GTX 580m Sli & AMD 6990m Crossfire available in the UK now to order!

AMD are singing the Trololololo song right now with this news. I do feel sorry for anyone who paid though the nose for the 580m's considering they are only ~8% quicker than the 485m, that traded places in the charts with a 6970 and the new 6990 is ~25% faster than a 6970.

Cheaper too? Trololololo indeed.

 

The chances are the 580M and 6990M will be very close, so those who prefer Nvidia will still have the top card. No one should feel sorry here. You know what you pay for.

 

done: good price you think? will I be able to play half life 2? lol


Quantity Item Number Description

1 225-0887 Alienware M18x Space Black Anodized Aluminum
1 317-6855 Intel Core i7 2720QM 2.2GHz (3.3GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
1 317-6849 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (2DIMMS)
1 331-2428 Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapter
1 320-2269 18.4-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 WLED
1 320-2796 Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M AMD CrossFireX
1 342-2628 750GB 7,200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
1 421-5789 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
1 318-0842 Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner, DVD+-RW, CD-RW
1 421-1305 Roxio Creator Starter
1 318-0770 Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
1 320-2320 Intel Advanced-N 6200 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO Technology
1 469-0549 Bluetooth 3.0
1 953-9080 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
1 953-9100 Third Party At Home Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year
1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty
1 950-9797 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
1 421-1723 Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware
1 994-3730 Warranty Support, Initial Year
1 421-1360 Steam and Portal Factory Installed


Order Subtotal: $2,249.30
Shipping and Handling Total: $9.00
Shipping Discount: -$9.00
Tax Total: $185.57
Total Amount: $2,434.8

 

you will be able to play anything ...

 

How does this come $2250 ? shouldn't it be a lot more?

 

EPP maybe?

 

yes epp it was thanks

 

Going by Anandtech's review:

485M was 5% faster than the 6970M.

580M is 8% faster than the 485M making it roughly 13% faster than the 6970M.

6990M is said to be 25% faster than the 6970M, but in reality, I'll probably be 15% faster unless Cat 11.7 works miracles.

So I think it'll be close and give a slight advantage to the 6990M.

However, $500 for 6990M in CrossfireX vs $1200 for 580M in SLi. PhysX is dead and Stream and CUDA seems to be outgunned by Intel's QuickSync in Video transcoding (though CUDA can be used for other things I assume)?

I really hope that nVidia starts to price their mobile products competitively. But then again, after they lost design wins on Apple and all three major gaming console manufacturers for next gen gaming (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo), I'm thinking they're just trying to make extra cash where they can...

 

ichime I would like to know how you come to your 15%, that really makes no sense. Even the Clock speed increase would give the 6990 around 10% gain, plus the onboard over clock, increased shaders, and increased Texture units .. going to be more then 15% gain...

 

The clock increase is only 5% over the 6970M. Also, with the engineering sample I had (with 1120 shaders, which was basically a 6870 core), I averaged about 10% faster over a normal 6970M. It's possible that AMD optimized the use of the extra 160 shaders with newer drivers, but I doubt that would be pushing 25% over the 6970M...

 

$700 more for worse performance? Why would you not feel mugged?

Let's have a quick look at NV;
Physx never took off and every implementation was a gimmick (physx ppu in the m1730 that was killed off anyone?). Next gen consoles are rumoured to be moving/sticking to all amd gpu for various reasons. CUDA is limited mainly to the cluster/pro market (it's crap quality for encodes) and 3d in general is panned left, right and centre. Tegra 2 wasn't even remotely the hit it was planned to be, they were forced to pull out of the chipset market and they think they can get away charging oems an arm and a leg for high end parts.

Lets say for hypothetical reasons the 580m is faster in every case, is it $700 better? Not unless your cash is about to burst into flames and you need to spend it on overpriced notebook parts before it does. NV need to get a grip.

I'll be able to see if the cost increase is ' worth it' when the 580m m18x turns up anyway.

 

A full $700 less for *at worst* the same performance?

