Which nVidia GPU for Paradox Interactive games (and some other TBS/RTS games)?

[Cosmic]

Hello forum,


This is my first post on this forum. I've been reading posts here since a couple of months (and learned a lot) but I have a question now that I would like to propose to you guys.

A couple of years ago I started playing Civ4 (and some Civ5). Via other forums (like the CivFanatics one) I got to know Paradox Interactive and its games. I've played some PI-games on a friend's desktop and played the Warlock-demo. I liked it a lot and decided to buy some games (actually, quite a lot of them) during the Steam Summer Sales.

As my own laptop has become too old, I'm looking to buy a new one. Since I'm aiming to use a laptop for 3 to 4 years, I was wondering which GPU (from nVidia, not from AMD) would be "suitable". I do not have to run all of these games (PI-games + Civ4 + Civ5 + SoaSE + GalCiv2 + SOTS) on the best graphic settings but would need them to run smoothly without problems.

Is a GTX 650m or 660m sufficient? Do I need a GTX 670m or 675m? Or is it necessary to spend some extra to get a GTX 680m to be set for the next couple of years?

Can anyone advize me on this? Thx.


P.S.: Depending on the GPU-needs I'm looking at a Dell Inspiron 17R SE, an Asus G75VW or even an Alienware M17x.

P.P.S.: I'm not looking for a discussion laptop vs. desktop for gaming. I need something mobile and which can be stored away in a closet.

[Kallocain]

Even the cheapest of the ones you mention there should work fine. The important part when you buy a gaming laptop is that it actually has a graphics card, not just a chip. Even if those are constantly getting better, a card is still preferable. I like to look up the notebook cards on this site: http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...M.71887.0.html where you can see all important benchmarks and compare it to other card you maybe know more about.

[Alex_brunius]

As my own laptop has become too old, I'm looking to buy a new one. Since I'm aiming to use a laptop for 3 to 4 years, I was wondering which GPU (from nVidia, not from AMD) would be "suitable". I do not have to run all of these games (PI-games + Civ4 + Civ5 + SoaSE + GalCiv2 + SOTS) on the best graphic settings but would need them to run smoothly without problems.

You will not be able to run Civ5 on a laptop with best graphic settings regardless of what card you get.

Even something like NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580m will get you an average framerate of 21 according to that notebook check site.

A 680m will perhaps bring that up to around 30-40, but it's still average fps meaning you will se dips far below into the noticable zone. And from what I heared Civ5 eats CPU power aswell so your in for one ultra-hot laptop if you crank up the settings there and play on big maps with much going on

For the other games I doubt they are as demanding, any card you mention is probably fine for them.
So if you are fine with playing Civ5 on low settings I think you don't need to spend much money, if you want it looking nice it's going to cost you.

[Cosmic]

Thanks voor de reactions. I'm looking for a new 17'' laptop and am certainly going for an i7-CPU, 16GB RAM (I know, it's a bit much but just to be on the safe side the next couple of years) and a 256 GB Samsung 830 SSD. As I am mainly looking at the Dell Inspiron 17R SE, I was wondering if a GPU like the nVidia GT 650m would be sufficient. Because even getting a GTX 660m would mean that I need to get something like an Alienware M17x or the European equivalent of the Sager NP6370 and those would at least cost 500 tot 600 EUR more. As I do not care about running Civ5 (and perhaps Warlock too) in high graphics settings (I care a lot more about gameplay than I do about graphics) I was hoping that the 17R SE would be sufficient for the next 3 to 4 years. Finding detailed and reliable info on the GT 650m for strategy/RTS/TBS-games is not so easy as virtually everybody seems to play Call of Duty, Battlefield and Skyrim and drooling about playing them in Ultra or whatever settings. Clearly not the sort of info I was looking for ...

[Jeslijar]

Thanks voor de reactions. I'm looking for a new 17'' laptop and am certainly going for an i7-CPU, 16GB RAM (I know, it's a bit much but just to be on the safe side the next couple of years) and a 256 GB Samsung 830 SSD. As I am mainly looking at the Dell Inspiron 17R SE, I was wondering if a GPU like the nVidia GT 650m would be sufficient. Because even getting a GTX 660m would mean that I need to get something like an Alienware M17x or the European equivalent of the Sager NP6370 and those would at least cost 500 tot 600 EUR more. As I do not care about running Civ5 (and perhaps Warlock too) in high graphics settings (I care a lot more about gameplay than I do about graphics) I was hoping that the 17R SE would be sufficient for the next 3 to 4 years. Finding detailed and reliable info on the GT 650m for strategy/RTS/TBS-games is not so easy as virtually everybody seems to play Call of Duty, Battlefield and Skyrim and drooling about playing them in Ultra or whatever settings. Clearly not the sort of info I was looking for ...

Ram is so cheap that 16GB should be more than reasonable, especially if the laptop you're getting has four DIMM slots (though 8GB would be fine for several years). I've heard good things about Samsung's SSDs but i'm partial to Crucial M4s as I have them. If you're looking at a 17" laptop you can probably get two hard drives, so a 500GB-1TB secondary drive to store non games/OS stuff might be worthwhile as 256GB of SSD fills up very quickly - assuming you have the slot for it you can always buy one later though.

