Any upcoming Thinkpads with x1600 or higher GPU?

[jagged]

My T60 is almost a year now and it has been a trouble free year

I'm just curious if Lenovo has announced any plans in selling a Thinkpad with a mid to high end gaming card.

I know Thinkpads are designed for work but we do have to relax occasionally right?

[seeplus]

The v5250 is an x1700.

[Alltweed]

I think you meant X1600?? .

[FragrantHead]

AFAIK v5200 is equivalent to X1600. Like seeplus I've seen v5250 equated to x1700, which I think may be the same as v5200/X1600 except for higher clock. These chips are in the T60p and are the workstation equivalents of the X1xxx series. I've read you can download a non-certified X1600 driver for these cards somewhere, which is best used for games, rather than the v52.. driver.

[ZDiablo]

I was told that the v5250 would not work for gaming and that it's meant for CAD/design drawing only. Is this true?

I just ordered a T60 with the x1400 card yesterday. Every once in a while I will play games in the evenings to release stress.

[ThinkTay]

Every once in a while I will play games in the evenings to release stress.

You can be a hardcore gamer, you don't need a reason for why you game. Nobody here is going to judge you.

[blynch]

i'm using a t60p v5250, works great for the gaming I do. Plays source on max settings just fine.

[Dead1nside]

There's been some talk, I've noticed, of the Fire GL Mobility V5200 and V5250 being unsuitable for gaming.

However I see no reason for this. If they're basically X1600/X1700 class cards (albeit clocked lower probably for heat reasons) then they'd be pretty good for games. To my knowledge they are not crippled in any physical way to prevent them in playing games. Although drivers might not be optimised for them.

My Fire GL T2 128Mb in my T41p plays games pretty well, strategy games like Rise of Nations run at 60fps constantly at max performance. Since the X1xxx series is a lot better, I would expect first person shooters to be easily playable on these cards.

[Temetka]

Like the above person, i too have a T41P. The 128MB FireGL T2 card works great for games. I have run Deus Ex and Jed Knight II as well as Star Wars Galaxies on this laptop. I have run into zero issues related to gaming. It's an excellent chip and works great.

The only video chip that I would not use for gaming is the Intel GMA950 card. While great for basic usage and light gaming, the x1400 in the T60 and the v5200 in the T60p will blow it out of the water.

So rest assured that the cards in the T60 series will work just fine for gaming. Especially the T60p as it has 256MB of video ram.

[Dead1nside]

^^Completely agree with the above poster. If you're planning on doing even light gaming, the only good an integrated graphics chipset like the Intel ones are good for are drawing the Windows GUI, even then I'm not sure how they can cope with Vista's Aero Glass interface.

[tomh009]

The integrated GMA 950 graphics on the T60 has no trouble at all running the Aero graphics with Windows Vista.

[Dead1nside]

That's good to hear, I still wouldn't recommend it for gaming whatsoever, but then again I don't have any experience with them.

I've heard that Intel might be trying to produce a much more capable graphics card.

[tomh009]

Santa Rosa will have more powerful integrated graphics, yes.

But as my "gaming" maxes out at Rise of Nations, I'm really more interested in low heat and low power consumption -- and hopefully the integrated graphics will continue to deliver that in the future.

[jjesusfreak01]

The integrated GMA 950 graphics on the T60 has no trouble at all running the Aero graphics with Windows Vista.

of course, its the first that can do it

[runixd]

I don't think there is a better performing graphics card than fgl 5250 available for thinkpad form factor, at least not for 14".

[tomh009]

The integrated GMA 950 graphics on the T60 has no trouble at all running the Aero graphics with Windows Vista.

of course, its the first that can do it

As always, someone has to be the first!

[andy6387]

I have noticed that with my v5200, while playing games such as vanguard and sometimes even wow, the video card will get so hot that the game crashes. It does this especially in the dock where there is poor air flow, as well as sitting normally on the desk with the ventilation areas clear. Once i added a laptop cooling pad to the mix, all problems went away. However it is what it is, it was not meant for gaming so i can't complain too much right?

[Kel Ghu]

Same here...

You can complain. The computer should not crash, even with games. And I don't think 3D apps would make the GPU run cooler...

[araemo]

AFAIK v5200 is equivalent to X1600. Like seeplus I've seen v5250 equated to x1700, which I think may be the same as v5200/X1600 except for higher clock. These chips are in the T60p and are the workstation equivalents of the X1xxx series. I've read you can download a non-certified X1600 driver for these cards somewhere, which is best used for games, rather than the v52.. driver.

