Does anyone have any information about the GT 720M?

[mfw]

I'm looking into buying a laptop with that graphics card and I'm interested as to whether or not I can run games like GTA IV or Just Cause 2 on medium or better.

 

[mfw]

I'm looking into buying a laptop with that graphics card and I'm interested as to whether or not I can run games like GTA IV or Just Cause 2 on medium or better.

You can go to ( game debate )

If you mean the website, I find it pretty vague. I want someone who's actually used a laptop with that card before.

 

[jaguarskx]

Here are some benchmarks for the GT 720m.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-720M.90247.0.html

The GT 720m is ranked between the GT 540m and GT 550m, but closer to the GT 540m. I have a Lenovo Y470 (1366x768; i5-2410m) with a GT 550m and I remember getting pretty decent performance with "medium" settings. Even though the GT 720m is weaker, I think you should be able to play on medium settings. The problem is GTA 4 is a pretty bad console port.

Word of warning. GTA 4 is very CPU intensive. Playing games on my Lenovo Y470 usually causes the CPU to hit 92C. Pretty high, but unfortunately, that is considered "normal" for a CPU in a 14" laptop when playing games. GTA 4 makes my CPU (i5-2410m) hit 99C after about 1.5 hours of gameplay and it started to throttle down which causes stuttering.

Use can use a program called CoreTemp to monitor CPU temps.

The only way to lower the CPU temp in my laptop is force the CPU to run at slower speed. While the i5-2410 has a standard speed of 2.3GHz and can turbo boost up to 2.9GHz (one core, about 2.7GHz using both cores), I basically force the CPU to run at 1.8GHz when playing games, that keeps the temps down to the low 80C's.

That is done by going into the Advanced Power Options, expanding the Processor Power Management section and then changing the Maximum Processor State.

100% = Turbo Boost is on. Core i3 does not have Turbo Boost. 2.9GHz (one core) / 2.7GHz (two cores) for the i5-2410m
99% = Turbo Boost off. The CPU simply runs at stock speed. 2.3GHz for the i5-2410m.
98% = 1.8GHz for the i5-2410m. Your actual clockspeed will likely be different unless the laptop you are buying also has an i5-2410m (doubtful).

 

[mfw]

Here are some benchmarks for the GT 720m.

http/www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-720M.90247.0.html

The GT 720m is ranked between the GT 540m and GT 550m, but closer to the GT 540m. I have a Lenovo Y470 (1366x768; i5-2410m) with a GT 550m and I remember getting pretty decent performance with "medium" settings. Even though the GT 720m is weaker, I think you should be able to play on medium settings. The problem is GTA 4 is a pretty bad console port.

Word of warning. GTA 4 is very CPU intensive. Playing games on my Lenovo Y470 usually causes the CPU to hit 92C. Pretty high, but unfortunately, that is considered "normal" for a CPU in a 14" laptop when playing games. GTA 4 makes my CPU (i5-2410m) hit 99C after about 1.5 hours of gameplay and it started to throttle down which causes stuttering.

Use can use a program called CoreTemp to monitor CPU temps.

The only way to lower the CPU temp in my laptop is force the CPU to run at slower speed. While the i5-2410 has a standard speed of 2.3GHz and can turbo boost up to 2.9GHz (one core, about 2.7GHz using both cores), I basically force the CPU to run at 1.8GHz when playing games, that keeps the temps down to the low 80C's.

That is done by going into the Advanced Power Options, expanding the Processor Power Management section and then changing the Maximum Processor State.

100% = Turbo Boost is on. Core i3 does not have Turbo Boost. 2.9GHz (one core) / 2.7GHz (two cores) for the i5-2410m
99% = Turbo Boost off. The CPU simply runs at stock speed. 2.3GHz for the i5-2410m.
98% = 1.8GHz for the i5-2410m. Your actual clockspeed will likely be different unless the laptop you are buying also has an i5-2410m (doubtful).

That's very descriptive, thank you very much. I plan on getting an i5 of nearly the same clock speed, too. My model is a bit newer though. Why didn't you get a cooling pad? Do you have any information about other games? Please be as descriptive as possible.

 

[jaguarskx]

Cooling pad does not work with Lenovo IdeaPads. I tried a cooling pad no effect; Coolermaster pad with two 120mm moveable fans. Lenovo calls the underside of the IdeaPad a "thermal panel" with good reason. It transfers very little heat, even when the CPU throttled down from overheating I can place the laptop on my lap (bare skin) for several minutes and it only feels very warm.

I wrote a review for it which you can read in the following link. But I only briefly mentioned GTA 4. From what I remember it runs fine enough other than the fact that it overheated the CPU. I was probably able to get around 30FPS with dips down to maybe 24FPS from time to time.

http/www.tomshardware.com/forum/70694-35-lenovo-ideapad-y470-laptop-review

I haven't really play that many games on it because there seems to be an issue with the GT 550m which basically stops responding and crashes Windows. Then upon boot up the GT 550m is no longer recognized. Sometimes re-booting the GT 550m is recognized. Sometimes uninstalling the drivers and reinstall is necessary. Otherwise a reinstall of Win 7 is required. I am not the only person experiencing this issue with the Y470, but it doesn't seem to be a common issue. Since I have an extended warranty on it for another 12 months I will be sending it in for service before the end of the year, since it need it right now for something other than gaming.

I have played Mass Effect 3 on it, but ME3 is a pretty easy game for laptops. Just for fun I even completed the entire game on insanity mode using just the Intel HD 3000. The only other game I played was Cities XL 2012 which is not a very graphically demanding game. Maybe I'll try Skyrim on it, but with the GT 550m not working properly I don't know if it will cause the laptop to crash within 30 seconds after boot up (which it has) or after 3 days.

I'll be buying a new laptop whether or not the issue with the Y470 can be fixed 'cause 1366x768 resolution is just too low for me. For games it's fine, but for working, surfing, reading, it is too low. Definitely going for 1920x1080 resolution screen, preferable a Lenovo ThinkPad, but I guess that may depend on the quality of customer support they will provide me for the Y470.