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Best Graphics Card for Laptop Gaming Computers

The best graphics card for laptop gaming computers, from a cost point of view, depends on the games you play. Faster is better, generally, but costs more. I'll start from the top down and recommend different cards for diferent levels of play.

Top End Games

The graphics are the key to quality gaming and there isn't a single mobile graphics solution that everyone agrees will play all the new games availlable at the highest settings. Almost everybody says that Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M SLI will do it, and some say the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2 will. Both these are 2 card set ups, and use a lot of power and generate a lot of heat.

I'll give you a list of cards that you may should see in laptop gaming computers available in the U.S. The list will be fastest to slower. ATI Radeon graphics cards labelled X2 (Crossfire) and Nvidia graphics cards labelled SLI are all 2 card setups. The cards with the GPUs on this list should run everything other than Crysis at high settings.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 285M SLI
Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M SLI
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 X2
Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M SLI
Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTX SLI
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870
Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M
Nvidia GeForce 9800M GT SLI
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3850 X2
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4860
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850
Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M
Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTX
Nvidia GeForce 9800M GT
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850
Nvidia GeForce GTX 360M
Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M
Nvidia GeForce GTX 250M
Nvidia GeForce GTX 160M

Intermediate Games

This list will be in two parts. Cards with GPUs above the break will run most top end games, the ones below it may run some of these games, but I wouldn't count on it. Both sets will run mid-level games. The list is high to low.

Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS
Nvidia GeForce 9800M GS
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5830
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830
Nvidia GeForce GTS 150M
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5770
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5750
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
Nvidia GeForce GTS 350M
Nvidia GeForce GTS 250M
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670

Nvidia GeForce 9700M GTS
Nvidia GeForce GT 335M
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3850
Nvidia GeForce 330 M
Nvidia GeForce GT 240M
Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
Nvidia GeForce GT 325M
Nvidia GeForce 9700M GT
Nvidia GeForce GT 130M
Nvidia GeForce 9650M GT
Nvidia GeForce 9650M GS
Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT

Low End Games

This is a group that may play some mid to high level games, but don't count on good performance there.

Nvidia GeForce GT 220M
Nvidia GeForce GT 120M
Nvidia GeForce GT 320M
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT
Nvidia GeForce 9600M GS
Nvidia GeForce 9500M GS
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2700
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650

Any slower GPUs/cards upgrades will play low end games but aren't worth the money if gaming is your goal. Many use shared memory like the GMA 4500MHD that is the bottom graphics for most new Intel powered laptops. If you are looking to speed up the overall performance of a machine though, they might help. If you want to play games, get the best graphics card you can afford.

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