AMD HD 8970m - Should i buy?

J

JimmyDazzler79

Bronze Level Poster
Evening all,

I am going to be buying a new laptop for gaming in the next week and i need to know if there are any issues with the Vortex 4 and the AMD HD 8970m?

I know AMD 7970m had issues with drivers. Is this the same with 8970m? I need my mind put at ease before clicking the purchase button.

Help me please. 8970m or 770?
Does Vortex 4 use Clevo?

Thanks in advance
Jimmy
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
Do you have a budget? I think I have only seen a couple of threads related to issues with HD 8970m but not as much as with the HD 7970m. You may want to check other forums to get a better idea of the performance of the HD 8970m.
 
J

JimmyDazzler79

Bronze Level Poster
I am looking to spend £1300 max.

For gaming.

Don't wanna have to buy another laptop for 5 years.

Could someone who have bought a 8970m please comment.
 
C

Catfisht

Member
I bought one. And it's tricky to say. On the plus side it is a very fast card with good results in games. I have been playing Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 on max settings with it being perfectly smooth for instance.

However it does need quite a lot of tinkering. If you're not comfortable messing about with drivers and settings on certain games then it might not be for you. For instance on all the Total War series I have to go into the preferences script and change video memory stat to -2000 in order for the game to recognize the vram of the card. That's a whole series requiring quite an obscure fix I was really lucky to find. For me I don't mind spending time finding out how to perform these fixes because I'm quite a tinkerer anyway and I knew what I was getting into with the card. I also had several issues with drivers and I've heard the current Intel 4th gen hardware is not officially compatible with the card yet which has been causing problems. Despite this though most games have been fine and ran without tinkering, it's just been my experience that when an issue does crop up it then takes a lot of work to resolve it.

Also I bought it primarily because it saved a lot of money on the build I wanted. However I have heard you can get a 780m on a 1300 pound review build? That card is undeniably better and easier to use.

These are my thoughts on the matter. Ultimately it comes down to how you balance the value for money compared to difficulties of use.
 
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