• Is the 840M card enough for gaming?
    8 replies, posted
I'm getting a new laptop for school/gaming, and I was planning on getting the 840M but now that it's come time to actually fork over the money I got nervous. Is the 840M satisfactory for gaming? It has a 1080p screen, a 4th gen i7 with 2.4 GHz up to 3.4, and 8GB RAM. On my current laptop, with a 1366 x 768 screen, HD Mobility Radeon 5650, 6GB RAM and 2.0 GHz quad core I can run Titanfall on the lowest settings at a pretty comfortable 20-30 fps, so to me it looks like the improvement should be massive, but the benchmarks I've seen for the 740M (a card only slightly below the 840M) seem to say otherwise. If there's any reason not to get the 840M let me know, please, just keep in mind I'm not looking to run games on maximum, just significantly better than the 5650. Oh, and games I play are mostly DotA, Titanfall, and I plan to play Planetary Annihilation and Metro Last Light when I get this computer, but I can't play either on my current laptop because of drivers or unbearable lag, respectively.
What machine did the 740M benchmarks come from? The problem is there were two versions of the 740M (one with GDDR5 and one with DDR3). The DDR3 version is much slower than the GDDR5 version, especially at 1080P. The catch is, the 840M is DDR3 only, so if you're looking at 740M GDDR5 benchmarks the 840M will sadly most likely not be as fast as the 740M. I'd really recommend saving a little more and going for something with the 850M, which unlike the gap between the 740M GDDR5 and 750M, the gap between the 840M and 850M is significant. [editline]23rd March 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=anandtech]Moving past the naming aspect of the GTX 850M, the specifications are basically the same as the Maxwell GTX 860M, only with a lower core clock of 876MHz. One nice benefit of moving to the GTX class is that the 850M will require the use of GDDR5. With previous generation mobile GPUs, NVIDIA often allowed OEMs to use either GDDR5 or DDR3. While in theory the gaming experience between the who would be “similar”, that really depends on the game and the settings. I know from experience that in some cases a GT 740M GDDR5 can end up performing nearly twice as fast as a GT 740M DDR3 laptop. Basically, DDR3 GPUs really shouldn’t be used in anything with more than a 1366x768 resolution display, and frankly 1366x768 should die a fast death – preferably yesterday, if I had my way. DDR3 will continue to be used in the mainstream 800M GPUs, and it appears GDDR5 is no longer even an option (maybe?); not surprisingly, NVIDIA states that the GTX 850M is on average 70% faster than the 840M[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=rhx123;44325023]What machine did the 740M benchmarks come from? The problem is there were two versions of the 740M (one with GDDR5 and one with DDR3). The DDR3 version is much slower than the GDDR5 version, especially at 1080P. The catch is, the 840M is DDR3 only, so if you're looking at 740M GDDR5 benchmarks the 840M will sadly most likely not be as fast as the 740M. I'd really recommend saving a little more and going for something with the 850M, which unlike the gap between the 740M GDDR5 and 750M, the gap between the 840M and 850M is significant. [editline]23rd March 2014[/editline][/QUOTE] The computer I'm currently looking at will cost me $835, with an extended battery, and the cheapest 850M laptop I could find was $1200. The 850 looks to be out of my price range, so what I'd like to know is if the 840 is [I]enough[/I]. Thank you for your reply, of course, but I don't think I can afford it at the moment. However, I did find [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314220]a computer on Newegg[/url] for $1k with a 760M and GDDR5. I found the benchmarks for the 740M [url=http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-740M.89900.0.html]here[/url], and yes they do appear to use DDR3. The list on the side there ranks mobile GPUs, and rates the 760M pretty high. Would the 760M be worth an extra $160 over the 840M? Also, the 760M computer has 250 GB less storage than the laptop with the 840M, but 750 is plenty.
I'd say it's worth the price jump. You're getting a machine that has to last you and you don't want to be stuck with a less than ideal GPU.
[QUOTE=rhx123;44326163]I'd say it's worth the price jump. You're getting a machine that has to last you and you don't want to be stuck with a less than ideal GPU.[/QUOTE] So, assuming I can afford it, would that particular Acer laptop I linked to be a good buy? Is there a better deal for the same/better performance (without going over $1k)?
Personally I would recommend the $899 version of [url]http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/[/url] The GPU is one step below, but I personally have had absolutely horrendous experiences with Acer's lately. Like, worse than HP bad.
[QUOTE=Levelog;44326982]Personally I would recommend the $899 version of [url]http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/y-series/y510p/[/url] The GPU is one step below, but I personally have had absolutely horrendous experiences with Acer's lately. Like, worse than HP bad.[/QUOTE] Actually, that looks like a really good idea, unless anyone has any objections to the 755M. Except I may forgo the 24GB SSD to save the $20. Er, ok, could someone explain to me the difference between an FHD LED Glossy display and an FHD LED Glossy Wedge display?
755M is a decent card, and whilst not as fast as the 860M, the y510p is by far the best combination of performance/quality you'll get at that price range.
This will help. It even lists Titanfall. [url]http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html[/url]
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.