Navidia G force graphics card, replacing by a 2GB GDDR5 Radeon HD 6490M card

[Rolig Loon]

Dunno about "hosed."  According to reviewers of that card, "The performance  of the higher clocked GDDR5 version is about on a level of the Mobility Radeon HD 550v / GeForce GT 325M. Therefore, the card is positioned in the lower middle class and allows to play current games in medium detail and resolution settings. "  My guess is that means it won't give you super performance in SL, but should be OK if you don't push the graphics sliders too much and keep your draw distance low.

Take a look at the benchmark test report that I just consulted and decide for yourself >>> http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6490M.43843.0.html

[Rolig Loon]

Dunno about "hosed."  According to reviewers of that card, "The performance  of the higher clocked GDDR5 version is about on a level of the Mobility Radeon HD 550v / GeForce GT 325M. Therefore, the card is positioned in the lower middle class and allows to play current games in medium detail and resolution settings. "  My guess is that means it won't give you super performance in SL, but should be OK if you don't push the graphics sliders too much and keep your draw distance low.

Take a look at the benchmark test report that I just consulted and decide for yourself >>> http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6490M.43843.0.html

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Most of the complaints about ATI cards recently have been due improper driver installation.  Drivers (video especially) must be installed properly and very few people do that.  The ATI cards are every bit as dependable as nVidia cards.........and if ATI hadn't had that persistant OpenGL problem that they neglected to fix for a couple years, the complaints about ATI would be no more than the complaints about nVidia (and nVidia has it's share.......just not remembered like those of ATI).  That prejugdice against ATI/AMD is mostly the fault of ATI..........but, anymore, it's unjustified.  The card will work just fine if the drivers are installed correctly and everything else on your "blown up" laptop are up to snuff too.

 

Since HP is replacing the card for you, have them install the latest drivers for it..........not the drivers that come with the card.  Have them download and install the latest drivers from the ATI/AMD driver download site.  Insist on it.

[Chic Aeon]

Had to smile at Peggy's comment about having HP install the new drivers. I have been in the "blown up HP notebook" camp a few times. IMHO you are lucky to be getting a replacement hopefully in a timely manner.

 

THAT being said. I used to have a NVIDIA card (old one lowish number, don't remember 1G DDR3 I think) that worked just fine with SL. I recently got a new machine and chose an ATI because the reviews "everywhere" were so much better in a side by side comparison. I am very happy with my new card (HD 6900) as it is super crisp and clear. Yours won't be quite as stellar, but I expect it will work fine. The thing you will NOT have is shadows. Since LL doesn't "like" ATI cards as much, the viewers (all that I have tried and that is almost all) do not recognize the card and there are issues.

 

You will need to go in and change your sliders appropriately as the viewer will probably have them set lower than you can actually run. Shadows WILL work with ATI but they come with a "feature" that is a very nasty antialiased look on all the edges. So bad that about a minute is all I am willing to deal with. And no, setting antialias on the card doesn't fix it or anything else. I checked with Kirsten and she explained it in techie language, but basically no smooth "pretty" shadows.

The 2GB GDDR5 is great and that is what I have on mine. I suspect you will be happy enough and most likely able to run on ULTRA with everything turned on (this is asuming the rest of your computer is in the same class as this card of course) . Just no shadow dancing .

Putting in a link to a RAW photo (no post processing but the border) so that you can see what "I" see. It's really quite lovely.  http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N3I-rlaPIGI/Thwi49usj6I/AAAAAAAAK4U/gG7Mdj_KOxw/s1600/crackden.jpg

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Note that I said "insist on it". By them replacing the card to begin with they are admitting some liability over the failure of the first card...........it's up to them to not only replace the failed component but to bring it up to date as far as drivers are concerned. If necessary, remind them of that little fact of life. However, I know they can say them did that and you would not know until you looked yourself on which driver was installed. That would likely happen after the laptop was returned to you. If you need to get the driver yourself, ATI has detailed instructions on exactly how to properly install a driver.........follow those instructions to the letter and you'll be just fine.

[Chic Aeon]

I totally agree that they SHOULD *wink*. I have just dealt with them too many times to believe that any amount of "insisting" will get them to do it. No harm in trying . Wasn't saying your were wrong in any way. It really did just make me smile.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Haha........maybe you need some practice on "insisting".

 

Anyway, if you have had that many "blown up" laptops to your credit I certainly hope you got yourself a cooling pad to use from now on..........that goes for the OP too. A cooling pad is every bit as important to have as a good video card with programs such as SL.