which 17 is better?

Hey, so here is the thing. I have to buy a gaming notebook before 2015 because I will be moving to brazil, where this things are expensive. I decided for the alienware 17, but I do not know which one, though.

Canada alienware offers the 17 with the gtx 860m, r9 m290x and gtx 880.

But the way I see, r9 has terrible drivers, 880m has throttling problems and 860 can not perform bf4 and crysis 3 1080p ultra settings.


What should I do?
So, is the situation that bad and I don't have any options??

 

You wait. That's what you do. None of those cards are worth purchasing so close to Maxwell.

If you can't wait until October, grab the 880M. It's still better than all of those cards, despite the issues.

 

Do you think October will be enough? I can wait until November, no later than that, for sure. January 1st I'll be leaving already.

 

There are some leaks coming out now about the GTX 880 desktop card being launched next month. So, mobile should be launched shortly after.

In other words, it will definitely be here by November. I highly recommend you wait, and maybe even save up a bit more cash.

 

If you can wait then I would agree with J.Dre and wait for the next gen GPU/CPU's. The 880m's are flawed and if you plan on playing BF4 and other high GPU power titles then you are better off with the best GPU you can get if you want it to last longer. If you save up perhaps you could end up with an SLI 18 system?

 

Among those, the R9 is the best option. Drivers are not much of an issue as of now, they were a lot worse in the past. the 880m will not serve you well with the weather in Brazil unless you repaste it with some really good quality thermal compound and use a cooling pad 24/7.

 

Yeah, weather is a big deal, eh. I forgot about that, thank you. So would you think that waiting until October would benefit me a lot, or should I just go for the R9 right now?

The earlier I buy the notebook, more time I'd have to use it, and if some problem happens, it would be easier for me to call warranty, since it was bought here, in North America. Once in Brazil, I presume it would be harder, even with Dell having support in South America (at least Brazil).

 

The M290x is literally an 8970M, which is an overclocked 7970M. So, you're basically buying a 7970M.

You should wait a bit longer, at least until the end of August. There has to be some credible news by then.

 

ignore all of them, wait for the new high-end maxwell gtx.

 

Wait till at least August for the AMD R9 295MX...