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purchasing M17X very soon, need advice.

post #1 of 17
1/1/10 at 7:37pm
Thread Starter 
so i am going to be ordering my new m17x lappy this monday and i have one major question i would like to ask.

do you guys think i should get a slower clocked CPU and just overclock it to save some money and put that money toward getting the extended warranty or should i just bite the bullet and pay the extra 150 bucks for the increased cache size and .3 ghz extra speed? i am very confident in overclocking and have done some research but do you think going with the lesser cached CPU will have much of an effect on the gaming experience?? anyways, to help you guys think about it ill put down the rest of the planned specs to help out. And also i am brand new to the whole gaming laptop experience so dont be too hard on me lol

CPU- P8700@ 2.53 ghz 3mb L2 cache/t9600@ 2.8 ghz 6mb L2 cache
RAM- 1066 mhz DDR3
GPU- Dual GTX 280m's in SLI
HDD- 2x 320gb HDD's in RAID0
display- 1920x1200 XHD
OS- W7 home premium

thanks for any help you guys can give. im really really stoked about getting this new beast and cant wait to do some gaming at work, on breaks of course haha.
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post #2 of 17
1/1/10 at 7:54pm
I am curios too. How much impact does a faster processor, like the QX9300, have on gameplay?
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post #3 of 17
1/1/10 at 8:18pm
Save the $150 for something else - that extra Ghz and the increase of the L2 Cache won't make much of a difference, unless you are OC-ing for fun.

cheers ...
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post #4 of 17
1/1/10 at 8:19pm
I wouldnt recomend you buy an M17x until they have fixed the current issues.

I would wait to see what happens about the fix for dpc latency, as things stand the m17x will not play mp3 or video or games with out stuttering and audio spikes.

read this before you buy

http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/d...y-and-you.aspx
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post #5 of 17
1/1/10 at 8:20pm
On your exact question of is it worth an extra $150 to get 270Mhz + extra 3MB L2 vs more warranty? 100% without a doubt get the warranty. The CPU upgrade will have very little affect on gaming and not much on general usage.

OK that said can I ask a question? Do you like the lights and RAID that much? I know an AlienWare section but I at least have to bring this to your attention. And if you still like the AlienWare so be it. They do have a look to them.

Asus G73JH-A1
i7 720QM 1.6Ghz
8GB 1066Mhz DDR3
1GB HD5870 GDDR5
2x500GB @7200 HDD's
BR optical drive
17.3" FHD LED screen.
W7HP 64bit
$1595.65

The AlienWare as you configured $2549. The i7 crushes the CPU you picked. The i7 is equal to the $750 Q9100 on quad threaded apps crushes it on single/dual apps. All other i7 crushes. More RAM? GPU that is tough single HD5870 is going to hang close to GTX 280m SLI. Rumors HD around 14000 3Dmark06 SLI about 15000, HD might out perform, desktop version overall out does dual GTX 295. So have to wait and see. OK Raid has the Asus beat but 1TB storage. Asus has BR drive AW no. Can remove BR and save would cost $1509.32. Resolution 16:10 vs 16:9 I like 16:10 of AlienWare but we all have to make sacrifices.

Like I said you really gotta like the lights. Or you might wanna wait a few weeks and see if AlienWare goes i7 and drops prices?

Asus link.


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post #6 of 17
1/1/10 at 8:23pm
Thread Starter 
well i would like to get the OC close to 3 ghz to relieve some of the bottleneck on the CPU so that SLI would scale better but if the extra 3mb cache isnt a biggie then i will be going with the slower clocked model. but in the future i plan on replacing the CPU when quad cores become utilized more in games.
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post #7 of 17
1/1/10 at 8:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by slaywhitey View Post
well i would like to get the OC close to 3 ghz to relieve some of the bottleneck on the CPU so that SLI would scale better but if the extra 3mb cache isnt a biggie then i will be going with the slower clocked model. but in the future i plan on replacing the CPU when quad cores become utilized more in games.
If you are into game, I definitively take a look at pp's find in the ASUS. Went through the specs myself earlier for NBF indexing, and with the specs it offers, it is totally a good deal on a gaming rig.

cheers ...
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post #8 of 17
1/1/10 at 8:31pm
... and I am thinking seriously about returning my 17x Christmas Gift for the ASUS - just to have a hand on the ATI HD5870!