Also one thing about graphics performance that no one tends to really talk about is that a lower resolution will run faster, generally allowing higher settings. Sure, you can set a higher resolution display to output at a lower resolution but it usually looks awful because the pixels don't line up quite right - this can be observed on any LCD screen out there but i'm sure you know what i'm talking about.

If you get a 17" 1080P screen games will likely tank on ultra... but if you get something a little smaller (~14") that has a 1366x768 resolution or similar it will be much, much faster. (1 million pixels for 1366x768 vs 2 million for 1920x1080. Half as many pixels to apply shading, anti aliasing and other post process effects to). Manufacturers know this and generally pair slower cards/integrated video with the smaller screens. If you can find a small laptop with a higher end card it would probably be the best for longevity and the best 'bang for the buck'.

Just a couple of things to think about. I work in IT day to day dealing with laptops in a corporate environment and i've built several machines in the past decade for my own use at home gaming. Although I have yet to find a good gaming laptop at a price point I like, i've been looking for about a year now off and on. If I had to choose between that 17R SE and an alienware 14x i'd get the 14x. The price seems similar but the alienware should have better performance due to a lower resolution, better cooling because it's made for gaming and it can still handle two hard drives, even though it looks silly.

[marat271]

My 5 year old desktop can still play all the Paradox games pretty well. though not at optimal speed, the CPU is very important for Paradox games, even more so than the GPU in my eyes. Because that's what's having problems on my desktop. That's at lest for their grand strategy games.

[delra]

I have an old 9800+ and it works like a charm with all Paradox games.

[ilikepie]

lol I have a crappy nvidia gt 220 and I run everything on highest fine

[The_Unificator]

lol I have a crappy nvidia gt 220 and I run everything on highest fine

you have a Nvidia GT 220 and can run almost all of paradox new titles? thats nice because i am about to buy a graphic card and a friend suggest me that card

[AJ2009]

You will not be able to run Civ5 on a laptop with best graphic settings regardless of what card you get.

Even something like NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580m will get you an average framerate of 21 according to that notebook check site.

A 680m will perhaps bring that up to around 30-40, but it's still average fps meaning you will se dips far below into the noticable zone. And from what I heared Civ5 eats CPU power aswell so your in for one ultra-hot laptop if you crank up the settings there and play on big maps with much going on

For the other games I doubt they are as demanding, any card you mention is probably fine for them.
So if you are fine with playing Civ5 on low settings I think you don't need to spend much money, if you want it looking nice it's going to cost you.

I can run Civ5 at full graphics on a 2gb GT555m and i5 2520m with 8GB ram

[digital_soda]

I can run Civ5 at full graphics on a 2gb GT555m and i5 2520m with 8GB ram

I didn't run any benchmarks, but it ran fine on my old Asus w/ i7 6gb ddr3 5870m as well.

[Alex_brunius]

Pretty sure you will not get a smooth 30fps experience with any of those cards, at least not on a 1920x1080 resolution (which is the most common resolution on new gaming laptops).

[Takeo92]

Wrong. Matter of Money. There are gaming laptops out there by Alienware (for at least 1100 Euro) and Sony (2400+ Euro), the Sony Laptop and the higher Alienwares for the same price can play everything, even BF3 in 3D at highest Grafic options without any problems. But they cost a hell load of money. If you only want to play games like CIV 5 and stuff but also want to play some good / better games http://www.dell.com/de/p/alienware-m14x-r2/pd . Of course you can spare money if you let someone build it, but look at the settings of the laptop. Should be enough for almost anything.


More important then grafic is ram. I would recommend around 8 Gig. But prefer 12. Most ppl say its useless, but well.. i

[Soulstrider]

Well tbh with 650M GPU and a Intel core i7 - 3610QM I have problems running Victoria II (moving around the map has a choppy framerate)

[Cosmic]

Thanks guys for your thaughts and replies. I've eventually gone for an Alienware M17x (because of a very sweet deal I got at Dell Belgium) but "only" with the GTX 660M (instead of an even more expensive GPU).
But I've also invested in a Samsung 830 SSD and 16 GB Corsair Vengeance RAM. After mounting these upgrades and a clean install, all my games run very fluently so I'm happy.
Now I can focus on mastering the Paradox games for the next couple of years ...

[Kallocain]

Thanks guys for your thaughts and replies. I've eventually gone for an Alienware M17x (because of a very sweet deal I got at Dell Belgium) but "only" with the GTX 660M (instead of an even more expensive GPU).
But I've also invested in a Samsung 830 SSD and 16 GB Corsair Vengeance RAM. After mounting these upgrades and a clean install, all my games run very fluently so I'm happy.
Now I can focus on mastering the Paradox games for the next couple of years ...

I just bought the same kind of SSD for my PC at home. I got the 256 GB version, I really think they are decently affordable now!
Glad to hear your games run good now! I don't like when people mention Alienware like they are magic game laptops. You still need to make an informed purchase, like you have made, to get a good one. There are plenty of Alienwares out there that can't be called gaming computers at all.