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m9750 worst setup ever?

post #1 of 21
1/22/08 at 4:56pm
Thread Starter 
I've wanted an AW forever, but spending that much on a laptop was never an option. I usually stick with ebay finds and leave the gaming to the just barely game-worthy desktop. Well, I finally had a chance to treat myself and ordered up my very own m9750 back on the 8th. Unfortunately, I've never kept very up-to-date with gaming hardware and went off half-cocked without doing any research. Here's my system:

Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8700M GT - SLI Enabled
Chassis: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology - Stealth Black
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7400 2.16GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 2048MB
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
System Drive: Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 240GB (120GB x 2) 7,200RPM (8MB Cache)
Optical Drives : 8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW Burner w/ LightScribe Technology
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card
Sound Card : High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Mobile Essentials: Belkin® AC Anywhere 300W Vehicle Outlet Adapter
Warranty: 3-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
Featured Games: BioShock

A couple problems I have now discovered:

1. The system won't see the 4GB RAM. I have read that it will only see 3.5GB total, including the 1GB in the video cards. Is that correct? I went and paid for an extra 2GB and will only see 512M of it?

2. I heard a)Vista sucks for gaming b)XP pro really isn't neccessary, so I went with XP media center edition to save a couple of bucks. Bad decision?

3. I went for the "best" video cards, or so I thought. Since 8700 is a bigger number than 7950 I figured they were better (I know, I should have investigated, but I wanted to get it ordered before my wife changed her mind about letting me get it). It looks like the 8700's are actually slower than the 7950's, but DX10 capable, which I can't use because I didn't get Vista. Anyone know how much worse the 8700's will be?

I have consoled myself that it should still be a great system, especially since my current gaming system is an Athlon64 with an FX5200 (It can play TF2 at 800x600). And I can always switch to Vista when all of the bugs are ironed out. I have heard that loading an OS is a major buzzkill with the raid systems. Anyone have any luck with it? or should I send it back to AW when I'm ready to upgrade? Will they do that?

Is this sytem going to be a major thorn in my side, or did I just not get as much as I could have if I had done some research first?

P.S. I'm in Phase 8, hopefully it should ship today, and I can get it before the weekend.
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post #2 of 21
1/22/08 at 5:59pm
I'll agree more research and experience would help, but we're here to help.

You can reload windows with RAID, I've done it several times.

The reason you're not seeing all 4 Gigs of RAM is because you need a 64-bit operating system to address it all. 32 bit operating systems (including XP MC) won't address it all, and will address less depending on how much else is plugged into the motherboard.
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post #3 of 21
1/22/08 at 6:03pm
Thread Starter 
I think I've heard that the limitation is in the MB on this system and upgrading to a 64 bit OS still won't give me all 4 Gigs.
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post #4 of 21
1/22/08 at 6:53pm
I have no idea; I have an older system.
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post #5 of 21
1/22/08 at 7:38pm
Unfortunately not alot of people that have the SLI 8700's dont seem to hang around here much. However the people we noticed that had them, we sent several death threats and told them we'd let them go IF and ONLY if they would do some benchmarks.

Look here for the 8700 results

http://www.notebookforums.com/showth...postid=2751489
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post #6 of 21
1/22/08 at 7:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robotguy View Post
I think I've heard that the limitation is in the MB on this system and upgrading to a 64 bit OS still won't give me all 4 Gigs.
That's what I've heard from "laptopvideo2go.com"
the moderator tested 4 gigs of ram and the max he got was the same you got. And he said something about only the newer Motherboards (santa rosa platform) will detect the full 4 gigs. I don't know, gotta do some more research on this.
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post #7 of 21
1/22/08 at 9:27pm
You could get a Bios pgrade for your system, just email Alienware about it.
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post #8 of 21
1/22/08 at 10:10pm
i dont think a bios upgrade will fix the issue since their is a chip limitation of 3.25 gigs of RAM... 4 gigs of RAM will only show 3.25gigs... i stuck with 2 gigs of RAM...

MCE is a good XP its just like Professional just alittle different...runs games the same as professional...


your system should run the games pretty good... i dont think you will be disappointed... you have even got your system yet give it a chance and see what you think...
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post #9 of 21
1/22/08 at 10:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by littlefrankus View Post


your system should run the games pretty good... i dont think you will be disappointed... you have even got your system yet give it a chance and see what you think...
two 8700gt's SLI is still a very good GPU configuration. Like he said, wait until you get it. You won't regret it.
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post #10 of 21
1/22/08 at 10:35pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by littlefrankus View Post
your system should run the games pretty good... i dont think you will be disappointed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spartan-117 View Post
two 8700gt's SLI is still a very good GPU configuration. Like he said, wait until you get it. You won't regret it.
Phew. Thanks for the info. I was picturing the installer at AW saying "What the was this guy thinking?!"

Update: It shipped!!! Fedex tracking says delivery on the 29th. It's gonna be a looooooooooong week...
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post #11 of 21
1/22/08 at 11:30pm
Congrats Robotguy keep us posted
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post #12 of 21
1/23/08 at 1:09am
Might want to change the title of this thread, seems a little too negative
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post #13 of 21
1/23/08 at 2:31am
Thread Starter 

Hasty m9750 config?

How? I edited the original post and changed the title of this one. No luck...
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post #14 of 21
1/23/08 at 2:39am
Message a mod
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post #15 of 21
1/23/08 at 4:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robotguy View Post

A couple problems I have now discovered:

1. The system won't see the 4GB RAM. I have read that it will only see 3.5GB total, including the 1GB in the video cards. Is that correct? I went and paid for an extra 2GB and will only see 512M of it?
You'll see 1.5G of the second 2G stick of memory. The video card memory is on the video cards, it's not system memory so it's used by the video cards, not windows. You did fine.

