Dell now offers 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 on XPS

Yes and you spoke to a Dell SALES REP... how much useful information do they ever really have This will hold water if someone can get someone in the XPS support dept to verify and back it up... I also really really really hope this isn't the "supported upgrade" they sold with the system...

Sounds fishy .. I can't see them selling you the 128meg version and then replacing it for free for a 256meg version at the same price as the 128meg card .. Nothing but a profit loss to Dell ..

Personally, I would lend no creedance to that. If it ain't on the website - don't expect it. Perhaps he is talking about the XPS video upgrade card coming in a few months?

That's kinda useless though... There aren't many games that can take advantage of 256MB (heck, ARE there any that make a significant difference?)

My big fear: If this is the "big whoop-de-do upgrade" that Dell promised we would get, does development STOP here? Are we all limited to a Radeon 9700 mobility for the iXPS's entire lifespan, or are they going to be providing a newer graphics chip based on X800 or NV40?

I for one hope that this 256MB 9700 upgrade thing is **NOT** true.

No worries. The upgrade will be M18 based... which is a version of the X800.. So it will be a nice upgrade. Oh, yeah I heard this all from a little birdy

Eh, I don't take any stock in those little birdies anymore. Another noisy squaking parrot said on another forum (in fact, I think it was on dell's forums) that the upgrade would be based on NV40/Next-Gen nvidia.

Those little birdies lie.

Nah.. it will be M18 all the way. I'm sure you have heard this all before but you can take it to the bank. Or my name isn't Vanilla Jedi

Karl I'd take a 256mg 9700 over a 128 9800 any day of the week. Memory is going to be so much more important for future games than processor speed. You can overclock the card, but you can't make more memory appear. And anyone that thinks the next few major games released Doom 3, HL 2, etc wouldn't take advantage of 256mgs is crazy.

p.s. Really enjoyed your read on Tech Support. I've got one thing to add though. Be careful how long your on hold with them. When I was trying to get another unbroken out of the box computer sent to me from Dell, when the guy finally came back on the line I almost ask him for a slushie! I just forgot who I was talking to.

I know the 9100 dose not have the upgrade support like the XPS, but can the 9100 users buy the 256mg card and install it themself?

Yes, although upgrades are not supported on the i9100, the same grapics options are available to i9100 owners as XPS owners if they are willing to do it themselves.

I would not put much credence into the 256MB MR9700 or claims of a mobile X800 at this stage.

stu

You could put a gig of memory on a Radeon 9700 mobility. It won't help you with Doom3/HL2. The bottleneck isn't memory there. It's the VPU itself. If you think you're going to be playing with acceptable framerates on either of those games on a Mobility 9700, then I think you gotta be equally crazy.

I'm not saying 256MB isn't important. It's just that 128mb is not where the bottleneck is on the Mobility 9700, and I don't want the "last card" on the iXPS to be a 256MB 9700. The 9700 is a capable card for today's games. Not the fastest, not the slowest, but *capable*. Next gen games like HL2 and D3 are a totally different story, and a 9700 of any flavor simply isn't gonna cut it.

If i'm going to pay to upgrade my video card, I want to be paying for a next-gen VPU with 256MB. Not a current-gen VPU with 256MB. If the only future option for us iXPS owners is still going to be a Mobility 9700, i'll be pissed.

stu

I disagree I feel that 128MB vcards will be slightly limited in Doom 3 due to the immense texture size but a faster video card would yield better performance

Tom's Hardware:

"The benchmark results of the new Radeon 9800 Pro with 256 MB are sobering when compared to those of the 128-MB variant. It's only in extreme situations (in the highest resolutions and high FSAA settings) that any difference could be seen. In these areas, however, the frame rates are at a low level, which is therefore not realistic and certainly not worth the extra $100. In addition, the card generates an extremely high amount of heat. This is a peculiarity of the DDR II memory, from which NVIDIA's NV30 (alias GeForce FX 5800 Ultra) also suffers. In any case, ATI now has a product in its program to rival the new NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, which is also equipped with 256-MB memory."

and

"And now, once again, we've come to the point where another upgrade is in sight. The memory size is to be doubled - from 128 MB to 256 MB. On paper, this looks impressive, but it's really not. You have to look extremely carefully to find situations where 256 MB brings advantages. What the old rule dictates is true: in games of the future, you're sure to need this at some point, but when that point will come is written in the stars. Even in our tests with the long-awaited Doom III with high quality settings, the Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB didn't show any advantages over the 128 MB variant. "

Looking at the benchmarks on his site, it looks like any game that he used to test, be it Doom III or UT, the 256MB version of these cards gives a wopping 3 frames per second more than the 128MB version (using 8X AGP).

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic...604/index.html

Save your dineros for the next generation card.

Yep, my point exactly.

If "the big upgrade" that Dell promised with the ixps stops with a 256MB 9700, it will suck indeed.

Let's face it. The 9700 mobility just doesn't have the gas to play today's games at anything above 1280x1024, and you can pretty much scrap any plans for playing Doom3 or HL2 at *ACCEPTABLE* framerates on this VPU.

We're gonna need a bigger boat.