Old Desktop GPU vs. new Laptop GPU

[III/JG53_Don]

Hi everyone
Currently I'm playing CoD on my Laptop (i7 2630qm 4x 2,0ghz, 4Gb Ram, Geforce GT540M) with medium to high settings and get reasonable fps as long as no clouds are around ;-)

Since my Desktop PC is too weak to run the Sim smoothly (Core 2 Duo 2x 2,4ghz, 3Gb Ram, WinXP) I'm thinking of partially upgrading my PC. I would change my old Core 2 Duo/Mobo and Ram with a new 2500k CPU, Asus P8P67 Mainboard and 8Gb Ram (eventually thinking of buying a better CPU fan as well) with a Win7 64-Bit OS.
Due to the fact that i don't want to spend too much money on it (the upgrade above would cost at about 330-380€ max), the Desktop GPU would stay in this system. Its an old Zotac Geforce 9800Gtx+ with 512 GDDR3.

I did a little research to compare this Desktop Card with the mobile one of my Laptop and found out that 2 comparable Desktop GPUs, which are slightly better respectively worse than the Geforce 9800Gtx+, get in average double the fps of my Laptop Geforce GT540m in games and double of the points in Benchmark programs.

But since the Laptop GPU has 2Gb Ram and my old GPU only 512 I was wondering if this old card would still be a maybe 50% better card than the new GT540m for Cliffs of Dover.
Can anyone give an assumption if CoD will better run on a 2500k, 8Gb Ram, 9800Gtx+ system or on my laptop?
Thanks for your help!! :)

[Madfish]

To be honest it'd run but not great. I have run it on a system with an ATi 5770 which is 50-10% better than your card (depending on game) but let's assume that CloD is not very optimized for ATi's and runs equally "fast" on your card then you can play it but you'll want to upgrade VERY soon. :-P

http://www.hwcompare.com/1192/geforce-9800-gtx-vs-radeon-hd-5770/

Around christmas ATi will release the first generation of the new cards with rambus II etc. so it might be worth if you want to and can wait until then?

[335th_GRAthos]

I would say, "DO NOT DO IT!"

I mean, if it is for upgrading your old desktop in order to have a "nice running desktop PC" then you should of course do what you explained. It is a very good choice.

If however, it is for running CoD on your desktop, do not bother, it will be a waste of your time.
Your graphics card is just bad (for this game). It is like trying to drive a Ferrari on wooden tyres.

CoD's graphics were not done well (it is a common secret). They are either too complex for their time or, too poor programmed for performance (opinions vary).
You need a GPU with 1,5Gb VRAM and more in order bypass the first game bottleneck (VRAM usage) and fly well. The next game bottleneck is Dix10/Dix11 performance (and there is no GPU today with enough power, for CoD). Your GPU underperforms in both.

So you should probably be happy that you can enjoy CoD on your laptop and if you want to make some good investment you should probably by one laptop tray with fan in order to keep your laptop cool ;)

My 2cents...

[III/JG53_Don]

Guess you're both right, but its so tempting to upgrade a little bit to get better performance.

But since my Laptop can run it, I'll really wait for the game to advance including dynamic weather, better clouds and so forth. Until then the hardware may be more suited to the game. :-)

Thanks for your replies.... just have to repeat an often called statement here: patience is a virtue :)