Help me buy my M17x

Now that the 5870's are finally just around the corner, I can start the planning process. *hooray* This beast I'm about to unleash from the fiery inferno is going to be my main system for the next 3+ years, hopefully 6, and I want the best. What I'm going to do is set all the tech-specs to their highest and then go backward from there. The pieces of hardware that I'm not sure of will be boldy listed below:

Alienware M17x

• Space Black
• i7 920XM (I've heard that it stutters and has heat issues.)
• Win7 HP
• WideUXGA RGB LED
• 8GB DDR3 1333MHz (Will 8GB really benefit me in the long run.)
• 512GB Raid 0 SSD (I've heard that it's slower when Raided.)
• Dual HD 5870 CfX
• Blu-ray Burner
• WiFi Link 6300

The tech-specs are in my signature for your convenience.

 

Looks good, but only one thing to question. I don't know if you'll be needing 8 gigs of ram for that system unless you'll be doing some heavy designing, but since your planning to keep that system for that many years, why not?

 

The general consensus is that the Dell site (Samsung) SSDs are not worth the cash, since they're slower than the ones from Intel, OCZ etc. Especially a raid 0 Setup, since no SSD supports TRIM atm (rumors are Intel's do now, but it's unconfirmed) which means that fairly quickly your hard drive speeds will slow drastically. An aftermarket SSD plus a 500GB 7200 RPM drive will still be really fast and give you more storage without performance loss from lack of TRIM support.

 

I hear the i7 920XM is only a bit better than the i7 820QM, which is a major letdown when you have to pay $700 more for it. Unless there's an huge issue with it, say, overheating; it'll still be an option?

I use CS4 quite a bit.

I'm not savvy enough to physically mod it, I might blow something up. I'd be fine with stock hardware, even though it might not be "the best in the world" it'll be "the best the M17x has to offer". Even if I did have a SSD with TRIM, wouldn't it be disabled when running R0?

 

New intel chipset driver supports passing trim commands to raided ssds that support trim (such as the samsungs from Dell)

 

my intel drive supports trim..

 

sure it does, it's just that Heartache here said that ssds do not support trim @ raid, and it's not true.

 

Okay, so I have nothing to worry about. Good. That solves my SSD issue, what about the CPU?

 

Personally I plan on going with the 1.73GHz chip if I do this-partially because it's $540 cheaper for me, and partially because maybe I'd have fewer issues? (Though hopefully those have been fixed in the BIOS?)

Maybe 8GB would actually be useful if you're working on big photoshop stuff.

I'm wondering...1066 or 1333 for the RAM speed? Anyone have an idea, since the price is basically the same? I know usually 1066MHz RAM has better timings, soooooo no idea which is actually "better" (and I realize "better" probably isn't actually perceivable by us humans).

Regarding hard drives and RAM, you might be comfortable changing those. Dell usually does a really nice job designing their systems so that hard drives and RAM and things can be swapped easily. Personally I do NOT want to try to swap a GPU or CPU, even though I've built systems, but hard drives and the like usually aren't too bad.

It can vary though...not sure how the M17x is, but some Dell systems basically just have you unscrewing a single screw on the bottom and sliding it out (and taking out a few screws that hold the drive to the caddy thing).

RAM on laptops even more so than desktops feels like you're going to break something when you're doing it (to me at least), but so far no problems.

But yeah, if you're using Adobe's stuff, want to use it for a long time, and don't want to change RAM, going with 8GB isn't a terrible idea. It's not THAT overpriced anymore, thankfully!

 

Damnit. I tried to pass it by my dad and he told me $6,224 was too much to spend on a laptop. Crazy son-of-a-b****. I would honestly not give a crap if I had to spend $171 a month for this beast; but, as House would always say, "You can't always get what you want." So, I'm back and semi-ready to cut back even more. Looking back at the items I was considering before, I might choose the:

• i7 920XM
  Do I even need to go the i7 route? If I want to play Crysis at 1920x1080 on Very High with 4-8x AA, would an i5 540M suffice?
• 8GB DDR3 1333MHz
  I'm not going to be doing much multi-tasking on this machine. I'm thinking 4GB DDR3 1066MHz would be plenty.
• 512GB Raid 0 SSD
  The 256GB Raid 0 SSD setup would work if I don't keep the stuff I don't need. If it's ever a problem I'll just get an external.
• Blu-ray Burner
  I don't burn many DVD's, if any. So, a Blu-ray Burner would be pretty redundant.

I might, might decide to go with only one 5870 if I could still play Crysis at (see above). The rest is pretty cheap to keep as is, which leaves me at $3,954 or $109 a month. Any more suggestions?

