How many year "Geforce GT 645m" can support gaming?

Mojtaba Hosseini

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Aug 29, 2013
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well, I wanna buy some laptop for gaming, and actually because I don't have much money for buying a bad ass PC. and I can't use a console (for some personal issues).

and there is a MSI CX61, that some says it's good for gaming, and I can afford it.

well, I saw two model, one intel i5 and the other is intel i7 and both of them are around 3567m or ... well I don't know exactly :D
the ram is about 6-8 GB.

but, the most important part that I want to talk about is the graphics. it uses Geforce GT 645m. the memory is 2GB, Cuda core is 384 and memory interface is 128 bit. surely it can afford games that came out until Q4 of 2013, Like Metro LL, or Crysis 3 (I guess it can run this game even in High, without warming up too much) but the matter that is very important to me, is the number of years that this laptop could support my gaming experience.

I don't really care about details, I just want to play games smooth and without lag. I have a laptop now, I bought it 1 and half year ago, its Packard bell Easy Note TS, i5-2410M, 8GB of ram, and GT 540M (2 GB, 96 Cuda core, 128 bit Memory interface) I was playing games smoothly until Dead space 3, but after that Crysis 3, Metro LL, Tomb Raider, Even some older games, like witcher 2, my laptop can't afford them even in low Graphics. actually I finally managed to play Tomb Raider smooth, using a big ass cool pad, but now Metro and recently Saint Row IV, they have bad lags in the Lowest graphics. they are good some times, but when games go more action, for example in combats, explosions, fast movements, lags come to game. I checked a CPU monitor during playing metro, and the temperature was around 100 centigrade, even when I was using a really big cool pad!

I have troubles right now playing for example Saint Row IV and I don't want to have this issues two years later playing Saint Row V. (like now which I have same problems for two years ago in Saint Row III, before buying my new laptop)

So, What you suggest for me?

And If you think MSI CX61 is good, do I have to buy i7 one, or i5?
 
Solution
"well, I wanna buy some laptop for gaming, and actually because I don't have much money for buying a bad ass PC."

Providing a desktop PC is ok for you, then you should rethink where best to spend your hard earned money.

Many folk think that when a laptop mentions i5 or i7, and things like 635m then they (wrongly) assume that this equates to a desktop i5 / i7 / 600 series gfx or whatever.
Unfortunately, this is very far from the case e.g. a laptop i7 is significantly underpowered compared to a desktop i7. Why you might ask? simple! - it's primarily due to the Laptop's confined space and resulting cooling problems, and thus, CPU/GFX compromise. But - and a big but - Intel, AMD and NVIDIA laptop components share very similar naming...

mesab66

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Aug 5, 2009
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"well, I wanna buy some laptop for gaming, and actually because I don't have much money for buying a bad ass PC."

Providing a desktop PC is ok for you, then you should rethink where best to spend your hard earned money.

Many folk think that when a laptop mentions i5 or i7, and things like 635m then they (wrongly) assume that this equates to a desktop i5 / i7 / 600 series gfx or whatever.
Unfortunately, this is very far from the case e.g. a laptop i7 is significantly underpowered compared to a desktop i7. Why you might ask? simple! - it's primarily due to the Laptop's confined space and resulting cooling problems, and thus, CPU/GFX compromise. But - and a big but - Intel, AMD and NVIDIA laptop components share very similar naming conventions to the desktop equivalent - this can be very confusing for the buyer.

--> the net effect of all this is that TO GET THE SAME gaming performance between a Laptop and a desktop WILL REQUIRE that you pay MUCH MORE money for the laptop verison.

So, back to my first question - if a desktop is ok for you - then look there for your solution. As an important plus, you can always easily upgrade a GFX card or CPU later.
 
Solution

Eximo

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Ambassador
You are asking about the longevity of a mobile graphics card. These are usually short lived in terms of performance as major PC titles are targeted to the desktop PC gamer. Console ports will run somewhat well though with the upcoming games since they are basically going to be running on a mid-range desktop PC.

GT540m and GT645m are not on the high end of laptop graphics from Nvidia. From that generation 680m would be the top marks. Available recently are the 7xxm series, I've seen a 770m, but I don't believe I have seen a laptop with the 780m. There are also many laptops available with dual graphics cards, expect to pay well over a thousand dollars for them.

For gaming you'll want the best graphics card you can afford now, but don't expect amazing performance out of your laptop several years down the line with the latest PC games.
 

Mojtaba Hosseini

Honorable
Aug 29, 2013
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dear mesab66,
I am completely sure that a desktop PC is really better than laptop for gaming, in many ways, but the problem is, I can't buy a desktop PC. let me explain it to you, if I sell my current laptop, at the best, I earn about 1100 unit of my country currency. I have to work a lot, at least 4 month aside going to college, to earn 1400 other unit, to have about 2500, and then I could buy the i7 one, which is about 2500. if I want to buy a (i5 4670m) for CPU, and a (asus gtx 650ti top dcuII) for Graphic card, and a good working motherboard, it cost me around 2400 unit (without cooler, hard drive, power and other stuff.) I really have to work a lot (for about 3 more month) to earn that money. now, you think which choice is better for me?

Dear Eximo,
thanks for helping me.
About laptops, MSI CX61 is the best I can afford now, and I don't know what you define performance. if I define it running games smooth at least in lowest graphics setting, with fps more than 30, do you think I can play games happily for 3 years or more??

Thanks a lot.