Questions about the Core 2 extreme Quad Q9300

I was Looking in the Del outlet for an R2 that would be more affordible, and it doens't seem that any of them have the I7s. I was wondering if the Intel 2 Quads were any good? If there is the option to upgrade the Outlet Laptops i would be Happy to but i don't seem to see any that are good for me. I have also noticed that they only have M17xs with either the Nvidia 260s or 280s. and the ATI 4870. no 5xxx from ati. How much would the Perforance of the machine be effected by the Inte Core 2 exreme Quad Q9300(25.3GHz., 12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)

•Alienware M17x Laptop
•Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad Processor QX9300 (2.53GHz, 12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
•500 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) with Free Fall Sensor
•500 GB Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive (7200 RPM) 2nd Drive
•8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
•Slot Load Blu-ray Disc Combo (DVD+/-RW & BD-ROM)
•Dual 1GB ATI CrossFireX, ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4870

It also have the 1200p Screen

 

there is plenty of r2 in the outlet with i5 and i7 make sure you are selecting m17x r2 once you click on m17x it is on the left hand side.

 

the qx9300 can be OC'd by a pretty large amount. only the 920/940 i7's are better once you take that into consideration. the 5870's are better than the 4870's, but not by a huge amount. You can OC the 4870's to be nearly on par with the 5870's.

 

Ok ive been looking through the R2s and this is what i found


Processor Processor Intel Core i7 740QM Quad Core Processor, 1.73GHz (2.93GHz Turbo Mode, 6M Cache)
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional
Hard Disk Drive 250 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Memory 8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
Media Bay Slot Load Blu-ray Disc Combo (DVD+/-RW & BD-ROM)
Video Crossfire 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5870
System Color Space Black
Laptop Screen 17 inch UltraSharp WUXGA (1920x1200) RGB LED Display
Laptop Battery 9 Cell Primary Battery
Network Interface Card Intel 6300 Wireless-N (2x2) Half Mini-Card
Bluetooth Wireless Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module
Hardware Upgrade 5.1 Channel Audio
210W/240W switchable Slim 3P A/C Adapter
125V Power Cord
Software Upgrade Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit Operating System DVD
Office Software Microsoft Works 9.0

and it will only cost me roughly $1800

 

The QX9300 is a lot better than the i7 740QM, however with that R2 model you are getting 5870s and RGBLED which are pretty damn nice, you can always upgrade the processor yourself later if you find it's not to your liking.

 

upgrade it to what, you'd need a i7 revision m17xr2 motherboard. you got a ball park estimate for that?

 

I think he's advising the OP to buy a not-so-maxed R2 with an i7 740QM, a pair of Xfire 5870s and RGB LED screen. He can then consider a CPU upgrade the CPU to something better if he's not satisfied with the performance of the 740QM.

 

Im currently using a compaq that has trouble loading web pages and can't even Play Solitar without lagging. It was a Freebe I got after fixing it up. I think getting the 740 would be more than satisfactory. My last Computer only had a Geforce 6600 and i was lucky i was even able to play Aion or WOW on it. So this laptop is going to be Magic for me, but that doesn't mean im willing to settle just because im not used to the performance. If there is something that i can't do Due to the Proccessor i will Upgrade when Needed. I can work on High end Computers and laptops thats not a problem. Just never had one. Im trying to get as much reearch and advice in as i can to make sure i get my money's Worth. So If you guys say keep looking into it i will take your advice and keep looking. But if it would be cheaper to just upgrade this one then i can handle that too.

 

I have the Qx9200, (stocked @ 2.4), running @ 2.80. I can get as much as 3.15 but anything over that gets unstable on my old M17x R1. I have nothing bad to say about it. I can run all my games on it fine. FFXIV, Crysis, SH Homecoming, ext...

Great CPU for the price. I would say if you are looking for a cost affective M17x, that is a great processor to go with.

Slice,
Red-XIX

 

up the vcore. Mine is prime 95 stable @ 3.2/1.3v. I actually was able to finish Vantage at 3.7 with the vcore cranked up. These cpu's are safe to run up to 1.4v as long as temps don't get bad. (90C+) 3.5 is perfectly stable at 1.4v but i don't really want to push the vcore that high for normal use. @3.2/1.3v i've yet to see any program hit 80c (excluding prime95).

 

this =P

10char

 

yeah, as for the core never hot being hot... I have yet to see temps over 78! even playing the most graphicly demanding games I never see 80! This is a great "cool" chip!

 

Has anyone run Battlefield 3 with an overclocked QX9300? I tried at 3.2GHz but it seems unstable...temps for two cores are hitting low 80s but i'm getting lots of spikes and FPS drops. Thanks in advanced!

System specs:
Alienware M17x R1
- Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300
- Dual Geforce GTX 280m SLI
- 8 GB RAM 1066 MHz
- 320 HDD 7200 rpm x 2

 

I think you might need to examine the vents, possibly clean them out and reapply thermal paste.

How drastic are the FPS drops? Give us an idea by mentioning highest and lowest figures.

 

I'll try to dust the vents out and clean it up. The FPS drops are range from 40 to even single digits on the lowest...But when i use the BF3 "render.perfoverlayvisible" command on console, I can see alot of spikes on the CPU line. So I had to downclock it to 3.06ghz to get it stable. I'll to get it to 3.2ghz again after I clean it up and see if it does anything. Thanks for the advice!

 

I havent had any issue with mine on BF3, or any other game I have tried for that matter. Im only clocked to 2.8Ghz. What Nvidia driver version are you running?
Your specs are identical to mine other that the clock setting, maybe it is a software issue.

 

This was primarily my reason for asking about the vents and thermals because what is being described is awfully peculiar throttling behaviour. I am not referring to the infamous M17X-R1 throttling issues from the days of yore, of course.