m17xR3 with 6870

This was all I needed to solidify my decision. What would you get with the GPU on though with those settings? Is it still ~3 hours?

 

i have yet to try... when im on the GPU, im normally gaming, and if im gaming.. the R3 is plugged in... seeing as the estimate for the IGP is around 30 mins off. i would gather that the estimate for GPU would be off by that amount as well. of if you decide to go by percentage, it would be lesser by 15%

 

@inap, the 11.1 hotfix doesnt work. its unable to detect my GPU. only installed the manager, but not the driver. guess i will have to wait for amd to update their website

 

3hours is plenty on the GPU. 5hours is what I'm looking forward to on the IGP.

 

You can just get a 2nd battery too......bam, doubled battery life for like $90

 

just checked amd driver 11.1, looked through the keynotes, and found this.
what a bummer

NOTE! The following notebooks are not compatible with this release:

•Any notebook launched after this driver release
• Switchable Graphics enabled notebooks using Intel® chipsets.•Toshiba® notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)
•Sony® VAIO® notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)
• Panasonic® notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)

 

That is for toshiba's, not the M17x

 

Where'd you see the battery for around $90? Last I checked it was around $140

 

Give it a few weeks. Laptop batteries always end up around $90-$110

 

Usshellfire: Just another quick question. You said the long range turbo time limit was in seconds in the bios. Could you check what the upper limit of the short and long term turbo duration is? A lot of people are speculating it is 56 seconds but would be nice to know for sure.

you could manually set the time limit right?

 

based on the alienware manual, it is specified as 56 sec. under bios, you can set it up to any amount you want, and it will display the amount that you input. but it will only last for 56 secs, regardless of what amount you have keyed in.

 

bleh, bad news, dell engineers just called me regarding my change of GPU to the 6970. they are unable to do that as they dont have stock for the 6970 and they are claiming that the hardware doesnt support the 6970... classic facepalm moment, and classic dumb dell engineers...

also, i keep getting hangs and crashes while playing civ 5 and BFBC2...
im considering return the R3

 

Whaaaaa hangs? Damn. Is that due to the GPU or the Ram?

 

no idea. my gpu isnt hot, and i ahve 8gb of ram, so its not an issue of insufficent ram...

 

Maybe the gpu's memory is bad?

I remember when I first played Doom 3 on my 9600PRO on my desktop back in the day, my whole computer froze/crashed and I had to go buy a new video card lolz.

 

More likely is just a driver issue

 

hmm. I guess just coincidental that mine burnt out, or maybe it really was too much for the 9600pro lolz.

So can someone explain the pros/cons of 1gb 6870 vs. the 1.5gb 460m?

 

the 6870 uses less power (supposedly) whilst retaining the performance of the 5870, which is a very good card (not the most powerful now, but good nonetheless).

In fact, some benchmarks I have seen indicate that the 5870 is better in performance than the 460M, except in games that take advantage of tessellation. If you're a video editor, the CUDA cores will also come in useful.

If you're a gamer I reckon that the 6870 is the better choice.

 

big sadface @ that.
I was going to be calling Dell in the morning to see if I can get a 6970 as part of the repayment of me not getting the 3D package that I ordered.

 

I see. BUMMER! Thanks for the confirmation.

regarding the problem you are having, i would just return it now and wait until the revised chipset and 6970m comes out. The biggest issue is the 6970, if they wont let you exchange the card then the only option is to return it and wait to order it with the fixed chipset and 6970

 

thats my thought as well, but the only issue is that i require a laptop soon as i will be going to uni. and god knows when the R3 will be avaliable again.

think dell will offer a replacement laptop while im waiting for the R3 to be avaliable again?

or should i just purchase a cheap NETBOOK to tide things over till the R3 is avaliable again?

 

i highly doubt dell will give you a replacement notebooks. definitely not in Singapore or anywhere outside of US. I think a lot of 'perks' like this and call in discounts are US only.

In your case the question that remains is how much do you want the 6970? If you dont really think you need it then i would keep the notebook and get a replaced motherboard when it become available. The possibility of a 6970 exchange still remains, although it is a risk.

I would not want to return the notebook if it's your primary computer. the 6870 is still a damn nice card.


EDIT: saw in your other post that in singapore you guys have the return period extended. If thats the case i would definitely keep the R3 and replace/reconfigue it when the time comes. I dont think there is anything better from other manufactures on the horizon. dont think the asus G73 is gonna get much better anytime soon.

 

yap. when my rep called and gave me that solution, boy was i relief. now i get to keep my R3, and get a 6970 in future once they have the new chipsets up and ready.

 

that sounds sweet man

 

So any updates/stories to share, USShell?

Bump.

 

Bump. 10char

 

nope, no updates at all.

everything is working as it should, and im just waiting for crysis 2 to be launched in australia!

 

ok, got an update. just got my replacement m17x a couple of weeks back

managed to talk my dell rep into giving me a free upgrade to the 6970, and also an additional 750GB hdd at no extra cost!

performance has increased greatly, but battery life has went down the drain.
i dont know if its because of the 6970, or because of the extra HDD, but my max battery life has dropped to around 3hrs 15min instead of the 4 that i use to get.

 

Prolly the hdd. Isn't the stock one 5400rpm vs. 7200rpm? Or am I mistaken? Also, glad to hear that you're doing well