About to pull the trigger...

tomorrow morning on a new M17x R3. I loved (well, still love) my M11x R2, which I use when travelling, but want some more power (and bigger display) in a gaming laptop. Have a quick question... Here is my build:

Intel® Core™ i7 2760QM 2.4GHz
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M
500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO

The drives will be swapped with a spare 128GB SSD I have, and throwing a 500GB Hybrid in as a storage drive. If I have to upgrade aftermarket memory, I will. Have no interest in 3-D gaming, so didn't get the 120Hz display.

Besides normal laptop use & video editing, games will likely be ME, ME2, ME3, DA, DA2, SC2, ARMA II (and a MMO or two). I understand you can't run same setting on a laptop as my desktop rig.

The question I have is it really worth the $500 for the upgrade to the 580M given the above usage?

Thanks!

 

Well if the price in this thread is correct, it seems like a steep step up in price for an upgrade.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/610957-nvidia-gtx-580m-available-aw-m17x-r3.html

Might be better off just buying it separate, and selling the 560M. or keeping for a backup.

That's just my opinion. I'm new to alienware

 

Drop the ram and HDD to stock and upgrade the GPU to 6990m.

The 580m has throttle isues so no.

And contact a rep. for discount.

 

My 460m can play most of those game maxed out with the exception of dragon age 2 (I can run it on high with no problems, just not ultra). It really comes down to how much money you are willing to spend and how much performance you want. If you want to play games maxed out for some time, go with the 6990. If playing new games (Battlefield 3, Skyrim) maxed out is not a huge concern of yours, go with the 560m.

 

Thanks for the input folks, I appreciate it.

Just placed the order with the rep. As recommended, dropped the RAM and HDD to stock and upgraded to the 6990m. Was able to get an additional 2% off on top of the discounts being run already, as well as free NBD.

Again, thanks, looking forward to getting it...

Cheers,

 

If you are not interested in gaming on 3d, why not just get the 6990m? It's on par with 580m and a lot cheaper.

 

Gaming in 3d on a laptop is mostly a gimmick because there just isnt enough horsepower to render it properly.

So in my mind, there is no reason to pay more for the 580m...go 6990 all the way.

BTW, i was playing The WITCHER 2 last night on my lappy (i.e., with 6990m)...it ran perfectly smooth at 1920x1080 with everything turned on and up

On my previous laptop (asus g73, nvidia gtx 460m OC'ed to faster than 560m speeds), i had to turn down the resolution to 1600x1024, and i had to selectively turn off certain things like depth of field etc...and it still runs so much smoother on my new Alienware with 6990m.

IMO, the 560m is completely inadequate for balls out gaming...560m is only good for casual gaming and be ready to do a lot of graphical tweaking to get it to run decently.

 

Am glad you got the 6990m

 

Congrats on your new system

 

Well, it arrived!

Have to say not too impressed with the box it came in. Thankfully I live in a building where someone I know can sign for a package 24x7. While I understand the need for advertising...

Gee, I wonder what's in this box...



Let's open it and see.. Wow, another box, I wonder what's in this one... It's like those toys where there is a box in a box in a box..



Mamma didn't raise no weakling power supply. The PS on this thing is huge...

Yes, I did wear the hat during the remainder of the unboxing...



As mentioned about, got the stock HDD and RAM. Here are the after-market upgrades I'll install later. Specifically a Corsair M4 256GB SSD and 8GB Kingston HyperX)



First order of business, plug in my WD Passport, and a bootable USB thumbdrive with Acronis on it.



Created an image of the drive, saving it to the Passport.



While it was imaging, took the time to download all the latest drivers from the Dell site onto another USB key. Updated the firmware on the SSD. Couple hours later, all done.



Now for the hardware upgrades. Swapped the stock HDD to the other bay (going to use it for storage) and installed the SSD and the RAM.



Created another bootable USB key containing the Win7 iso, which I downloaded from DigitalRiver. Installed using the license key on the sticker on the bottom of the laptop. Could have used the included Dell Windows7 DVD, but wanted to get things as vanilla as possible.



Updated Windows, installed all the drivers, and now get to customize and play.



All in all, I love this machine. Still love my M11x for when I need something really portable, but glad I clicked the buy button on the M17x.

 

You should put the M4 SSD in port1, the one below the GPU, go into the bios and change the boot priority to secondary HDD. Reason is although your boot drive came in port0, it has problems sometimes achieving proper sata III speeds. Try a WEI, users report 7.7 (the max for sata II) in port0 and 7.9 in port1.

 

Hmmmm.... Thanks.. WEI is 7.7. Let me swap them now and re-run WEI.

 

ou meeen, im just waiting for my A.
But when i saw your pics.... beutiful.... awesome.
i like it, thank you for sharing.