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6490m gaming benchmarks

Look, when i get my 15 2.0 in this week, I'll let you know how it does. Keep in mind that my results will be skewed by the SSD and 8 GB of RAM that I got instead of upgrading to the 1gb graphics card and 2.2ghz processor.

heh.
 
benpatient said:
My low-end 15 is on the way, BTO.

For me, the high-res screen and the anti-glare were much more important than getting another 10-15 fps is a game that will already run more slowly than it would on my $600 PC desktop machine.

It's absurd how people are shilling out all this extra money for something that will not even matter come next year.

GPUs will double in speed again, and the difference between the 64 and the 67 will be so irrelevant to next year's batch of games that it won't even be talked about anymore.

I mean, would you pay 100 dollars extra to go from an nvidia 5400 ultra to an ati 9600gt? The 9600 is probably 30% faster, at least.

Oh wait. Sorry, that was a GPU from 5 years ago.
The one I had when I bought Half Life 2.

Seriously, guys. You're missing the forest for the trees.
Click to expand...


I really want a PC just to play games and for steam. Where can I buy a $600 PC with a good graphics card? What's the best option?
 
Biscotti said:
I really want a PC just to play games and for steam. Where can I buy a $600 PC with a good graphics card? What's the best option?
Click to expand...

You can buy any basic PC that's around 400 dollars, make sure it has a PCI-E slot for a graphics card, and then buy a 200 dollar graphics card. There are dozens of whole forums devoted to this stuff out there, and things are CONSTANTLY changing. Google is your friend.
 
Biscotti said:
I really want a PC just to play games and for steam. Where can I buy a $600 PC with a good graphics card? What's the best option?
Click to expand...

you can build an semi-decent AMD desktop pretty cheaply with parts from newegg, but I don't think if you will necessarily build a the best rig for $600.

if you plan to eventually do design work or video editing on this machine, I would go with intel cpu instead of amd.

I would post on tomshardware forums to get advice when you have an idea of the components you want.

6GB RAM
3-core AMD cpu (not familiar with amd mobos, but i understand they are much cheaper)
amd 5770 or gtx 460 (or better if you can afford it)
power supply, fans, case, wireless N, keyboard, mouse, monitor
 
benpatient said:
My low-end 15 is on the way, BTO.

For me, the high-res screen and the anti-glare were much more important than getting another 10-15 fps is a game that will already run more slowly than it would on my $600 PC desktop machine.

It's absurd how people are shilling out all this extra money for something that will not even matter come next year.

GPUs will double in speed again, and the difference between the 64 and the 67 will be so irrelevant to next year's batch of games that it won't even be talked about anymore.

I mean, would you pay 100 dollars extra to go from an nvidia 5400 ultra to an ati 9600gt? The 9600 is probably 30% faster, at least.

Oh wait. Sorry, that was a GPU from 5 years ago.
The one I had when I bought Half Life 2.

Seriously, guys. You're missing the forest for the trees.
Click to expand...

you hit it on all points. This is the machine I want. Base 15" with the quad i7 and 6490M + high res AG. It will do the OSX games I want to play fine - SC2 + WoW and most likely Diablo 3. For all else, don't worry they'll be on consoles haha. But yeah to spend $400 extra like it's nothing is kinda crazy... It's still nearly 20% the cost of the machine! For some people sure it's totally worth it, but if you're just looking at the GPU and wondering if it's worth it, I say no, not at all. $400 for a bottom line high performance gpu? Get outta here! With laptops everything gets obsolete so quickly due to the soldering in process. Just spend on what you need..
 
aznguyen316 said:
you hit it on all points. This is the machine I want. Base 15" with the quad i7 and 6490M + high res AG. It will do the OSX games I want to play fine - SC2 + WoW and most likely Diablo 3. For all else, don't worry they'll be on consoles haha. But yeah to spend $400 extra like it's nothing is kinda crazy... It's still nearly 20% the cost of the machine! For some people sure it's totally worth it, but if you're just looking at the GPU and wondering if it's worth it, I say no, not at all. $400 for a bottom line high performance gpu? Get outta here! With laptops everything gets obsolete so quickly due to the soldering in process. Just spend on what you need..
Click to expand...