The hardware is often the same or 99.99% the same between the gamer/consumer cards and the workstation cards, but the drivers are slightly different. The main difference is in some optimizations that are done to make wireframe drawing or shading the models in real time, vs. handling high res pre-made textures and applying them to polygons. You can edit the inf file on the 'consumer' drivers to install for the workstation cards and get consumer performance in games, if you have no need for the workstation certification and don't use professional 3d rendering apps.

Even with the workstation drivers, you should still be able to game just fine.

[waspie]

i play CS:source extensively on my 60p (v5250) with 0 problems. full res (1400x1050) with everything on max and it runs very well.

[Dead1nside]

Graphics cards get insanely hot anyway, put them into cramped conditions and you're asking for trouble.

My second hand T41p's graphics chip burnt out, requiring a whole new motherboard. Luckily I was in warranty. When the guy replaced it, I asked him to use my Arctic Silver 5, I see it as the only way to shave off perhaps a few degrees.

Now it works fine, I've used it for games running for multiple hours, I think it just had never been used in that way before.

[FragrantHead]

Graphics cards get insanely hot anyway, put them into cramped conditions and you're asking for trouble ... Now it works fine, I've used it for games running for multiple hours, I think it just had never been used in that way before.

I know what you mean. Ran Tomb Raider Legend on my old T30 recently, just about playable, and it became hotter than I've ever known it. Other games didn't seem to stretch it that much. It didn't crash, but some weeks later the infamous front memory slot failed. Coincidence? I wonder.

[Dead1nside]

It's dodgy isn't it, I don't think that playing games on your laptop should cause hardware failures like that. You would have thought better cooling solutions should be in use now, but I highly doubt it.

[Proteus]

The upcoming T61P should be pretty sweet. It replaces the Z61P..so will have to have at least as good a screen, and rumor has it the graphics will be far better than any previous Thinkpad.
DirectX10 would certainly be possible. Only wish more details were available.

Needless to say, I'll be waiting until early summer before making my mobile workstation purchase.

[Nilonym]

...rumor has it the graphics will be far better than any previous Thinkpad.

Hi Proteus. Have you seen information regarding a new discrete graphics chipset for the T61? Or are you referring to the Intel GMA X3000 integrated graphics that will be part of the Santa Rosa (Centrino Pro) platform?

If the former, please tell us what you know! If the latter, while it is certainly true that the X3000 will be far better than any existing integrated part, it will not be better (in terms of performance) than existing discrete graphics parts.

[Proteus]

Unfortunately I cannot disclose directly.
All I can tell you is that there will be discrete graphics models...
that those discrete graphics models will be DirectX10 capable..and that the GPUs will be umm..not traditional for a Thinkpad.
Note that you still have the 15.4" formfactor and power envelop limitations, so you won't see SLI, or 512mb plus parts.

[Dead1nside]

Traditional eh, so that's a low range, an integrated and a workstation model. I don't think 512MB parts are necessary, although perhaps if you're doing a lot of 3DMax scene rendering or something.

[Nilonym]

Unfortunately I cannot disclose directly.
All I can tell you is that there will be discrete graphics models...
that those discrete graphics models will be DirectX10 capable..and that the GPUs will be umm..not traditional for a Thinkpad.

Well that certainly sounds good.

I'm curious - your first post sounded like you were repeating something you had heard elsewhere ("rumor has it..."), but your follow-up post sounds like you have insider knowledge that you are unable to share. Can you clarify?

[JHEM]

Unfortunately I cannot disclose directly.
All I can tell you is that there will be discrete graphics models...
that those discrete graphics models will be DirectX10 capable..and that the GPUs will be umm..not traditional for a Thinkpad.

Well that certainly sounds good.

I'm curious - your first post sounded like you were repeating something you had heard elsewhere ("rumor has it..."), but your follow-up post sounds like you have insider knowledge that you are unable to share. Can you clarify?

If he/she could, he/she probably would have.

The members of the Forum are drawn from a very deep user base, from retail users with one machine for personal use, to IT personnel at large corporations with tens of thousands of Thinkpads, to Lenovo and IBM employees from every division of the companies.

Proteus may be aware of information pertaining to upcoming Thinkpad models that cannot be shared with the general public at this time due to a non-disclosure agreement. Rather than break the agreement, a bone has been thrown to us.

James

[Puppy]

Unfortunately I cannot disclose directly.
All I can tell you is that there will be discrete graphics models...

Hm ... and the display issue ? No more 4:3, no more IPS (FlexView) ? I'm just wondering whether to rush to buy T60 - last ThinkPad ever.