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SLI GTX 280m or GTX 260m SLI?

post #1 of 19
1/2/10 at 6:24pm
Thread Starter 
im here with a dilemma because i am ordering my new lappy soon and i was wondering if i should go with the 280m SLI setup and be forced to get a dual core CPU. or should i go with a quad core CPU and get the GTX 260 SLI? i could get the GTX 280 sli with the quad core but i would really feel like im spending too much lol even though its already going to cost clost to 2700. but yeh i really would not feel comfortable spending 3000+ on a laptop and neither would my parents haha even though im the one working for the money. so please let me know what you guys think about this dilemma
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post #2 of 19
1/2/10 at 6:31pm
If your planning on gaming get the best GPU and you can always upgrade the CPU later.

besides Dell charges too much for the CPUs - afermarket is better priced.
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post #3 of 19
1/2/10 at 6:41pm
Thread Starter 
sounds reasonable. ill just overclock the slower dual core processor and work that thing till it drops and then buy a quad core lol. hopefully i wont need to upgrade the CPU for another year of gaming =]
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post #4 of 19
1/2/10 at 9:52pm
4870XF
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post #5 of 19
1/2/10 at 11:07pm
Thread Starter 
the day i go ATI is the day nvidia has worse driver support lol. not to mention its an added 300 dollars to the GTX 280m sli. i was pondering CF 4870's but im an nvidia guy and i dont want ATI poisoning any of my gaming rigs although i dont mind recommending them to others if they have me build a computer for them because the price vs performance is very good on the ATI cards
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post #6 of 19
1/3/10 at 7:43am
I've owned both the 280Ms and 4870XF. The Cat 9.12 drivers are 10 times better than any nVidia drivers right now and the ATI cards being newer tech are about 20% more powerful. If money is the issue then it's a different story. There is a bigger difference between the 280s and 4870s then the 260s and 280s.
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post #7 of 19
1/3/10 at 4:54pm
Thread Starter 
well apparently dell lowered the price on the CF 4870's so maybe i will go for those after all. but i wont know for sure until i get into work tomorrow because dell offers completely different deals to my employer since dell is a client of ours. but this is with the slower 3mb cached core 2 duo CPU. so hopefully tomorrow my discount at dell will give me a bit of confidence to go ahead and get the extended warranty or a quad core CPU
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post #8 of 19
1/4/10 at 10:55pm
Is the 4870 really 20% better? I have not seen any hard evidence of that.

Mine came with CF 4870 but they were replaced with 280m SLI by Dell. Now that the 4870 probs are sorted out, maybe I should talk to Dell about getting those cards back.
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post #9 of 19
1/4/10 at 11:36pm
Thread Starter 
well i decided to go with the SLI'd 280's since i wanted to just go with what i know better. the ATI's im sure are better but not by a whole lot. i decided to save the 100 dollars and put it toward the warranty.
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post #10 of 19
1/5/10 at 12:01am
In all my years of owning computers, I have had two video cards fail on me. One was an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and the other was an ATI Radeon X1950XTX. I will never buy another ATI graphics card, under any circumstances. You made the right decision to go with the nVidia cards.
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post #11 of 19
1/5/10 at 12:38am
I had both ATi and NVIDIA fail, but i had 1000x better support from NVIDIA than ATI.

in this case it's really a moot point as Dell will be the one supporting the repairs either way.
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post #12 of 19
1/5/10 at 2:55am
Thread Starter 
well its not just better tech support from nvidia, its their driver support that helps them out. because even though they have released quite a few faulty drivers lately, they have been quick to release beta fixes and then WHQL drivers soon after. the 195 series has been a total wreck for nvidia though, but the beta drivers have seemed to work well although i never use beta drivers myself lol. but i cant wait to get my lappy. hopefully by next friday ill get it since the sales associate said it takes about 3-5 days to build then 3-5 days to ship with standard shipping and i got 2 day shipping so i should most likely get it next week =] im so excited to finally own an alienware laptop. (i would never buy an alienware desktop though... never!!! lol)
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post #13 of 19
1/5/10 at 3:03am
A person could easily build a desktop computer that is equal to an AW desktop computer for 1/2 to 2/3 the cost. The only downside is that he would not have a single point of contact for any issues. He would have to RMA defective parts through their respective vendors...which can be a hassle.
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post #14 of 19
1/5/10 at 3:09am
Thread Starter 
thats true, but thats part of picking out the proper components from the proper manufacturers. like for my build i went for EVGA products for my mobo and graphics cards which is the easiest RMA's ive dealt with lol. and then my CPU i always buy from a local store for their extended warranties. and the memory i always get OCZ with their overvolt protection without having to pay the price of corsair memory. though their RMA process from what i hear isnt the best but their customer service is great. but im basically my own tech support for the most part lol. which is also why i chose to go with alienware because of dell's great support. and since im not very familiar with the insides of laptops so id rather let them take a look at it then pry it open on my own lol
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post #15 of 19
1/5/10 at 4:08am
Yup, I agree 100%. Now, if I could just understand why people buy Apple computers. I wonder if it gives them an increased feeling of self-worth. I bought one for my daughter because that is what she wanted. She will go off to college in the fall, and she wants a 15" MBP. I may just let her grandmother buy it for her! I hate giving Steve Jobs any more of my money.
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post #16 of 19
1/5/10 at 4:14am
Thread Starter 
well the company i work for just allowed the attourneys the choice of a lenovo or a mac and this has only been like half a year and already these macs are having motherboard failures and NIC falures. and the lenovos are like 2 or three years old and usually for them all we get are keyboard replacements but not usually anything major. so i totally agree with you not wanting to throw more money at apple lol
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post #17 of 19
1/5/10 at 6:22am
I like my Apple they have been good and consistent performers over the years ...

cheers ...
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post #18 of 19
1/5/10 at 9:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by lewdvig View Post
Is the 4870 really 20% better? I have not seen any hard evidence of that.

Mine came with CF 4870 but they were replaced with 280m SLI by Dell. Now that the 4870 probs are sorted out, maybe I should talk to Dell about getting those cards back.
Take a look at the benchmark section. I haven't even posted my highs yet with the 4870s. My high GPU score in Vantage with nVidia is 12.1K. My high GPU score with ATI is 14.3K.

Out of the box with the latest drivers the 280s scored 10.3K and ATI scored 11.4K. Again I've owned both and the performance IS noticeable. With the poor drivers nVidia has been releasing I've had some stuttering and hang ups with FO3 with vsync on. I NEVER experienced such a thing with the ATI 4870s and I played a more intense games like Borderlands with it.

I'm even more biased towards the nVidia side myself. Before purchasing my current GPUs 4850s and 4870s (actually just sold this) I owned the nVidia 280Ms, 7950GTX, 8800GTX and 9800GTX. These ATI cards are the first gaming ATI cards I've owned. The ATI card in my Thinkpad don't count.
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post #19 of 19
1/5/10 at 11:57am
Thread Starter 
i see what you mean. and yes they do have more raw power. but i know the 19x series drivers are not very good from nvidia, and i have found that the 185 drivers work wonders with fallout 3 although the only DLC that has caused problems in the past in F3 is the point lookout one. but i just didnt want to risk getting the 4870's since im paying almost 2600 dollars and i have to work a month to get that money back lol. so i just decided to go with the nvidia cards. but trust me i was going crazy when it was decision time over which one to chose haha.
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