Support NeoGAF

[boredandlazy]

I'm in the market to buy a new laptop, and since I plan on doing a bit of gaming on it I want to get a decent one capable of gaming.
So anyway I've narrowed it down to laptops that have either the NVidia 970m(3GB) or the 980m(4GB).
Due to the fact the 980m laptop is a little bigger and costs about $400 more I'm leaning towards the one with the 970m, however I just want to get some people's opinions on whether 3GB of VRAM will be enough to run PC games at 1080p without having to resort to setting everything to low and turning off AA etc. for the foreseeable future?
I'm not enough of a PC gamer to really warrant spending the extra money on the 980m but at the same time I don't want to have to gimp games within the next 2 years just to get playable framerates either...
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[maneil99]

The truth: Nobody fucking knows

The 980m is alot better then the 970m, its not just about the VRAM, its flat out better, spend the extra 400$, it will be worth it in the long run. Don't cheap out.

 

[shandy706]

Medium?

A long time I'm sure.

High? A few games already prob pushing that threshold.

 

[Mozz-eyes]

If you buy a gaming laptop, you'll be gimped anyway.

Good luck sir.

/salute

 

[Crisium]

2GB really only started to suffer in late 2014. 3GB should be good for some time.

But the 3GB vs 4GB is the least of the performance difference between 970m and 980m. 980m has more shaders, ROPs, and memory bandwidth. It already has a massive performance lead on the 970m. By the time the memory capacity lead kicks in, it'll be just salt on the gaping performance wound. Don't get me wrong, the 970m is incredibly fast for a mobile GPU, but the 980m is noticeably faster and not because it has more VRAM.

 

[pa22word]

Honestly 4-6gbs may not be enough in the long run considering the high-ran specs of the consoles, which games are spec'd against. Near the end of this gen i would not be in the least surprised to see games with required 4+ gbs to run at all considering games of late last gen started doing entirely different builds of their pc and console builds because the console tech got so far behind the pc stuff.

 

[Yoda]

Medium?

A long time I'm sure.

High? A few games already prob pushing that threshold.

My 780ti handles everything fine maxed out.

 

[DarkJC]

Gaming laptops just don't last, sorry to say. The performance just isn't there for the long haul. If you must, get the absolute best laptop GPU you can afford, and don't laser in on just one spec like VRAM when there are other factors that drive performance.

 

[Kieli]

If you buy a gaming laptop, you'll be gimped anyway.

Good luck sir.

/salute

False. The 980m is quite a capable graphics card.

If you mean gimped in that you can't upgrade, sure.

 

[Drkirby]

Personally, since it is a laptop, I say go for the cheaper option.

 

[EdLin]

My 780ti handles everything fine maxed out.

It's not a laptop GPU.

 

[SneakyStephan]

Advice:
Buy a chromebook for like 200 bucks

Build a gaming pc with a 980 for half what a laptop with a 980M costs

Spend 400 on a 144hz monitor with gsync or adaptive sync that will shit on the crappy screen in that gaming laptop (a good monitor is one of the most important parts of a gaming pc, equally important as a good cpu and gpu
Imo anyone who spends 1000++ on a gaming pc and does not have a good monitor is foolish and wasting their money.


Buy a brand new (and way faster) GPU with 6-12GB vram in 3 years with the money left over when you think 3GB no longer cuts it.

 

[nobodyshero]

I'm rocking an R9 290, which is 4GB I know, but not the most top of the line out there, and I expect Witcher 3 to be the first game I can't run at near maxed settings. I still pray they optimize the fuck out of it though.

 

[ZeroX03]

What laptops are you looking at specifically?

They're both very capable cards and I don't think you'd be running into any bottlenecks at 1080p on mid-high. My 770M with 3GB of VRAM could still handle most games at 40-50fps on high. 970M should be good enough for what you want, but 980M would keep you in a good place for years. Also is your definition of a playable framerate 30fps or 60fps? Because if it's 30fps at mid-high just go with the 970M it'll be perfectly fine.

Advice:
Buy a chromebook for like 200 bucks

Build a gaming pc with a 980 for half what a laptop with a 980M costs

Spend 400 on a 144hz monitor with gsync or adaptive sync that will shit on the crappy screen in that gaming laptop (a good monitor is one of the most important parts of a gaming pc, equally important as a good cpu and gpu)

Buy another brand new PC 3 years later with the money left over.



