M17X r4 7970M Vs 3D Battery Life\stability

So I am deciding between the M17X R4 7970M and the 3D Nvidia 675M

My concern is not the power, we all know the 7970M is more powerful, I am 3D freak and that is making it on equal ground for me.

My concern is how is the battery life when surfing and gaming on either? if you own one of the two please let me know, I am not asking about what Alienware says battery life is like, but what it truly is like in the real world.

also how stable is the 7970M? in my lifetime with computers I had two ATI cards and both failed me in many ways, from problems with incompatibility with some programs and games to just crashing for no reason what so ever, that was a looooong time ago and ATI might have come a long way since then

 

You know that u're damaging your eyes while looking on 3d screen?
7970M performs great. If you still want 3D and performance get m18x R2 with Dual 675M

 

^ Did you just blatantly ignore his post?

The M18x R2 doesn't have 3D? I'm sure it doesn't...

With 3D, 2 hours tops whilst web browsing or watching a film on battery, not possible to game.

We've had a few 7970Ms die already, and from my experience Nvidia is more reliable.

 

I think studies have showed that 3D doesnt damage your eyes anymore than a normal screen does (unless your under 8 or 5? i forgot)

and no the M18X doesnt have 3D option you are right GeoCake
so ATI still is making crap I see?..what a shame... oh well

 

Yeah, it can only damage your eyes when they're developing, e.g. Kids. I wouldn't call AMD crap tho, we've yet to see what Nvidia brings in response to the power of the 7970M.

 

lol true, but again what is power if it is just going to break down on you? I would take stability and reliability over power any day if that is the case

it is a bit sad tho that even tho AMD is more powerful it is still A LOT cheaper than Nvidia

 

That's the only reason I have an AMD card is because of pricing. If I could have got a 580m for the price I payed for my 6990m, I would have been all over that.

 

is it possible to run 3D games with amd7970M M17x connected to 3D LED TV?

 

I have used a lot graphics cards, and from my experience nvidia and AMD are about the same. I would get whatever is better performing for the price.

If you are really into 3d, that makes the choice easier as you can't use the 3d screen with the AMD card... I don't know if you can hook it up to a 3d tv though...

 

i've read somewhere in this forum where someone said you can use 3D with amd by using third party screen and software, so i was wondering if anyone can confirm about using it with 3d TV, then the OP wouldn't have trouble deciding whether to buy 7970 or the inferior 675 but have built in 3D support.

 

Ummm you guys know i asked about the battery life and stability difference between the two not if one can play 3D and the other can't right? lol

 

you did say that you're a 3D freak therefore i assume you'd mean if you chose 7970 (which is much better than 675 and roughly the same power drain if not more efficient) you'd lose the 3D capabilities.
so by having the option to use the 7970 for 3D in 3D tv, at least the choice is obvious. don't tell me that doesn't help

 

Hahaha yeah i am 3d freak thats why the 7970m is on the same level to me as the 675m

But what would make a good difference to me is if there is a good deal difference in battery life (tablets ruined me lol) unless ATI/AMD still had bad stability

Besides having an external monitor with 3D is an over kill for a 17 inch laptop setup in my opinion but thanks for the idea

 

if you are gaming on battery you wont get more than 1 hr out of any 17 incher... nvidia optimis will give you better battery life than AMD enduro but neither of those apply when you are gaming cuz your dedicated graphics card turns back on (unless you want to game on the battery using intel GMA) and calling the 7970m crap is far from the truth... most of the cards that have died were from ppl who did custom mods to get it to work in their laptops etc... think about how many 580m died right when they came out and ppl started overvolting them

bottom line... plug your laptop in when you are gaming

 

definitely no gaming while on battery, save for solitaires and minesweepers
laptop battery can't hope to provide the needed power to run any dedicated GPU, so if you do play heavy games such as bf3 on battery you would suffer from lost of huge amount of fps, rendering the game mostly unplayable at above medium or even low settings.

EDIT: there's no such thing as overkill btw, you do know you can play wirelessly on tv, right? so imagine yourself sitting in a super comfy lazboy while playing your m17x in a 55"/60" 3D LED TV.
thus why i need someone to confirm whether 7970m can actually play 3D games if connected to a 3D TV or not.