It's a no brainer, and you have to be burning money at this point to opt for the 580M

And as for the performance... you're getting basically a full (albeit downclocked) desktop 6870 in your notebook... basically a last gen desktop 5850-5870 performance *per* GPU. Utterly nuts

 

I think a clear advice is to wait for official benchies and OC capabilities of those monsters and than draw a conclusion! Sometimes it's much more appealing for you to have the most expensive card which runs stable with no issues, than for half the price deal and wait for every possible driver release and fixes to enjoy (not hate) your laptop!

But as of today the performance remains almost equal between the two! Right now i'm more excited in OC'ing, wont sleep until i brake 8K+ mark in 3dMark 11!

 

Nvidia pricing is horrible. AMD Catalyst Control Center is horrible. Take your pick.

 

Nvidia used to really be on the top. Now they are falling off. Not only does AMD offer some crazy bang for the buck, but they are reliable cards just as Nvidia's are. The only thing is that the drivers suck in my opinion and their software suite is not as good as Nvidias. I think the 6990 will be neck and neck with the 580M and advantages will only be seen in games that "prefer" one card over the other.

 

I agree Nvidia should charge like 10% more only for the extra features and not twice or more like on the desktop high end GPU's the HD6970 is $350 and the GTX 580 is $450 that is more realistic and lets face it a lot of people prefer Nvidia for whatever reasons but at this point you be better trowing the money away then buying a Nvidia mobile GPU

 

Let's take a look at this statement. AMD offering crazy bang for the buck? Relative to Nvidia's mobile parts, yes. AMD is offering the mobile part, which is a lower powered version of the desktop, without the extra board, fans (costs) that comes with a desktop part, for about $500 (same price as a high end desktop parts). In addition, no board makers or retailers get a cut of the mobile part like they do with desktop parts. My point? AMD is still getting extremely good margins on their mobile parts, more than they get on their desktop parts. Nvidia, on the other hand, is committing grand theft. They're using high prices on mobile GPU to cover their loss in marketshare at the low end from the hands of Intel.

 

Ya, but go figure, I ordered the 580 sli for CHEAPER than the 6990's in Canada today??

 

Yes the 580 sli was $600 cheaper then the 6990 xfire on the canadian site. Now only the 460 and 6990 are on the site.

 

So you stayed with the 580's too eh? Cool, could your rep get us a deal on 6990 or are those out of reach for any Canadian rep?

 

Yes I did since my configuration online now is $5067(6990 xfire) and I got it for $3800(580M sli). I could ask but I think the two cards will be close in performance.

 

I'm staying with 580's, I prefer the Nvidia software suite and the games I play mostly (flight sims, Combat Mission) seem to 'prefer' Nvidia.

 

any news when they actualy gonna put it up on the site ?
so far ive seen was a wireless update

 

Each to their own but $700 or whatever currency, the price gap is HUGE! - for performance that isnt as good (to be seen but pretty much a given)....seems a heck of alot to pay for software.......

 

Sure, I agree. But, I am ordering from the Australian Dell site, my M18x is costing about USD9K-10K, outside the US the prices more than double. At this point cost isn't really a factor anymore

 

dude why don't you buy through HIDev ... or even Fortnax .... you would pay half that cost

 

Yea wow, 9-10k for a laptop? Get outta here, that is crazy.

 

Trapt I love your system my old one was dell 1720 T9300 4GB RAM, 8600m GT OC'd Custom PoS ...

But it played games until I got this beast ... admittedly it could also cook a meal while I played games ... or work as a waffle iron ...

 

Besides Alienware, the only notebooks with the GTX 580m SLI configuration option seem to have 1st gen i7 desktop CPUs (i7 970, 990x, etc.).

Is there any advantage to having a desktop CPU in a notebook for SLI gaming? If not, what would the explanation be?

 

Far higher base clocks and in the case of 2nd gen i7, higher turbo as well (only first gen is available). 1st gen i7, the triple channel mem version, only turbos up 1-2 bins.

