MBP 8600 GT Performance

Hello all,

I've been toying with getting a MBP 17". I was wondering how the performance of the 8600 is? Specifically:

-How does it do in Vista? (I know, Leopard is better -it really is- but Vista is used at work).

-I'm not a huge gamer but I do enjoy some FPS games. How does the 8600 perform with games like COD4, Bio Shock, Crysis, etc?

-Do you think going LED was a good thing for Apple? I know the battery life increased and it seems quite amazing at the Best Buy store that carries MBPs. Any issues?


Thanks for the input,
K

 

crysis runs medium at 1280x800 or medium / high at 1024x640.

cod4 runs great at 1280x800 and high settings.

i don't know about bioshock, but obviously it will run pretty good. maybe 1280x800 medium high settings.

 

The 8600M GT vs. the previous generation 7900GS Go found in older 'midrange' PC laptops:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=534&card2=394

The 8600M GT isn't exactly a speed demon.

 

the 8600m gt gets an 8.8!!!

the 7900 gs only gets an 8.1...

that means the 8600m gt is like 10% faster! (not really, more expressing the fact that gpureview is a joke)

we should be clear about this. the 7900gs was not a midrange gpu. it was only found in 17" laptops and was approximately as fast as a mobile 7800, but it also took less battery life and ran cooler. there were also a variety of mobile 79xx series cards.

the midrange card was called the "go 7600". the 8600m gt replaces that card. it is for 15" laptops primarily. the 8600m gt is approximately as powerful as a 7900 gs.

 

If you ONLY look at the voting part, then you are looking at.. um.. votes. The parts below that, the parts with the actual numbers and information on the parts, is the more useful and important part.

Talking about gaming GPUs (not general purpose integrated shared RAM things) the 7900gs was mid-range. I recently replaced the 7900gs Go in my Inspiron E1705 with a 7950GTX Go, and it added 50% to my 3DMark06 score.

 

The 8600M GT is totally kickass, but you'd probably need to fool around with your clocks a little first though, since Apple downclocked the cards. 5300 points in 3DMark06 @ 600/900.

 

I've played Bioshock. 1280x800 med/high settings, works like a charm!

 

yep. just download atitool and set the 3d clocks up to about 475/700 (or higher if you want)

@ subzero

you would rather try to compare gpu performance by looking at 8600m gt FLOPS vs 7900 gs FLOPS?

or would you like to compare shader numbers?

or texture fill rate? memory bandwidth?

its all pointless. the only number that matters is frames / second, and the cards are equal in new games.

and 3dmark06 is probably the most pointless number of all.

 

For some of the stats, they are specific to the apps that require them. Shader speed is not very important on games that don't use shaders. The 7900GS Go is faster in overall memory bandwidth and raw throughput, which has overall implications. The 128-bit memory of the 8600M GT is shared by the desktop 8600's, which is why they are shunned by PC gamers.

 

You basically answered your own question in regards to the LED screens. Also it's environmentally friendly.

 

How old is the 8600? Does anyone think that Apple with refresh the MBP around WWDC to something like the 9600?

 

^we all hope that apple "will"...

 

8600GT is a great mobile gpu. O/C the card and you will see some very nice gains.