8400GS or 8600GT?

Hello all,

I am thinking to order my next laptop and I 'm stuck between those options:
I'll be getting a Vostro 1400 or 1500 and the 1400 has 8400 GS NV option ( 100$ upgrade ) VS 8600 GT for the Vostro 15 ( for 200$ upgrade from the Integrated one )

From checking at the VGA chipset chart. There's a huge different between a two and i'll be using the laptop mostly for multimedia, some old school games, some UT, quake3 etc and maybe WoW.

Is it worth to spend $100 to get 8600?

Even the IGC X3100 might be sufficient for my needs.

Thx

 

For those older games the 8400 GS should be fine. You won't be maxing out settings in any newer games (or even WoW), but it'll be fine.

 

Yeah, the 8400GS should do what you need fine. Unless you plan on playing newer games, the 8600GT wouldn't help you tremendously.

 

Thx for the replies.
I think I'm going to stick with 8400GS and put that money into a faster CPU.
I was going to order an M1330 but i have heard so many horror stories about it.
And I can still Win Xp with Vostro.

 

Dell's quality control actually seem to be doing a great job fixing issues with the XPS line lately. So don't let that scare you.. The 1330 is still one of the best laptops made in the last year and gets better battery life than the Vostro 1500 as well. The vostro 1500 is also much bulkier than the 1330. I would personally try out a 1330 and trade it in for a Vostro 1500 if you end up not liking it.

 

I don't agree with the above...

Get the 8600GT...

 

Agreed, the 8600m GT does wonders so far. Just look at it this way...I can run Crysis on medium at 1024x768...so it'll run just about every other game on high.

 

I have 8400, play occasional games (considering I'm serious in college).
Pretty satisfied,
but I found out that it only scores 3.4 graphic/aero in vista benchmark.
I wonder if it's normal...???

 

I think getting the 8600 is just future proofing your laptop and making it last longer. If you have the money there is no reason not too.

 

Update your display driver.

I get 4.1 graphic/aero, 4.8 graphic/games

 

Getting a better GPU is a smarter move than a faster CPU!
You will get more improvements with the 8400GT than if you would going with a faster cpu. Also down the road you can upgrade the cpu and the gpu you cannot.

XP is behind the times. Stay with Vista. Everthing, games, software is now geared for Vista.

Of course if you want to stay with win xp, then by all means stay with the 8400gs gpu too.