Buying a new M17x, questions...

Not sure if this is the right place for this thread or not, so apologies in advance if I've posted in the wrong location.

I'm buying a new M17x today, fully loaded but the one nagging issue I've been struggling with is what hard drives to go with.

Should I just go with a 7200 rpm raid0 config, and then buy my own SSDs? Is that even an option? Am I better off going with the single SSD at 256GB (which seems small for space), or a RAID0 SSD for 512GB which would be more up the size alley I'm looking.

Thanks in advance for the advice, here is my current config:

Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit, English
Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M, 2GB – SLI® Enabled
17-inch WideUXGA 1920x1200 (1200p)
6GB DDR3 at 1333MHz
256GB Solid State Drive
Slot-Load Dual Layer Blu-ray Combo (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Space Black – Anodized Aluminum

 

I'd go for the SSD. Performance is better than Raid 0 and you can always pick up an external drive for cheap.

 

^^ and you wont find a cheaper 256GB SSD than the one Dell offers when you configure M17x.

 

if you have the money to get dual ssd's raid 0 go for it but the 6gb ram is worth less

 

Hey Witcher (and everyone else thus far),

Would you mind explaining the 6GB of memory being worthless? It was my understnading that W7/64 can take advantage of the larger memory pool. Is that true however the fact just being that that much memory is useless for a gaming notebook?

I may go with the SSD RAID just for the extra space, appreciate the recommendations!

Thanks in advance!

 

it is wasted because you will not use it .

Ram holds information like a hard drive but 1000000 times faster .... So unless your running 6 GIGS of programs @ once you will not need and and the fact it cost a insane amount makes it "wasted"

 

SSD in a RAID 0 is questionable also.

 

There are some test out there which show no improvement in performance in between 6Gb of RAM vs 4Gb of RAM.

On the other hand the test do show a difference for Photoshop when converting textures and morphing images and some other 3D applications also greatly benefited from the increase in RAM.

Basically, if you are going to use your PC for gaming and basic photoshop use than take 4Gb of RAM and buy yourself the RAID 0 SSD.

 

Seriously? Why?

 

yea.....raid 1 if anything....

IMO no raid at all

 

like 6 gigs of ram ...it gets to a point where its useless

 

lol SSD in RAID 0 flyyyyyes! if you have the cash go for it, you will love the super speed with no noise

I have 8gb of RAM is it works 100% faster with Adove Premiere and any vid editing software.... for games maybe not.... depends on what you re doing.

 

I agree w/keeping RAM to 4 gigs. In the future, you can always upgrade it for cheaper. You can go for 1333 RAM in the future as well.

BTW, doesn't performance actually take a hit w/the 6GB setup since the two sticks are not the same size (2GB + 4GB)?

 

The question is with Windows 7 trim support. Trim only works with the Windows driver for the controller. Most people install the nVidia drivers when installing Windows 7 on the M17x. If you do get the controller working with Windows 7 then you need to check to see if the hardware controller is reporting a rotational speed to Windows. If it is it doesn't matter if you have the Windows drivers it won't send the trim commands.

There are ways to test all this and I plan on doing so when I get my system.

 

I am getting raid 0 SSDs with a windows 7 factory install. So I will be able to check it out also.

I can tell you on my desktop, going from a single SSD to a raided dual SSD most definatly was noticable and sexy as hell. I won't know how it is in the M17x until it shows up. I look foreward to the trim support being added, but I can tell you for normal gaming use, it didn't make hardly any difference at all in my desktop. The drives were still releativly new though, so it is hard to guage 'what woulda been' if I did a lot of data swaps.

Going with more RAM for games didn't do much, but for photoshop and video work, it does help allot. You will also see some gains in some emulators, although you will still be hamstung a little by the CPU clock. I would skip the memory upgrade for just gaming, mainly because you could upgrade that later and for less money.

 

Thank you all for the replies and assistance. You all rock.

 

After further research do not buy the Samsung drives from Dell. Go third party. Trim will not be supported on these drives regardless. There's a chance garbage collection will work but it must come with the latest firmware.