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    Drivers to turn a Fire 5700 (W500) to a Radeon 3650 (T500)

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by jjmason, Nov 3, 2008.

  1. jjmason

    jjmason Notebook Enthusiast

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    OK I know this is a bit unconventional but bear with me :)

    I am pretty much set on getting either a W500 or a T500 since they're almost identical. Actually, I can get a nice W500 for much cheaper than a less-equipped T500 right now. Go figure. So I am about to just go for the W500.

    The only problem is that I have no need for the OpenGL capabilities of the Fire 5700 card on the W500 since I will use this laptop for office work, browsing the internet, photoshop, and gaming. I have read that the Radeon drivers are better than the OpenGL-optimized drivers for gaming.

    So my question is:

    1. What is the gaming performance hit with the Fire 5700? If anyone could speculate on the percentagewise decrease in performance, that would be really helpful. Because if the Fire 5700 is only 5% slower, it might not be noticeable enough.

    2. Apparently the hardware for both GPUs is identical, it's only the drivers that are different. Since I have no need for the OpenGL-optimized drivers of the Fire 5700, how would I go about getting the drivers needed to convert the GPU into a Radeon 3650? And are these unofficial drivers (meaning some nasty problems might pop up)?

    Thanks for your help!
     
    jjmason, Nov 3, 2008
    #1
  2. Isend2C

    Isend2C Notebook Deity

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    My friend uses an Nvidia N570 for games and stuff, he has no problems with it except that it would run sooo hot, but that's Lenovo's design really I think. So I wouldn 't worry about it being a business card. This site is great for comparing notebook graphic cards. It does not have the Fire 5700 on it, though... I don't think you'd be having a hard time doing anything with either of the cards, both are plenty powerful. ;)
     
    Isend2C, Nov 3, 2008
    #2