Things are changing

Well, I was curious at what Alienware was doing about the 580m shortage and went to the site. I did the typical "Build and Customize" option on the M17xR3 and found something a bit telling...

There is no more option to pick your video card. It comes default with the ATI 6990. There is still the 3D option, but if you pick anything else, you can no longer choose even the 560m.

Looks like they are getting ready to update or they are just out of every NVIDIA card except those that are to be used with the 120hz 3D screens and even those are the 1.5GB 560m's. Wow...

Any other ideas?

 

So question. Say this monday, they update the line up and the price of the "older" models, say the 6990, go down. Would anyone within the return time period be able to ask for a retroactive rebate?

 

I see they are not offering the 2960XM on the M18X anymore.Maybe 3900 series coming soon?

 

Old news buddy, been like that for a few weeks now in some countries. GTX 580m's are probably being moved for repairs and replacements hence the shortage.

Alienware have done this before but I don't see a refresh any time soon. Ivy Bridge is delayed until the summer and the new GPUs probably won't be hitting until then.

This made me LOL. I know you are getting at the fact that the low powered card seems to be the only option for the 3D screen which does suck. However, vram doesn't affect performance that much. It would be even worse if it was a 3GB GT 555m. The 560m still outperforms it despite half the memory. But this wasn't flaming at you or anything, it just seems like you were a bit misinformed and I though I'd help you out a bit.

I hope that Alienware do put all the GPU options back before the R4 release.

Nah it probably won't work in the system without a bios update which Dell/Intel probably will never give. And the next gen XM is already out: i7 3920XM.

 

Nope, I know VRAM has little to do with performance. I've actually posted a number of times to show others the same thing. I was simply pointing out the fact that it was the 1.5GB version as opposed to anything else.

The 560m is what floored me. Yes, it could have been worse..a 555, or a 540...my point through the whole thing was that it was the lower powered card. They never offered a 555m with the M17x did they?

As far as old news, as of 2 days ago they were offering a choice on all M17xR3 models of the 560m or the other two Radeon cards. I was pointing out how that all video options had been removed so it can't be that old.

Don't mean to be a bit snippy, just read your reply as a bit derogatory.

 

No no I didn't mean for that to have been negative in any way. I interpereted your comment about the 560m wrongly that was my fault. Also the video card options have been missing from the UK site for at least a week which is where I got my info from. Sorry to have sounded negative, was not my intention at all

To answer the rest of your post, no they've never offered the 555m in the R3 but you can actually get them as MXM cards believe it or not!

 

NP widezu69, the biggest issue with forums is the lack of body language and inflection. Totally misread the tone and I apologize as well, so no worries

I heard the Canadian site had pulled them but when I went to look last Monday, the choice was still there on the American site. Went Friday evening to look again (cause I am so excited about getting mine in) and made a mental note that the only cards available were ATI with the exception of the 560m and wondered if they would be putting the 580m back or just keep it off and add the 675m when Ivy Bridge ships.

 

I don't think they will erase 580m from the lineup, as 680m will take some more time to come, 580m will be the king for a while (about 4 months?)

 

i have a feeling that the 580m will be replaced with the 670m or 675m. These aren't the next gen keplers, but rebrands with perhaps slight increases in clock speed or some BS "improvements"

 

Just shortages of the 580M, I asked them in chat a couple of times till I got the answer.

The difference might be the same as were the differences from 460M to 560M imo. Maybe even less!

I'm hoping it's the same 'cause I'm happy with what I have now, don't wanna be spending more money. God forbid the 680M coming next week. -_-

 

680 desktop is going to be paper launched in April. But real availability is a question mark. I've talked to a purchasing manager for one of the major computer chains here and that's what he's getting from his suppliers

The mobile 680's will be even longer

The 460m to 560m comparison is a good one for 580m to 675m. Probably less as the 560m can clock way higher than the 460m, but they are essentially the same card