaming, try and grab a video in the top half of class 2 and above. Games that do 40FPS+ with the card are what you would look for so that in action sequences or heavy battles your game isn't getting choppy.

1gb of Vram doesn't make a card stronger! It's all about the pipelines which produce the image. AMD vs Nvidia pipelines can't be measured the same since their architecture is difference. You can compare AMD to AMD pipelines and Nvidia to Nvidia pipelines. So 480 pipelines on an AMD card doesn't mean it's 5x stronger then an Nvidia card 96 pipelines, they would actually perform around the same. DDR5 ram will add about a 10-15% performance boost over DDR3 ram on the video card, with the exception of the GT 555M where the DDR5 version is crippled.

For the processor side of things, I like to sort by 3dmark06 score, 2000 points and above will definitely provide great all around multitasking performance. Most average users don't need anything stronger then an average dual core, the CPU will rarely be used. Only during gaming / extracting files / Youtube videos does the CPU ramp up. Most of the time the CPU sits idle. For quick launching of programs a 7200rpm hard drive will be much quicker then 5400rpm hard drive. 5400rpm is the standard. 7200rpm is icing on the cake.

They all come with WI-FI so don't worry about that, they all have big enough hard drives that it's really a non-issue (a hard drive is what stores all your files) and they all come with 4gb of ram as well so that's a non-issue as well. Once you get into more intense stuff like playing the latest games, transcoding video, rendering HD video, Unraring files you will benefit from a quad core and perhaps 6-8gb of ram.

RAM - 4gb. Now if your computer only uses 2gb of ram , getting an extra 4gb of ram isn't going to be useful since it won't be used. RAM is constantly filled and emptied when running certain processes. So when you play a game 1-2gb of ram may be used, but once the game is closed, that 2gb of ram is free'd up. If you run firefox and it uses 750mb of ram with 50 tabs open, once closed, the ram is free'd up again. It constantly fluctuates, if you are hitting the 4gb barrier though, you are probably a heavy multitasker and would then need an upgrade or a laptop with 6gb out of the gate. Even todays heavy gamers on desktops that play the highest resolution , most demanding games don't hit the 4gb mark!

Newegg Power Search ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/PowerSearch.aspx?N=100006740&IsNodeId=1&...

Gazaro.com , Pricewatch.com for the USA (if anyone knows of better pricematching websites in the USA please let me know!)

Pricebat.ca , Gazaro.ca , Shopbot.ca , pricematching websites in Canada.

Keywords : (Ignore)

GTX 485M GTX 285M SLI Radeon HD 6970M GTX 280M SLI Radeon HD 6950M GTX 560M Radeon HD 6870M GTX460M GTX 285M GT 555M Radeon HD 6770M HD6850M GT445M HD6750M GT550M HD6830M GTS150M HD6730M Radeon HD 6570M Mobility Radeon HD 5750 GeForce GT 540M Mobility Radeon HD 5730 GeForce GT435M Radeon HD 6650M Radeon HD 6550M HD 6630M Radeon HD 5570 Mobility Radeon HD 5650 Radeon HD 6530M GT525M GT425M GT335M GT420M GT 330M GT240M HD6490M GT325M GT130M GT220M GeForce GT120M GT520M HD6470M 320M GeForce GT320M GeForce GT 415M HD6370M HD5470 HD4570 HD6450M 410M HD 5450 HD 2600 HD Graphics 3000 310M G210M HD6430M HD5430 HD6350M i7 2920XM i7 2820qm i7 2720QM i7-2635QM i7 2630QM i7 2620M i5 2540M i7 620M i5 580M i7 740qm i5 2520m i5 2430m i5 2415m i5 2410m i5 560m i7 N640 X940BE i3 330M i7 2617M P650 N620 X920 P8600 X3 X4 N870 i5 560UM E-350 Brazos Intel Atom D525 Intel Atom N550 Intel Atom 330 AMD C-60 AMD C-50 AMD E-240 N470 AMD C-30 Z670 N270 Z530 A8-3850 A8-3800 A6-3650 A6-3600 A8-3530MX HD6620G HD6520G HD6480G HD6380G HD6530D HD 6410D HD6370D

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Llano
• A8-3850MX
• HD
• 6550D
• A8-3650MX
• A6-3450M
• A6-3400M
• A8-3500M
• 6970M
• 6950M
• GTX
• 560M
• 6870M
• Mobility
• 285M
• GT555M
• 6770M
• 6850M
• GT445M
• 6750M
• GT550M
• GTS150M
• Radeon
• 6650M
• 6630M
• HD5650
• GT525M
• 6470M
• 6450M
• 4270
• i7
• 2920XM
• 2820qm
• 2720QM
• i7-2635QM
• 2630QM
• 2620M
• i5
• 2540M
• 620M
• 580M
• 740qm
• 2520m
• 2430m
• 2415m
• 2410m
• 560m
• 720qm
• T9900
• T9800
• 480m
• 540m
• 460m
• i3
• 390m
• 2350m
• 2649m
• 520m
• 2629m
• HD6620G
• HD6520G
• HD6480G
• HD6380G

[IeXploW]

wich one is better for gaming. AMD A-series A8-3800 or Intel® Core™ i3

[WestCoastPCbuilder]

@IeXploW With the integrated graphics ? The A8-3800 is better for gaming. It has the integrated 655D which is much more powerful then the i3's Intel HD graphics. If you were to add a dedicated graphics card then the i3-2100 would a better gaming CPU. Depends on what your looking to do.

[unrealxplicit]

gotta say when u had 140 subs u helped me with a video card and now im very interested in computers.. u dont really watch any of your videos because they dont tend to everyone. possibly create some kind of series? let me know in a private message if u have any ideas thatd be fun to talk about. but pretty much thanks!

[WestCoastPCbuilder]

@unrealxplicit yeah man, i'll have a new Lappie guide that's more professional once the newer cards saturate the market.

[LAZYT4K]

@WestCoastPCbuilder would appreciate da help if I go wit da base specs for $1999 Wat would u upgrade

[LAZYT4K]

Is this a good setup or can I go a little lower Alienware m18x - i7 2860qm 2.5ghz (3.6ghz turbo) 8mb cache/16gb dual channel ddr3 @ 1600mhz 4dimms/ dual 2gb gddr5 nvidia geforce gtx 580m sli/ 256gb ssd data 3gb/s / killer wireless n 1103 a/g/n 3×3 but its around $4,393 before disscount dis gonna b my 1st laptop so if u can customize it help me

[xXGGMTXx]

@WestCoastPCbuilder Yes, DDR3. i was looking at Alienware's M14x, but its a little pricey.

[WestCoastPCbuilder]

@xXGGMTXx What's the lappie your looking at ? It's faster then a GT 550M even with the crippled shaders, but just by a tidge. Is it the ddr3 version ?

[xXGGMTXx]

@WestCoastPCbuilder What about the GeForce GT 555m?

[WestCoastPCbuilder]

@xXGGMTXx You can find the Acer ROG G53 or G74 series for around $1200 on sale. It comes with the i7-2630qm quad core and the GTX 560M graphics card. Both class 1 items and will run those games just great! Basically any laptop with a GTX 560M !