Help in buying Alienware 17

I am planning to buy an alienware 17 with the following specs

4th Gen i7 - 4910MQ
Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M (2GB)
16GB DDR3L RAM

I wanted to know if

1) Can i change the graphic card from the one above (860M) to 880M (8GB) after a fw months of purchase?
2) Is i7 - 4910MQ worth the price? Should I buy a 4700MQ instead? The price difference between the 2 processor models is around $500. I wanted to know whether 4910MQ is worth that investment.

 

I would save the money and get the 880M instead.. It will be more expensive to upgrade the GPU instead of the CPU so buy the 880M now...

 

Buying cards after is ALWAYS more expensive, 880M MXM card if you can even get them would be absurdly expensive (600+), not to talk about Alienware not covering the card, you'll need to do all the work.I would buy the 880M up front. You could always reduce the RAM amount and upgrade that later, that is far cheaper/easier to DIY.

 

go for an amd card or agtx780m but not the 880m at the moment.. there full of problems.

 

ALWAYS upgrade your GPU when you order, don't plan on doing it down the road because it is NOT cost effective at all. A new GPU as others have point out is going to run you a LOT more then you would pay nowto just upgrade it out of the gate.

Being as the 780m probably isn't an option your stuck with the 880m, but not everyone is having problems albeit there do seem to be quite a few. There is one guy floating around the forums who has been doing quite a lot of complaining about his but he has been trying to OC them since he opened up the box.

As for the CPU, what are you planning on doing with the laptop? is it just gaming? If so then the stock 4700mq would be more then enough. If you don't plan on OCing or just plan on playing games and not doing any video editing or heavily threaded CPU tasks I don't think the $500 is worth it and would be better off spent upgrading the GPU.

When it comes to GPU power it really can't be understated how much better an 880 series would be compared to an 860 series, they really are not even close.

Make sure it comes with the 1080 display and if you have the option I would suggest the 3D trulife screen because it makes a huge difference, it really makes stuff pop more then the regular screen. I recently upgraded my screen to that option and all I can say is WOW.

 

Get the 4710MQ and the GTX 880M. The 4910MQ is not worth the extra $500.

 

+1, Just to add, completely agree .

O/T MogRules, have you got to try the 3D? I know the display is awesome without using that but I'm interested in opinions ...

 

I has not not...I am still waiting for my 3D emitter to show up

Being that today is Canada day I won't see it today for sure but I might see it tomorrow. I am also leaving for holidays on Thursday morning so I may not get a chance to try it until I get back next week sometime. Can't wait for some days off heh...I am on day 11 of 12 right now..and today is a 12 hour but at stat pay I won't complain

I have not ordered the glasses yet but I am leaning towards the 2nd generation glasses as from what I can find online , most people say they do have a general overall better image so I might as well. Still going to test everything with my buddy's pair first but I will probably order them next week. I will be sure to update the 120hz 3D post when I do get it up and running

 

Cool, thanks for the update. Sounds like things are hectic ATM, I don't envy you all that, glad it's behind me now > old man!

As you know I'm following that thread so I should have known where you were at but with so many people trying this, and not one yet actually proved out the 3D bit, I'm kinda eager to know, haha

Oh, and having used both glasses (if I haven't already said this ) I would pay a little extra for the V2 glasses but a bargain pair of V1's would also be acceptable

 

Thanks guys for the replies..

So I have ruled out the 4910mq and considering the 4700mq instead.

I have another doubt.

I just saw that there isnt much of a difference in alienware 18. So would it be advisable for me to buy a alienware 18 with 4700mq and dual 860m (making it 4gb with the sli) .. I cant be investing on 880m as of now (it would go a bit over my budget) unless it is a dire need.
I like the fact that there are 2 graphic cards instead of one.. Is it really good to have or a single one is enough.

Secondly, are cpu's and gpu's upgradable down the road in alienware 18?

 

Honestly I would consider an 880m a dire need. I honestly don't think a gaming laptop like these should even be offered with an 860m but that's just my opinion. There is a HUGE gaming difference between the 860m and the 880m and while yes the 18 would come with 2 860m's I am not sure they are as good as a single 880m. The other thing to take into account is that not every game is going to be equipped for SLI or run as well with SLI. If you were to get an 18 and get 2 860m's then you would have 2 GPU's to upgrade down the road instead of one.

What are you looking at paying for an upgrade to the 880m now? Because they are probably just under $900 per card to buy aftermarket....the upgrade cost can't be $900 right now to buy straight from the factory.

CPU's and GPU's are upgradable in both machines but for how long no one knows. They could change the socket types and then upgrades are out the window.

 

860M SLI is already handcuffed. And no you don't get 4 GB of VRAM with SLI 2 GB cards. I would never buy SLI mid ranged cards, they already get pummeled by a single power GPU, but like I said earlier there is no upgrade path besides buying new cards outright if you want SLI.

 

You'd need to research the display options and quality as well since there is no 120hz option

 

I am also looking at buying an alienware 17 and am having trouble deciding on the right video card for me. My choices are the 860m, 770m and the m290x. I know about the 880m but that tacks on an amount of money I don't think I want to spend. This is the first gaming laptop I have ever bought so the more detailed answers I can get the better. I don't plan on playing any really demanding fps titles or anything as intense as crysis but I still want to be able to play other popular titles (dishonored, tomb raider, bioshock, etc.) at medium or higher settings.

Please let me know what you think.

 

Hi, have you thought about the 120hz display? A chunk of change but your GPU will be the one currently supplied for 3D and even if you don't need that power the display is just so much better - and I've polled a LOT of people, not a one that does not see an immediate improvement with 120hz! Just a thought .

My 680m handles those games at ultra easily so I'd hope all the ones you mention are good enough unless the 770m is a 675m (??), which started as a 580m , then it's going to struggle a little. The m920x is said to be a rebadge of the 7970m which is comparable to the 680m in most cases, if that helps

 

Thanks for the reply!

I have thought about that display, as of right now I know I'm only upgrading to the 1920x1080 display.

As for the video card, it's a 770m with 3GB GDDR5 while the 860m has 2GB GDDR5.

 

I just recently got my new Alienware 17 with the 1920x1080 screen, gtx 860m, i7 4710mq CPU and 16GB of RAM and have been able to run everything I've thrown at it on ultra settings. I've played Dishonored, bioshock infinite, borderlands 2, Star Trek online, Star Wars the old republic, Guild Wars 2 and Neverwinter and haven't had any issues with frame rate or heat.

Since I originally wrote this I now have also played EQ2, Battlefield 3, titanfall, Dayz standalone, Transformers Universe, marvel heroes and the new Archage beta. As before I ran in ultra or max settings with zero problems with framerate or heat.