M18x Pre-Order Configuration Questions... Ask HERE

Nvidia have really priced themselves out of the market.

If you look at the 6970 XF that is 4Gb of serious muscle for the fraction of the price. The 480 /485 offer a variance of about 10-15% performance increase but come at a huge price premium. This makes utilsing them in AW's too expensive. When they drop the lame 460m we will see a migration to a sensible SLi option at an affordable price.

If I was buying now, XF all the way.

 

Good point. the 6970's pack some serious power - and are heck of alot cheaper too.....i dont know HOW much cheaper but probably cheap enough for me to not warrant the Nvidia price tag for the slight gain you MAY get in SOME games....

 

I was wondering on whether or not to go from a 2720qm to a 2920xm. My main use of the laptop will be for Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Autocad, CATIA and some C programming as I'm going for Mechanical Engineering in college. Obviously the difference in gaming is pretty small between the two processors but in terms of professional CAD usage does it make that much of a difference? Obviously, I was going to get either 2x4gb hyperx 1600 or 4x4gb hyperx 1600 since ram usually is most key in CAD. I can't afford to also buy an overpriced Quadro when for a small premium I can pick up xfire 6970s.

 

If you can afford it... I would go for the 2920xm, I cant and went with the 2720qm. Not a big deal to me, because it still clocks at 2.8 ghz. I mean we are talking performance standards here. For standard programs/gaming use.. is more than fine, your not going to be breaking any benchmarks but your not going to be sitting around twiddling your thumbs either.

 

2720 clocks @ 3ghz on four cores with turbo boost. 3.3ghz single core.

im pretty sure the 2920xm @ 4ghz is on a single core and 3.8ghz on four cores.

 

Yes sir. Thanks for the correction. I was thinking the 2630qm.

 

Okay, here goes. I'm seriously considering an upgrade, as my first gen m17x (post Dell acquisition) warranty is about to expire and, well, it's time. I'm a gamer - not competitive or anything, but it's my hobby of choice - and I want something that'll kick the crap out of Battlefield 3, Skyrim, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Or at least not make me go, "dammit!! Why can't I run this on anything but medium quality settings?!!"

Anyway, here's what I put together as a possible contender:

• Intel® Core™ i7 2630QM 2.0GHz (2.8GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
• 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (2DIMMS) - I plan to replace this with 8 or 16 GB of 1600MHz memory
• Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6970M - AMD CrossFireX™
• 750GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s - I plan to add an SSD for the OS
• Intel® Advanced-N 6200 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO Technology and Bluetooth 3.0
• Internal WirelessHD Technology - FullHD Video Transmitter
• Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
• Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio

Okay, so that config comes to a grand total of $2,546.04 without the memory or SSD upgrades. That's more than I want to spend, but I think it's a worthwhile investment.

Questions:

1. Is there any reason I should upgrade the processor? I've read conflicting replies to this same question in other posts. Based on the fact that this will be primarily for gaming (FPS, MMO, and RPG mostly), should I bump the processor or is that good enough for my purposes?

2. I know everyone swears by SSD, and I will probably add one as my primary drive. My question is - will I see a noticeable difference between an SSD and a hybrid SSD drive? I mean, I know that they are faster, but I wonder if it's worth the couple hundred $$$ to upgrade, or should I just stick with a hybrid SSD for now.

3. Wireless HD - I added it as a futures thing, as I don't have a TV that will support it natively (I'd need a wireless HD receiver at some point). Question is: if I don't add it now, is it possible to get it after the fact?

4. I've pretty much settled on upgrading my RAM to at least 8 GB. Question for you is: is that enough for a gaming system or should I bump to 16? I may just stick with 8 for now and add more later.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

1. From all that has been said the 2630QM is plenty enough for gaming.

2. In my opinion an SSD is a better choice, The Hybrid hard drives only store the most commonly used files which means anything else you try to run on the hard drive will run at the regular platter type speeds.

