What to do??

I've read a lot of reviews and when the 590M was way more $$$ it was a no brainer to get the 6990M, but now they are equal in price. So now what? I really like Optimus technology on the 590 (seems much more user friendly then the ATI's version), but ATI has built in overclocking (I know you can overclock the 590). I know its personal preference to a degree, but with the price being equal what are your thoughts?

And heck with 15% off right now the one question I have is which video card. I plan to call to order to see if they can match aafes pricing (since I don't pay taxes if I buy through them).

Below is my build at this time, what you guys think?

Intel® Core™ i7 2860QM
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit (have a copy of PRO)
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (will upgrade to 16GB on my own, as $400 is way to much when I can get Kingston HyperX is 79 for 8GB)
2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M
256GB Solid State Drive SATA 3Gb/s w/ Secondary 750GB 7200RPM
17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader

Edward

 

Both got their pros and cons. The ATI was known to be good value for money but it is plagued with occasional heat infidelity, not a generous overclocking headroom and ATI driver installations pains. However the 580M is also known to have issues with GPU throttling and of course its price back then. Also you got to deal with Optimus, which can be a pain when you want to sometimes take manual control of GPU Switching and not let it decide for you.

If you can resolve the GPU throttling of the 580M (which there are a few number of threads addressing and resolving the issue on this form for the R3) and live with Optimus, then as of this time, it is a better buy than the 6990M because you get easier to install drivers, higher overclocking thresholds and it is a bit more powerful.

 

Thanks, its looks like I'll go with the 580m. I just hope I don't end up with the same problem I was reading about in the M18x forum about the 580m's.

Edward

 

you mean the throttling? You will be affected just all the other Alienware 580m owners. There are some things that you can do which includes a power throttle override and you have to keep your laptop as cool as possible...which means, repasting, and keeping the back of your laptop elevated

 

It was something about people getting error messages when trying to play 3D games. Seemed to indicate they had engineering samples... it appears from the posts that Dell is working on it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/616268-prototype-m18x.html

Edward

 

wow, how interesting. I doubt you will get this error

 

580m all the way, I had NOTHING but problems with my 6990m's before i sent the machine back.

 

I am throttle-free here too

 

No throttling here, but that wasn't always true.

A picture from the bad old days.

 

I'm 99% sure there's a throttle at 77C for all 580m's. If you're hitting 77 something is wrong imo.... I don't get anywhere near that on ultra on BF3. Maybe I'm lucky?

the throttle fix removes the 67-69C throttle but the 77C one is unfixable (and I wouldn't want it to be, thats a little too hot )

 

Why is everyone so afraid of temps above 75C ? It isnt hot enough to damage the card at 85C, or even 95C. Aggressive cooling is fine and all, but the fear factor I feel is growing out of proportion. Therefore throttling at 77C is just sad. Sorry this became an opinion piece; I'll get back on topic.
All things being equal, and that means price as well, the 580 will be overall a better value. AMD just doesnt have the tie-in to game developers like nVidia does.

 

the 6990m works like a dream!

 

I totally agree with you on the temps. However, I dont on the developer tie in. I have been gaming on various AMD cards for years now and it hasnt made enough of a difference with comprable cards. I thought that might change with PhysX but that never seemed to catch on as much as I thought...plus I dont think it makes enough of a difference to make a broad Nvidia over AMD reccomendation.

But to answer the OP with my thoughts, I dont really think it will matter much either way. Both cards are really close and edge each other out in different circumstances. Sure you might have to do a repaste and elevate the laptop with a 580m....but I had to do that for my AMD 5870m's. Sure you might have driver issues with the 6990m's but Nvidia isnt exactly driver issue free either.

In short, pick one and dont worry about it.

 

If you go hang out in the OC communities you will see that lots of evidence says anything over 80C is decreasing the life of the GPU substantially. I may change my mind, but right now I support the throttle to keep it under 80C. This way I can OC the core to the moon with little to no fear of damaging it or reducing the life of the card (since it simply won't be allowed to get over 80C).

 

But you'll hit 80 fast