[India] alienware 17 3d with gtx 770m or alienware 17 with gtx 780m no 3d?

Gonna buy dell refurbished alienware 17 3d with gtx 770m or alienware 17 with gtx 780m ?
if i buy gtx 780m will i be able to upgrade to 3d display in future ?
which do u think is the better choice ? the 3d with gtx 770m costs 250$ more

 

Hmm, that's a tough one. I'd say this boils down to personal preference.

The 780M will outperform the 770M by a good margin. If FPS is important to you, then you may want that. You can upgrade to 120Hz later. The 780M definitely supports 3D. However, the upgrade will not be easy or cheap. You will need a different cable and will need to find a screen, which will probably cost you close to $300.

The 3D is a nice option. If you don't mind lowering the settings in games a bit, then I say go for it. :thumbsup: You can also upgrade to the 780M later.

 

I would take the 780M.. 3D is a gimmick and honestly, your better off running games at 60Hz then with 3D...

 

Hi Tom, I'm interested in your opinion, which of course you are entitled to!

I have worked with a lot of people that have either upgraded to 120hz or purchased one and every one of them has stated that the display is far superior for gaming. I know the general opinion that the brain cannot detect over 30FPS but this is frankly rubbish. You might not be able to 'see' the faster refresh rate when a game is running under 60FPS but the brain sure can - it is analogue after all. Just more relaxing on the eyes. Along with the high clarity of the 120hz I would hate to go back.

Personally I purchased both at the same time, within 5 mins I decided the 120hz was clearly (sic) better! So the 60hz goes back.

And as for gimmick? Are you basing this on having seen 3D Vision gaming? The TV/Movie 3D is rubbish and deserves to fail, the system is of an ancient design and guaranteed to cause eye-strain. NV's 3D is totally different and in open world games is fantastic. Playing AC Unity in 3D ATM - that leap-of-faith is truly jaw dropping .

 

you have more grunt with a 780m.

 

I say 780m also. Me personally I would rather have 780m and no 3d than 770m with 3d. Unless you have the money to upgrade gpu later then deffinently go 120hz then.
Like jdre said that is a tough one to decide.

 

If you get the 770m then it may only come with a 2 pipe heatsink and you'll probably have to buy a new heatsink also.

 

Good spot. That along with a 180w PSU and the 780m becomes the model of choice - spend what you would on a 780m GPU and other parts on the display upgrade?

 

i'd go with the 780m cos if a way is discovered to get 980Ms working in the alienware 17 then all you need is to change the cards out: you have the heatsink and the GPU has a low power usage so a 240w PSU is all good.

 

Seems that getting the 980 to work is quite simple - as long as you like win 8.1. It just needs UEFI on and compatibility mode off when installing win 8 to allow boot. Seems the UEFI boot code does work even though the 'old' bios POST code is screwed up.

In this thread: Tech|Inferno Forums

 

Just thought I'd add a tidbit of information:

It will be much easier to upgrade a GPU - 770M to 780M - than it would be to upgrade the screen. The AW 17 is literally the easiest machine I've ever worked on, and replacing the GPU is about as easy as re-pasting the GPU. All it requires is a few extra minutes. A complete tear-down to replace a screen is tedious, much more complicated, and can lead to more problems if you don't know what you're doing. You may also damage the palm rest if you put the screws in the wrong area. Finding the parts may also prove be quite difficult.

Just remember to consider everything. That's all I'm saying.

 

wow, needs UEFI to be on? i don't even know how to do that!

 

Just a BIOS setting on any machine sold with win 8. You may find it's already on but the compatibility mode stops the 980m booting. If turning it off allows the machine to boot as normal then a reinstall should not be needed. Don't know yet, the info only came out earlier today!

@j.dre, pretty much exactly the same as I said to the guy when he PM'd me :thumbsup: The extra cost of a heatsink and PSU just makes it a more expensive (but far easier) option.

 

i think mine came with win 7 then i installed win 8.1.

 

I meant to say win 8 as an option for the model. The R4 had the options added mid-stream to the bios when win 8 released. UEFI code on the GPU's was not though, so R4 120hz owners have to use compatibility mode for it to boot. AW17 should be fine though assuming the 7xx cards are UEFI capable?

 

oh ok, cos i looked at my BIOS settings and the UEFI boot list is empty and I have no way of enabling it.

 

Don't know I'm afraid. Have a look back at the techinferno thread. Mr Fox has posted some bios pics.

 

i'm sure there's a way it just hasn't slapped me in the face yet!

 

It isn't the 3D that makes it better, the 120hz screen is just leaps and bounds better then the 60hz option. I don't use mine for the 3D hardly ever.

 

if you did get the 3D / 120hz display you lose out on having optimus and I am not sure if it's because of the 3D or of the 120Hz?

 

It's the 120Hz. The 3D is just an addition. But you can't have 3D without 120Hz because that's how manufacturers decided to do it.

"Losing out" on Optimus is probably the best thing about the package. You unleash the raw performance of the system.

 

The Intel GPU isn't capable of 120hz, hence disabling it

IF you were to flash an unlocked BIOS and enable it you risk bricking the machine when the Intel GPU tries to load...so not recommended. And as J.Dre has pointed out, "losing" Optimus is probably a benefit if anything...unless you are really trying to conserve battery in which case you bought the wrong laptop There are countless performance issues with Optimus so having it permanently disabled usually isn't considered all that bad.

 

I vote for 770m with 3D. Seen better is more important than FPS

 

OP, can you post the links for those refurbished systems here? I'm from India as well and I own a 3-year old R3. May be you and I could trade in some parts after you have bought your system as it will be under a warranty. Dell has abandoned my ship a long time ago.


Tapatalked from an iPhone 6...

 

i just don't think the 770m has the grunt to do 3D.

would have been a nice option on non-3D models too. I hardly game on the go cos the 17 is too big unless it was a lan event (do they even still happen?)

 

Not sure about the 770m. My 675m was fine on most games with a little compromise. And the 120hz display is very nice just in 'normal' mode.

Re Optimus, have you tried just disabling the Intel in device manager? Not seen anyone try this so it may not be helpful but maybe worth a try? Safe mode if it fails to boot to re-enable the iGPU...

 

i have it disabled...i just meant it should be disabled by default.