Never have to worry about 'how long will 3GB vram last me at 1080p'

Your advice is kind of useless if they want anything with a semblance of portability.

 

[boredandlazy]

I should have said this in the OP... But don't bother telling me to get a desktop. I'm not doing it. There are a multitude of reasons. But that's not the point here.

Also I appreciate the advice on the 980m, but I've seen some benchmarks which says that the 970m is about equivalent with the 680 desktop card. That's still pretty decent right?

What laptops are you looking at specifically?
They're both very capable cards and I don't think you'd be running into any bottlenecks at 1080p on mid-high. My 770M with 3GB of VRAM could still handle most games at 40-50fps on high. 970M should be good enough for what you want, but 980M would keep you in a good place for years. Also is your definition of a playable framerate 30fps or 60fps? Because if it's 30fps at mid-high just go with the 970M it'll be perfectly fine.

The laptops I'm looking at are the Clevo/Sager/etc. P650SE(NP8651) ort P650SG(NP8652).

One of the other reasons I'm not sure about the 980m version of this laptop is that it's almost half a centimetre thicker than the 970m model and I really wanted to get as compact a laptop as I could in the price range. So pretty much I'm almost set on the 970m version, but I just don't want to be caught out too much later down the line.

 

[ZeroX03]

I should have said this in the OP... But don't bother telling me to get a desktop. I'm not doing it. There are a multitude of reasons. But that's not the point here.

Also I appreciate the advice on the 980m, but I've seen some benchmarks which says that the 970m is about equivalent with the 680 desktop card. That's still pretty decent right?

Give us the specific laptop models you're looking at. e: ah you edited it in cool

 

[kutthoat5150]

My 2gb 680 is still hanging in there,not planning to upgrade until 1000 nvidia series or whatever it's called. Not sure what games people playing but I'm getting by just fine mostly with high settings on them

 

[Painguy]

if your not enough of a PC gamer the 980m is not worth it. I personally have my own desktop for gaming, but I recently bought a sager with a 870m(almost went with 880m) because I dont plan to buy another laptop for like 10 years. I hate laptops, but had to buy one for school so I decided to go highend. So far the 870m has done everything i needed it and more. If you truly dont play enough PC games,save the extra money and buy games. Aside from a few top of the line games your laptop will never be pushed all the way.

 

[RedSwirl]

I thought my 2GB 760 was gonna be able to hang on until the end of this year or maybe a little into 2016, but now I don't know. I was gonna wait until Nvidia's 1000 series or whatever but now I'm contemplating a 970 or something.

 

[shockdude]

There's a gaming laptop thread, you'll get some good advice if you make a post there.

 

[ZeroX03]

The laptops I'm looking at are the Clevo/Sager/etc. P650SE(NP8651) ort P650SG(NP8652).

One of the other reasons I'm not sure about the 980m version of this laptop is that it's almost half a centimetre thicker than the 970m model and I really wanted to get as compact a laptop as I could in the price range. So pretty much I'm almost set on the 970m version, but I just don't want to be caught out too much later down the line.

Seeing as you appear to be pretty budget conscious and the 970M is still getting 60fps on high/ultra on most games except the most intensive, just grab the 970M model. Bare in mind it's a pretty crappy TN panel, soldered CPU and GPU and you have to remove the keyboard to do memory and HDD adjustments so get that stuff customized beforehand if you aren't able to do it yourself. The SG model is noticeably thicker too, which seems to be a problem.

edit: if you're ordering from somewhere like Xotic PC or wherever, pay the little bit extra and upgrade to an IPS panel

 

[SapientWolf]

You may have to adjust AA and texture settings a bit. If that's gimped to you then I wouldn't even bother with a gaming laptop. Because you'll also eventually be dropping other settings or compromising on frame rates.

 

[Anion]

OP, if you don't mind the extra thickness the 980 is a beast. However I personally wanted a slim laptop so I got one with a 970. It's pretty darn good. But I have 6 gb vram in it.