Unless you get the 990x and use an app that uses 6-12 threads to it's full capacity then sandy bridge is better in every respect. From the mobile point of view there is no contest. The desktop i7 parts have a 130w tdp. Mobile quads have a 45w tdp (55w for extreme) and can sip tiny amounts of power when using integrated graphics + idle clocks.

 

a reseller gaves us a teaser regarding the performance of the 6990m CF and the gtx 580m sli, and that is the 6990m cf is faster, by how much I dont know

 

Thank you, perfect answer to my question. This forum thing works!

 

Yeah that's crazy, you could save a few k by ordering from North America even including taxes and shipping, it would be far less expensive. BTW, the warranty is international anyway. In addition, ordering from an authorized system integrator would allow you to get extra customization options (more SSD, RAM and wi-fi card choices, higher quality thermal compound, etc

 

Cheers mate, next time around I will do that. My last Dell was an XPS1730, it fried itself about 6 times in the tropical heat, I gave up. So this time I just wanted things as easy as possible.

I didn't even know there were Authorized System Integrators!

Great info thanks now I know the way forward from here

 

Lol, I meant Authorized Dellienware Partners/Resellers and System Integrators. Resellers don't mess with the hardware like SI's

 

I want to know how you managed to get $10K! I spent ~$6.5K Australian ordering mine a week ago and maxxed out everything but the memory. I don't think I'll ever need 32 Gb of memory on a gaming machine, and the speed drops to 1333MHz. I also got only one 256 GB SSD, as I'd prefer a larger drive as the second HDD.

But I went up to overclocked 2920XM, 16Gb 1600 MHz DDR3, 256GB SSD, Win Ultimate, 3yr premier warranty, 3 yrs oncall assistance, 3 yrs McAfee, blu-ray, even got the dual NVIDIA GTX 580Ms, and added in MS Office Business to boot. With no haggling at all, using the freely available 12% off until the end of July, I ended up spending almost half your $10K. I wouldn't have even thought a $10K machine was possible!

 

^^^ your laptop would be faster with cf 6990m, but good specs. we all indulge a little bit. i remember my first alienware when 1500 was extremely costly, man i miss my area 51 machine.

 

Here is the spec printout, its in NZD which is at about USD0.82. Note that I have since changed RAM back to 16GB when I noticed its 1600 MHz, so the whole system came in at about NZD12000 (rather than the 13800 shown) = USD9800 or something. Yes it includes peripherals, I travel a lot and simply don't have time to go hunting for components here and there - if any part is especially useless I'll deal with it then, plus I have additional things here at home such as JBL portable speakers for music and Samsung 55" LED for games *cough* I mean work.

