I need suggestion whether to replace / keep m17x r3.

Hi, i bought m17x r3 a year ago.
my current spec:
M17x R3 i7 2960XM - Modded A08 bios - 16GB HyperX @1600Mhz - Bigfoot Killer 1103 Wifi - 2 x 256GB Crucial M4 SSD - nVidia GTX 460m - 120hz 3D 1080p.

so far m17x r3 working flawlessly. no heat issue / no issue at all.

only thing bothers me is the graphics card that i use .. after seeing 680m release, im not sure whether to sell my current system just for 680m. or should i wait and upgrade 680m on my current system? even with 680m upgrade on m17x r3, does it support 120hz / 3d screen? i dont care about 3d, coz i dont use it much (i have hmz-t1). but i cant miss 120hz.

but, my question is.. will it work without any problem on m17x r3? does it require m17x r4 bios update?

please advise . im very confused

 

You should have no problem installing the 680m and it should support the 3d.

 

basically whats the major difference with m17x r3 and r4 apart from ivy bridge.
i read somewhere in wizedu's post that m17x r3 wont support 3d with 675m gtx. so it would be the same for 680m as well?

 

You may loose 3D then. Don't take my word for it just in case its not true.

The R4 has an mSata Slot.. That's it as far as I know lol. Don't know if the R3 has USB 3.0, the R4 does anyway.

 

Here are the main differences.
You can sell it on ebay and get the new one, you will have better graphics, processor and the mSATA drive

 

The 2960XM is plenty of CPU for anything out there right now. I did a 460M to a 485M swap, and it was plug'n'play. I lost the 3D support, but I never used it anyway. Sadly the 485M is dead and I had to go back to the 460M.

The same should pretty much happen with the 680M. The 3D support will probably be gone once your after-market 680M has been installed. A BIOS update should not be required.

 

I'd say keep the laptop. It's not exactly age old yet, even for a gamer. Upgrade the GPU at most, if the need arises. But besides that, the CPU is great still!

 

This link says:

M17x R4
Hard Drive
- SATA II up to 1TB / SSD up to 256GB
- RAID 0 and RAID 1 configurations
- mSATA SSD (SATA II & SATA III)

M17x R3
- SATA II (up to 1TB) / SSD up to 256GB
- RAID 0 and RAID 1 configurations
- No mSATA SSD

Is this true? I thought the R4s hard drive bays were both SATA III and the MSATA bay was only SATA II

 

The R3 has 2 USB 3.0 slots compared to 4 for the R4.

There isn't much of a difference between the R3 to R4 that would warrant an upgrade. Just upgrade your GPU to the 7970M or 680M if you can afford it. This will "future proof" your system for the next couple of years. Since you already have the top Sandy Bridge CPU, the upgrade to Ivy Bridge won't be a noticeable difference.

I would definitely hold off until the R5 or R6 (that's what I plan on doing). Hopefully we'll see some design changes and perhaps some better air flow for cooling.

 

The SATA specs are off. The first HDD in the R3 will operate at SATA III speeds unless RAID 0/1 is being utilized.

 

I was more concerned about the R4. I started a new thread to address my concerns so I don't hijack this one.

 

i'll keep my m17x r3 and wait for r5 / r6.

 

Any other comments from existing m17x r3 owners? do you feel like upgrading your laptop to r4?

 

I wouldn't. For me, the 2720QM has plenty of power for any of the games that I play. I could go for a graphics card upgrade and an SSD, but this thing has been great to me so far. My previous system lasted me for over 3 years, so hopefully this one will as well.

 

I see no reason to move to the R4. My R3 has all the horsepower I need, maybe a GPU upgrade in the future to the 7970 but that also really is not needed

 

M17x R3

- Up to 2.3GHz (Intel Core i7-2820QM)
- Up to 32GB (DDR3 1333Mhz)
- SATA II (up to 1TB) / SSD up to 256GB
- Dell Wireless 1501 card


Are you kidding me?

This forum is plenty of members with a higher cpu, ddr3 1600 (like me), bigger ssd and wifi killer 6100 and 6300.

 

The only thing you need is a new vidcard. Everything in your laptop is top notch...and because you have the 120hz screen, the 680m has your name on it

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

Not worth to switch at the moment imo.

 

I am looking at upgrading to 680M if I can see actual test/benches from fellow nbr peeps. Aside from the GPU, I am planning to use this R3 until before my warranty expires