Dell 1720 M8600gt Video Card

Has anybody been told differently by Dell?
There has been some question as to whether the Dell Inspiron 1720 with the M8600gt video card comes with GDDR2 or GDDR3. On about five or six different occasions now, the most recent being today, I was told by CS and the Dell Tech Department that my 1720 will have the GDDR3 card installed. I'm not heavy into gaming, but I do a lot of video/audio editing as well as some 3D modeling using SolidWorks and this has been somewhat of an issue or concern. My desktop has a great card for all of these programs to run, the NVidea Quadro series and I wanted something to be portable that would handle a light load whilst on the road.
I would like to know if others have heard the same thing as myself or anything different?

Dell Inspiron 1720
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300
Midnight Blue Color with Microsatin Finish
2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
High Resolution, WUXGA+ (1920 x 1200)
256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600
500G (2x 250) 5400RPM SATA HDD
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive
Intel 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini Card
Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Mod

Original Order Date: 7/7/2007
ESD: 7/24
Second ESD: 7/31
Dell CS (In India) cancelled with no explanation of why: 7/24
Re-Order Date: 7/28
ESD: 8/23
Second ESD: 8/30

Hopefully, this time they actually ship as told by CS today!

 

Words of advice, the 8 series cards don't have all the features, at least not these mobile ones. I do a lot 3D modeling myself with Cinema 4D and Maya (expanding to Solidworks myself soon). And my 8600m GT of course is more responsive then my desktop I used for many years. But lacks some key enhanced openGL features that makes the experience all the more better. I'm not sure what Solidworks is able to take advantage of, but that is something to consider. I'll install my 3D suites tonight and get back to you on the hardcore details if you really want.

Frankly if you're gonna be doing zero gaming, the Quadro in the business model laptops would be a better solution because they are built for those tasks.

I'm not saying the 8600m is useless but there are features missing to take full advantage of some of the enhanced openGL features in the editor.

 

if they do then i'll probably get the same one after it ships who knows when!

 

Heres an image of the missing extensions.

 

Thank you Ixon! If you could get some more detail on the card, I'd greatly appreciate it! I'll use the laptop mostly for work, but will game on it on occasion with Half Life 2, Counter Strike and Flight Sims. Other than that, it's all work for the cp. Your input would be valued!

 

GeForce 8600M GT

Codename: G84M
Fabrication process (nm): 80
Core clock max (Mhz): 475
Fillrate max (billion texel/s): 7.6
Shader Processing Power (Gigaflops): 91.2

- Shaders
Stream Processors: 32
Clock (MHz): 950

- Memory
Bandwidth max (GB/s): 12.8/22.4 - Varies by Mfg
Bus type: GDDR2/GDDR3 - Varies by Mfg
Bus width (bit): 128
Megabytes: 256
Clock (MHz): 800/1400 - Varies by Mfg

- Feature List
* Unified shader architecture
* GigaThread™ technology
* Full support for Microsoft® DirectX® 10
- Geometry shaders
- Geometry instancing
- Streamed output
- Shader Model 4.0

* 16x full screen anti-aliasing
* Transparent multisampling and transparent supersampling
* 16x angle independent anisotropic filtering
* 128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting with anti-aliasing
- 32-bit per component floating point texture filtering and blending
* Advanced lossless compression algorithms for color, texture, and z-data
* Support for normal map compression
* Full OpenGL® support, including OpenGL 2.1

There you have it man all the detials I can dig up on the GPU. The 8700GT is the same, just slightly higher clock rates.. You can achieve them with Overclocking.
Since you wanna play HL2 ect, the 8600gt is the best to go with over the quadro for obvious reasons.

 

No, your card will not have GDDR3. Only the Asus G1s and the Macbook Pro have DDR3.

 

Thank you for getting that info to me Ixon .

 

do we have a working winxp driver for this? mine shiopped with vista but switched to xp, now i can't install my video driver. i have the nvidia card

 

DELL is giving GDDR2. It is configured at 800MHz. I got a compensation from DELL. Here is what I posted in another thread -

Clearly, he did not know that it is manufacturer's preference to set it to GDDR3 or GDDR2. Sucks to be him.

 

What's the major differences besides these two graphics cards in terms of performance? Besides the obvious memory size difference.

Mobility 256MB NVIDIA GeForce GO 8600GT PCI-Express 3D Video
512MB PCI-Express nVidia GeForce 8600GT DX10

I want to know because I ordered a Sager NP2090 with 2GB RAM, T7500 processor, and that video card. Total came out to be about $1549 including shipping.
Just today I was showing my friend some laptops andi went to Ibuypower.com
I customized the Battalion 101 CZ-7 Pro Notebook with as close specs as possible to the NP2090. The only thing I couldn't match was the graphics card. The total came out to be about $1215 excluding tax and shipping fees.

I just want to know the major difference because I could be saving a couple hundred dollars. Thanks.

 

They're the same card. I don't believe there's actually 512MB dedicted memory for the 8600m, only 256MB. It's a marketing thing, something to do with TurboCache. Either way, it won't make a lick of difference in real world gaming.

 

well i think in my point of view. there wouldn;t be much difference but
since "mobility" or go means to be apply on laptop graphics. it looks like itll save you some powers than the desktop verson also maybe silent. however if you wanna oc.. than go with desk

 

I'm not going to overclock or anything, because i'm buying a laptop. So what do you guys suggest? Go with the cheaper laptop since there's not much of a difference in the two graphics cards? The specs are almost exact same as can be also. Advice and opinions are appreciated.

 

Um, I'm pretty sure there's no "Go 8600GT"

There's 8600m GT and 8600 GT
In this scenario, you'll never find a 8600 GT in a laptop, but since we're on a laptop forum, we assume when people say 8600GT, they mean 8600m GT.

