Gaming and power
Gaming| Laptop - ET:QW - medium quality - 1,024x768 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Novatech Allspark VHP64 | Acer Timeline 5810 (mains) | Scan 3XS ION |
| 118.5 | 3.44 | 20.2 |
A discrete graphics card makes a mockery of the test we use for laptop/low-end systems. Running the ET:QW benchmark at 1,024x768 medium settings shows that the only method for real performance is to go for a separate graphics card. It's over 30x faster than Intel's X4500 MHD - a new-generation integrated-graphics chip - on the Acer Timeline.
| Desktop - ET:QW - high quality - 1,920x1,200 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Novatech Allspark VHP64 | Acer Timeline 5810 (mains) | Scan 3XS ION |
| 56.5 | 0.5 | 4.1 |
Raise the gaming resolution to something tasty such as 1,920x1,200 4xAA 16xAF and the GeForce GTS 250 512MB - a rebrand of GeForce 9800 GTX+ - trounces the other IGPs, understandably so. It also pushes out an average of 36.1fps at 2,560x1,600.
Power
More power, sure, but at what cost? We show power-draw numbers with the system idling in Windows Vista and the peak figure when running the HQ gaming test.
| Power consumption - idle | ||
|---|---|---|
| Novatech Allspark VHP64 | Acer Timeline 5810 (mains) | Scan 3XS ION |
| 91 | 11 | 29 |
With a power-draw of 92W the Allspark looks poor in comparison, yet the performance is rather good for a fully-fledged machine. The low-power Q9550S helps here, of course.
| Power consumption - load (3D) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Novatech Allspark VHP64 | Acer Timeline 5810 (mains) | Scan 3XS ION |
| 202 | 22 | 36 |
Ratchet up the load with some gaming and the power requirements double, pulling 5x the Scan 3XS ION's and 9x the Acer laptop's. Want more power? You literally have to pay for it, and there's no way around that.