 

gaming on battery thats not really what i asked guys even tho i was curious about that i knew it should be like an hour or so lol ok cuz the 3D laptop is... well... 3D, the optimis WONT WORK, so for net surfing, youtube watching, how long would it last? both for the 3D laptop with 675M and 7970M

@black-bean hahaha yeah but a 3D TV will cost me more than the laptop! it would be fun i guess if you could afford it and was single (I am married and thats why I am getting a gaming laptop, using the console on TV is much harder now a days lol)

 

ok i sincerely apologize that this is really getting out of the topic but, i just can't resists

i agree it will cost more in total, but you do need a tv... everybody need a tv in their house. so while you're at it, lets buy something nice, plus 3D tvs are very affordable nowadays, i don't think it will cost more than a supped up m17x r4, coz i just bought one for my new home. and at less than 2 grands its cheaper than what the r4 costs me.
oh and i do have a family and i never be the one who's holding the remote (at least i enjoyed watching cartoons as much as my kid did)
my best bet would be late night gaming, when everybody in the house are in bed already. 1-2hours is all i can get during workdays, but its worth it.

anyway did you finally decided on what you're getting tho, zk85?

 

Hahaha yeah thats my problem as well, and for big games like skyrim, diablo 3... 1-2 hours at the end of the night is not gonna cut it I am waiting for the glassless 3D TVs to be out then I will buy my first 3D tV

For now a big 3D laptop should do the trick just fine and would be awesome for me to watch on a movie i like for a change lol

honestly I cant make up my mind, I am between those three

1. Asus G75 3D (AWESOME warranty, better cooling and a bit lighter than AW can get it for 1800$ but it has the 670M about 10 fps difference between it and 675M)

2. AW M17X R4 with 7970M (would lose the 3D but more powerful GPU and for about 1900$ and I am still not sure how much battery life difference )

3.AW M17X R4 3D ( 675M...3D..pretty...cant resist...but 2300$ worth it?)

knowing the battery life and the answers to some other questions I asked around the forum I might be able to decide sometime soon... I hope

 

If it helps I can get around 3 hours on my m17x R3 with a 6990m, so hopefully the 7970m would at least be able to match that.

I'd go with the AW with 7970m, it's a good buy I think... though the Asus does have a nice cooling solution and global warranty.

 

hmmm... thanks San Pedro, that is very helpful, especially the part about the warranty made me realize that it might be stupid on my part to let go of a 2 year global warranty with 1 year accidental damage and 30 days no dead pixels, especially since i dont live the states

its all about shiny vs practical...damn you alienware and your temptations! tho speaking of practical what I fear the most is that games will jump to a new much higher level of graphics once the new ps4 and xbox are released this coming years... then would the 670m be enough?

ok I am back to jumping between the two again

 

i'm going to help you again by not recommending your first option on asus g75, simply because its very hard to disassemble without breaking anything.
i'm currently using asus g73jh (anxiously waiting for my new R4), which according to technicians is the easiest to disassemble compared to g74 or g75, and the last time i tried to clean the fans by disassembling it myself i ended up breaking the onboard speaker connector in the motherboard (luckily service center can repair it).
now my 5870m idle temp is at about 70-76C, and i get shutdowns when i play D3!!! after only 1 hour, sometime 2 hours tops, and i can't do nothing about it, except sending the laptop for service for few days, which i couldn't afford the time as i need the laptop for my work.

so there you go, hope that helps.

ps: if you don't trust me, try youtube on how to disassemble asus g series and tell me if that didn't scare you.
btw, i owned several sony vaios before the asus and they are super easy for me to open up and clean, just so you know that i'm not a complete noob on disassembling a laptop.

 

There is no comparison between the performance of the 7970m vs 580m/675m

Whether you like AMD or not, you'd be crazy to spend more on a 675.

 

interesting, i trust you bro but i dont think this is still the case for g75, it looks SUPER easy I am very surprised actually.

one screw only and you get full access to ram and Hdd and the vents are the easiest i have seen to clean, you just pop open two separate compartments each held with only one screw and right on the bottom of the laptop and you would be IN the vent... they did say they made it super easy to clean compared to the older models, check it out on youtube and tell me if its the same as yours please? maybe there is something i am missing out or not getting right. check from 11:07 Asus G75VW Unboxing Review and Product Showcase - YouTube

thanks all for the tips and info

I agree, however my dislike of AMD is based on two HORRIBLE experiences I had with two different cards from them... ever since then I have been very... suspicious of them.

I guess i will wait a bit and see how stable this card is after all it would be even crazier to spend money on something that would break on you when you can spend a bit more and get something that would last right?

 

With electronics, if it lasts the first week of heavy use, it is probably good for the long haul. My 7970m has been solid for 5 weeks now...and most of that time its been either under heavy stress of benching, or gaming. Since D3 came out, i've been gaming 5hrs a day. I'm not worried.