3. The WirelessHD can be added later but the difficult part will be adding the antenna, which does not come with the laptop without the intial purchase of WirelessHD, The antenna runs behind the display panel.

4. 8GB is plenty for all your needs. Only in a few cases would you need more than that.

 

Answers:


1. I was going to go with the base processor but when reading more about the 2720 vs the 2630 I just wanted the extra kick the 2720 gives. It does better virtualization which I do plan on using even though gaming is a primary function, for me th 2720 was worth the extra money 500mhz for only 150 bucks where the other going to 4ghz is a ton of money and either way you probably aren't going to see % of money = % of performance, so if you are just all about games I'd stick with the base.

2. Hyrbrid SSD's will fill up if you do multiple game changes. I think the max was about 3 games and the cache is dumped and that is just an average as games with lots of files can change cache much more frequently. Since you can do both in the M18x I would suggest a smaller C drive say 128gb and go with a larger 7200 for storage say the WD Black or even the Hybrid 500 Seagate for storage. You will see a huge difference in performance from an SSD and hybrid in games especially and in just general feel of the system responsiveness. The Crucial M4 or the Vertex 3 are your best bets.

3. Adding this in the build phase is probably pretty crucial. It can be added aftermarket but then you have to mess with all the antenna routing and install and trust me it can be messy. I got the Kit and the Transmitter in the laptop and I love it. I can pop on the WiHD and set the screen to extended and play a movie on the project for the family all while I'm gaming on my main screen. It's pretty neat and before I had to have two pc's to do this. Still have a dedicated HTPC but really I could probably sell that now.

4. 8gb of memory is probably all you will ever need for games, but now is a good time to buy memory if you have the money. For 200 bucks you can get the 1600mhz Kingston for 16gb. Really quite a good deal but if you are just gaming you can go for the 8gb kit and probably be just fine for under 100 bucks. I'm more future proofing my system because at the amount of money I spent I plan to keep this thing 3 to 4 years, with a possible upgrade to me and transfer to wife in 2yrs if the market has changed enough and there is a need for the options at the time.

 

I hope you're right about the latter. Though I reckon I won't be needing a powerful card for 2 years. After that, we'll see.

 

Thank you for the answers! +1 rep to the both of ya

Very helpful. So I think what I'll probably wind up doing is buying the 500GB hybrid with the system and add the SSD after the fact (probably not right away either since I'm not sure my wife will be cool with me dropping another couple hundred right after this purchase). That said, do you happen to have a specific recommendation on a decent 128GB SSD? I may be able to use some amazon.com g/c to buy one, now that I think about it...

I guess I WILL go with the wireless HD for now just in case. Sounds like a good future-proofing investment. I'll probably start with 8GB of the 1600 mhz RAM...

 

Also, what's with all the "Joker" references on this forum? I'm the new guy here, so I'm not sure if it's just coincidence or a joke I wasn't privy to

 

I was just reading today that Corsair is releasing a new SATA III SSD but it used the older Sandforce controller so the price is a great deal, 120GB for $200, I didn't see a release date but also watch out for deals on Newegg as I bought a C300 128GB for 200 after 20% off.

 

I went with the Crucial M4 over the Vertex 3 just based on some bad experiences I've had with OCZ and their reliability.

Also you might look at the upgrade price on that HD because it was cheaper by about 20 bucks for me to get it off some place like newegg and it's the same drive, so shop around for price when you are ready to buy.

 

Mike, the "Joker" comments are more around both myself and 5150Joker. I've used my name for years in games ect...and it's no reference to Steve Miller Band nor Batman. I'm a practical Joker and love to kid around with people. I went 3 days online pretending to be a Russian named "Yuri" It was hilarious to all the guys I was gaming with when I dropped the accent and they were like "Hey did someone just join our vent" hahaha.

 

Well thats what dell told me. And from whatevery one is saying its one of their perks. On the other hand I'm hearing this M18x is ***** to take apart. Did you go with basic specs ?

