A Bit of a Catch 22

Off and on I've had a laptop as a secondary rig, I purchased the m17 with the idea of replacing the desktop listed in my sig. At least in the graphics department, it has been pretty flaky with certain games. I thought it would outperform my desktop factory overclocked GTX 260, but that has been argueable. I am going to be purchasing additional ram and a x9100 processor to help there, but that still leaves the graphics.

So I decided after much debate to stick with laptops, and here's the catch 22. A large part of me wants to ditch the m17 and go for the AllPowerful, since I know this will give the performance I wanted. However, the m17 still has huge potential with the 4870 upgrade option. The graphics upgrade should be considerably cheaper than purchasing the m17x, but we haven't had the slightest hint this is a viable option since we started hearing about it what, six months ago?

What are your thoughts on this.

 

I see your dilemma.

Getting more ram won't hurt, but it may not do very much for gaming either.

You should get a pretty fair boost with the X9100 which I'm partial to for it's ability to overclock well and has no stuttering issues.

Have you tried the various graphics drivers?

I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for the 4870's w/DDR5.

How long have you had your M17? if 30 days or less, you could pay the restocking fee and get the new M17X. If it's longer than that I would not take the hit by selling the M17 to get the new rig.

IMO, with the right graphics drivers and a pretty fast processor the M17 should prove quite capable for you.

 

honest, no word from AW yet on the 4870 upgrade. it has all been hersey to this point.

your m17 is a great rig as it is. unless you cannot live without the new unit for the gpu options, i would stick with what you have. it will do great for games and "IF" the upgrade comes around finally, "BAM" baby...complete new unit to play with...

 

I've had it for longer than thirty days, I am on these forums everyday, just don't normally post. I've been using the e-wrecked 9.1 modded drivers since those were released, have not tried using any of the newer ones as the primary games I play do not seem effected by the newer drivers(such as fallout 3). Thank you for that suggestion though, absolutely right that drivers can make a difference. Is there a version you would recommend?

 

I also use the 9.1's and FO3 is what I play most. I've got everything maxed out at 1900x1200 (no AA) and it's silky smooth. Only thing I get in that game is about every 50 to 90 minutes the game just shuts down. I haven't tried other drivers for it so I don't know.

Nice Avatar BTW.

 

Very interesting, then I wonder if I am limited by RAM/CPU. My settings are most things set at medium/high, set at 1680x1050, AA set at 4, AF set at 8, VSync checked, HDR turned on. How does that compare?

And thanks, funny thing is I've been using that as my avatar for messengers/forums for 13 years, now it's quite fitting I suppose.

 

Hmmm, to be honest, I always just set the general (in-game) settings to the highest possible and my resolution to 1900x1200. I've never turned on the AA, AF, or checked the VSync, or changed the HDR setting. Never messed with CCC.

So whatever the default (in-game) settings are for AA etc. that's what it's at.

The only hardware difference between us is the CPU and the Ram. See my Sig.

 

all powerfull won't be much more powerfull then M17 imho

 

^^^^ i agree and im selling my m17 for the allpowerful

 

I guess we will know soon enough how much better it performs. Based strictly on the desktop cards I believe you should see a noticeable gain in performance graphics wise.

 

i ment i like my m17 more bud gotta do what i gotta do