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XPS M1530...8600m GT Good Enough?

post #1 of 37
12/2/07 at 2:20am
Thread Starter 
Is the 8600M GT good enough for games such as Battlefield 2? I read a 4,000 plus benchmark somehwere...but others were mid 3000s on 3Dmark06...That's not much, but I think it's faster than my X800 XT is in the XPs desktop which plays BF2 fine.

I'm going to be going with a new gaming desktop within a year or so, but I still want the laptop to be able to handle BF2!

Anyone own the 1530 yet? Found good reviews?
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post #2 of 37
12/2/07 at 3:40am
It will handle it easily, don't stress.

Stu
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post #3 of 37
12/11/07 at 2:42pm
You will be able to play BF2 fine.

If you want a serious gaming laptop, however, don't look at anything smaller than a 17". As far as I know, the 8600 is the best card you'll find in anything but a 17+ inch.
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post #4 of 37
12/11/07 at 10:20pm
Thread Starter 
Hows the resolution on your 1330? There was concern over the 1280 x 800 for the 15 incher
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post #5 of 37
12/13/07 at 3:05pm
As far as the resolution goes, if you want a higher-end option and can wait until sometime early 2008 then dell said they'll supposedly have those options available, as well as an LED screen option as well.

Your resolution question is kind of a hard one to answer because a 13'' screen might be fine with a 1280 by 800 res, but obviously with a 15.4'' one some people are left wanting a higher one to see more content, and others just don't care much. Your own call on that one.

If you need something right now, the inspiron 1520 is the next (bulkier and cheaper) thing since it comes with a higher-end 1680 by 1050 display option and the 8600GT
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post #6 of 37
12/15/07 at 4:24am
that card (8600 GT) will handle nearly all new games, just some of the high end new games will run sligtly less detailed but should work properly. i have just ordered the xps 1530. *fingers crossed*
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post #7 of 37
12/23/07 at 4:12pm
The system now offers 1680x1080 Resolutions.
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post #8 of 37
12/29/07 at 11:34am
Just remember that higher resolution screens will mean lower framerates. An 8600M will not have problems pushing 1280x800, but it may have problems pushing 1680x1050.

It's all a matter of preference, but I'd personally go with the 1280x800. 1680x1050 will nto only kill your framerates, but make text a lot harder to read.
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post #9 of 37
12/29/07 at 4:22pm
I'd still think it's an option worth considering because the framerates will drop if you demand that you run your games at native res. You can always run it at a lower res and get more acceptable framerates. I guess the tradeoff is if the game doesn't scale well to lower resolutions. Your call in the end though.
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post #10 of 37
12/30/07 at 7:03am
just received 1530. 1280x800 is great.
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post #11 of 37
1/9/08 at 12:33pm
I get a 3DMark of 4278 from my m1530

The set up is core2duo 2.20ghz (E7500) processor and 2GB DDR2 667mhz ram with the 8600GT 256mb GDDR3 graphics card.

This will blow away the x800 on your desktop.

Plays crysis comfortably on medium so battlefield should be no problem.
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post #12 of 37
1/9/08 at 3:46pm
I have the 8600m GT with the 1680X1050 screen, it runs everything just fine, you will be ok with it..... WOW Team Fortress 2, HL2, World in Conflict, I have played all these most at high gfx settings without major problems, BUT do not get Vista if you want to game with the same hardware. Under Vista I get basically the same performance but its ruined by choppy stutters, and I have noticed it in most games, so it can only be attributed to Vista either doing something in the background, or its drivers are horrible....

I ordered my vostro 1500 with the 8600m GT and XP home and its perfect.

(unlike the post above mine, I do not believe this is a GDDR3 card I believe Dell is only using a GDDR2 part) as far as I know only ASUS and I think Sony or someone else is using the GDDR3 8600m GT.
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post #13 of 37
1/9/08 at 8:44pm
I can confirm the Dell XPS m1530 uses GDDR3 and this is why it scores significantly better than the Asus equivalent that uses DDR2.

It can make upto 20% difference to benchmarks scores so it's important to get the 8600GT that does have GDDR3.

Agree XP will give you better performance. Vista has stutter or reduce frame rate unless you compensate with more ram. I found that Vista assigns some of your system ram to help boost your video card's dedicated ram. In my case about 768mb of system ram is added to the 256mb dedicated video ram making it about 1GB ram used for the video card. As I only have 2GB system ram this leaves only 1.2GB system ram. I use a 2GB readyboost usb memory stick to go somewhere towards helping. I've found that general performance is much improved and gameplay smoother because of this - although it only makes about 100 points difference in the 3DMark test.
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post #14 of 37
1/10/08 at 8:28am
I'm using Vista with my 8600 GT. CoD 4 chops and lags. I have to turn down the settings. This isn't my gaming rig, so I'm not too worried about it. I'm going to boost up to 4 GB of memory and see how that works. I don't intend on installing XP back on this. I've got Vista working like a dream and like it alot.
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post #15 of 37
1/10/08 at 9:27am
The Dell 1520 version only uses DDR2 not the GDDR3 of the 1530 so game performance will be up to 20% slower.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-...ok.5940.0.html
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post #16 of 37
1/10/08 at 12:28pm
Thanks for that post. I'd like to sell my 1520 and get an XPS 1530, but my wife would kill me for sure. Maybe after taxes!
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post #17 of 37
1/10/08 at 4:21pm
That would be incorrect keypad.

The Dell part numbers are slightly different on the 1520, Vostro 1500, and XPS 1530 320-5639, 320-5559, and 320-6082 respectively but I have already confirmed Directly with Dell that all three parts are in fact essentially the same part just different numbers. None of these parts though are GDDR3 regardless if its an XPS they did not put a faster part according to Dell.

I have read conflicting reviews and reports online so I contacted Dell directly on two occasions because at first I was looking at the Asus GS1 which is confirmed GDDR3, and the XPS and later decided not to spend that much and went with the Vostro since is has the same slow card the XPS carries.

What I have not been able to get out of Dell though (except what speed the memory is) however is why so many different part numbers for the same parts. It stands to reason that the E1705 and the XPS1710 would have two did different part numbers for the dual heat pipe FHS but I dont really know why there are three different numbers between the three I referenced above, I am not sure what kind of cooling the XPS is using but I dont imagine its anything different than the 1520 or 1500..

-D
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post #18 of 37
1/10/08 at 5:42pm
It wouldn't be the first time Dell Support got it wrong. What confirms it beyond doubt is benchmarks.

Typically get around 3000 3DMarks with a DDR2 version of the card and over 4000 with the GDDR3. My system gets over 4000+ I think it's pretty obvious it's using GDDR3.

m1530 benchmarks typically beat results from other laptops with 8600GT cards as most are using DDR2.
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post #19 of 37
1/11/08 at 6:21am
I'd have to agree that the 1530 and 1520 use different cards. I just ran 3DMark06 last night. I scored a whopping 3411. Those results compared to what keypad got tell the story to me.
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post #20 of 37
1/13/08 at 10:40am
I'm leaning toward an M1530 for it's larger screen (than the 1330) and better graphics options. I had one quoted out with 2GB RAM and the NVIDIA 8600M GT. I do some gaming - TF2, COD4 mostly - and this machine will be running Vista. Is the consensus here that 2GB may not be optimum? Should I go with 3GB instead? Thoughts?
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