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Zauberer

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 7, 2010
112
2
Thread title says it all. Although for me personally with my school's education discount, the current (and by current I mean old) high-end 15" was $1919 and the mid-range is/was $1775 so it's not as big of a difference. I just thought I'd title the thread to be helpful to more people. I tried doing a Google search, but couldn't find benchmarks for either card (granted I didn't look too hard).

I don't plan on doing much gaming but I would like to be able to play Civ V, possibly SW: The Old Republic when it comes out, and SCII.
 

JayDH

macrumors 6502
Jan 20, 2008
279
54
I am interested in this as well. This is the only reason I would upgrade to the more expensive 15". It is a pricey upgrade, but going from 256 to 1GB seems like a big jump.
 

nickarate

macrumors regular
Mar 19, 2008
176
0
I would love for someone to post an intelligent and reasoned reply. A lot of the time, we get people with way to much emotion on here.

I will be buying the base 15... maybe with the upgraded screen because that is what I can afford, but I would love to know what I will be missing out on.
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
The 6490M is quite comparable to the 5450/5470. The biggest impact is the GDDR5 but you are still starved on shaders to even need that kind of memory bandwidth.
 

Zauberer

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 7, 2010
112
2
What would the 6750 be comparable to? Or what benchmarks could I look at and expect roughly the same (preferably at least as good) performance?
 

cluthz

macrumors 68040
Jun 15, 2004
3,118
4
Norway
The 6490M is quite comparable to the 5450/5470. The biggest impact is the GDDR5 but you are still starved on shaders to even need that kind of memory bandwidth.

If I'm not mistaken the 5470 was on par with the 320M, so it seems like you need to buy the 6750 version to beat the 2010 mbp in terms of graphics power
 

lewdvig

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2002
1,416
75
South Pole
Apple made shockingly bad choices on the 15 GPUs IMO. The 6490M is a deal breaker.

I will need to see the HL2 test with my own eyes - I believe the 330m is 40% better than the 6490M.

Quads are nice, but I can live without one.
 

lewdvig

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2002
1,416
75
South Pole
If I'm not mistaken the 5470 was on par with the 320M, so it seems like you need to buy the 6750 version to beat the 2010 mbp in terms of graphics power

You are right. Adding GDDR5 to a slow GPU (what the 6490M is) will not net much performance.

In fact, I think the 9600m GT is faster. Yikes!
 

cluthz

macrumors 68040
Jun 15, 2004
3,118
4
Norway
You are right. Adding GDDR5 to a slow GPU (what the 6490M is) will not net much performance.

In fact, I think the 9600m GT is faster. Yikes!

Yeah putting a graphic card with 64-bit memory bus in a $1799 MBP is a ripoff
 

aznguyen316

macrumors 68010
Oct 1, 2008
2,001
1
Tampa, FL
Apple made shockingly bad choices on the 15 GPUs IMO. The 6490M is a deal breaker.

I will need to see the HL2 test with my own eyes - I believe the 330m is 40% better than the 6490M.

Quads are nice, but I can live without one.

I agree. The HL2 test if you read the footnotes was for the 6750. The 6490 at 64bit BUS even with GDDR5 is TERRIBLE. Wow, I was ready to get the base 15" but I will not pay for the high end 15". argh back to decisions. It's either 6750 or just bust IMO. bust = intel HD3000 lol
 

panzer06

macrumors 68040
Sep 23, 2006
3,282
229
Kilrath
I agree. The HL2 test if you read the footnotes was for the 6750. The 6490 at 64bit BUS even with GDDR5 is TERRIBLE. Wow, I was ready to get the base 15" but I will not pay for the high end 15". argh back to decisions. It's either 6750 or just bust IMO. bust = intel HD3000 lol

Wait for the refurb on the high end 15"

Cheers,
 

Mirai 11

macrumors 6502
Aug 3, 2005
332
0
Are there any links for benchmarks for the 6490? I can't find any links regarding this to help me understand how well it runs.
 

DarwinOSX

macrumors 68000
Nov 3, 2009
1,636
183
The 6750m is a decent GPU...though not worth a 1999.99 price tag IMHO. Also the difference in VRAM between the 6490 and 6750 is huge...not that a 1440x900 screen needs that much frame buffer.
Anyhoo, Apple Tax prevails. As I always say, get a MBA for all your feel good on the go Apple-computing needs...and a dedicated desktop(Yes folks, a PC) for some real power.
 
I just started a thread with info on these two vid cards before seeing this one. The 6490 is disappointing to say the least.

Radeon HD 6490M Details
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Rad...M.43843.0.html

Performance on common games
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Compute...s.13849.0.html

Radeon HD 6750M Details
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Rad...M.43958.0.html

Performance on common games
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Compute...s.13849.0.html


Nice Charts. Yeah, I never get why people expect so much from a mobile GPU...especially an Apple config. Ha ha! I have to admit that the only bench i really cared about on the chart was SC2. For Aiur!
 

lewdvig

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2002
1,416
75
South Pole
To be honest, it's not much faster than the intel.

Yeah, you are right. What were they thinking!

Might as well go IGP only and drop the price $200.

Bah, yet again Apple sends me into the arms of a Windows PC.

Like most people, I can afford any PC I want. But I can not bring myself to pay these ridiculous rates.

The 6750 is a variation of the same GPU found in an $800 Acer Aspire 7552G-6436. Yes, GDDR5 is better. Yes, i7qm is better than Phenom II. But it is not 3x better. Grr! I hate Acer.

There has to be a decent middle ground between plastic junk and silly MBPs.

Stupid Apple. Stupid Steve. Stupid Jonathan.
 

lewdvig

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2002
1,416
75
South Pole
Nice Charts. Yeah, I never get why people expect so much from a mobile GPU...especially an Apple config. Ha ha! I have to admit that the only bench i really cared about on the chart was SC2. For Aiur!

6750M will run Medium at 900p at framerates suitable for competition. High if you can live with framerate dipping below 20.
 
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