Style
COLOR OPTIONS Nebula Red Anodized Aluminum
3 OR MORE & SAVE ! Logitech K340 Unifying Wireless Keyboard
3 OR MORE & SAVE ! Iomega Prestige 1TB External Desktop Drive 3.5" USB 2.0
3 OR MORE & SAVE ! Microsoft Sidewinder X3 Mouse USB
3 OR MORE & SAVE ! Alienware TactX Headset
3 OR MORE & SAVE ! Belkin Superior Series 6-Way Surge Protector with 45,000 Max Spike Amperage
PERSONALISED PLATE Alienware Custom Nameplate
AVATAR Avatar - Alien Schematic
WALLPAPER Wallpaper - Alien Cyborg
Build My Dell
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7-2920XM Overclocked Turbo Boost to 4.0GHz (8MB Cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate 64bit (English)
WARRANTY & SERVICE NZ3-year Premier Service with 3-year CompleteCover
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee(R) Security Center - 36 Months Version
HD DISPLAY 18.4" (46.74cm) Full HD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD panel
MEMORY 32GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM(4x8GB) (now 16GB)
HARD DRIVE 512GB Solid State Drive(256GBX2)(Raid0)
OPTICAL DRIVE Slot Load Fixed Blu-ray BD-ROM / DVD + /-RW Combo Drive
VIDEO CARD Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M – NVIDIA® SLI® Enabled
SOUND CARD Internal High-Definition 5.1 Performance Audio with SoundBlaster X-Fi Audio
Accessorise My Dell
SOFTWARE Microsoft(R) Office Home and Student 2010 (English)
ACCESSORIES Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 - Carl Zeiss Lens
ACCESSORIES Linksys Wireless-G Compact USB Adapter
ACCESSORIES Targus Defcon Combination Cable Lock
SPEAKERS & HEADPHONES Logitech Z506 5.1 Speaker System with Subwoofer
PRINTERS Dell™ V715W Wireless AIO Inkjet Printer
PRINTER Dell (TM) V715W Wireless All-In-One Inkjet Printer
PRINTER CARTRIDGES Dell(TM) V313/V515/V715 #21 Black Cartridge
PRINTER CARTRIDGES Dell(TM) V313/V515/V715 #21 Color cartridge
Telephone-Based Technical Support Services Plus Hours Telephone Technical Support (Monday - Friday, 8am To 8pm, EST)
SYSTEM HARDWARE WARRANTY 1 Yr Advanced Exchange Service after Remote Diagnosis
Dell Services: Night and Weekend 1 Yr Value Night and Weekend Advance Exchange (M-F:0800-2100, Sat-Sun:0900-1700)
Dell Services: Printer Cartridges Warranty 2 Years Parts Exchange Service (Ink)
Freight Printer-InkJet All In One Handling and Insurance Charges(New Zealand)
Dell Services: Future Technical Support Future Technical Support
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Pre-installed Games Steam Gaming Portal Software
WINDOWS COLOR THEME Back cover
PERSONALISED PLATE Thank you for Purchasing Alienware
ALIENFX COLORS AlienFX AQUA
Bundle U510432NZ-Avenger (M18X)
Freights NB-OL-CTO Handling and Insurance charges(New Zealand)
System Documentation System Documentation (English)
Dell Services: Remarks NZLaptop Batteries Carry 1 Year Warranty Only From Invoice Date
Dell Services: Remarks NZDell's Terms and Conditions apply
Item included in the System System Drivers
Item included in the System System Media Kit
Item included in the System Directship Info Mod
Item included in the System Adobe Reader X
Item included in the System DataSafe Local Basic
Item included in the System Alienware Command Center
Item included in the System WinRE software
Item included in the System Tech Sheet (ANZ)
Item included in the System 5 User-programmable keys
Item included in the System 3.0 Megapixel HD Video and Picture Camera with dual digital microphones
Item included in the System Integrated 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Item included in the System SyncUp Software
Dell Services: Item Included Technical Support
Power Options Power Cord with 330W Adapter(ANZ)
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth Internal mini-card
WIRELESS NETWORK CARD Intel Wireless 6300 for APCC
BATTERIES 12-cell Primary Battery
Keyboard AlienFX® Illuminated Keyboard (English)
BAGS No carrying case

Online Price $13,895.74

 

Again, why in the hell would you buy a TV from dell, you can get one for like half the price from anyone else...

 

Who is buying a TV from Dell?

 

OK, that makes more sense. The actual laptop was much less than 10k.

 

Ha ha, if that's not trolling nothing is. I'm very happy with my choice, and I can only hope I stay that way. People fight way too much over video cards on here, just enjoy your machines.

 

oh I thought you were getting the 55" from Dell too .... you already have it

 

Apparently Canada is a 3rd world country:

Agent (Sreekanth PV): "Welcome to Dell Canada Chat! My name is SreeKanth and I will be your Dell.ca Sales Chat Expert.
I can be reached at [email protected] or via phone at 1-800-847-4096 ext. 4163259.
How can I help you today?"
07/20/2011 09:03:49AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "Hi"
07/20/2011 09:04:31AM Saliwok: "Hi. I was asking about the Nvidia 580M option for the M18x."
07/20/2011 09:04:38AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "Glad you chatted in today, I'd be happy to help you"
07/20/2011 09:04:54AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "Well it has been changed and these are the options we have with alienware M 18X model"
07/20/2011 09:05:05AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460M
Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M AMD CrossFireX"
07/20/2011 09:05:32AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "Also we do not have the 1103 wireless card anymore with our M 18X model"
07/20/2011 09:07:06AM Saliwok: "Hmmm..? The 580m and the 1103 are both available in the U.S. Is there any reason that they aren't being offered in Canada?"
07/20/2011 09:07:41AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "The promotions differ from region to region and hence you may find the variation on the websites."
07/20/2011 09:09:15AM Saliwok: "I understand promotions differing, but I'd have thought that hardware options would be relatively consistent. In any event, thanks for your help. I'm going to be looking to see if I can get these options some other way."
07/20/2011 09:09:34AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "I am sorry to hear that"
07/20/2011 09:09:40AM Agent (Sreekanth PV): "Thank you for Choosing Dell! Have a pleasant day ahead !!"

 

You are better off with the 6990s anyway and getting the wireless card you want is an easy swap with no risk to the warrenty.

 

Waiting for proper reviews of both GPUs. The debates amongst the speculators has been interesting, but not really getting us anywhere.

Amused that Dell Canada had the foul-up, offering the 580M for free and then not at all. Not doing much for my confidence in the corporation. But we already knew that, didn't we.

 

Good day all,
for those who where waiting for 6990m CF for there m18x in the EU
you can get them by talking with some 1 in dell chat.
There not avaible on website configuration yet,
but you can order them.

oh and PS: they are cheaper then 6970m CF setup you can get at this time

orderd mine today;
Productomschrijving Aantal Totaalprijs

N07W1801 1
Alienware M18x : Nebula Red 1
Processor : Intel Core i7 Processor 2720QM (2.20Ghz, 6MB, 4C) 1
Display : 18.4in Widescreen Full High Definition (1920X1080) WLED LCD 1
Camera : Integrated 3.0 Mega Pixel HD Camera 1
Ship Accessory : Dutch Docs 1
Resource DVD : Alienware M18x 1
Memory : 4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel 1
Hard Drive : 320GB Serial ATA (7200RPM) 1
Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including software 1
Power Supply : Alienware 330W AC Adapter 1
Power Cord : Euro 250V 1
Battery : Primary 12-cell 97W/HR LI-ION 1
Carry Case : Not Included 1
Graphics : Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M CrossFireX 1
Sound Card : Integrated High-Definition 5.1 Performance Audio Powered by Klipsch 1
Gaming Software : Steam Gaming forum and download application 1
Bluetooth : European Dell Wireless 375 Bluetooth Card 1
Wireless : Europe Killer Wireless-N 1103 1
Keyboard : Internal US/International QWERTY Keyboard 1
Operating System : Dutch Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64 BIT) 1
Software : Dell Stage Software 1
Software : Datasafe Local 2.0 Basic 1
Software : Dell Stage E-MAGAZINE Software 1
Software : Sync Up Software 1
Avatar : Alienhead 3D 1
AutoMatic Updates : AutoMatic updates - On 1
No Software Anti-Virus 1
TimeZone : (GMT + 00.00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London 1
Name Plate Engraving : Generic 1
3 Year Hardware Support - Next Business Day 1
Standard Service - 1 year of Next Business Day coverage included with your PC 1
No Accidental Damage Protection 1
No DataSafe Online Backup 2GB (Direct) 1
Alienware M18x Order - Belgium HSB 1
XPS- System Only 1

 

I have dealt with Sreekanth, don't believe anything he says. Twice I called back and got a different rep who would give me configurations Sreekanth said were not possible....

 

I apologize if this question is in the wrong section, but i just needed to ask this.

You Nvidia 580M SLI users, where do you get your drivers from? I mean, are you stuck in Dell Hell while you wait for them to update their drivers or do you update directly from the Nvidia website?

 

My M18x has been shipped with XFire 6990's, should be here on Monday!