Nonetheless, maybe you should look into those new laptops with an external gpu case, like the MSI GS30 or an Alienware 13. Both are cheaper but then you can attach a desktop gpu while at home/wherever

 

[boredandlazy]

Seeing as you appear to be pretty budget conscious and the 970M is still getting 60fps on high/ultra on most games except the most intensive, just grab the 970M model. Bare in mind it's a pretty crappy TN panel, soldered CPU and GPU and you have to remove the keyboard to do memory and HDD adjustments so get that stuff customized beforehand if you aren't able to do it yourself. The SG model is noticeably thicker too, which seems to be a problem.

Actually in Australia it comes with an IPS 15.6" screen.
And keep in mind that when I'm at home it'll be connected to a 1080p 24" monitor.
2 of the RAM slots and the HDD slots are access by taking the bottom off actually, and you only need to remove the keyboard to gain access to RAM slots 3 and 4.
The laptop I'm planning on getting will have 16GB RAM, a 480GB M.2. SSD and a 1TB 5400rpm HDD pre-installed so I won't need to fiddle with that stuff.

 

[ZeroX03]

Actually in Australia it comes with an IPS 15.6" screen.
And keep in mind that when I'm at home it'll be connected to a 1080p 24" monitor.
2 of the RAM slots and the HDD slots are access by taking the bottom off actually, and you only need to remove the keyboard to gain access to RAM slots 3 and 4.
The laptop I'm planning on getting will have 16GB RAM, a 480GB M.2. SSD and a 1TB 5400rpm HDD pre-installed so I won't need to fiddle with that stuff.

Ah that's cool I assumed you were American and looking at US vendors. That all sounds good, get the 970M model.

e: and you're right about the slots, I just skimmed a Notebook Check review and it said remove keyboard for memory so I assume it was all from that.

 

[boredandlazy]

Ah that's cool I assumed you were American and looking at US vendors. That all sounds good, get the 970M model.

Yeah, I used the US models name because if you google Metabox(the Australian label) you get crap-all info.

 

[ZeroX03]

Yeah, I used the US models name because if you google Metabox(the Australian label) you get crap-all info.

Nawwww I know Metabox, you picked the right choice, you're good.

 

[Grief.exe]

The truth: Nobody fucking knows

The 980m is alot better then the 970m, its not just about the VRAM, its flat out better, spend the extra 400$, it will be worth it in the long run. Don't cheap out.

It's arguable. Laptops are going to be outdated exceptionally quickly either way.

Could be better to just save the money, especially if the budget is tight.

 

[boredandlazy]

There's a gaming laptop thread, you'll get some good advice if you make a post there.

Thanks, I'll take a look.

It's arguable. Laptops are going to be outdated exceptionally quickly either way.

Could be better to just save the money, especially if the budget is tight.

Budget isn't tight, there's just no point in spending an extra $400 on something I won't really utilise.

 

[Dance Inferno]

I built a PC late last year with a Radeon R280 3GB and I've been able to run pretty much everything on high settings, although I do have to turn AA off. If you're happy with medium settings then it should probably last another year or two. This is pure conjecture on my part, but considering how solid the card has been so far I don't expect it to outlive its usefulness anytime soon.

 

[boredandlazy]

OK, it sounds like the 970m might be ok. As long as 3GB of VRAM is plenty for 1080p as I originally asked.
Since I'm still primarily a PS4 gamer the main sort of games I'll be playing are any XBOne exclusives I find interesting that make their way to PC, and any games which have unforgivably bad console ports (AC:Unity and Saints Row for example).

 

[Mr Swine]

Depends on developers and games honestly. If Sony and MS let developers use 6GB of ram they could essentially use 5GB for textures making our 3.5-4GB cards useless

 

[boredandlazy]

Depends on developers and games honestly. If Sony and MS let developers use 6GB of ram they could essentially use 5GB for textures making our 3.5-4GB cards useless

I understand that's a possibility, but I remember someone posting a statistic from steam saying that only about 1.5% of steam users have a video card with 4GM or VRAM or more. So hopefully that other demographic isn't ignored by devs.

 

[Mr Swine]

I understand that's a possibility, but I remember someone posting a statistic from steam saying that only about 1.5% of steam users have a video card with 4GM or VRAM or more. So hopefully that other demographic isn't ignored by devs.

I think it depends on what card they upgrade to, mostly it will be 2GB range and I don't think they will be ignored until a few years from now