Just called Dell for GPU upgrades...

So im looking to soon upgrade to dual 6990m or dual 580m gpu's from my current dual 460m setup. Dell priced out these options:

dual gtx 580m: 2,200 USD (ouch)
EDIT: DELL REP WAS WRONG, 580M COST 550 USD EACH
dual 6990m: 1240 USD( 619 each)
sli/crossfire cables : 3.99 USD

is this even worth the upgrade right now? will prices come down? Even though my two gtx 460's pretty much max every game out there, i want some good future options. Should i wait this one out? ( maybe for 7 series Ati cards?)

 

It's worth it depending on your needs/budget... I absolutely love my Nvidia, after a month of usage and not a single BSOD, crashes or any issues with games I would never dare change... that said I know a lot of people that are very happy with the 6990's and they perform as good and better in certain games, the benefit is the value, IMO you should save yourself some cash and upgrade to the 6990 CF if you are looking to playing all the latest games 40-60fps all max settings.

 

That's right. I experienced no single issue as well.

 

well i figure i could sell my two gtx 460m's, i wonder how much each of those could sell for, and put that towards dual 6990m's

 

They're selling the cables separately? That's nice
Do you have a part number?

 

Can those of you with the 580M's do me a favor and run the DPCLat Checker while gaming for an hour, then post a sceenshot, please? Cuz all the SLI equipped systems we have tested had bad latency issues.

 

no i dont have a part number, i just called spare parts and told them the laptop model, then they pulled up a huge list of available parts to sell seperately. whats weird though is the 6970m isnt available for the m18x. ALSO, when i asked for prices of the 580m two weeks ago they told me 550 bucks each, maybe this guy today messed up and told me the prices for two cards? Something isnt right here....

 

I'm at the beach for the weekend with no M18x, however I've tested Dpclat checked and have no spikes at all with .26 drivers, on my M17x I do experience random spikes, less so since a03 or a04 (I can't remember), however as soon as I shut the WLAN services off the issue is completely gone.

This M18x is simply as close to perfection I could have hoped in a laptop, I do a faily heavy amount of video editing and my videos are studder free both video and audio. It also brings every games i tested to it's knees without any tweaking... Literally fire and play... I think that's where the extra money goes in the Nvidia solution, it's worry free. I'll send the dcplatency screen shots on Monday.

 

Make sure to clean install the drivers if you get spikes

 

Gonna go out on a limb and say he's done that

 

OP

You are better off selling your current M18x and ordering a new one with the cards installed. Will be cheaper in the end

 

Yup.

Hmm, that's strange... I haven't seen a single M18x with 580MSLI without latency spikes yet. Some hit as high as 100k in DPC Checker.

This surely needs a further investigation.

 

i agree, 2.2k for both cards in SLI? if u build an m18x, the upgrade is 1.2k for dual in SLI.

it seems to me like its a rip-off.

 

For 2.2k you can get a very well endowed M18x off the outlet - the entire system.

 

with EPP i was told i could get 2x580M cards for $1000. i only needed a US address .

 

the dell rep was WRONG, the 580m prices was for 2 of them, not one. so the 580m cost 550 each , no reason now to sell my laptop and rebuy

 

The 580M is cheaper than a 6990M ?

 

If he quoted you $550 each buy them before he realizes he messed up haha - that is definitely an error.....

 

$550 is correct though

 

yes the 6990 is 619 and the 580m is 550, i dont know how that works out but it is what it is lol

 

wow crazy you can't even get the 580m on the Canadian site now, only the 560m or 6990

 

and thats a crazy price, the 2 580s are a 1200 upgrade from the gtx 560m ... meaning they are 600 each plus the price of a 560m / 2 ... from the dell US website .

 

If your cards are maxing things out, there is absolutely no reason to upgrade. Time will only make these cheaper, and produce better cards for you to binge on. I would get them when you finally run into something you WANT to max, but cant.

On the flip side, Twin 6990's are more expensive than twin 580's? Are you sure? because when you build them, the dual 6990 upgrade is FAR FAR cheaper than the 580's. Like, 500$ cheaper. Its why i didnt get them; their performance is nearly identical. getting a 5% (maybe) boost according to the benches on notebookcheck, for 500+$ didnt sit right with me. Actually, in alot of cases, the nVidia's either did about the same, or even WORSE then the twin 6990's. A couple nVidia based games ran a tiny bit faster, though 100% unjustifiable for my case.

