ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 Mobile GPU Review!

Dashken · 20th Dec 2004, 08:48 PM

With the increased demand for 3D acceleration in notebooks, many notebook are coming out with discrete 3D GPUs like the NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5650. Like NVIDIA, ATI also has a slew of mobile 3D GPUs that cater specifically to the notebook market.

Today, we will take a look at the ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 GPU. Let's see how it fares against its contemporaries in the mobile 3D GPU market!

Link : ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 Mobile GPU Review!

playahata123789 · 21st Dec 2004, 12:58 AM

not bad, a good solution for ati lovers in notebooks

any chance you might be able to obtain scores for the xx00 series?

SAMSAMHA · 21st Dec 2004, 01:24 AM

seems like laptop graphic is catching up nicely. Good to see more review done on it. If only if we can put together of a laptop the way we cna with desktop, then it would be much nicer configuration.

Molochi · 21st Dec 2004, 02:38 PM

As an owner of a similarly spec'd notebook (Acer TM3200) I'd like to say that the review's numbers seemed pretty accurate to what I have observed over the last few months of use. I rarely use my desktop for anything anymore. I can sit on the couch with the tv on, while gaming on the notebook.

I was wondering tho...

Were you able to actually install ATi's Catalyst drivers to do the tests, or did you have to use 3rd party drivers? I've had no probs with Omegadrive's versions of the catalyst drivers, as they have been hacked to include the mobile r9700 as a valid install option. However the ATi Cat's don't recognise the mobile chipset during install.

peaz · 21st Dec 2004, 02:50 PM

nope. ATI's cat drivers are made not to recognize the mobile chips. Reasons are because the mobile platform are often very customised because of the interface to the LCD are different from notebooks to notebooks. Thus, the safest drivers to install are really the ones from the manufacturers.

For example, the hacked Omega drivers would install on the BenQ Joybook's R9700M chip, BUT when running 3D apps, it'll crash. Only the BenQ supplied drivers works fine. Luckily, they are based on ATI's latest non-beta drivers.

However, if the hacked drivers can be installed on your machine.. than kudos!

that's very good for you!

zy · 21st Dec 2004, 06:26 PM

yea.. haev to use back the original drivers..

i've tried using different drivers ..
even for the same laptop brand .. but different model..

it even crashed in Adobe Photoshop ..

Molochi · 22nd Dec 2004, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peaz

<snip>

However, if the hacked drivers can be installed on your machine.. than kudos!

that's very good for you!

Yes, I was glad I didn't have to stick with the crummy drivers provided by Acer. They were remarkably old and offered fewer tweaks than I was used to with Cats. The TM3200 uses a rather plain-jane LCD (1024x768native) so perhaps that is the difference.

Anyhoo, good review keep it up.

Adrian Wong · 22nd Dec 2004, 01:07 PM

Well, monitor support SHOULD not be a problem. Since the GPUs are based on the same cores, the Catalysts should have no problem running on the mobile GPUs.

I think the reason why NVIDIA and ATI don't provide generic drivers for mobile GPUs is that some notebooks may use proprietary interfaces that MAY not work properly with the Catalyst.

But I think the trend now is for manufacturers to use the mobile GPU's own LCD interface. Cheaper for one thing.

darkhorse · 24th Dec 2004, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

Well, monitor support SHOULD not be a problem. Since the GPUs are based on the same cores, the Catalysts should have no problem running on the mobile GPUs.

I think the reason why NVIDIA and ATI don't provide generic drivers for mobile GPUs is that some notebooks may use proprietary interfaces that MAY not work properly with the Catalyst.

But I think the trend now is for manufacturers to use the mobile GPU's own LCD interface. Cheaper for one thing.

hi im new here and i wish to share my knowledge
yes i agree that the reason why nvidia and ati dont provide generic drivers is because firstly, each manufacturer will set a certain standards towards thier machine. i have an acer aspire 2012 notebook powered by the 9700 series gpu and one thing i realised is, having one in a notebook is draining my battery off. and its much hotter whenever i play games. i tried a friends dell machine which was a 9600pro powered machine and the performance delivered was almost the same. albiet his processor was a 1.6 ghz and mine was 1.5ghz. but his was much cooler and it lasted way ahead of mine. i dont know wether its the right way to see things but i have certain regrets in getting this. but nevertheless, games run preety smooth on it so its a plus point and secondly, the look on people's face when im gaming in library is PRICELESS

Adrian Wong · 26th Dec 2004, 11:14 AM

ROTFL! Agreed!

20th Dec 2004, 08:48 PM	#1 (permalink)
Dashken Administrator! Join Date: 21 Apr 2003 Location: Penang Posts: 30,271 Reputation: 2417 Rep Power: 61	ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 Mobile GPU Review! With the increased demand for 3D acceleration in notebooks, many notebook are coming out with discrete 3D GPUs like the NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5650. Like NVIDIA, ATI also has a slew of mobile 3D GPUs that cater specifically to the notebook market. Today, we will take a look at the ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 GPU. Let's see how it fares against its contemporaries in the mobile 3D GPU market! Link : ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 Mobile GPU Review! __________________ \| Intel C2Q Q9450 \| MSI P45 Neo3-FR \| 2 x 2GB OCZ / 2 x 1GB G.SKILL DDR2 800 \| 1 x Seagate 250GB HDD \| 2 x Seagate 750GB HDD \| 3 x Seagate 1TB HDD \| NVIDIA GeForce 9500GT \| Cooler Master CM690 chassis \| Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 550W PSU \| Dell E248WFP 24" Widescreen \| Windows 7 Ultimate x64 \| Blog : Dashken's I-Blog Gallery : Dashken's I-Paintings

