The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    i7 940xm / 8 GB 1333 MHz / 5870M Crossfire -> Which is bottleneck??

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Dellienware, Sep 19, 2011.

  1. Dellienware

    Dellienware Workstations & Ultrabooks

    Reputations:
    215
    Messages:
    1,588
    Likes Received:
    61
    Trophy Points:
    66
    My full specs for the R2 is in my sig. I was wondering if there will be any difference made for upgrading the ram to faster 1600mhz or even 1866mhz.

    Will this make any difference in hardcore gaming? What appears to be the bottleneck of the overall machine?

    Will increasing the RAM voltage in the bios make performance better? Is there any other way to increase the ram frequency through ocing?

    Any help would be appreciated. :D :D
     
    Dellienware, Sep 19, 2011
    #1
  2. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

    Reputations:
    7,383
    Messages:
    8,222
    Likes Received:
    182
    Trophy Points:
    231
    The mobo only supports upto 1333MHz, so anything over will be downclocked to run at 1333MHz
     
    DR650SE, Sep 19, 2011
    #2
  3. Dellienware

    Dellienware Workstations & Ultrabooks

    Reputations:
    215
    Messages:
    1,588
    Likes Received:
    61
    Trophy Points:
    66
    Thanks for clearing this up. So this means that we cant even overclock the default 1333mhz one?

    Do you think the 1333mhz is any bottleneck for loading?
     
    Dellienware, Sep 19, 2011
    #3
  4. TurbodTalon

    TurbodTalon Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,392
    Messages:
    3,147
    Likes Received:
    158
    Trophy Points:
    131
    There really is no bottleneck in your laptop. You have the best CPU (assuming you're using ThrottleStop), and a pair of 5870s, which are pretty awesome. Putting 6970s or 6990s in your laptop would improve performance, but it is a large investment. Still cheaper than an M18x by a long shot.
     
    TurbodTalon, Sep 19, 2011
    #4
  5. aarpcard

    aarpcard Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    606
    Messages:
    1,129
    Likes Received:
    284
    Trophy Points:
    101
    Ram can be overclocked using setfsb or the 5% fsb oc in the bios. Since it's a FSB OC it will OC your cpu and ram simultaneously.

    For example I currently have my ram running at ~1600mhz to match my cpu OC of 2.03ghz due to the 160mhz FSB (default is 133mhz)
     
    aarpcard, Sep 19, 2011
    #5
  6. Xavier227

    Xavier227 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    56
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Oh 6000 series are compatible with R2 ?
     
    Xavier227, Sep 19, 2011
    #6
  7. katalin_2003

    katalin_2003 NBR Spectre Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    14,963
    Messages:
    5,671
    Likes Received:
    1,521
    Trophy Points:
    331
    katalin_2003, Sep 19, 2011
    #7
  8. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

    Reputations:
    7,383
    Messages:
    8,222
    Likes Received:
    182
    Trophy Points:
    231
    Yea where have you been? :p See the Sig?
     
    DR650SE, Sep 19, 2011
    #8
  9. TurbodTalon

    TurbodTalon Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,392
    Messages:
    3,147
    Likes Received:
    158
    Trophy Points:
    131
    Yes, your laptop will officially enter Beast Mode, but like I said, you're gonna shell out close to $1K for the cards. You'll be lucky to make $400 selling your old 5870s. Still all less expensive than an M18x.
     
    TurbodTalon, Sep 19, 2011
    #9