cheers ...
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post #9 of 17
1/1/10 at 8:34pm
Thread Starter 
actually to be honest alienware was going to be the last manufacturer i would look at when buying a gaming laptop because of their price, but i found out that the company i work for has a deal with dell so all of the employees get a 20% discount on dell products so i was like hell yeh. i get the great quality service from dell, plus the awesome looks of the m17x laptop with more GPU power then i would have received had i gone with an i7 laptop. and i already have a kick ass i7 gaming rig so going for an i7 in a laptop didnt seem necessary especially since you dont get really any gain on gaming just because you ahve an i7. i know this because when i had my core 2 quad gaming rig with a single gtx 285 and went to an i7 with the same card i didnt see a big difference in games. maybe a few FPS difference. but anyways, trust me i have been through all the loops and holes of deciding whether i should go with a clevo platform with an i7 or go with the clevo platform with dual GPU's. but if i were to get an i7 in a laptop i wouldnt opt for the i7 mobile, i would want the clevo based laptop with a desktop i7 in there. and as for RAID0 i would not want to run a computer without it lol. ever since i set up my first RAID0 array i was amazed as the boost i received compared to a single HDD when loading games and operating system as well as opening up apps. and since this is a gaming laptop, meant to be used for mainly gaming, it wouldnt really matter if i got the i7 with its extra threads because games havent even really started use multiple cores or at least more than two cores. and most likely they wont be doing so very soon. even so i do plan on upgrading to a quad core in a year or so when the prices drop and quad cores are being fully utilized in a gaming environment. but other then gaming i dont run any intensive apps. just web browsing and word processing. im not a video editor. although i do convert video files which would benefit from the i7 processor but that doesnt matter much since i can just convert videos on my i7 desktop.

and i would really rather wait for the 300 series to come rather then jump on a 5xxx series GPU from ATI. since these laptops use the MX socket i believe it is, it will be very easy to upgrade to a 300 series mobile card in the future. and with the 3 years warranty ill get free labor and shipping both ways or i can even do the upgrade myself and not void the warranty since i am certified to work with dell laptops.
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post #10 of 17
1/1/10 at 8:56pm
^^ Can't argue with the above statement

My vote for the extended warranty then

cheers ...
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post #11 of 17
1/1/10 at 9:22pm
OK I am just having fun with other peoples money. Let's make that AienWare better in every way than the Asus so we can feel good.

Get the QX9300 2.53Ghz will edge the 720QM in quad threaded but loses in single/dual apps. $950? But for $494 the 820QM would beat the QX9300 in all ways?

8GB RAM $350? OK so they both have 8GB.

HDD 2x500 @7200 RAID $50.

So for $4028 AW beats the Asus, well not with the CPU in games and the GPU is yet to be seen. Oh and the Asus has an extra year of warranty. But it kills with RAID, 16:10 resolution. After 20% off $3222 vs $1509 for total domination, well not with warranty, CPU?

Whitey it sounds like you have done some research and do have a good bit of knowledge but. Have you followed mobile CPU prices? I have for about 2 years. Funny thing is they don't exactly drop. OK yea the top offered is always at a certain price point so what was #1 drops to #2 price point within same architecture. Any savings you might get you lose with the investment in the first CPU. This is also only with the top not the lower ones their price adjustments are much less pronounced.

But you are talking about an architecture that is being fazed out. What I mentioned above will not happen as no new introduction of new C2Q to have the dramatic pricing affect. Further as I said I have watched CPU prices. When Penryn displaced Merom the Meron actually cost more through mainstream channels. It is the whole supply and demand thing. No supply drives up prices even with almost no demand. That is the flaw in your logic on dropping C2Q prices in my opinion. I have watched several cycles of this. Even Meron and Penryn which are both C2. C2 and i7 is a much bigger disparity. DDR RAM is not cheaper than DDR2? DDR2 price is going up DDR3 is coming down.

I guess I am sure at this point you couldn't care less what I have to say but. Your logical intuitive assumptions are 100% incorrect because you are missing one critical piece of the puzzle. Heavy control of the supply and distribution channels. And yes while there is AMD because of platform incompatibility once you choose you are effectively dealing with a monopoly. Those are the reasons why all your free market assumptions are wrong.

Get the Alienware notebooks are very personal and a big investment so what ever you like is more important. Even if save you money if you are not happy that is not good.

