How Good Is My 3GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M Graphics Card On My Dell XPS

I would keep your XPS 17 , a great machine , dont be disappointed with the 3GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M . Its still a great card

People might disagree with me but a top of the range laptop will not match a high end pc in performance , i dont really play many games on my XPS 17 , i just use it for Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 & CS5 and its perfect , if i was to play games i would buy a high end pc , you are very limited using a laptop
 
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I think the 555m is a great card, playing games at 1080p with full settings and AA at x16. wont play BF3 and other games at full settings, but for the price i got the x17 at its acceptable.
 
str said:
The 3GB has extra bandwidth compared to a 2GB and 1GB model (three channels vs two channels).
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The 555M has several models around.

1GB or 2GB = 128bit memory bus
1.5GB or 3GB = 192bit memory bus

The MSI card is actually a gimped GTX460M with memory chips missing and on a removable MXM module (the only 555m to be so IIRC).

The best bang for the buck of the rest of the cards is going to be the 1.5GB card (3GB is just LOL and useless).
 
Meaker said:
The 555M has several models around.

1GB or 2GB = 128bit memory bus
1.5GB or 3GB = 192bit memory bus

The MSI card is actually a gimped GTX460M with memory chips missing and on a removable MXM module (the only 555m to be so IIRC).

The best bang for the buck of the rest of the cards is going to be the 1.5GB card (3GB is just LOL and useless).
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Sorry have to disagree with you that the 3GB is just LOL and useless bit of a silly comment , i dont believe for a second that the 3GB is just LOL and useless

Has to be some performace diference between 2GB & 3GB 555M if not why have a 3GB version
 
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What you want to believe and what is actually true are very different in this case.

You have a 3GB (Or even 2GB) version because those are bigger numbers. The system makers and sellers know that by making these numbers larger you will pay more even for an inferior product (1GB Geforce FX5200 anyone?).

The 1.5GB version will outperform the 2GB version as the width is higher, and the 1.5GB version will match the performance of the 3GB version because the card can't use that amount of ram without choking.

Let me give you an example:

GT555M = 144 shaders (@ 590Mhz), 24 ROPs, 192bit DDR3 @ 800mhz
GTX580 = 384 shaders (@ 772Mhz), 64 ROPs, 394 GDDR5 @ 1002mhz

So in comparison the GTX580 has roughly 3.5 times the raw shader horsepower, 5 times the memory bandwidth and it's hard to make a case for outfitting the 580 with 3GB of ram unless you pair it with another and are running a multi monitor setup.

By the time your game is trying to use 2GB (or even 1.5 for that matter) the 555M would be choking because the memory bandwidth is too small to properly use that anyway.
 
I tested overclocking mine from the 590 clock speed to 770 (max allowable in Afterburner) and it worked perfectly with GTA IV gaining 9fps at 1920x1080. It didn't heat up more so it was a free boost.
 
Very easy.

Download MSI Afterburner (not the beta as it's time limited) and move the slider to desired clock speed and can use it to also overclock the memory (I tried 1000 for memory and it was fine).
 
mysterymachine said:
Sorry I don't own this laptop but, What-ever Dell say will always be "We're better", Since when did the Ford dealership tell you Vauxhall's are better?
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Well they should know most people dont know what that are talking about on here , i dont believe for 1 min that a 2GB card is Better then 3GB card
 
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Lol. It's the people here who do know that they're on about.

Cause you really need 3GB graphics memory for 1920x...

2GB GDDR5 will be faster than 3GB GDRR3 because of the type of memory used. Just look at the 560ti 1GB vs 560ti 2GB, there's no speed difference between the cards, just different memory sizes to allow for higher resolutions. 3GB is just a gimmick on that card tbh, and quite frankly, dell send out leaflets advertising laptops with 4MB of ram, so I'd take anything they say with a pinch of salt.
 
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It has been reported that there is a difference of at least 10% in favour of the 3GB vs 2GB GT555M because of the extra memory bandwidth 3 x 1GB provides compared to the 2 x 1GB of the 2GB configuration.

If Dell had provided the same GT555M but with 1.5GB (3 x 512MB) the speed would likely be the same as the 3GB so perhaps there was a shortage of 512MB chips or Dell was given a good deal on 1GB DDR3 chips and decided to provide 3GB regardless that it makes little difference compared to 1.5GB.

Also, the 560ti with 1GB or 2GB is 256-bit (2 x 512MB or 2 x 1GB) so will be the same speed but if there was a 560ti with 1.5GB or 3GB it would be 384-bit (3 x 512MB or 3 x 1GB) and it would be faster.
 
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Dead_Assassin said:
I wish i never started this Thread , i am in progress of tying sending my Dell XPS back as i feel that ive been missed sold
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If you're not happy then fair enough - It's one of those things, Bigger is better and rarely is that correct.. as per usual you need to dig in order to really reveal what performance gains etc you will get in comparisons with other devices.
 
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