21st Dec 2004, 02:50 PM	#5 (permalink)
peaz ARP Webmaster Join Date: 13 Oct 2002 Location: http://atpeaz.com/ Posts: 8,595 Reputation: 1673 Rep Power: 32	nope. ATI's cat drivers are made not to recognize the mobile chips. Reasons are because the mobile platform are often very customised because of the interface to the LCD are different from notebooks to notebooks. Thus, the safest drivers to install are really the ones from the manufacturers. For example, the hacked Omega drivers would install on the BenQ Joybook's R9700M chip, BUT when running 3D apps, it'll crash. Only the BenQ supplied drivers works fine. Luckily, they are based on ATI's latest non-beta drivers. However, if the hacked drivers can be installed on your machine.. than kudos! that's very good for you! __________________ Ken Ng Tech ARP Follow me at Twitter Blogs @ http://www.atpeaz.com/

21st Dec 2004, 06:26 PM	#6 (permalink)
zy zynine.com Join Date: 16 Dec 2002 Location: Buffalo NY Posts: 13,491 Reputation: 2276 Rep Power: 43	yea.. haev to use back the original drivers.. i've tried using different drivers .. even for the same laptop brand .. but different model.. it even crashed in Adobe Photoshop .. __________________

22nd Dec 2004, 01:07 PM	#8 (permalink)
Adrian Wong Da Boss Join Date: 10 Oct 2002 Location: In front of my ASUS F8V notebook! Posts: 33,118 Reputation: 3730 Rep Power: 78	Well, monitor support SHOULD not be a problem. Since the GPUs are based on the same cores, the Catalysts should have no problem running on the mobile GPUs. I think the reason why NVIDIA and ATI don't provide generic drivers for mobile GPUs is that some notebooks may use proprietary interfaces that MAY not work properly with the Catalyst. But I think the trend now is for manufacturers to use the mobile GPU's own LCD interface. Cheaper for one thing. __________________ Dr. Adrian Wong Tech ARP \| Blog @ Tech ARP \| The Free Trade Zone DYKT : The only offshore account I have is at the sand bank? We need PROGRAMMERS and TECHNICAL WRITERS! Contact us if you are a hot shot programmer or technical writer! My items for sale : 50x SD Card \| Memory Stick PRO \| Cyclone Energy Saver \| Seiko SS watch \| Tiger/Carlsberg beer jugs \| Travel Speakers \| Motorola V600 \| Nokia N90 SOLD! \| New Lowepro Mini Trekker AW Other items for sale @ the FTZ : Zalman CNPS9500 LED @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7700 Cu @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7000 Cu @ $20 \| Swarovski bracelet watches \| Dell 17" LCD \| Hi-Fi speakers \| English DIVX movies \| HP LaserJet toners! \| Office chairs

26th Dec 2004, 11:14 AM	#10 (permalink)
Adrian Wong Da Boss Join Date: 10 Oct 2002 Location: In front of my ASUS F8V notebook! Posts: 33,118 Reputation: 3730 Rep Power: 78	ROTFL! Agreed! __________________ Dr. Adrian Wong Tech ARP \| Blog @ Tech ARP \| The Free Trade Zone DYKT : The only offshore account I have is at the sand bank? We need PROGRAMMERS and TECHNICAL WRITERS! Contact us if you are a hot shot programmer or technical writer! My items for sale : 50x SD Card \| Memory Stick PRO \| Cyclone Energy Saver \| Seiko SS watch \| Tiger/Carlsberg beer jugs \| Travel Speakers \| Motorola V600 \| Nokia N90 SOLD! \| New Lowepro Mini Trekker AW Other items for sale @ the FTZ : Zalman CNPS9500 LED @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7700 Cu @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7000 Cu @ $20 \| Swarovski bracelet watches \| Dell 17" LCD \| Hi-Fi speakers \| English DIVX movies \| HP LaserJet toners! \| Office chairs

21st Dec 2004, 12:58 AM	#2 (permalink)
playahata123789 Super Active Join Date: 11 Dec 2003 Location: TEXAS Posts: 1,881 Reputation: 40 Rep Power: 8	not bad, a good solution for ati lovers in notebooks any chance you might be able to obtain scores for the xx00 series?

21st Dec 2004, 01:24 AM	#3 (permalink)
SAMSAMHA Super Active Join Date: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 2,356 Reputation: 197 Rep Power: 9	seems like laptop graphic is catching up nicely. Good to see more review done on it. If only if we can put together of a laptop the way we cna with desktop, then it would be much nicer configuration.

21st Dec 2004, 02:38 PM	#4 (permalink)
Molochi Newbie Join Date: 21 Dec 2004 Posts: 2 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	As an owner of a similarly spec'd notebook (Acer TM3200) I'd like to say that the review's numbers seemed pretty accurate to what I have observed over the last few months of use. I rarely use my desktop for anything anymore. I can sit on the couch with the tv on, while gaming on the notebook. I was wondering tho... Were you able to actually install ATi's Catalyst drivers to do the tests, or did you have to use 3rd party drivers? I've had no probs with Omegadrive's versions of the catalyst drivers, as they have been hacked to include the mobile r9700 as a valid install option. However the ATi Cat's don't recognise the mobile chipset during install.