 

You should really get the 720qm and save there..

 

I tried to pass it by him once again and all he did was turn around and walk away. Damnit, damnit, damnit. Seeing as how I'm on such a "budget" I might as well say screw this dream and go for the M11x. Dang, if only it had a better CPU. While I've got that idea in my head, could I swap the CPU out for a better one?

 

Depends what's playable means to you. Do you want 60 lock on FPS on pretty much max setting? If so.. wait for 5870 in CrossfireX.. even 4870 in CrossfireX gets about 35 average or so with max setting.

Are you asking your dad for DPA route so you can pay monthly?

 

Are you in the U.S.? Because if so and we're talking about the same money, I totally agree that $6000 is way too much to spend on a computer.

Honestly if you're having to charge this/finance it, I'd really, really recommend going as cheap as absolutely possible and pay cash (ie pay off your credit card the first month). Not worth getting in debt-trust me, I've been there. Besides, next year there will be new CPUs, new GPUs, etc.

Regarding the specs, I agree with mfractal that the 1.6Ghz Core i7 is fine, or the 1.73. 4GB is fine, and personally I'd want the 5870 over the 4870.

The dual core chips aren't terrible, but for the price difference I'd want the quad (the 1.6 or 1.73GHz models).

But yeah, I'd really recommend either saving up for it, or stripping out enough components that you have the money for it, or even considering a different system that's cheap. I don't mean to sound...I don't know, I don't know how, but honestly, I've been thousands in debt and it's just not worth it.

EDIT: Oh, and same deal with the SSDs. Actually personally even if you get one, I'd go with Intel's largest drive and add it yourself, but I'd skip the SSD entirely if you're having to charge it. Takes longer to load WIndows, but it's really not a necessity-you can always just throw in the largest current 7200RPM drive and be fine.

 

I agree with Wolf. No interest only works for 12 months. After that I heard Dell charge you 30% in interest. Meaning you would have to pay ~$350 monthly if you want to pay it off in time.

 

I'm expecting 30 FPS on average. Yeah, I'm going to pay monthly.

Nope, I'm Canadian, eh. I pretty much just solved this whole issue in my last post, which was probably made while you were typing this one.

Holy s***, that's a lot.

 

Yeah I know.. so get something you can actually afford / pay off. Just get i7 720 / 4 GB ram / 4870 in XFire / RGB for the main things and it should be around ~2500 or so. That spec should give you 30 Average FPS. Or you can always wait for 5870 in XFire. Your call.

 

I'm going to go with the M11x. I'll get a desktop if I want to do some UBER-gaming.

 

Try earning your own money, and then see if you will complain that $6k is too much for a laptop. No offense, but you sound more spoiled then my premed students 2 semesters back.... and that's A LOT!

IMO, if you really needed $6k laptop, you'd pay it yourself, and would have more serious reasons to buy it then "play Crysis on max settings @ 60 fps".


On-topic:

Now... where would I cut back?

1. SSDs. If I really wanted SSD, I'd take a smaller one as primary with Windows and programs, say 80GBish, then ~500GBish regular HD secondary for other stuff. This will give you good SSD performance for windows and plenty of room on 2nd HD for other stuff.
2. RAM: 4GB is OK unless you're doing some serious Photoshop/AutoCAD work. I am guessing this is not the case? I'm talking in the line of e.g. working on billboard posters etc.
3. CPU: i7 620 is not too shabby. And cuts back the price quite a bit from i7 920qm. This link can be sort of very rough guidline: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7+M+620+@+2.67GHz

If this is still not within reasonable price range, then I'd go with single 5870. This will put you into $2k ballpark [and which, for the record, my kid wouldn't get without some serious work done ].

 

Haha good choice. Keep the desktop at home for nice gaming sessions and M11x for outside activity!

**^Hahahaha Unreal25! I WAS going to flame at him for that too but let him experience reality for himself and he'll see how hard it is to afford that much on a laptop! **

 

HAHAHA! You think I'm begging my dad to buy it for me? I'm 100% totally buying it by myself with my own money working as a landscaper, but my dad demands I pass everything by him. Sorry if there was any misunderstanding.

I had Raid 0 in mind cuz all I heard was, "RAID 0 = 0 WAITING TIME!!!" that's why I decided 2x SSD. Silly me. *rolls-eyes* I would've needed a lot of space--if I was still getting one--cuz I had planned to rip all my BD movies so I had them stored digitally.

I'd sure like to Photoshop a lot, but I'd try not to if it meant saving money.