 

I don't know if the asus warranty is global like Dell/Alienware, But I'd never even think about buying an asus laptop till they make the GPU upgrade-able, and put in a decent gaming GPU to start with. As to battery life, I've had my system for more than a year now, and I've used both optimus(460m) and this 6990m. Other than a few driver issues, the 6990m has ran great for me. I can also pull more than 3 hours of battery if I turn the brightness on the screen down, turn off the lights, and put it in battery saver mode.

 

Asus warranty is gloabal. Alienware is NOT. I looked long and hard into it. I bought my Alienware local for that very reason. It's something the op may want to look into as well.

 

saw the vids, but can't find the complete disassembly vids of g75.
pretty much the same with my g73 with the addition of intake fans opening (which is nice) and 1 less screw lol.
the thing is i don't like to just blow canned air thru holes, i want a complete brush on the parts and heat sinks, plus repasting, and i think its going to be hard to do on g75, but really the intake access is a real plus, they really addressed the problems ppl were having in the earlier models.

AW will be tons easier to access both the cpu and gpu, again you can check the vids on complete disassembly of the laptop ( Alienware M17x R3 R4 complete teardown / how to take apart / disassemble - Hidevolution.com - YouTube).
tho i have to mention that accessing the optical drive in AW is more painful than asus or many other laptop makes, due to the slot loading design, so you need to completely take apart the whole thing to finally get access to it.

 

as long as you transfer the warranty to your new address, you should be good to go with alienware. I haven't moved or anything so I haven't had to test it.

 

You can transfer ownership and country through Dells website. The warranty transfers, enabling you to receive local support. In essence, it's global coverage provided you complete the "paper work".

 

I transfered warrnaty for my m17x from the states to canada. In the states the warranty was next business day service, i thought i would get relatively the same warranty here in canada so i called to confirm with dell and they said until u do the warranty transfer paperwork, they cannot tell me what kind of warranty i would get after the transfer. So i did the paper work and after i transfered i found out that i need to ship it into the states and get it shipped back in case of problems. Paying both shipping and return shipping which amounts to almost 200$. I feel like i got ripped off but i had no other choice.

 

Well that certainly sucks. Did they explain why?

 

Straight from the alienware terms and conditions.

The full document can be found here: Alienware: Standard Terms and Conditions for Sale Agreement

 

Lol, really? I've owned desktop and laptop cards from almost every generation since the Voodoo2. The ONLY card that ever died on me was an nVidia 8800GT and it was several years old and had been overclocked for a long time.

Neither company makes crap hardware IMHO.

 

yeah me as well, tho I never ever had a single bad experience with Nividia but two ATI cards did fail really bad on me, not that i think that this is the case with all their cards (or that all Nvidia cards are the BEST out there)

it is just that when I was told that the 7970m died on a few users already I was like... oh boy... here it goes again

 

Damnnnnnn... thats sad..

I guess i will be getting an Asus G75 instead, even tho I would much rather the M17X, I just dont have the kind of money that I could throw around every time something happens to have it shipped back and forth

 

I'm not sure I follow.

You can change ownership and country; so say my dad buys one in the States and I bring it back to the UK, change the ownership and country it's registered in. I don't seriously have to ship it back to the US if it needs to be repaired for some reason? Surely I can just contact Dell in the UK, and at the worst have to send it to Alienware in Ireland?

 

What country are you in? Does dell have a website for your country?

Some have said their local dell dealers will service alienwares bought outside of their countries, but I wouldn't count on it. You can always contact your local dell and ask if they honor warranty for American alienwares.

The global warranty on the Asus is much more worry free it seems however.

 

unless your country's asus service center can't handle the g series, just like where i live at.
i have a rl friend here that owns an exactly the same asus g73 as mine, and when he needed repairs (was still covered in warranty), the local asus simply said they can't, because they don't carry g series model yet!!!

so don't be fooled by global warranty!!!

 

They didn't offer to send it to the states for repair? Did you contact Asus USA?

Anyway, please share where you live so others can benefit from the knowledge.

 

i live in Indonesia, and even if they did offer to send to USA for repairs, it would take weeks. don't think my friend can afford the time.

me, i don't have any problems with my g73 yet after almost 2 years, cept the overheating part, and its a pain to open up this thing and clean it.
worst thing happened, i broke the onboard speaker connector when trying to take apart the laptop for cleaning and repasting, but it was easily repaired by local non-brand laptop service center (my warranty was already expired).

as for dell tho, the service rep clearly says they could handle repairs for most alienware products, since they also carry and resell most of the models available in the US. i do believe they have to ship parts replacement from US if i somehow needed those, hopefully i won't be needing it ever.

btw we're really way out of topic here, this will be my last post here.