GeForce Go 6800 Ultra: Powering the Dell Inspirion XPS Gen 2
by Derek Wilson on February 24, 2005 3:04 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The Test
Unfortunately, we are somewhat limited in our ability to compare this solution to comparable notebook or desktop systems.We don't have an Alviso based desktop solution (and we haven't seen many Alviso based notebooks yet either). This means we won't be able to compare cards running on the same platform with the Go 6800 Ultra. We also haven't gotten our hands on a Mobility Radeon X800 systems with Alviso in them.
So, what we are going to look at today is the highest end notebook we've yet seen (in terms of graphics speed) compared against the high end desktop configuration we used when testing SLI graphics. This will serve to give us a good picture of where ultra high end notebook performance falls with respect to ultra high end desktop performance. As the core clock on the GeForce Go 6800 Ultra is higher than most desktop GeForce 6800 Ultras (400 to 425 depending on the vendor), it's very possible we could see some interesting numbers come out of this. Of course, the notebook's Pentium M 2.13GHz processor will limit the performance of the system compared to our Athlon 64 4000+ desktop. We aren't likely to see the Go 6800 Ultra paired with anything but a Pentium M due to the TDP requirements of vendors. Mobile Pentium 4 and Mobile Athlon 64 parts are still too hot to be able to economically run a Go 6800 Ultra as well.
The test setup for the Dell Inspirion XPS we tested was as follows:
Intel Pentium M 2.13GHz
Intel Alviso based motherboard
1GB DDR2 533 4-4-4-12
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Ultra (clocked at 450/1100)
Windows XP Service Pack 2 with DirectX 9.0c
NVIDIA ForceWare 75 series Drivers
Our desktop nForce 4 system was configured thusly:
AMD Athlon 64 4000+
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) Motherboard
1GB OCZ DDR400 3-3-3-10
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra PCI Express (clocked at 400/1100)
NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT PCI Express (clocked at 350/1000)
Windows XP Service Pack 2 with DirectX 9.0c
NVIDIA ForceWare 69.33 Drivers
The only unknown factor here is the performance difference beween the 69.xx and 75.xx ForceWare revisions. The Dell is the only notebook we've tested with a 75 series driver.
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abakshi - Friday, February 25, 2005 - link
A comparison is not quite possible given all the variables involved, so though the Go 6800U may be fast, we can't really say much about it versus ATI's current X800 mobile offerings until there's a test with identical specs -- the best case being a modular setup to accept either option.sleepeeg3 - Friday, February 25, 2005 - link
Regardless of specs, that thing would still cost nearly twice as much as my top of the line SFF and you'd sacrifice on hard drive space/speeds. There's just no point to a gaming laptop *shrug*. At least those specs are finally starting getting me to look at them! Now if only the price would come down about a grand...timmiser - Friday, February 25, 2005 - link
Exactly #35. I know the Ultra will be faster but I'd like to see exactly how much faster in a graph in order to make a decision if I think I should go out and buy a new DTR.Optimummind - Friday, February 25, 2005 - link
timmiser, I think you need to see graphs and numbers to know that this Geforce Go 6800 Ultra will totally put the 9800 Pro Mobility on its knees. :)timmiser - Friday, February 25, 2005 - link
I have to agree with #22, I am an owner of a Dell XPS system with mobiliy 9800. Until now, the 9800 (Really X800 based) is the fastest available mobile solution and it would have been nice to see some comparisons with the 9800. (Didn't AT do some benches on the 9800??)I still have no idea how my system compares with this new graphic option.
-Tim
mickyb - Friday, February 25, 2005 - link
#30 There are not too many variables to say it is fast. This test shows that it IS fast, especially for a DTR laptop.I think what you are trying to express is that there is not enough information to determine it is the fastest. It does not matter if the new drivers make the other cards go faster.
ElFenix - Friday, February 25, 2005 - link
#26what part of "Creative Audigy 2NX External USB [add $100 or $3/month1] Product details" do you not understand?
or maybe you could go here:
http://www.soundblaster.com/products/audigy2NX/
and see that yes, this really is an external unit.
L3p3rM355i4h - Friday, February 25, 2005 - link
#26, if you've seen the review that anandtech did on desktop use of the dothan core, you would know that it is actually pretty weak when it comes to gaming. It still uses the exectution core of the PIII, etc. Pairing it with DDR2 seems to break the bandwidth issue.Packing that much performance in to a >10lbs package is simply amazing. That machine pwns my A64. when I win the lottery I just might have to pick one up...
Da DvD - Friday, February 25, 2005 - link
I'm sorry to say, but IMO this test is simply invalid. There are too many variables to draw any conclusion but that this thing is quite fast.I guess the newer nVidia drivers support the new render mode in Far Cry patch 1.3 much better than the old drivers did. That would explain the Go being faster here.
Hikari - Friday, February 25, 2005 - link
#28 256MB video card.http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productde...
And lowest base memory for the notebook itself is 512.