 

For those who consider buying a Crucial M4 for your m18x. Please check out this forum before taking a shot. Unlike me, my M4 is being shipped

Solid-State Drives (SSD) - Crucial Community

 

I almost pulled the trigger on this one but I don't know if I want to deal with any additional hassles. Maybe I'll get the slightly more expensive Intel 510 instead.

 

I would go that way. An extra $100 is really worth keeping me away from hassle. But it's late now ;(

 

Would the Intel 510 SSD be underutilized? I see it needs SATA III for 6Gb/s transfer speeds for max performance. Does the M18X have Sata III? I see that it has a port that "eSATA 3Gb/s + USB 2.0 Combo port". I couldn't find anything else about the internal drive interface speed.

I'm asking because I'm considering getting an SSD for an m18x that I plan to buy.

dt

 

Yes. M18x is Sata III so will utilise all of the potential of a Sata III SSD.

 

I see. I also noticed someone had a Joker as their forum pic too so I thought it might be something other than coincidence Thanks again for the help.

 

I'm fairly sure the max turbo frequency only applies to a single core. Intel's website and PDFs have not stated whether the turbo frequency applies to all cores or just one core.

I've been trying to find credible information source on the turbo setup of these CPUs, and I've only came across the site below.



Model number ? i7-2920XM
CPU part number FF8062700834406 is an OEM/tray microprocessor
Frequency (MHz) ? 2500
Turbo frequency (MHz) 3500 (1 core)
3400 (2 cores)
3200 (3 or 4 cores)

Source: Intel Core i7 Mobile Extreme Edition I7-2920XM FF8062700834406

Also for the i7-2720QM:

CPU part numbers FF8062700835817 is an OEM/tray microprocessor
BX80627I72720QM is a boxed microprocessor
Frequency (MHz) ? 2200
Turbo frequency (MHz) 3300 (1 core)
3200 (2 cores)
3000 (3 or 4 cores)

Is any of this accurate?

 

Do the newer faster SSD's, like Vertex 3 and Intel 510, make much of a difference in games compared to older SSD's? I have an x25 Intel SSD and it loads fast enough. Would I notice any performace improvement with an even faster drive? My current SSD is too small so I am going to get an additional one and I am wondering if I should pay more for a faster one.

My plan is to use my old 80G x25 intel SSD for my OS and Photoshop software and get a 120Gb SSD for the second drive. It will be for games and for Photoshop Scratch. All my files will be stored on an external USB 3.0 traditional drive.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Doug

 

For gaming, no difference in getting a faster SSD.

 

Would you please explain why there is no difference?

 

Ha....I just noticed that the HDD options in the UK have gone up in cost.

When I placed my order, I got a 500gb XT (which was one up from base HDD) for only £30 over base price.

Just checked now and its shown as £120 over base price! - glad I got mine when I did but thats soooooo shady of Dell to increase it by almost £100 - I mean, you can BUY the XT SSHD for less than £120......

Useless bit of info for you all....

 

There will be zero noticeable difference between his X-25 and a newer SSD when playing games. If a texture loads a milisecond faster and he can perceive it then maybe. But then he'd be a superhuman and normal videogames would be beneath his sensibilities. Just to be entertained he'd need to hunt Chuck Norris for sport. He'd need to gargle uranium to feel even a twinge of fear. *cue heroic music* He'd be ... Super Geek.

 

Thanks for explaining, JCrichton. This info could save a lot of people a lot of money.

 

Don't get me wrong, increased storage space is always nice and I'll be getting a newer drive just for that reason but any decent SSD is plenty for better gaming performance. But just as always, money is better spent on a better GPU and in some cases a CPU over any hard drive at this point.

In other non-gaming cases a SSD is a massive upgrade and money well spent for us early adopters.

 

I would base my Hard Drive choice on what I chose for a CPU, because your cpu can only pass instructions as fast as the hard drive can supply them.

