4870's confirmed and ddr5

Good morning Will,



I hope you’re doing fine.



Regarding your inquiry about the 4870’s video cards they are currently not available for this configuration, but they will be in the future. Unfortunately, we do not have an exact launch date yet. Once we offer these video cards with new systems, we will then define the prices and the upgrade path. The VRAM that they will use is GDDR5.



Thanks for your time and have a nice day! J



Sincerely,



Rebeca Rodríguez

Roswell Support Group

Phone: 1.866.Roswell x6057


Alienware Corporation
Phone: 305.251.9797 x6057
Fax: 786-388-5720
www.alienware.com

i hope there not lieing






EDIT



Hello again Will,



The video cards on this computer are usually replaced at our repair center so I would assume that the system will need to be sent back to have upgraded video cards installed.



As I mentioned on my previous email the upgrade path is yet to be defined, we do not know if it is going to require a new heatsink and I do not really think a power supply upgrade would be necessary.



In any case as soon as the video cards are available for upgrades we will be able to provide you with all of those details. J



Thanks for your time! J

 

Now this would be great to see~
Already hitting 20k on the Asus W90p, now just waiting to see how far the W840 can push them~

 

not much farther, since they both use the same platform and CPUs

 

Different chipset though. Wonder how much better the X38 is than the PM45.

Besides, Ive never heard of the "Whitebook" with a QX9300 being overclocked to 4 GHZ on air.

 

Mr Moo I can tell you they are not lying. Launch is teneative late March early April.

 

I don't think so... I am not worried about the upgrade itself but which will be the "complementary" upgrades that our systems will need, basically in power req and heat control.

I don't know if our systems power supply would be able to handle the new cards

Or maybe they will need some hardware mod to control the heat...

the desktops 4870 are known for their high temp (I know they are desktops cards but is just a point)

 

So anyone think the M17 will bypass the Asus with the new cards? I cant decide wheather or not to return my m17 and get the Asus?

 

If you were gonna return your M17,

id reccomend a Sager NP9262 its a step up

 

I have the same issue. I'm guessing you're going to have to pay a significant restock fee like myself. Anyway, the current ASUS W90 x1 on Newegg only has a T9600, 1x 320GB HDD, and no bluray. It's still a good price at 2200. Some people said Xotic would allow it to be configured with a QX9300, and the dual HDDs and Bluray hopefully will be available soon by someone.

Even with the same specs however, shouldnt the ASUS still have better performance because of the X38 vs. the PM45? I'm not sure, but it would seem like it.

 

no it isn't. the d90xf will be a step up.

as for m17 w/4870s vs. w90 w/4870s, chances are they'll be pretty much on-par, although i think the asus will be a bit faster because it's larger and therefore has better cooling capabilities, allowing for more overclocking.

 

Whens the d90xf coming out , also any specs on it?

 

knock yourself out:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=348239

 

lol the m17 will need to be sent in to get the upgrade so i think AW has a new PS and stuff for it andddddd they use ddr5 were as the asus uses ddr3 ...maybe the m17 will be faster and slightly hoter but i dont care there coming out. i think the m17 will hit 21k and then thats gonna be it ...

 

the D90xf is expected to be I7 core but theres lots of info on it in the Sager forums espically in the Clevo guide. As Whizzo pointed out

But yeah if I wasn't gonna get a M17 id get a NP9262 they are on par with each other for power just about but i mean the NP9262 is faster but if and when the M17 gets 4870's its gonna be a better system

 

i just emailed about if they were putting any differnt thing for cooling or a differnt power supply

 

now why could you not have added this in your original post rather then just the blantent "get a xxxx and not the AW"

pfffft.

 

Hello again Will,



The video cards on this computer are usually replaced at our repair center so I would assume that the system will need to be sent back to have upgraded video cards installed.



As I mentioned on my previous email the upgrade path is yet to be defined, we do not know if it is going to require a new heatsink and I do not really think a power supply upgrade would be necessary.



In any case as soon as the video cards are available for upgrades we will be able to provide you with all of those details. J



Thanks for your time! J

what i got in responce to new powersupply and cooling updates

 

Sorry if this has been asked before or said, but I am pretty sure that the 4870 runs a little cooler than the 8800M GTX so will it fit or be offered in the M15X ?? Thanks for any info. God Bless

 

now how in the world would you know that?

 

we do not know yet ....they may or may not if it fits they may but i do not think there going to design it to fit. we wont know until they actually release the m17 with 4870's

 

now how in the world would you know that?