Hey az I noticed you took your 13 inch off of your Sig are you getting a different model?
 
kitzuki said:
Hey az I noticed you took your 13 inch off of your Sig are you getting a different model?
Click to expand...

yeah I want a 15" model... it's what I wanted before the 13" i7 but kinda went early adopter mode. Now I'm rethinking it and might get a refurb 15".. well I really want the 15" Antiglare. If the i7 had AG + 1440x900 I would've gone with that all the way. BLAHH I really liked my i7 though... don't care too much about hardcore gaming, just basic gaming.
 
aznguyen316 said:
you hit it on all points. This is the machine I want. Base 15" with the quad i7 and 6490M + high res AG. It will do the OSX games I want to play fine - SC2 + WoW and most likely Diablo 3. For all else, don't worry they'll be on consoles haha. But yeah to spend $400 extra like it's nothing is kinda crazy... It's still nearly 20% the cost of the machine! For some people sure it's totally worth it, but if you're just looking at the GPU and wondering if it's worth it, I say no, not at all. $400 for a bottom line high performance gpu? Get outta here! With laptops everything gets obsolete so quickly due to the soldering in process. Just spend on what you need..
Click to expand...

- For the configuration I wanted, the price difference between the low end 15" and the high end 15" was only $267.8 (and that's converted from the prices in my country, which are much higher than the US prices*), so I just went ahead and bought the high end, so I don't have to worry about performance in case I wanted to do something really CPU/GPU intensive.
I don't much care if I spend $267.8 more or $267.8 less on a computer like this...

* The price of the whole computer with my configuration is $3,151 (converted from local currency). The price of the same computer on the American Apple Store is $2,446. I know your prices do not include sales tax, but there is still a considerable difference, I think.
 
so how would the 6490m handle games like gta iv and tdu2? what about the intel hd 3000? should i even bother considering a macbook since ill defo get win7 on it so i can play games
 
aznguyen316 said:
yeah I want a 15" model... it's what I wanted before the 13" i7 but kinda went early adopter mode. Now I'm rethinking it and might get a refurb 15".. well I really want the 15" Antiglare. If the i7 had AG + 1440x900 I would've gone with that all the way. BLAHH I really liked my i7 though... don't care too much about hardcore gaming, just basic gaming.
Click to expand...

haha i hear ya.
After watching your videos on the i7 13 it made me pull the trigger to buy one but i also orginally wanted the 15 but the lower end hate made me not pull the trigger kinda wish i had gotten the 15 higher end though from micro center who has it for 1999.99 i got my i7 13 for 1299 because it was 1399 at the store but the manager gave me a extra 100 off because i was standing around in the store for 58 mins and not one person acknowledged that i was there..... anyways taking it back tomorrow for the 15 :p
 
kitzuki said:
haha i hear ya.
After watching your videos on the i7 13 it made me pull the trigger to buy one but i also orginally wanted the 15 but the lower end hate made me not pull the trigger kinda wish i had gotten the 15 higher end though from micro center who has it for 1999.99 i got my i7 13 for 1299 because it was 1399 at the store but the manager gave me a extra 100 off because i was standing around in the store for 58 mins and not one person acknowledged that i was there..... anyways taking it back tomorrow for the 15 :p
Click to expand...

Wow! Is this a Microcenter sale pricing? If that's the case, I'll definitely have to let my brother know as he's looking to buy one and has an MC nearby that he could PM to best buy also. I'm out of luck b/c I freaking want the high-res anti glare screen. Yeah at least we got to try the i7 out and knew that we wanted something else :)
 
Starcraft 2 benchmark here!

Picked up a 15" base model today with the 6490M. Unfortunately, SCII is the only modern game I have to try it on.

Downloaded this 4v4 replay, and followed the first player. Set resolution to 1440x900, all settings to high where possible except textures, which I set to medium.

Average FPS pretty close to 30. In some large battles (battle at 20 min., battle at end), averaged low-mid 20's (say around 23).

More than good enough for my needs :).

This was all in OS X, BTW. Don't have/want Windows installed :).
 
ocdee said:
Picked up a 15" base model today with the 6490M. Unfortunately, SCII is the only modern game I have to try it on.

Downloaded this 4v4 replay, and followed the first player. Set resolution to 1440x900, all settings to high where possible except textures, which I set to medium.