The m9750 has only two memory slots. You could have gotten 2G memory, then bought a 2G stick and replaced one of the 1G sticks AW installs to get 3G, but what a hassle, and you still won't have your memory topped out.

Quote:
2. I heard a)Vista sucks for gaming b)XP pro really isn't neccessary, so I went with XP media center edition to save a couple of bucks. Bad decision?
I've got XP MCE on my m9700 and I like it. You won't have full DX10 capability though without Vista, but few games use DX10 at this point, and those that do don't make much of a difference to DX9.

Quote:
3. I went for the "best" video cards, or so I thought. Since 8700 is a bigger number than 7950 I figured they were better (I know, I should have investigated, but I wanted to get it ordered before my wife changed her mind about letting me get it). It looks like the 8700's are actually slower than the 7950's, but DX10 capable, which I can't use because I didn't get Vista. Anyone know how much worse the 8700's will be?
While the 8700's don't beat the 7950gtx in some benchmarks, it's no slouch. With two in SLI, you should have plenty of graphics power. When Vista is more mature, and DX10 games are out, you'll be able to upgrade your OS and you're set. With a laptop, it's never good to assume you can upgrade video cards later, so I think you made a good choice for the future. We still don't know if 8800's will be offered for the m9750, or if they'll work.

Quote:
I have consoled myself that it should still be a great system, especially since my current gaming system is an Athlon64 with an FX5200 (It can play TF2 at 800x600). And I can always switch to Vista when all of the bugs are ironed out. I have heard that loading an OS is a major buzzkill with the raid systems. Anyone have any luck with it? or should I send it back to AW when I'm ready to upgrade? Will they do that?
You're going to love it. Your system will be much faster than mine, and my system plays everything I throw at it well.

Upgrading to Vista isn't hard, and neither is setting up a RAID array. When you're ready to do it, just post here and we'll walk you through it.

Quote:
Is this sytem going to be a major thorn in my side, or did I just not get as much as I could have if I had done some research first?
Once you get it, your worries will go away. It's an awesome system and I think you'll be happy with it. Anytime you buy any computer components, it's just a matter of months before something newer and better comes out. I have yet to regret ordering anything from Alienware due to the hardware becoming obsolete too quick...

Quote:
P.S. I'm in Phase 8, hopefully it should ship today, and I can get it before the weekend.
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post #16 of 21
1/23/08 at 7:44am
HammerHead FTS (For The Save)!!!!
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post #17 of 21
1/23/08 at 11:30am
Yep, I was waiting for him to come and help.
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post #18 of 21
1/23/08 at 11:43am
at least he got the 3 year warranty
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post #19 of 21
1/23/08 at 5:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robotguy View Post
...

A couple problems I have now discovered:

1. The system won't see the 4GB RAM. I have read that it will only see 3.5GB total, including the 1GB in the video cards. Is that correct? I went and paid for an extra 2GB and will only see 512M of it?

32-bit OS's will not see the full 4GB, only 64-Bit systems. The limitation is with the Windows operating system. The video cards RAM is independent of the system memory, so the 1GB of video memory does not calculate into the RAM that the OS will see.

2. I heard a)Vista sucks for gaming b)XP pro really isn't neccessary, so I went with XP media center edition to save a couple of bucks. Bad decision?

A) Vista isn't THAT bad... I don't use it yet myself though.
B)XP Pro is not necessary, but its really up to the user.

3. I went for the "best" video cards, or so I thought. Since 8700 is a bigger number than 7950 I figured they were better (I know, I should have investigated, but I wanted to get it ordered before my wife changed her mind about letting me get it). It looks like the 8700's are actually slower than the 7950's, but DX10 capable, which I can't use because I didn't get Vista. Anyone know how much worse the 8700's will be?

I would rather have the DX10 Capable card over my 7900's right now (m9700), you should have no buyers remorse for that...Good choice. When Vista comes out with a service pack I would imagine that it will be just as well as XP in its start...So you will be happy you have the DX10 cards then, I know I would be happier (now that I'm stuck with 7900's)

I have consoled myself that it should still be a great system, especially since my current gaming system is an Athlon64 with an FX5200 (It can play TF2 at 800x600). And I can always switch to Vista when all of the bugs are ironed out. I have heard that loading an OS is a major buzzkill with the raid systems. Anyone have any luck with it? or should I send it back to AW when I'm ready to upgrade? Will they do that?

You don't HAVE to load RAID on a fresh install, you can just load the Non-RAID drivers if you want. Once you install RAID on your system once, you won't forget how to do it again...So, I would say no..it's not that much of a bitch (I had a m7700 with RAID and I chose not to install RAID later, I wanted more HDD space.) I wouldn't send the system to AW, a tech should be able to walk you through it over the phone.

Is this sytem going to be a major thorn in my side, or did I just not get as much as I could have if I had done some research first?

This system will rock your socks off, you did just fine.

P.S. I'm in Phase 8, hopefully it should ship today, and I can get it before the weekend.

I would hope so too
Hope this helps.

EDIT: Didn't realize HH already did what I did... Oh well...
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post #20 of 21
1/23/08 at 5:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tridge View Post
Hope this helps.
Yes definitely. I feel much better knowing that this is a config someone might have bought on purpose.

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll post an update next week when it arrives.
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