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Dell Gaming

post #1 of 47
1/12/04 at 5:12pm
Thread Starter 
Ok so has dell totally killed its Laptops for the gamers?

As far as i can tell you can only get M processors on the things that cap at 1.7 ghz . . .

am i wrong to suppose that they suck for gaming now?
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post #2 of 47
1/12/04 at 5:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bentley
Ok so has dell totally killed its Laptops for the gamers?

As far as i can tell you can only get M processors on the things that cap at 1.7 ghz . . .

am i wrong to suppose that they suck for gaming now?
Wrong, indeed. I had an 8600 (1.7 GHz, 128 MB ATI 9600, 512 MB RAM) and it played everything I threw at it flawlessly. Call of Duty, Max Payne 2 (both at the highest possible settings), even Homeworld 2, at slightly lower resolution, all played very smoothly. Before returning it, I couldn't get my new Alienware Area-51m to even run the Homeworld 2 demo at basic settings. I think the 8600 is a very good gaming notebook. Look around these threads for lots of positive feedback on the 8600's gaming capabilities.
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post #3 of 47
1/12/04 at 6:04pm
The video card plays a bigger role in gaming than the CPU so take a look at those values (GPU, core/memory clock, memory,...etc). That's not a knock on the Pentium M processors since they can keep up pretty well with their desktop counterpart.
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post #4 of 47
1/12/04 at 6:11pm
Don't be fooled by those sneaky M processors that cap out at 1.7 Ghz, they can be powerful beasts. I believe a 1.7 Centrino is comparable to a 2.8Ghz P4 (or something like that). A 1.7 Centrino is a great laptop CPU, less power, long battery life, comparable performance.
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post #5 of 47
1/12/04 at 6:51pm
Thread Starter 
K thanks guys

i really hate it when they change digits on stuff, yet it compares to something that already exists

it throws me off big time . . i'm one of those "oh look the number is bigger" people
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post #6 of 47
1/12/04 at 6:55pm
What is more important than clock speed to overall system performance (besides the impact of GPU as vanfanel points out) is disk speed, memory bandwidth (dual channel support and 800 MHz FSB) and internal cache sizes.

Does anyone know what the -M CPU's support FSB and dual channel wise?
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post #7 of 47
1/12/04 at 7:01pm
Hahahahah.
Go Sager.
I just did a bit of checking myself - the -M's are currently only 400MHz FSB which is half that of the desktop CPUs in the Sagers. But then at the same time checking for dual channel memory support I came across a site claiming to have dual channel in a laptop and discovered they were a Sager distributor .
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post #8 of 47
1/12/04 at 11:02pm
The 8600 is a great game machine will handle any game you throw at it so don't fret, I have the NVIDIA 5650 FXGO 128 and it screams in game play....All my games are at in game max settings no slowdowns at all, The only game I have to turn down display wise is Halo and thats due to crapy game design but it plays fine at 1028x768 with in game setting at high and remember with the 9600 ATI chip you will see about a 20% increase over the NVIDIA 5650 in game play.......Had mine since Mid November 0 problems and 0 crashes....Love this Laptop!!!
SPECS 8600 1.7
128 NVIDIA 5650FX GO
15.4 WSXGA+(Samsung)
60 GIG HD
768MB 333DDR
4X DVD+RW
Games Played LOTR Return of the King, Max Payne2, Halo, BlackHawk Down, Serious Sam 2, Call of Duty, Allied Assault, Medieval Total War.....
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post #9 of 47
1/13/04 at 3:31pm
Hey warlord, see any major differences from putting in an extra 512 memory?

