Vostro

This is a review of the 8600m GT GPU. I decided to write this review for people who are thinking about getting a notebook and plan to do a little bit of gaming and are wondering what type of games they can expect to play. Note, that there are more powerful GPUs on the market such as the 8800m however those are found in larger notebooks (17" +). I personally needed a smaller notebook and my 15" Dell Vostro fit the bill perfectly. Also the 8600m GT is the most powerful GPU offered in the 15" notebook. The 9500m GS is out now however it is a rebadged 8600m GT, so if you have a 9500m GS then you can expect about the same performance as I show in this review.


-Test System
Dell Vostro 1500
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (4-4-4-12)
Nvidia® GeForce® 8600M GT 256MB
250GB 5400RPM sATA Hard Drive
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium

-Driver
For the review I have recently changed from 174.74 to the new 174.93 and have been happy with them so I am using the 174.93 betas for this review.

-Clock Speeds
Stock 8600m GT Clocks - 475/400
Overclocked 8600m GTClocks - 700/551


-Temps
With my overclock my temps idle around 47*c and load temp is around 65-70*c. Not too bad and definately within the safe range.

-AquaMark 3
-3dMark05
-3DMark06

-Games Tested
Note that I post a screen shot of all graphic settings that I use for each game. Also if possible I like to play in windowed mode and do on games that allow me too. I play in windowed mode because I can get a few more FPS and its nice to be able to minimize and multitask if possible. Also screens dont do the games justice as they were poorly optimized and downsized when posted in the review. The games look MUCH better when actually gaming.

-Team Fortress 2
Resolution: 1024 x 768 (Play in windowed mode)
Settings: See ScreenShot
FPS: 40-120 Average 60-80


-TrackMania Nations
Resolution: 1024 x 768 (Play in windowed mode)
Settings: See ScreenShot
FPS: 60-150 Average 90-100


-Battlefield 2
Resolution: 1024 x 768 (Play in Full-Screen, no widescreen support)
Settings: See ScreenShot
FPS: 70-90 Average 75





-Silent Hunter 4
Resolution: 1024 x 768 (Play in windowed mode)
Settings: See ScreenShot (All settings Maxed)
FPS: 40-70 Average 50


-Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Resolution: 1280 x 800 (Play in Full-Screen)
Settings: See ScreenShot
FPS: 30-50 Average 40





-Joint Operations
Resolution: 1280 x 800 (Play in Full-Screen)
Settings: See ScreenShot (All Maxed)
FPS: 50-80 Average 60
(Note when I took screenshots it always shows my FPS as 1)




-FEAR Online
Resolution: 1280 x 800 (Play in Full-Screen)
Settings: See ScreenShot (Medium Settings)
FPS: 40-70 Average 55


-GTA San Andreas
Resolution: 1280 x 800 (Play in Full-Screen)
Settings: See ScreenShot (Maxed Settings)
FPS: 40-60 Average 50





-Conclusion
Overall I was and still am VERY impressed by the 8600m GT. It plays all the games I play with good settings and great framerates. I was actually so impressed that I sold my desktop rig. (5200+ 2.95Ghz, 8800GTX). Im on the go so much anymore that this laptop was able to easily satisfy my gaming needs. Hope some people find this useful!

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Vostro

- Will add more games soon

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My 4-Sale Thread

catmmm

i have a laptop with a 8600m gt too
i can play crysis on it lol
and cod4

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Vostro

Yea i dont have either game but I did download the demo of COD4 to try out and was actually able to play at fullscreen with good settings with 50+FPS. I was pretty happy about that.

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ELmo1989

Overclocked
nice

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Vostro

Thanks, I saw that you have a 8600m GT as well. Are you pretty happy with it? Ive been extremely happy so far with the performance I get with it.

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RSXHiTMAN

thats a solid score for a laptop

Vostro

Thanks. If I got a stronger CPU the score would go up, but im happy with the performance that I get now. Maybe someday Ill get a extreme C2D so i can overclock it.

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My 4-Sale Thread

lemans81

I don't know if this is of interest but long ago I benched my vostro 1700 (1.6ghz c2d, 8600m gt, 2gb ram, 160gb hdd) and my wifes vostro 1500 (1.8ghz c2d, 8600m gt, 1gb ram, 120gb hdd) and put it in a excel...if it helps you can use it to show other performance, or just let it sit here all unprofessional looking lol.

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dualhYbrid

8400m gs gets 14 FPS on CSS @ 1280x800 with ALL settings at max..... just an FYI for people who want a step down from that card when buying a vostro..

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