 

All i can tell you is to keep calling different agents, For some odd reason they all seem to give you different prices. i got a quote for $980 for both 6990s xfire with installation included.
then i tried a different agent and he quoted me about $1300 for the exact same thing.

 

yeah this is crazy, on dell chat, the spare parts rep just told me a 6990m is 450 USD with heatsink included, idk what to believe now

 

That's the cost of the upgrade though. Meaning additional cost of that solution to the standard solution.... I can't remember what the stock card is, but it probably works out to be the same.

 

Does the stock 6970M GPU Heatsink work with the 580M? Debating whether to sell my 6970 and order a 580. Guess it depends on what spare parts tells me for my M18x price wise. $550 is doable.

 

The heatsinks are the same, electro

 

I called dell on Thursday and they were giving me an offer on the 580s for $900 took away $600 from the original price. They also added in the cable with no extra charge.

 

2 580s for $900 after tax?

 

Yes sir. +10char

 

can you get me his name???? O_O that is a steal

 

Damn for $900, that IS a steal haha.. IMO twin 580s are overpriced... Twin 6990's are still the beast in my books..

 

sadly i dont have his name. the order was approved by his manager. but i have yet to get my confirmation email plus its labour day tomorrow. im anxious to see if my order went through.

 

ive been calling for a month straight and everyone either offers it for 2K+ shipping from US, or say its not available for canada yet. theyll say only in new systems.

 

i called the sales dep and they transferred me to the AW dep. so i just played along asking whether my m18x gpus ware eligible for upgrades. it was a sweet deal tbh and i had to take it.

 

if your order went through then you should have an order confirmation id think? ive had 580ms for 1K put through on order only to be cancelled later because they werent available. ill be amazed if your order goes through.

 

You would be better served by waiting on the 7000Ms as they will be based off the cayman VLIW4 architecture. It will improved tessellation and reduce power consumption, maybe even much lower price depending on the yields.

Should be out in Jan 2012 or sometime in Q1.

 

If they fail to deliver wot they promised me then I would ask for a compensation.

 

Ah sweet, but I've resigned myself to waiting for the 7000 series now after seeing the performance difference between the 6970's and 580's.

 

Haha, smart choice

 

I wonder if the new game, RAGE is going to cause this to be a more viable option (upgrading from 6970 -> 580m).

 

LOL i just made a post in relation. im trying to get 580ms right now.


edit - they want $3600 for two cards

 

Heh, I just called dell spare parts and the rep I got couldn't even pull up the card by itself. She was able to pull up the system on the main site and see the card I wanted, but not able to find a way to sell it to me as a spare parts upgrade item.

Anyway, she said she would get back to me if I could get someone else to post their order number where they had ordered it.

After the call concluded, I did some digging around and although I didn't find an order number, I did happen to find a part number for the card.

That $3600 must be an error being that the OP found them to be $550 and that was after being quoted an erroneous high price by another rep. Probably requires perserverance or patience to deal with dell phone system and unknowledgable reps.

Anyway, share if someone else get a price and a good rep.

Here is the part number and link:

3MF8R
Nvidia Optimus & Alienware Laptop video cards - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community

 

You are not worthy to stay in the RED camp and not rich enough to go green !

 

i got her to ask if i could get the price down to 900 and her manager said no . i give up.

i know , i have shamed the high-end mobile gpu gods. ill switch to the intel integrated and stay blue 'till i rack up 3.6k somehow.

you know whats even more comical? canada's outlet!

Open Box Alienware - DFSDirect.ca

what a crazy selection!!!

Spoiler

Sorry there are currently no products in this category.

 

She just called me back and gave me a price of $1,189.99 per card. Still a little rich for me being that the OP got a quote of $550 at the beginning of last month. Time to wait it out or play some more rep roulette.

I can get dual 460Ms in US outlet for $1,680 (only one they had). Not that I would get it, but a whole laptop with dual NVidia slow cards for less than the price of two video cards makes little sense to me.

Dell Factory Outlet

 

`tis a sad day in canada for alienware

 

Here is a pic of one of my previous orders. Currently I have a replacement system in production with the 580M's in SLI.
This pic also shows the heat sinks & SLI cable needed for 580M SLI.

 

did they charge extra for this? is that why theres cash money dollars listed? :