But do consider waiting I know DeLL and Alienware can be very slow to adopt, look at Dell's adoption of Santa Rosa platform? They rode Napa into the ground even HP switched months before. Alienware kept AMD up to or past C2D being mainstream. It is not just that a big ship needs time to adjust course I mean look at HP? To me it is an arrogance that they have their market at their mercy. Since the events I mentioned DeLL has lost substantial market share. AlienWare is no longer the only well known gaming system. Anyone in the know knows about Clevo.

Good luck, best wishes and most of all happy new year!
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post #12 of 17
1/1/10 at 10:18pm
Thread Starter 
the only only only way i would go with an i7 laptop is if clevo had a platform that supported the desktop i7 processor and dual GTX 280m's and since there are none that can do that rite now i had chosen to go with the clevo platform that supported dual GTX 280m's but it only supported core2 processors. but it was fine by me since i know that the i7 provides no added performance in gaming scenarios. yes in multi threaded applications like video editing and the like it would come in handy but for me its pointless to have another i7 rig. so thats when i found my company gets the discount and thats when i decided to go with alienware. i had thought about going ASUS for a while but im not a big fan of their products, the only thing i like about ASUS is their motherboards which are definitely quality ones. and as for HP, im not a big fan of theirs either since they have provided me with horrible service. but Dell has proven to have great service when it comes to repairs and tech support. so going with an alienware laptop seemed to be the safest way to go about things. who knows, maybe i am making a mistake by going with alienware but i could be making an even bigger mistake by going with ASUS, and it is exactly like you said, getting something you like is always whats important, if i were to get the ASUS and i ran into what ATI is famous for "horrible driver support" i would have all of this graphics processing power and wouldnt be able to use it because of muffed up driver support, not to mention the fact that its brand new to the mobile computing world so no one even knows how this laptop will perform or even what issues will come with it. IMO buying brand new technology is rarely the safest way to go. id rather buy a 2600 dollars working machine rather then risking 1700 dollars as a guinea pig because thats exactly what i would be if i went for the ASUS laptop lol.
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post #13 of 17
1/1/10 at 10:31pm
My m17x has full warranty until September 2013. The build quality of the 17x is better than any laptop I have ever seen, even the new all-aluminum Apple unibody systems. It is thinner than my old M1730 but seems so much more compct and "denser", if that means anything. It honestly feels like a solid piece of steel in my hands. It does not get hot like my old M1730, even with the dual 280m cards enabled. With the 280m's disabled, I get over 2.5 hours of battery runtime. It's obvious that a lot of R&D went into the m17x, which is why they have not switched to the I7 yet. I guess a good comparison would be the difference in buying a Lexus LS 460 or a Hyundai Equus. While the performace may be the same, only one is a Lexus.
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post #14 of 17
1/1/10 at 10:34pm
Edit: to OP:
I see your point I am just a poor man. You are correct the Asus is not even out yet I do hope for the best but not always the reality. ATI does have a history say the W90? So yea like I said easier spending your money than mine. Do get the warranty and not the CPU upgrade you considered. Here is a chart from Anandtech I captured in the past to give you an idea on your L2 cache question. And since you mentioned DeLL support I say pay for support will give you a working computer for longer. Here it is.

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post #15 of 17
1/1/10 at 11:10pm
Thread Starter 
well fortunately for me i do not use any of those apps haha. but even if i did need to create a powerpoint presentation there is always my desktop. so i definitely will be going with the slower processor and just overclocking it a bit to move the bottleneck over to the GPU's. one thing that definitely made me chose this alienware lappy over the clevo desktop i7 lappy was the fact that it does not support any sort of overclocking on the regular chips. the only one that could be overclocked was the extreme edition one which we all know is expensive as hell lol.

thanks for the chart though. it helped me come to my conclusion of going with the slower clocked processor. now i just cant wait to order it =] although its going to suck having to work 1-1 shifts for a week or two but at least ill have this new lappy to look forward to haha
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post #16 of 17
1/2/10 at 2:39am
Might be worth it to wait for CES to make your decision. Should be some interesting announcements.

Regarding the original question I would get the lowest possible proc through Dell and buy the T9900 from HP for $340. Hold on to the original proc for warranty purposes.
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post #17 of 17
1/2/10 at 3:15am
Thread Starter 
Yeh thats what im gunna do except instead of buying the t9900 im just going to overclock the p8600 to the best of my abilities and if thats not enough then i would consider an upgrade but from what ive seen it rly wont make a big difference with the lesser frequency especially since i should be able to overclock it up to around 2.8 ghz which would help to shift the bottleneck over to the gpu's
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