Quote:
Originally Posted by warlord
The 8600 is a great game machine will handle any game you throw at it so don't fret, I have the NVIDIA 5650 FXGO 128 and it screams in game play....All my games are at in game max settings no slowdowns at all, The only game I have to turn down display wise is Halo and thats due to crapy game design but it plays fine at 1028x768 with in game setting at high and remember with the 9600 ATI chip you will see about a 20% increase over the NVIDIA 5650 in game play.......Had mine since Mid November 0 problems and 0 crashes....Love this Laptop!!!
SPECS 8600 1.7
128 NVIDIA 5650FX GO
15.4 WSXGA+(Samsung)
60 GIG HD
768MB 333DDR
4X DVD+RW
Games Played LOTR Return of the King, Max Payne2, Halo, BlackHawk Down, Serious Sam 2, Call of Duty, Allied Assault, Medieval Total War.....
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post #10 of 47
1/13/04 at 5:43pm
Increased my RAM for video editing but did not see that much difference from 512 to 768 in game play....when I ordered my laptop it came with a free RAM upgrade so it came with 2 256 sticks.... will soon replace the other 256 with a 512 so that I can have a full gig of RAM . will sell my 256 sticks on ebay when that happens, and no I will not purchase the RAM from DELL its way overpriced,I can buy it locally for 100 bucks....but as time goes on you can never have to much RAM so while its cheap why not get it...
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post #11 of 47
1/13/04 at 6:43pm
Yeah. You can never have too much ram. I was looking at a 1 gig kit with Samsung ram for $180 shipped. I'll probably get that sometime next week. I've noticed when I'm extracting ISOs and even zip or rars that it pretty much renders my lappy unusable. And I was looking over a post that said in Task Manager, if your Commit Charge (K) Peak is greater than your Physical Memory (K), that you probably could use more ram. My peak is at 607840 and the available is at 232500. Pretty big difference.

As far as gaming, I'm mostly a CSer and some COD. 512 is enough for COD though but I'm always extracting stuff, which is leading me to buy more memory.
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post #12 of 47
1/13/04 at 8:58pm
Hi JuicyFruit,

1 GB Samsung Ram for $180? WOw where do you get them?

Houmi
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post #13 of 47
1/14/04 at 4:45am
Houmi,

Well, it's a 1GB kit (2x512) but I think it's an okay deal.

http://www.upgradenation.com/sa1gbkit2ddr.html
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post #14 of 47
1/14/04 at 4:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JuicyFruit
Houmi,

Well, it's a 1GB kit (2x512) but I think it's an okay deal.

http://www.upgradenation.com/sa1gbkit2ddr.html
I can't believe that. The price is amazing. Are you sure they are going with i8600?

Crucial 512 MB is about $125. For a Gig you pay there 250$ but free shipping.
(DDR PC2700 • Unbuffered • Non-parity • 2.5V • 64Meg x 64 )

Samsung 2x512MB you pay $173 + $5 shipping = $178
(DDR PC2700 • Non-ECC • 2.5V • ??? )

Thats $72 cheaper.

Are Samsung RAMS of high quality? I would like to know more about the SPECS. Whats about the CL clock? How many chips are on each side? etc.

I tried it on samsung.com but could not find the PC2700 for Laptops...

EDIT: http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semi...DDR400_333.htm

Check it out under: DDR333 SDRAM

Is that the right section for i8600? And which one is used in this Kit?


Houmi
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post #15 of 47
1/14/04 at 6:58pm
You can get a 512 stick of Kingmax ram (PC-2700, 333 Mhz) for $87 at newegg.com.

Tim
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post #16 of 47
1/14/04 at 7:02pm
That should be the same stuff. I saw on PriceWatch that this company carries a lifetime warranty on their memory. That is why I even checked them out. I just e-mailed them, asking if the warranty, if any, was through them (Upgrade Nation) or through Samsung. I believe Kingston and Crucial to have lifetime warranties but I'll let you know when they reply.

In any case, the bigger companies will charge more for memory. Look at Dell. hahahha. Can't get much bigger than them. Look how much they want to gouge their customers.

I've put together a ton of computers, at least 150+ and throughout my experiences, Samsung is right up there as far as quality. Laptop memory, I am unfamiliar with but I'd venture to say there would be no difference.

My first e-mail to Upgrade Nation, I asked if that 1GB kit would be compatible in my 8600 and they said yes.

I'm still checking around for the best deal. I'll let you know what's up. I don't mind paying a little more for a lifetime warranty though, just so you know.

peace
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post #17 of 47
1/14/04 at 7:46pm
since we are on the subject...are the performance gains gained from upgrading from 512 to 1 gig greater than the costs of having 1 gig of ram? ok i think I could have worded that a lil better but, I'm sure you understand my question eh? =P
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post #18 of 47
1/14/04 at 9:55pm
Hrmm. Depends on your usage of memory. I am slow as hell when extracting stuff. And when I check the Task Manager, I see that I could use more memory.
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post #19 of 47
1/14/04 at 9:57pm
Update on the e-mail.

"The lifetime warranty is by Upgrade Nation, and TMTC the manufacturer of the memory."

There you have it. Guess I'll be getting some soon.
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post #20 of 47
1/14/04 at 10:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bentley
am i wrong to suppose that they suck for gaming now?


Yes, you would be wrong supposing such a thing.
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