Opinions on the 1440x900 screen and 4870?

Hi folks, I keep going back and forth on buying an M17x (R2) or not. Outlet prices this weekend are a few hundred less than what they have been, and the outlet is basically the only way I can afford one. The thing is that most of the ones that are in my spending range have the "low res" screen and the older 4870 graphics card (some with dual cards). Not to mention there's only about 20 R2's left at this time.

I would prefer the better screen and a 5870 but I'm wondering if they're really necessary. I mean, other than being a lower resolution, does the base screen suck? Technically it's still higher than 720p at 17 inches, most people would say you can't tell the difference between 720 and 1080 on a 42" TV so is it that noticeable on a laptop screen of that size? I'm wondering if it's perhaps wise to save a few bucks on that and if I really want a higher resolution just get an external monitor (one of the reasons I'm going laptop at all is so I can occasionally plug it into my 1080p HDTV).

Is the 4870 comparable to the 5870 but just without DX11 support or does the 5870 smoke it across the board? Most of my gaming is probably going to be older titles like Flight Sim 2004, FSX, Silent Hunter 4, GTR / RFactor, IL2. I've never even played a DX10 game (mostly because I don't have any hardware to support it yet). Obviously there will be newer titles but I would think DX10 will still be utilized for several years - or at least be an option for most new games for a while? Should I go for dual 4870's for the extra power or is it more of a headache than what it's worth - and I think this is possible but I can turn off Crossfire and just run on one card if I want right?

 

The screen resolution in my humble opinion matters a lot and there is a massive difference. The 4870 or dual setup would be fine.
However since your going to be connecting it up to a external monitor or tele then yeh you'll be fine with the lower RES screen. No biggy then. If you see a good setup in the outlet with RGB LED monitor then bang quickly grab that one. The RGB LED screen is amazing!!!

Edit: see bottom post (it seems that if you overclock the 4870 cards you effectively have the same performance as a 5870 card). Brilliant ey!!!
The 5870 would "beat" the 4870 however DX 11 on a first gen DX11 card will be hit and miss. You will still be able to game pretty well on the 4870 card. A lot of people here on these forums are still running them with great results. Also if your running the above titles and lower older games then yeh you'll be fine. The 4870 or dual 4870 setup are still very for-middable. They would put up a good showing and fight.

Dual 4870s would be a good choice. If you have any major problems you could always just disable crossfire. So far no major issues though.

Cheers.

 

Like reborn says, I'd go for the higher res screen, simply because its RGBLED. One of the best, brightest, most vivid displays around.

If money is a consideration, then definitely chose the dual 4870, will give you enough horsepower for today's games, and even future games (though you'll probably have to turn down some settings)

 

I run with dual 4870s and haven't really had problems. it plays all of my games very well to excellent on highest settings. Only 1 game, Dead Space, I needed to go down a bit on but that is because they never patched the mouse problem and medium on some settings actually helps the mouse problem.

 

So would you say if an available system had the RGBLED but a less powerful processor than you really wanted, go for it anyway and try to upgrade the processor later? I'm thinking a processor upgrade is far easier than a display upgrade?

Also - this is probably kind of a noob question but if I had something that I found I needed to lower resolution on a little in order to pick up some frames or run additional GFX filters, I can do that with the higher res screen? Like say try running at 1680x950 if 1920 x 1200 was too much of a strain. Or does it force the native resolution all the time? I know it will look "best" at the native res but I guess what I'm getting at is with a higher resolution display I at least have the option of going lower if need be but I can't go any higher than what the native resolution of the display is. Right?

 

go for the Better screen, it is much easier and cheaper to upgrade the CPU

 

AHuhs that is correct.
You can change the resolution down anytime you want. You can even create custom resolutions. So yeh in games or whatever you are running you can lower the RES. Most people used to run at a lower res for Crysis when it first came out. It was just way too demanding to run at FULL HD res settings. Is still quite demanding today even. Can't wait for Crysis 2 lol

The screen would be a much nicer thing to purchase upfront. CPU upgrades are def far easier to do later on. Also much cheaper.

Cheers.

 

Smoke is a little incorrect as the performance increase is only 15-25% which i can achieve a 28% overclock for the memory and 22% increase on the core (675/1140|550/888) and get similar performance to a 5870 setup. they are marginally better at most PPL just got really hyped about the 5870's. It is good though to look forward to an upgrade to the 5870's or w/e later on, but as for now the 4870's are not that far off from the 5870's.

Actually I get a higher bandwidth on my cards(oC'ed) compared to the stock 5870's. and almost the same pixel/texture fill rates. Now, if the 5870's where to be Overclocked that is a different story



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But for the OP the RGBLED is amazing and definitely should be part of the build.