 

i unno lol

 

oi! no stealing posts here, ryu...

 

i didn't...i borrowed until further notice...

 

no problem... but we're talking interest, compounded interest, and some really nasty debt collectors... and it won't do you no good that you're hiding up in effing greenland either

 

can you at least send female debt collectors?

 

you wish, mate...

 

meh....you are a meanie....

chaz: can you infract whizzo for being non-compliant in my request plz....

 

chaz: can you infract ryujin for stealing posts?

 

chaz: can you infract whizzo for hijacking a thread?

 

i really hope we dont have to send the laptop back for the 4870 swap...you gotta pay for shipping....the labor, and the cards....i wish they would just give us the cards in the mail

 

maybe there are other modifications or alterations that need to be done in order for the units to work/fit...
just a thought.

 

Agreed, but knowing how Alienware is wit their products, I'm not surprised. Remember, they don't even allow people to overclock overclockable (extreme) chips, lol...

 

good point

 

not for truth...
you can do it, but at your own risk.
why should they replace/repair after a faulty OC attempt?

 

how can u ruin a chip from overclocking through the bios by changing the multiplyers? you cant crank the voltage, so what harm could it do?

 

Physics, turning up the ghz creates heat, domino affect.

 

Intel chips automatically turn off when they get too hot.

actually, as of P4, AFAIK they automatically downclock to match heat dissipation vs. heat production....

so you can actually recover from an overheat.

 

Yes but getting to that point where they turn off/clock down has started to affect the integreity of the chip. They have limits I know but once past those the damage has been done.

 

they have sold many times overclocked cpu's in notebooks in the past.... why should they lock the bios? this particular notebook can overclock very well without any problems. I'm sure it's NOT a technical issue.
It's just business strategy. looking at their website I would known why. They drooped the exclusivity of the arima/flextronics w840di and then they picked it up again. They have the exclusivity of the M17x. They don't want the M17 to be more powerful then the M17. And look at the prices...

 

regardless...i think as a company, they have decided to not cover an error that someone else can make with an incorrect install, or any associated issues that can/may arrise from that.
from a business point of view, i can understand...it sidelines warranty for vehicles if you decide to replace the wheels/tires that were sold with the vehicle with aftermarket wheels/tires of different size. technically, if the maker of the vehicle wanted to, they could deny any repairs/replacements associated with the owner not following recommendations, thus voiding warranty.
while you may argue that OCing cannot harm the unit, i say it can in a lot of factors you may not see or think about.
but i digress....

 

I see it as a way to cut down needless rants about problems not caused but by the manufacturer by the customer on boards like these. If you see the other boards its a continual spew of problems caused by OCing and what is the reseller going to do about it.

One way AW saves themselves and the customer cost is by locking it and telling the customer, go ahead fool with the OC but you do so at your expense, and you void warranty. It costs the other companies money for every repair they make caused by the customer, in which case many do not know what they are doing.

Watch I see them doing what AW is, that locking the bios and saying you void warranty if you tamper. In these economic times they can't be foolish with their capital.

 

Okay, I'm completely lost in the woods now.

Is the M17 getting 2 4870s in it or one 4870 X2 like the Asus or 2 4870 X2s?

Reading the specs of the Asus, it has one 4870 X2.

Does two 4870s equal to one 4870 X2 in performance?

 

whoaaa...i didnt know there was a 4870x2 card...i thought they always meant two seperate 4870's.....like how the m17 with dual 3870's today is read as 3870x2

 

That's what I'm confused about. On Asus's website it says that the W90 has the 4870 X2 card in it. Is the M17 getting the same card or a 4870 card? Is there two different cards?

 

the w90 has two ATI HD4870 GPUs inside. due to crossfire, they are recognised as a single HD4870X2 (the X2 obviously denoting two cards in crossfire). in the m17, the cards are recognised as one HD3870X2 as well. nothing to worry about, and chances are that the m17 will get the exact same cards as the asus w90.

 

i thought they also used the x2 to designate a card that has basicially two gpu's on board one platform...

 

Yeah, I thought so too. Because I do know that they do have a desktop 4870 X2.

When I went on ATI's site, I saw a pic of the 4870 but no 4870 X2.

Not saying that ATI does a awesome super duper job of keeping their website up to date.

 

but i was looking at some advertisements recently and saw this...they were in PCMag, PCGamer, etc....

 

so all 4870's have gddr5 correct?