Buying a new gaming notebook with the latest technologies is hard. In fact in the market place, there are sellers that mix their old products from the newer ones and most of the time attracts buyers with price and bargain offers so they pick to buy older models.
So how do you distinguish the newer notebook models?
For starters, go check out the graphics card series that comes with the notebook. These graphics card are known as GPU in most notebook specifications and flyers. In the store, you’ll find this as a specs card beside the display unit.
GPU’s are responsible in providing the graphics quality and visual experience. There are different types of GPU’s and each offers different rendering quality, rendering speed and frames per second performance. Do note that the higher the base scores the better experience you’ll get.
If you plan to play online games smoothly you need to ensure that your notebook specification can support or goes beyond the recommended system requirements of the game. Updated information about your games system requirement can be found in the game publisher’s website.
The GPU in a gaming notebook is crucial because visually immersive games offers gamers to unlock more visual effects and element by changing the games graphics setting or video settings, This is easily done in the game’s menu or in-game option screen. In order to have the best possible display settings for current and upcoming games you need to have the latest GPU, as game developers are using the new GPU’s for testing their next generation/version games or new titles for the market.
For starters, go check out the graphics card series that comes with the notebook. These graphics card are known as GPU in most notebook specifications and flyers. In the store, you’ll find this as a specs card beside the display unit.
GPU’s are responsible in providing the graphics quality and visual experience. There are different types of GPU’s and each offers different rendering quality, rendering speed and frames per second performance. Do note that the higher the base scores the better experience you’ll get.
If you plan to play online games smoothly you need to ensure that your notebook specification can support or goes beyond the recommended system requirements of the game. Updated information about your games system requirement can be found in the game publisher’s website.
The GPU in a gaming notebook is crucial because visually immersive games offers gamers to unlock more visual effects and element by changing the games graphics setting or video settings, This is easily done in the game’s menu or in-game option screen. In order to have the best possible display settings for current and upcoming games you need to have the latest GPU, as game developers are using the new GPU’s for testing their next generation/version games or new titles for the market.
As an example of a performance and quality benefit of having the latest GPU for a gaming notebook is shown in this Tomb Raider video gameplay comparison between a PC and a PS4.
By looking at the video you can easily determine the visual performance difference of the PS4 and a PC. As you may notice the GPU in the PC has unlocked more visual elements such as realistic shadow effects and lightings, hairlines of the Lara Croft are more realistic, the environment effects are plentiful such as more grass and trees and the game background seems true-to-life and can visually impose the distances of all 3D elements.
A good explanation why new gaming notebooks can be better than an already powerful game console is because it only takes months before new gaming notebook model with the latest GPU hits the retail store. A good example of this is the brand MSI who has been frequently releasing new generation gaming notebooks with the latest GPU’s. While on the other hand, game consoles brands like PS or XBOX takes several years before they update and change their specifications. There’s a high tendency that game consoles won’t be able to support in-game graphics improvement from upcoming game updates.
A good explanation why new gaming notebooks can be better than an already powerful game console is because it only takes months before new gaming notebook model with the latest GPU hits the retail store. A good example of this is the brand MSI who has been frequently releasing new generation gaming notebooks with the latest GPU’s. While on the other hand, game consoles brands like PS or XBOX takes several years before they update and change their specifications. There’s a high tendency that game consoles won’t be able to support in-game graphics improvement from upcoming game updates.
How to determine performance difference in real-game-experience between the latest GPU and its previous generation or former counterpart?
Since former GPU model in gaming notebooks may work with the same game settings of its new counterpart, both generation will seem to have the same visual quality. The best way to measure their performance difference is by reading the *FPS or frames per second scores during game play.
(*Do note that the FPS I am referring here is the FPS for offline gameplay as I am narrowing our topic on GPU’s. FPS will vary if you play online games as your network connections and bandwidth affects the overall FPS performance of the game.)
Since former GPU model in gaming notebooks may work with the same game settings of its new counterpart, both generation will seem to have the same visual quality. The best way to measure their performance difference is by reading the *FPS or frames per second scores during game play.
(*Do note that the FPS I am referring here is the FPS for offline gameplay as I am narrowing our topic on GPU’s. FPS will vary if you play online games as your network connections and bandwidth affects the overall FPS performance of the game.)
The graph below represents FPS gameplay score of the latest NVIDIA GTX 800 series GPU’s against the former GTX 700 GPU’s. We used MSI gaming notebooks with the GTX 800 series GPU and Battlefield 4 as the game to measure the GPU’s FPS score.
What are the benefits of GPU’s with the best or high FPS scores?
- GPU’s that offers above than average *30 FPS has the most stable gaming experience over long playing time
- GPU with above 30 FPS scores can help prolong the life span of your gaming notebook as you are not stressing the GPU
- You can multi-task while playing a game since your GPU is not stressed with your game settings, it can still perform other graphic applications without sacrifice the user experience
Gaming notebookes with NVIDIA GTX 800 series GPU
The MSI GS60 Ghost offers a GTX 870M GPU which gives gamers true PC gaming experience while the Lenovo Y50 uses a GTX 860M which gives serious performance for today’s modern games and the Asus N550JK packs a GTX 850M which offers a very decent PC gaming experience.
The MSI GS60 Ghost offers a GTX 870M GPU which gives gamers true PC gaming experience while the Lenovo Y50 uses a GTX 860M which gives serious performance for today’s modern games and the Asus N550JK packs a GTX 850M which offers a very decent PC gaming experience.
Final thoughts
- Knowing the latest notebook GPU will help you distinguish the latest model you will come across when you shop for a great gaming notebook. It can also offer you peace of mind that what you will be buying is just what you need or you may want to achieve more like multi-tasking with other graphic intensive applications while you are playing a game.
- If you have the budget and want to have the best notebook for you to play games like Company of Heroes 2, Cysis 3 and Call of Duty Ghost at the highest settings then I suggest you go for a gaming notebook with the GTX 880M GPU.
- If you want the best balance in price and offers a great gaming experience for games like Battlefield 4, Bioshock Infinite, Hit Man, and Splinter Cell Blacklist then I highly recommend you go for a gaming notebook with a GTX 870M or a GTX 860M GPU.
- If you are on a tight budget and still wants some decent gaming performance for games like DOTA 2, SIM 3 and World of Tanks in a gaming notebook then go for the GTX 850M.
- Try to experiment and test various game settings with your GPU. Adjust your games graphics and display settings from low to high and get the most stable gameplay with 30 FPS or more. This gives you smooth experience. For lower GPU’s you may have to sacrifice your games graphics setting quality for an increase performance in the frames-per-second (FPS) gameplay.
Let me know what notebook GPU you liked?