And 8600m GT is split further into GDDR2 or GDDR3. And GDDR3 is rare, but a lot more powerful than GDDR2.

Yea, 8600m GT is one confusing GPU...

 

I'd save the money IMHO. I did the same thing by getting the Dell Vostro in my sig. The Sager is supposed to be top quality, but I just couldn't justify the cost difference considering the Dell Vostro and Inspiron 1520 seem to be solid products themselves.

 

You may see a difference once you get up to 1920x1200 or so (WUXGA), but there shouldn't be much of a difference otherwise.

 

The cards seem to have both GDDR2 and GDDR3, the 3 is much better if you can find. I have read the Sager has GDDR3 (Dell ddr2) the other do not know but be careful comparing apples to oranges!

 

Okay thanks guys. I guess i'll stick with the Sager because it's more known.

 

There are only three known 8600m with GDDR3.
Asus G1S
Asus G2S
Macbook Pro

All the others are GDDR2.

The 8600m is a middle-range GPU and as such is not really designed for the higher resolutions which will truly benefit from more dedicated video RAM.

512MB GDDR2 on a 8600m really isn't that much better than 256MB.

That being said, there is nothing at all wrong with the Sager laptop.

If I were you, I'd get a quote for the other site and then play hardball with the Sager reseller. Either they will be able to tell you what the difference is (service package??) or they shoudl be able to price match.

 

I just got off of the phone with a "Case manager" at Dell and he verified that the video card on my laptop was a GDDR3 card.

Below is an email confirmation that he sent me and also a link to the video card specs from Dell stating this.

Dear Ken,

Thank you for choosing Dell.

Your Dell order no.767859930 for Inspiron 1720 has 256MB Geforce DDR3graphics card.

Thank you

Dell Customer Care

-------------------------

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Overview
Now the award-winning BFG NVIDIA GeForce 8 Series architecture extends to the BFG NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS OC graphics card. Offering unparalleled levels of graphics realism and performance for Microsoft DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 games for the price point, the BFG NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS OC graphics card also includes the groundbreaking 2nd generation PureVideo HD processor and full support for Microsoft Windows Vista.

Manufacturer Part# : BFGE86256GTSOCE
Dell Part# : A1260945
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Tech Specs
General
Device Type

Graphics adapter
Enclosure Type

Plug-in card
Interface Type

PCI Express x16
Processor / Memory
Graphics Processor / Vendor

NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
Core Clock Speed
710 MHz

RAMDAC Clock Speed
400 MHz

Video Memory Installed
256 MB

Technology
GDDR3 SDRAM

Memory Clock Speed
2 GHz

Features
Nvidia SLI Multi-GPU Technology, Nvidia Quantum Effects Technology

Video Output
Max Resolution (external)
2560 x 1600 / 60 Hz

Colors Max Resolution (external)
32-bit color

Max Resolution Details
DVI: 2560 x 1600 at 60 Hz / VGA: 2048 x 1536 at 85Hz

Supported Display Graphics
HDTV (1920x1080), QXGA (2048x1536), 720x480, 720x576, 2560x1600

API Supported
OpenGL 2.0, DirectX 10

Max Monitors Supported
2

TV Interface
HDTV out

Analog Video Format
NTSC, PAL - S-Video

Digital Video Standard
Digital Visual Interface (DVI)

HDCP compatible
Yes

Expansion / Connectivity
Interfaces
2 x DVI-I (dual link) - 29 pin combined DVI ¦ 2 x VGA - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15) ( with adapter ) ¦ 1 x HDTV output ( with adapter ) ¦ 1 x S-video output

Compatible Slots
1 x PCI Express x16

Miscellaneous
Cables Included
2 x DVI-VGA adapter ¦ 1 x HDTV adapter

Compliant Standards
CE, CSA, VCCI, RoHS

Package Type

Retail
Software / System Requirements
Software Included

Drivers & Utilities
OS Required

Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista
Peripheral / Interface Devices

CD-ROM, PCI slot, 375W power supply
System Requirements Details

Windows Vista - RAM 512 MB - HD 50 MB ¦ Windows XP - RAM 512 MB - HD 50 MB

Windows Vista

Built for Windows Vista
Manufacturer Warranty
Service & Support

Limited lifetime warranty
Service & Support Details

Limited warranty - lifetime ¦ Technical support - phone consulting

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so they are putting a desktop video card inside a 1720 ???

 

LOL , that case manager's fired. He gave you the specs to the 8600 GTS, 1. it's not the 8600m GT in your laptop. 2. it's a god-damned desktop card.

Plus, not to get too nit-picky, but; he stated that the card in your laptop supposedly has DDR3. No laptop GPUs use DDR3, only GDDR3.

 

I think he was mistaken. I believe they have the ddr2. This is coming from posts in the Dell forum from people who have tested this on 1720s they have received.

 

wow that Dell representative was way off =/

 

No, they aren't. NO ONE with a new Inspiron with an 8600GT has GDDR3. They are all GDDR2.

Your case manager doesn't know what he's talking about. Only the Asus G1s/G2s and the Macbook Pro have GDDR3.

EDIT: And wow, he did give you a link to the 8600 GTS. That's a desktop card. The laptops have the 8600m GT.

 

lets merge these threads: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=164722&page=2

 

I realize that he sent me the lin to the 8600GTS OC. I now have 3 emails from Dell stating that my card will be a GDDR3card though. Two of the emails are from a manager and I believe he just put himself into hot water by quoting this to me! Just a little more firepower against them!!

 

Also, realize that he quoted me on a desktop card and not for a notebook. Just shows how incompetent they are at Dell!

 

Thank you for combining the two threads Chaz!

 

how were you compensated?