Just ordered FX 7

The force of the Dark Side is hard to resist!

Now you can judge first hand when you get it, between AW and Hype. An honest rundown between the two.

I had seriously thought about AW but the force wasnt there, it was here. And I am waiting to see what their new line up is.

Would like to know how the dual core works out.

I just think its also funny: 3 prominent Intel Inside stickers, and now a 6,000 AMD laptop =P

I know about your AW's and your Home Built

Your adding on with the Hype. Nothing wrong there. Its healthy to think outside of the box, amazing what you can find there.

I have a Monarch Hornet and the Hype. Both are can be upgraded in a snap. One of the few things that I looked for when ordering.

ah yes...let me be the first to annoint you fine hyper peeps to the social and mental disorder we call 'DB'.



We better see some of those sexy laptop pics in the AW boards Beev!

How do you like youyr Hornet? I am deciding between a Shuttle and a Hornet.

Good deal on the system order and that is definitely looking to be a nice system. I know, because it is a lot similar to what I have been debating on. Definitely appears to be a strong powerhouse.

Are you going with both the chameloen and the airbrush? Just wondering as I saw both were checked. Just wanted to make sure you didn't add an addition $400-700 by accident.

As for being welcome to the forums, you are definitely welcome. Any prospective buyers, owners or those who are just interested in talking about Hypersonic systems are welcome here. It doesn't matter if you don't own one or plan on owning one. True - we want to invite you into the family, but all are still welcome - within the guidelines.

In any case, I am looking forward to seeing more about your system. Hopefully the drives will not delay too long. As I said, I have been looking at a similar system as well. Just a toss up between the AMD and Intel because the Intel is about $1k cheaper and I don't know what the USPS is going to reimburse me.

Good luck and welcome!

Darth (and others),

I'm debating between an EX-7 & FX-7, and am curious to hear your thoughts on the following.

It's my understanding that AMD processors 1) are more delicate than P4s, having a tendancy to burn-out somewhat easily, and 2) have less efficient heat dissipation than P4s.

The EX-7 has four memory slots, allowing the addition of enough memory to max out Window's 2.8 GB usable limit. The FX-7 only allows for 2GB RAM.

With either an Intel P4 6xx serices CPU, or an AMD X2 series CPU, would Windows Professional x64 Edition be the best choice for an OS? Windows Pro x64 claims to allows up to 128GB RAM !?!?!?!

Thanks in advance.

My preference would be for Hornet. There are millions (hundreds really) of ways to set it up the way you want it. And it opens up in a snap. You are limited with space but its a guts machine, you put what you really need leave the frills out. Just a heads up it is noisy (mine is but I knew it would be before ordering it) so do without sound card, motherboard sound is fine. Main reason I got this was to use it as a tester of parts. I can swap out cards, and chips like crazy.

Also I have a 5xx chip in it and because of the heat, fans run alot, but it is well ventalated and havent had any problems. My Hype has the 6xx chip and that surprised me, it has the lower power consumption and yes there is heat but not as much as I thought there would be. And I am running both machines with ATI cards.

Monarch isnt a bad company to deal with either, only reason I went with Hype is because of the Laptop. Monarch is more of a desktop builder than Laptop. And with Monarch you really have to do your homework to come up with the rig you really want to build.

I did not get Windows 64 for the simple reason as DB stated, the applications are still not there. Everyone looked at Bill and said "Get serious dude, everyone is trying to fix the problems left by SP2 and you go do this??" And look at the mess. Its still considered a Beta version on top of it. So like everyone else saying wait until Feb/March when the real "Vista" is released then I will consider it. My 32 apps work fine with 64 chip, in fact even better that 32!

Actually, I think you may have gotten it backwards. The P4 is the one known for its appalling heat dissipation. And the 2.8 limit is a motherboard problem, not a windows problem. This has been discussed many times. You will never get more than 2.8 GB on an ex7, sager 9890, alienware 7700, regardless of your operating system.

The P4s are _horrrrrridd_ for heat and battery life in laptops. The traditional AMD athlon 64s are reasonably good for heat/battery, yet as there havnt been many of the FX / X2 laptops tested i cannot tell you how well that'll perform in that area. There is no way anybody could compare the d970k with a p4 - as the d970k is still brand new and afaik not shipped. The p4 to athlon 64 was pretty much no contest though -- thats what centrino is for (And Turion... I never really understood _why_ any1 would ever get a P4 in a notebook -- more power consuption, more heat, less battery life, ~same performance? P-M is an amazing chip, as much as i hate to admit it, but the P4 really has no real purpose in the moble market.).

As far as AMD being more "Delicate" its really untrue. If you keep the CPU at stock settings its got like a 99.99% survival rate from both mftrs. Ive never ever had a CPU die. I've had motherboards fail, power supplies, never a CPU. If its good from the box afaik both will be reliable. (This from my experience with like 30 computers and what i've read online from other users -- i could of course be wrong as i dont have statistics from AMD/Intel, but from my general experience the above is true)

However, for overclocking -- things can go wrong. I dont know "overall" who gets better OC-ing, but both can get quiet large performance leaps -- however I do believe this can be dangerous for the CPU -- but then again who overclocks a laptop CPU.


//edit: also as a side note, i have never used, but have heard from various users and read that win64 is flat terrible. Virtually same performance as win32. Not because 64 bit technology stinks, but because microsoft has yet to perfect it. Linux x64 however i hear is amazing. So, my opinion (as ive down with my turion laptop) is just to run win xp sp2.... or linux -- for now. Vista may bring good things.

I know compared to the Pentium D its great as far as heat and power consuption...

However to be blatently honest, its an amazing performance chip, but when i first saw the d900k i said, jokingly, to my friend that it'd have negative battery life and cause blackouts when plugged in. The FX series chip i believe is 100+ Watts, unless its changed for mobile use and im sure the X2 is high up.

So, i guess heat is dependent on how well the laptop is made. Don't expect it to be like a turion (mine is cold to to the touch idle, and only slightly warm @ full load), but i'm guessing itll be warm, probably not scorching as thats rediculous, but likely warm.

And -- i wouldn't expect > an hour battery @ any kind of load. (Idle, who knows) But then again, its a large notebook, so its not amazing for being lugged around. So this shouldnt be a huge problem for those considering this notebook.

Personally I like my laptop to be very mobile, so i like 3-4 hour life and relatively cool, so i wouldnt think twice about this laptop. If I did have to choose a desktop replacement though, and didnt plan to move it much at all, this is the machine i'de get, hands down (with an X2).