Some 555M questions (and other general ones)

I've been doing some thinking, and here's what Ive gathered.

-The processor is hot, with some reporting almost 95 degrees which is 5 degrees from the shutdown mark. So to compensate that wouldnt that be why they put the 555M in? It seems to run fairly cool at 60 degrees.
-It may only be the top of the line of the GT series instead of something in the GTX range, but I've seen a video of it doing a more than playable fps on Metro 2033 maxed @ 1600x900. So why do people say its terrible and like an 8800GT?
- Is it really overpriced? I mean its alienware so its obviously overpriced a bit, but is the 555M really that weak for a 14 inch laptop? (Kind of ties in with the last question)
-Last one. Some users have said that its comparable to a 540M, is that true? Because if so, Ive seen other 14 inch laptops with a sandybridge i5 and 540M, so wouldnt that make the m14x almost obsolete?

Some question may be more views, so I really just want some comments and feedback on my thoughts lol

 

The 555m is pretty significantly (40-50%) faster than the 540m, especially as resolution increases. The 192 bit memory bus (vs 128) makes a huge difference, not to mention the 144 shaders (vs 96).

Once the 555m is overclocked (which has a negligible effect on temps), it will blow the 540m out of the water. Think of it like this: increasing 144 shaders by 10Mhz each is a much larger difference than increasing 96 shaders by 10Mhz each. each. Make it 100Mhz and the difference is much more pronounced.

 

Yes, I have M14X 2 weeks and all games (BFBC2, COD MW2, COD Black Ops, Crysis 2, Homefront, Mass Effect 2 , AVP, Red Faction Armageddon, Dead Space 2, Lost Planet 2) are playable full settings 1600x900 + DirX11+Physics where applicable.
My setup does not get over 80c and I have all highly overclocked except mouse.

 

You said "all highly overclocked" Do you mean on Everything? - CPU, Graphic Card(Obviously ), RAM. And how on earth do u overclock a mouse?

 

I guess you can ramp up the sensitivity and your mouse cursor will be so fast you can't control it.

I too am curious about "highly overclocked". It's so controversial - some people's M14x are overheating @ stock and other's are happily overclocking.... what's the catch here?

- for those who are overheating, is your country currently in super hot summer or something?
- for those who overclock perfectly... are you using any custom coolers (CPU/GPU paste, cooling pad, ice block..... air conditioning.... etc)

 

I think he means game graphic settings

All settings "overclocked" except mouse

But do you think they couldve put anything more powerful in the m14x?

 

"overclocked mouse" = increase the polling rate of the USB port so it checks for inputs more frequently maybe?

What I want to know is why did they direct solder the graphics card in rather than have it replaceable...

 

Probably cause of power restrictions and a dedicated card would of increased the weight and size of the laptop. Dedicated card also means dedicated fan too

also, is there such thing as dedicated cards with nvidia optimus?

 

According to notebook check, the gt540m vs the gt555m, it's around a 5-15 difference in fps on most games. Metro 2033 maxed out on the gt555m? 6.3 fps on ultra, about 18 on high, neither of which playable, are you sure it was maxed out? The gt555m is fine for moderate gaming, but not for newer titles maxed out, medium on crysis 2 handles okay. Older titles, piece of cake. Tf2, lfd2, hl2, other source based games, i get 80 plus maxed out, tho it stays at 60 fps for me cuz vsync is enabled, i hate image tearing I love my m14x, but my friend's getting the new asus g53 with the gtx 560m (not gtx 460!) maybe if i waited i would have gotten the asus just based on specs.(i have a small notebook for portability) Gtx 560m plays metro 2033 50% better too. Framerates i've gotten: 25-40 in crysis 2 on medium at 1600x900 reso, 30-40 maxed out on bfbc2, 30-50 on black ops

Metro 2033 fps taken from Notebookcheck.com Nvidia GT555m
low:
62.5 66.7 ~ 65 fps Compare
med.:
34.7 39.2 ~ 37 fps Compare
high:
17.9 20.4 ~ 19 fps Compare
ultra:
6.3 7.5 ~ 7 fps Compare
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-555M.41933.0.html
These framerates were probably at a lower resolution than a 1600 by 900 as well.

 

They could have put something like 6850M or 6870M, or at least they should also have put in the 5870M, and like I used to post in one of this similar topic, that someone suggest AW put the 555M because of the Optimus, but I dont see any advantages of Optimus, nothing but troubles, especially when on battery.

 

I think the same, in the m17x they put a 6870m that can switch, why not put an AMD in the m14x?

Or at least a 560m

 

Because that's exactly what they'll do and you'll have to pay to upgrade.

M14x is near a perfect laptop for many people - if they get everything right in R1, no one's gonna fall for the R2....R3 even lol.

 

The mouse OF COARRRSSE lol

Yes processor on max through bios turbo-ing 2.93 GHZ, ram 1600 through bios, graphics 720/1440/1080 afterburner - did not try higher as I don't need it YET. Temps 78 max on processor, video card 63 max, HDD 50-55 C. All stable, this all after playing a game for an hour or two. Room temperature +/- 20C.

 

You just wait, theres a good amount they can fix/upgrade starting with the fans, unless of course they do a bios update for that.

 

Yeah, I saw the notebookcheck numbers..


YouTube - ‪SM - Metro 2033 on Alienware m14x Highest Settings‬‏

But I also saw that video. Looks good to me

Well, I think that kind of solves it all unless you wish to comment on that video. I may be ordering this weekend as I got alot of money for graduation and that pretty much gives me more than enough.

I kind of know a Dell guy who can give me a decent deal, but he said the way it works I have to get 3gb video card for free and then I get a free ram upgrade, so dont freak out on my specs.

EDIT: Really, what hes doing is giving me the deal with the 3gb video card and 6gb of RAM, then with that he can add the HD+ screen and 8gb of RAM for free. He said it saves me more money because he doesnt want to take too much more off

 

Are you suggesting m14x orgy? I think yes.

 

hey how do u make sure that your games are running nvidia? Because i checked my device manager and it says both the intel stock one and the Nvidia dedicated are enabled? Do u just disable the intel one before gaming or?