MacMini's GPU comparison with ATi HD 4850 with 512 Mb DDR3

[PoianaNana]

As stated in the title, does anyone know how the MacMini's NVIDIA GeForce 320M performs in comparison with an ATi HD 4850 with 512 Mb DDR3?

I'd like to understand how it will perform with L4D/L4D2...
Now I'm playing them with full details, @ 1680x1050, 60Hz...

Thanks in advance,
Ste

 

[Hellhammer]

ATI 4850 is about 2-3 times faster

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-320M.28701.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4850.13975.0.html

 

[BlindSoul]

From what i read on nVidia's site. The 320M Was made to work on High on the game L2D.

 

[PoianaNana]

First of all, thanks all for replying!

ATI 4850 is about 2-3 times faster

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-320M.28701.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4850.13975.0.html

Hellhammer, I saw the HD 4850 you linked is a Mobility one (for laptops) but I was referring to the HD 4850 I currently have in my desktop...

Are them comparable or the Mobility is better, being newer than the other one?
I know for sure the MacMini's NVIDIA 320M is the same as MacBook Pro 13" 's one but I'm almost sure this is not the case of HD48x0 and Mobility HD48x0...
By the way, my HD4850 is something like 2 years old... this is why it's hard for me to consider it 2x-3x times faster than a brand new 320M... but you never know...

Does anyone know the truth? I searched the Internet for an answer but I wasn't able to find any resource comparing the 2 GPU above...

Thanks again,
Ste

 

[Hellhammer]

First of all, thanks all for replying!



Hellhammer, I saw the HD 4850 you linked is a Mobility one (for laptops) but I was referring to the HD 4850 I currently have in my desktop...

Are them comparable or the Mobility is better, being newer than the other one?
I know for sure the MacMini's NVIDIA 320M is the same as MacBook Pro 13" 's one but I'm almost sure this is not the case of HD48x0 and Mobility HD48x0...
By the way, my HD4850 is something like 2 years old... this is why it's hard for me to consider it 2x-3x times faster than a brand new 320M... but you never know...

Does anyone know the truth? I searched the Internet for an answer but I wasn't able to find any resource comparing the 2 GPU above...

Thanks again,
Ste

Well, mobility 4850 is based on desktop 4850, it's just underclocked so the desktop version is even faster, I would say 3-5 times. 320M is integrated, that should already tell you something. Mobile components are always few years behind in terms of performance. You will see a huge hit in gaming performance by replacing your PC with Mini

 

[iamthedudeman]

As stated in the title, does anyone know how the MacMini's NVIDIA GeForce 320M performs in comparison with an ATi HD 4850 with 512 Mb DDR3?

I'd like to understand how it will perform with L4D/L4D2...
Now I'm playing them with full details, @ 1680x1050, 60Hz...

Thanks in advance,
Ste

The 4850 would about two and a half times as fast.


The 320M is based on the GT216 core with 48 shaders and is basically the same card at the Nvidia GeForce GT 320M which in turn is a re-badged stripped down version of a GT220 and GT9600. Just rebadged and with less memory available and built on a 40nm process instead of the GT220 and 9600 65nm process. So the 320M will have similar performance to a GT320M and slightly less than a GT220 and 9600 being just a bit slower due to the decreased memory. The saving grace is that the 320M in the Apple machines has more pipes 48 than either the GT320Ms 24 pipes and the
GT220 and 9600 32pipes.

With more pipes more can be processed with less memory. For example the GT320M has 24 pipes with 512 memory and the 320M can match its performance with 48 pipes with only half the ram which is 256.

Keep in mind desktop GPUs have about roughly %25 more processing power than any of their Mobility counterparts. Judging by that the 4850 and 4670 are two and a half times faster than the 320M and the 4670 two times for the latter as powerful as the 320M judging by the Mobility bench marks alone.
You have to remember that the Mobility cards are the same as their desktop cousins with few minor changes. That being a slower chip and memory clock.


http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4850.13975.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4670.13881.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-320M.28701.0.html





Are you confused yet?

 

[Hellhammer]

You have to remember that the Mobility cards are the same as their desktop cousins with few minor changes. That being a slower chip and memory clock.

Not true. For example, mobility 58xx is based on desktop 57xx (Juniper). Same applies to mobility 57xx, it's based on desktop 56xx (Redwood). In many occasions, the mobility chip is based on a number or two lower desktop chip. Another example is NVidia GF GTX 280M. It's not based on desktop GTX 280. It's based on desktop GF 9800 GTX+. It's same as 9800M GTX but has all 128 pipelines while 9800M is limited to 112. 9800M is also 65nm while 280M is 55nm

Never compare similarly named mobility chip to desktop chip without doing your homework first!

Another thing you forgot is that OP has desktop 4850 in his rig which is more powerful than the mobile version (based on same chip though)

 

[PoianaNana]

Thank you all for replying...

I think I'll never buy an Apple's computer...
Even if now I'm fine with paying the higher price, when I consider the specs in details I understand they don't fit my needs...

What a pity!

S.