Can a 8200m GS with 895mb of gddr2 outperform a 8600m GT with 128 mb of GDDR3?

[josueg942]

Hi everyone, I,am new to this site, but I have a question.
My macbook pro has the 8600m and my stepdads laptop has the 8200m and it seems it handles games better than my mbp.
Usually I play battlefield 1942 and it runs kinda bad on my mbp... on my stepdads it runs really really great...
I'm not sure that if I install windows on my mbp I'll get better results than my stepdads laptop.... maybe it's because of the O.S.
Who knows?
Specs are...
120 gb 5400 rpm hard drive
2 gig memory
128mb 8600m gt gddr3
intel core 2 duo 2.2 ghz
the macbook pro santa rosa
Thanks.:apple::)

BTW, my mbp has all the requirements to play Battlefield 1942...
once again, Thanks.

[Zortrium]

It's either a Mac port vs native Windows performance issue or something else is going on. The 8600 destroys the 8200 in raw performance.

[agwilson]

What are the specs of your dad's computer? Without knowing what else to compare to it is hard to tell if there is a problem or not. When measuring performance of a game there are a lot of factors that come into play: cpu speed, ram, hard drives, os, and generally what other programs are being run at the time.

[aznguyen316]

I would agree it's probably the OS

[josueg942]

What are the specs of your dad's computer? Without knowing what else to compare to it is hard to tell if there is a problem or not. When measuring performance of a game there are a lot of factors that come into play: cpu speed, ram, hard drives, os, and generally what other programs are being run at the time.



his specs are....
160gb hard drive 7200 rpm
2 gig of ram
nvidia geforce 8200m gs with 895mb of gddr2 vram
amd athlon dual-core 1.90 ghz
windows vista home premium
generally when i play i don't run programs...
thanks

[Mackilroy]

I don't think there was an 8200M GS that had 895 MB of RAM...

[aznguyen316]

from that I will have to say it's the OS. The graphics card is integrated and using system ram to get up that high. But the graphics ram can only go so far and performance should take over which is where the 8600 should do okay, bu t I dunno. Prob partially due to OS and some gfx.. although vista isn't the best for gaming either.

[josueg942]

I don't think there was an 8200M GS that had 895 MB of RAM..


When I was looking at the specs I'm not sure if it said that it was an 8200m GS or GT
But I know for sure it's a 8200m

[aznguyen316]

I don't think there was an 8200M GS that had 895 MB of RAM...

I had an HP laptop that allowed up to 1GB of ram to be allocated/shared w/ GPU so this is probably the case.

[josueg942]

I had an HP laptop that allowed up to 1GB of ram to be allocated/shared w/ GPU so this is probably the case.


this is a compaq laptop.
hp owns compaq!

[cathyy]

The 8600M GT is far, far superior to the 8200M. Either BF1942 is a horrible Mac port, or you're doing something terribly wrong, or your step-father's lying to you about his card.

I don't think there was an 8200M GS that had 895 MB of RAM...

The 8200M is an integrated card. It has such a huge memory pool because it shares it with the system memory.

[Miharu]

Is Battlefield 1942 universal? If it's still a PPC version that explains it. Try to install Windows on your MBP and the game there, and then compare the results :)

[aznguyen316]

I had an HP laptop that allowed up to 1GB of ram to be allocated/shared w/ GPU so this is probably the case.


this is a compaq laptop.
hp owns compaq!

ummm okay I was just saying I had an HP.. so what was the point of that?

[Mackilroy]

The 8200M is an integrated card. It has such a huge memory pool because it shares it with the system memory.

I understand the whole shared memory bit, I just didn't realize it could use that much shared memory. :p

[aznguyen316]

I understand the whole shared memory bit, I just didn't realize it could use that much shared memory. :p

yeah some allow only a small amount, others don't really care haha, most of the time it can be set in bios.

[Consultant]

You need to run it using the same os, same version of the game, same display resolution, same graphics settings in game to compare. Comparing different os, different versions, etc. is useless.

[josueg942]

Is Battlefield 1942 universal? If it's still a PPC version that explains it. Try to install Windows on your MBP and the game there, and then compare the results :)


Well when I checked the installation it said PowerPC only.
Mines is Intel...
Maybe that explains it.
I know BF 1942 is an old game with weak graphics and I know my macbook pro can support it because it has mid-range graphics card.
Thanks to all of you guys's solutions..... I don't have many doubts about my Macbook Pros graphical performance!

THANKS ALOT!!!

[aznguyen316]

yup hope you can get it running at better performances.

[josueg942]

yup hope you can get it running at better performances.


Yes, thanks for the kindness, and take much care, my friend. :)

[josueg942]

I would agree it's probably the OS

it was

just installed vista in my mbp...
installed full version of battlefield 1942...
runs like a charm!!!
on average i get like 120fps....
runs really great

[aznguyen316]

it was

just installed vista in my mbp...
installed full version of battlefield 1942...
runs like a charm!!!
on average i get like 120 fps....
runs really great

cool glad you got up and did something about it to check. now you can game!

[MattZani]

The 8200m will probably have a smaller Memory Bus Controller, meaning it probably cant address more than 256Mb of Ram, so having any more is a marketing gimmick.

GDDR2 Ram is considerably Slower than GDDR3

The 8600M GT has ALOT more Stream Processors, higher Clock Speeds, and is an overall better card.

Your MBP is better spec'd in every way. So its either a Bad Port to OS X, or settings difference.

[aznguyen316]

The 8200m will probably have a smaller Memory Bus Controller, meaning it probably cant address more than 256Mb of Ram, so having any more is a marketing gimmick.

GDDR2 Ram is considerably Slower than GDDR3

The 8600M GT has ALOT more Stream Processors, higher Clock Speeds, and is an overall better card.

Your MBP is better spec'd in every way. So its either a Bad Port to OS X, or settings difference.

yeah def. I think he figured it out though =)

[josueg942]

yeah def. I think he figured it out though =)

sure did.

yeah i agree 8600m is a way better card.

i installed fraps on my stepdads pc and i only get 30-40 frames per second and on my mbp i get on average 120 fps....
the 8600m is really far superior than the 8200m haha

[josueg942]

cool glad you got up and did something about it to check. now you can game!

haha yeah!

[josueg942]

The 8200m will probably have a smaller Memory Bus Controller, meaning it probably cant address more than 256Mb of Ram, so having any more is a marketing gimmick.

GDDR2 Ram is considerably Slower than GDDR3

The 8600M GT has ALOT more Stream Processors, higher Clock Speeds, and is an overall better card.

Your MBP is better spec'd in every way. So its either a Bad Port to OS X, or settings difference.



I don't know if its a gimmick....
look here
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01555875&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

compaq says video ram is capable of up to 895mb

yeah 8600m IS way better and I know my mbp is better spec'd.

the vista rating for my stepdads pc is 3.7 and mines is 4.8

so it's way better. and now i'm gonna max out the ram and put a larger hard drive... haha

[cathyy]

It's a gimmick. Even the 9600M GT can barely use more than 256mb of RAM at 1440x900.

[josueg942]

It's a gimmick. Even the 9600M GT can barely use more than 256mb of RAM at 1440x900.

Oh I see...
Thanks for opening my eyes a little more =]