How important is a DDR5 GPU for gaming?

I ask this because for weeks I have been researching laptops. My final 3 contenders were the Asus G73SW-XA1 (amazon.com for $1399), the HP dv7t Quad with i7-2630qm and Radeon 6770m 1gb DDR5 GPU and then finally the Dell XPS 17. I've always liked Dell systems but the new XPS was a disappointment.

A 1gb DDR3 (550m) or a 3gb DDR3 (555m) as the only GPU options in an "Xtreme Performance System"?

All of their competitors are offering DDR5 systems. Why would Dell shoot themselves in the foot like that? Am I missing something? How important is the DDR5 for gaming?

Let me break this down further...how important is it for games like Rift, a MMORPG? I don't play Crysis or GTA or anything like that. My concern would be a 20 man raid with spell effects, ground clusters and NPC actions.

Can the XPS 17 even compete with the Asus G73SW-XA1 in this type of game, or is it "no contest"?

 

Very good question, I was thinking the exact same thing...

I agree, when I looked at the XPS 17, I was like "Am I missing something?"

Very disappointing to say the least. Maybe it's because they are trying to push the Alienware stuff?

Erick

 

DDR3 runs much cooler than GDDR5. And for the same card, at least in the one shown in the following link, the GDDR5 only provided ~10% boost in performance with a 20% increase in temperature. And since that's a desktop card, that effect would be worse in a laptop chassis. NVIDIA?s GeForce GT 240: The Card That Doesn't Matter - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

 

The 555M should be sufficient for what you want to do. I play Crysis 2 with the 525M (overclocked to 540M speeds) at 1080p (low settings though). I wish I had the 6770m though. That would allow for the higher quality settings to be turned on.