Average FPS pretty close to 30. In some large battles (battle at 20 min., battle at end), averaged low-mid 20's (say around 23).

More than good enough for my needs :).

This was all in OS X, BTW. Don't have/want Windows installed :).
Click to expand...

Thank you! Finally some remarks regarding the 6490 lol. SOunds good, yeah I was surprised by the performance of SCII within OSX with the new processors on the 13". I think the new CPU's helping a lot. Plus the 6490 scored pretty well (beat the 330m) in OpenGL tests which is what SC2 uses. Looks like a mix of medium and high won't be an issue since low to medium is a bigger difference than medium to high. So I'm betting setting shaders to medium and others accordingly the game will run as smooth as eggs. Any more numbers will be greatly appreciated! Thanks again.

Also can you comment on the fan noise at load as well as temps if you have istat/SMC fan?
 
ocdee said:
Picked up a 15" base model today with the 6490M. Unfortunately, SCII is the only modern game I have to try it on.

Downloaded this 4v4 replay, and followed the first player. Set resolution to 1440x900, all settings to high where possible except textures, which I set to medium.

Average FPS pretty close to 30. In some large battles (battle at 20 min., battle at end), averaged low-mid 20's (say around 23).

More than good enough for my needs :).

This was all in OS X, BTW. Don't have/want Windows installed :).
Click to expand...
That's great, re-assures me even more now. Just wondering whether to have the anti-glare installed.
 
Apologies for Double Post, but is there anyone with the 15" base model that can tell us something about its performance? Steam Games would be appreciated :)
 
perfect! exactly my circumstances that i was looking at as well. i am however looking into upgrading to the high res, im guessing this would drop fps a bit? unless i keep it at 1440 of course.

you guys have been great help so far as i read this thread, i was also wondering for advice on how the extra .2 and better graphics card would help me in terms of final cut? i will be attending a television production/editing program at school and will be using final cut in medium usage, nothing too hard core i would think, its not a film school

ocdee said:
Picked up a 15" base model today with the 6490M. Unfortunately, SCII is the only modern game I have to try it on.

Downloaded this 4v4 replay, and followed the first player. Set resolution to 1440x900, all settings to high where possible except textures, which I set to medium.

Average FPS pretty close to 30. In some large battles (battle at 20 min., battle at end), averaged low-mid 20's (say around 23).

More than good enough for my needs :).

This was all in OS X, BTW. Don't have/want Windows installed :).
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
btw is it safe to assume that getting the base 15 would be a huge graphical improvement over my 2009 15" model?
 
LoneI2anger said:
btw is it safe to assume that getting the base 15 would be a huge graphical improvement over my 2009 15" model?
Click to expand...

I'm guessing you have a 9600m GT and C2D CPU.
The new 15 inch with 6490m will be faster, but not by very much.

Seeing as my i5 with 330M is about 25-30% faster than the MBP with 8600m GT (2007 model), you could hope to get 15-25% better FPS in games that are GPU demanding, but in games that needs loads of CPU power you might maybe get 50% better fps.

You'll get a much faster computer in CPU related tasks, but when it comes to gaming, not that much faster.
 
cluthz said:
I'm guessing you have a 9600m GT and C2D CPU.
The new 15 inch with 6490m will be faster, but not by very much.

Seeing as my i5 with 330M is about 25-30% faster than the MBP with 8600m GT (2007 model), you could hope to get 15-25% better FPS in games that are GPU demanding, but in games that needs loads of CPU power you might maybe get 50% better fps.

You'll get a much faster computer in CPU related tasks, but when it comes to gaming, not that much faster.
Click to expand...

hmmm make me reconsider then, i dont game that much but i kind of dont mind the extra 300, especially if graphics are only a minor improvement. thanks a lot cluthz, puts int oa bit of perspective
 
I now have an iMac (specs below + Nvidia Geforce 8800 GS 512MB).

In openGL (cinebench) it gets a score of 21.80.

It plays games like gta iv and CoD BO, MW(2) fine (fine for me :p).

Will the lower-end 15" run it about the same?
 
would I need the highend MBP 15" to play games like blackops and SC2 on an external monitor (1920x1080)?

or would the 6490m do well enough...
 
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