Dell ATI Graphics

Hey everyone. I was looking on Dell's Inspiron E1705's graphics card and it looks like they are moving towards ATI. How is the ATI's x1400 256mb compared to a nVidia 7800gtx? If there is a big difference I might just consider buying the XPS.

 

Hi there,

Yes, there is a BIG difference between the ATI x1400 and Nvidia go 7800GTX. The GTX for one has more pipelines I beilive.

From a personal point of view, I would hold out on the x1400 because if ure a gamer then this card might not deliver. If you're a casual gamer then it might be ok, but like I sad it seems you're really into gaming (as youre considering an XPS) so the performance will differ quite significantly.

Furthermore, Dell seems to be bringing back the Nvidia Go 7800 256mb card to some places around the world, such as Australia, NZ and most recently Chile. Again, this is NOT THE GTX card which is faster than the normal 7800 Go.

So let me sum it up for you.

Nvidia 7800 GTX -----> BEST CARD, you should not have any problems while gaming.

Nvidia 7800 Go -------> A Very good card, again you should not have any significant slowdowns, unless you run latest games in higher resolutions.

ATI x1400 -------> Comparitively the weakest out of the three, it will struggle running on higher gfx levels on latest games such as Oblivion.

Therefore, wait and see wether the 7800 Go comes out on the E1705 or if you particulary want the GTX then go with the XPS models.

dda.

 

Hmm...interesting. How is the x1400 compared to the old nVidia 6800?

 

Hey, the 6800 is still better than the x1400.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but The Nvidia 6800,7800,7800GTX all have dedicated 256mb of video ram. Therefore, all the processing power comes from within the GPU and it doesnt draw upon the cpu for gfx power.

However Dell cleverly market the x1400 as being 256mb "Hypermemory", read the fine print and you will notice that its actually 128mb dedicated while it draws the other 128 from the cpu ram.

Hope this helps. Apparently the NEW XPSM1710 with core duo processors and GTX arrives TODAY! (april 14th!) depends where you live though.
http://en.notebookcheck.com/Comparison_of_Grafic_Cards_update.130.0.html
This should help.

 

cpu ram? I think you mean system ram which means that the GPU has to take memory from your ram when it runs out of its onboard ram, The data has to go much further and as such is much slower and it also takes memory away from the system which slows it down further. While hypermemory adds a few points in speed overall I think its a waste, the turbocache system nvidia uses instead of hypermemory is a little better. Take a look in the guide section I wrote a guide that shows the comparitive power differences between most of the new current cards.

 

Hi there, yeah thanks for correcting me!

 

The x1400 doesnt have enough processing power to effectively use 256mb anyway... the main reason for the 128mb hypermemory is for textures... if your running an application which alot of memory for textures... the GPU will use system ram instead of leaving it on disk for retrieval... so in that case its worth the extra memory.

The x1400 is NOT a gaming card... and not in the same league as the 7800 series... even ati has the x1600, x1800 and x1900 which are all better than the x1400 by far. The x1400 claim to fame is low power, low heat, and moderate gaming performance.

That said... ive played doom 3, battlefield 2, and Fear on my e1505 with x1400... all played well and looked great... so for me its good enough.

If your looking at XPS models to get better graphics... I would either only take a REALLY good deal... or wait a bit as their about to release core-duo XPS models... and Core-Duo makes a world of difference in system usage... ive been using it about a week and cant see going back.

 

Ok cool. Thanks everyone. So I heard from dda that the GTX will arrive for dell today? If that is the case, I will totally buy the computer with the GTX instead. They made the ATI sound so good "hypermemory." Stupid!

 

Hey, well it supposed to arrive today. the new xps m1710, however from the information i was able to get from different souces, dates are differing.

some people say it wont be availabe until the end of the year (highly unlikely), while some say its right now only av by phone and some others say that its hitting the website in FRANCE on april 19th.