HD 3200 igp?

[fattty]

Im pretty new so this might be in the wrong section. (hint hint mods)
But anyway, i was looking around at some budget laptops and pcs and fround some with a Hd 3200 graphics card. Is there any difference between the pc and laptop version? I found it on the laptop gpu list but not the desktop one. For an integrated graphics card, it is pretty good IMO. I have heard crysis will run on the card. (search Crysis on hd 3200 on youtube) which is amazing!
Just wanted to know if i am wasting my money buying an un-upgradable system with this card.

sorry, i am a newb, noob, nub!

 

[RichM499]

You may get Crysis to run in 800x600 or 1024x768 with very low details, no AA/AF, and low framerates Also, the HD3200 people use for gaming demonstations is almost always overclocked about as far as it will go. You may need extra cooling, and on a laptop that's difficult.

I would go for an HD4200 if I were you. It's faster, has better features, and it's also integrated.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Laptop gfx cards are different than desktops. They are lower powered to save battery life.

The said 3200 is a low-class card. It may be able to plat Crysis, idk, but not at amazingly high settings.

If it is onboard, it will steal your RAM.

 

[RichM499]

Laptop gfx cards are different than desktops. They are lower powered to save battery life.

The said 3200 is a low-class card. It may be able to plat Crysis, idk, but not at amazingly high settings.

If it is onboard, it will steal your RAM.

Actually a lot of the HD3200 and HD4200 IGPs come with 128 or 256mb sideport memory, and they won't use your system ram. Additionally, they are the most powerful IGPs in existance, unless Nvidia released something while I wasn't looking.

You can get an HD3200 (500mhz stock) to around 1000mhz with no issues as long as it's kept cool.

 

[fattty]

Well i wouldn't play crysis on it anyway, just using it as a benchmark since most games are less demanding. I would definitely aim for a better card but sadly, 14 years old and birthday, christmas money just doesn't go very far.
As for overclocking the gpu, how would i be able to cool it down if i did not have access to my fan that goes underneath the laptop. (dunno what it is called.) for example, using the laptop in the car.

 

[RichM499]

Overclocking a laptop is not something I am familiar with, and I am sure you would have to be much more worried about heat than if you were using a desktop. I'm sure someone will come along eventually to give you advice about overclocking the IGP on a laptop.

I overclocked the HD3200 on my desktop simply by changing the settings in the BIOS to "manual IGP frequency override" and bumping the frequency up to 950mhz from 500mhz. Of course you'll want to go step by step 100mhz at a time to make sure the heat isn't going to be a problem and that everything is stable. Like I said though I'm unfamiliar with laptops and it might be a little different.You might have to use ATItool , Rivatuner, AMD Overdrive, or AMD GPU clock tool.

Either way get something like Speedfan or HWmonitor to make sure the temps on the northbridge aren't exceeding 65c. Not only will your lap be on fire, but you'll risk damaging the components.

 

[fattty]

Okay. I think i will just leave it at the normal 500 mhz since i don't want to do anything dangerous. Thanks though!

 

[fattty]

Gateway NV5332U 2.0GHz 3GB 320HD Webcam 15.6" Notebook - eBay (item 390159949528 end time Mar-21-10 17:19:42 PDT)

i see that this laptop has an hd 4200. How much better is it than the 3200? and is the whole laptop a good deal for the price? Thanks.

 

[RichM499]

I would say $400 is a good price for that laptop. There may be some catch I'm not seeing somewhere, but I just woke up.

Quote from Anandtech

The graphics core in the 785G is upgraded from the HD3200/3300 utilized in the 780G/790GX to the HD4200. The primary difference between the cores is that the HD4200 fully supports DX10.1, Unified Video Decoder 2.0 (UVD), hardware accelerated picture in picture capabilities, dynamic contrast, HQ video scaling, hardware accelerated video transcoding, and full Powerplay support. The graphics core still runs at 500MHz (in current form) and at least in our particular sample, we were able to reach 1057MHz without too much trouble.

What does all this mean? For one, thanks to the HD4200, AMD finally offers multi-channel LPCM audio output plus additional hardware video accelerated functions. As far as performance is concerned, expect a 5%~ 15% performance increase in games.

 

[fattty]

If it gives 5-15% performance increase, then im all for this laptop. I dont see a catch either, It might be because it is refurbished, not new, but i have never had a problem with refurbished electronics. As far as the processor goes, (AMD Athlon II X2 @ 2.0 ghz) what is the difference between the athlon II X2, the Turion 64 X2, intel core duo, core 2 duo, pentium D dual core, etc. Is the AMD Athlon II X2 in this laptop fast? Or slow. I have already read the sticky that talked about the processors.