 

I have an Intel x25 SSD and love it but it is getting full. I'm considering getting a second SSD for the second drive. I'd put the OS, Photoshop on the first drive. On the second SSD I would put games and use the rest for Photoshop scratch. All my files would be on an external hard drive. Does that sound reasonable?

The X25 SSD seems fast enough for games and I am glad to have that confirmed. I think I don't need a super fast SSD for scratch either because I think regular SSD speed will be enough. If I had less RAM the scratch speed would be more influential but I'll have 16G of RAM so I won't have a lot of overflow from that with just editing pics, not video.

One more thing, I was going to get the 2630 and maybe upgrade in a year or two but only $150 more for 18% higher turbo speed of the 2720 suddenly sounds like a bargain. I know I won't need the speed for games but Photoshop does some serious number crunching.

I've done a lot of homework about this over the last few days but this is all fairly new to me and I'd really appreciate anyone that could give my thoughts here a reality check!

dt

 

Pretty much what the thread title is. I ordered only 6GB of RAM with my m18x. The reason for that is when I had 8GB in my desktop, I never ever saw me using more than around 5.5GB at once and that was with me multi-tasking greatly. I see a lot of people are putting around 16GB in their new m18xs and am curious as to why. What are the benefits? What are you using it for? Is anyone using some as a RAMdisk? etc. I'd like to know the options out there in case I see a good reason to hit that 16GB mark.

 

no real dif.

If you have 1x4 GB + 1x2gb it will run slower cause its not dual channel tho?

 

With the newer system, in your example it will run dual channel on 4 gb (2gb for each stick) and single on 2gb for the left over 2gb on the first stick of memory.

 

If you want to run virtual machines you can use the extra memory.

 

Naw, there is no bottleneck there. The real thing to look at is what the main board supports like SATA 3 and so on.

 

I believe that if you use 64bit Windows you will use more RAM and 6GB would be the least you would want.

I am going to get 16GB of RAM because I edit large photo's and that can eat up RAM.

dt

 

as a gamer i buy 16gb for desktops because its really cheap and easy to install. this time round ill be fine with 8gb.

 

For notebooks the 16gb isn't really that more expensive than desktop memory.

 

I've never had this before but my system now the 2720QM is the lowest score of 7.5 in my winscore.

 

for 1600mhz its the exact same price for 16gb but the 1866 is kinda expensive.

 

do the bclk to 106Mhz which brings it to 3180Mhz on all 4 cores. might give u 7.6.

 

yeah I find that the 1866 really only shows that the benches go up when using the iGPU but at 1600 you really won't notice any improvement.

 

honestly 1333... 1600.. 1866 i could care less. fast ram was only needed when overclocking nehalem or the core 2 quad.

with sandy bridge being multiplier only i have no need for fast ram. plus i dont feel like gutting the entire m18x just to add more ram. im lazy .

 

I did notice a bit of a nudge on memory speed moving to the 1600 and intel xmp 2 profile. Win score went from 7.6 to 7.8 as well. It might equate to 2 to 5 fps but hey any extra is extra.

I was a little gun shy about the memory upgrade under the keyboard but if you open the laptop a little and stand it up you can open the two creases in the back just above the exhaust vents with a small flat head screwdriver and it pops off fairly easily.

If you get the hyperx stuff you'll have an easy upgrade later and it seems very quick and the heat spreaders do a good job at keeping the memory cool. Under a 100 bucks who can beat it.

 

by the time i need more than 8gb there will be DDR4 out. since quad channel ddr3 is coming out i dunno what ill do. might sell this m18x down the road for lga 2011 anyway .

LGA 3.4Ghz Sandy E-Bridge 12 MB l3 cache 12 threads 6 cores
16gb quad channel ddr3 2000mhz
kepler gtx 680 sli
pci-express ssd 512gb



mmmmmmm

witcher 2 maxed np, sup?

 

I thought adding in the RAM was a pretty easy process?

 

The bottom ones are super easy. Top ones are a bit more difficult as you have to remove the keyboard to get to the slots.

 

Any of you guys use ESD wristbands when chaning ram etc?