CPU Question

Hello All,

Long time lurker, first time member/poster.

I wanted to ask the experts on this forum for some advice about CPU and gaming performance.

I am buying the m17x with the 7970m card, but have some issues with paying an additional $350 for 2MB more in L3 cache. I wanted to see your collective opinion on this topic and whether or not this is a good investment. The m17x will be used only for gaming, so I would like to know if the increased cache and core speed is worth that expense.

Here is my current configuration and cost:

note: I plan on upgrading the RAM myself.


i7-2860QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.6GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
6GB DDR3 at 1600MHz (2DIMMS)
750GB 7,200 RPM + 32GB mSATA Caching SSD
2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 7970M
17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
total cost = $2,324.00

Thank you all!

 

It it is only for gaming then I would suggest going for the lower option. The 2760QM is ample.

 

I personally would downgrade the processor down a notch and get a larger mSATA drive, but that's just me considering my 2630 handles all the games I play easily.

Edit: Ninja'd By Widezu

 

2760 is the sweet spot...you get another 100mhz for your $350 in the 2860. It ain't worth it.

 

That was another question I wanted to ask. regarding mSATA; Does dell install the OS native on the mSATA drive? Also, what are the "gains" to having mSATA over replacing the stock HDD with SSD?

 

you can have 2 platter hard drives in addition to the msata for windows.

 

see, that's why i ask the experts.

 

anytime, I'm not that much of an expert.

 

I agree with the 2760M

If you drop to the 2670M it doesnt support DDR3-1600 RAM so it will use it like DDR-1333 RAM.

Compare Intel® Products

 

Don't you believe it, the 2670QM supports 1600Mhz RAM just fine

 

Geo,

Do you have a referance for that?
According to Intel thats the fact (see Intel link in post 9)
My understanding is it will run, it just won run at full 1600, however it will report 1600 to your OS.

 

Just Google around: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...612563-i7-2670qm-i7-2720qm-2.html#post8091052

I used to have a 2630QM and HyperX 1600Mhz PnP worked at 1600. If CPU-Z reports it as 1600, then it works at that

 

I was about to add on, I know the 2630QM had support for 1600, just in the two bays though, and you could only use the two bays, not sure if its the same for the 2670 but I would think so.

I have a question on the msata though, if you can have two mechanical drives and this, where is the msata placed in the computer, theres not much room as is and to add another card something has to be changed/removed. I'm just wondering if anyone has comparison pictures of a laptop with a msata car in it just for my curiosity.

 

With the i7 core the "memory controller" function was moved onto the CPU die from the Northbridge controller.

The 2670QM memory controller does not support 1600 ram according to Intel.

Without good facts to the contrary I would go with the manufacturers specs for my buying decision ... which is why I passed on the 2670M.

I just bought my M17 r3 and went with the 2760 for that very reason.

 

Thank you all for the direction and advice. I have decided to go with the 2760 and invest that savings in mSATA at 64GB. Now it's just a waiting game for shipping 5/22/12. I will say that a CS rep for alienware/Dell stated that ALL ordered m17x's will ship with ivy bridge upgrade, so this may have been a moot thread.

 

shenson...google XMP profiles...you have those options in your bios

on the one hand, Intel tells you that official support isnt there for 1600 ddr3 in the 2630/2670 cpus...then they offer you XMP profiles on the other hand. ddr3 1600 works just fine

 

I have thhe 2670 and currently running on 1600mhz

 

Running 2 x 4GB Kingston 1600MHz PnP Grey Edition ram here on my lowly 2630QM at correct speeds (in case you were looking for more real world references)

 

Outstanding reply. XMP memory controllers was certianly the part I was missing. It looks as if XMP enabled RAM would just plug and play at 1600.

Could not find which CPUs have XMP enabled memory controllers. Intel just refers to it as an i7 function.

Thanks for the technical explination Slick.

 

I'm currently using 1600 on a 2630QM. Was plug and play for me...I guess XMP was enabled by default?

 

Your corsair vengance memory is XMP so it should be detected at boot and run at 1600.

A really good white paper on XMP...

http://www.intel.la/content/dam/doc/white-paper/extreme-memory-profile-ddr3-technology-paper.pdf

 

That explains it. Thanks! +rep