Yeah, I guess I got caried away and forgot what I was buying... a "'lap'top" not a "desktop".

HAHAHA! Oh, doublee, if only you knew.

 

Well if you can afford it then that's good! I'm not sure why you have to get through your dad if you are so independent. The way you put it in first post made it sound like you were asking your dad for it since your dad disapproved. Sorry if you got offended or anything!

 

I thought it was funny, so no harm done. I don't know if you believe in reincarnation but my dad is Hitler.

 

Thing to remember on the M17x you can upgrade the chips later. cpu gpu ram hard drive. So getting a mid range like my setup. I could later buy the ati 5870. or faster cpu.

 

If your spending on dual 256 GB SSDs, I would advise saving your money and just getting an Intel 160GB or 80GB as unreal suggested. They have much faster speeds then the Samsung 256GB and deal much better with SSD degradation. Then I would purchase the 2.5" 750GB HDD. Spend your money wisely. The SSD can be found in the market place. Various people selling it. The 750 GB can be found here Use the 750GB for storage of all pictures, videos, music, documents, ect. All applications and O/S installed in the Intel drive. Then just make backups of your 750 periodically. This way you get faster program loading speeds, more reliability and more storage space.


With standard platter HDD, RAID 0 is flirting with disaster IMHO unless you do weekly backups.

 

Well Looking for a good ssd drive and then redo windows. One 640gb hard drive for backups and windows install (troubleshooting) and the other that loaded onto the computer for other things.

 

Unreal's post pretty sums it all up nicely. Alienware systems are much higher in price in Canada than in US, even though the exchange rate is close to par. You should really just get the i7 720, single 5870, and RGB screen. Those three components are the most important. Everything else can be easily upgraded later on. Getting the i7 920 is stupid, because it is completely overkill. The basic i7 is more than enough for any game/task right now.

I would even advise against getting the M11x. Will you really be gaming on the go??? Realistically?? Just get a less than $700 thin and light notebook, and spend the remaining money on building a desktop.

 

920 isn't neccessarily overkill if your doing things like video encoding or rendering 3D models and such. All depends on your usage, but for gaming, CPU is rarely the bottleneck, though there are some exceptions and a few CPU intensive games. Also if you do a lot of traveling, the M11x isn't a bad choice. I tend to travel a lot, and carrying the M17x around gets old. All depends on your needs.

 

Hmm, I've skimped on everything but those items you've suggested. It came to $2,705 or $74 a month. That's pretty good, but after what you said about upgrading later, I'd like to go even less. Could I still do the whole Crysis thing if I went for an i5 520M? I want to upgrade a lot, but do it in small clumps so he doesn't see it as the $6000 it really is... you get the idea.

 

Personally I'd avoid the M11x. It can't use Nvidia's normal drivers, so you're going to run into situations where you can't run a game just because of drivers. I'd guess an updated version of it, probably later this year, will use Nvidia's Optimus technology, and will probably use the normal notebook drivers.

Otherwise, if you want to go cheap, I'd go with a stripped down M17x, or something like an Asus G60jx, or N61j, or G73jh, or just SOMETHING that lets you upgrade the drivers. (Dell's M15x would be a great system except they refuse to fix the BIOS problem that's causing throttling.) The M11x's GPU isn't bad at all, but it's a moot point if you can't actually use it because of drivers.

 

They've already released updated drivers for it. Still beta, but shouldn't be long till the official ones come out. Beta's are 197.xx

 

Yeah, I'm going to avoid it. Looked around for a few seconds and it quickly turned out to be a bad idea. Too bad, eh, woulda been perfect-ish. I'm gonna strip the M17x down to nothing but a 1920x1080 RGB. Thanks for all the help, but one last Q... I hope. Can I stick another 5870 in there later on or would it be cheaper/wiser to wait for CfX?

 

Interesting... I'm still standing behind everything I said in my earlier post, though. No comment.

Also... if you're looking into other Alienwares, I'd roughly categorize them into something like this:

1. If the computer is going to be moving a lot - m11x. I can't say I had any driver (or any other significant) issues though.
2. If it's not going to be moving *that* much. Or they would, but using a motorbike/car - m15x/m17x. They are relatively heavy.
3. Not moving at all - desktop.

BTW, the only reason I am planning to replace my desktop with m17x, its not because it looks sexy, but I tend to move quite a bit (and go home in Europe for a month or so). And key thing - I don't own a car.

For $2k-$3k if you really want performance check AW desktops. I believe the weakest CPU they start with is i7 920... and they are pretty good. 2 of my ex-bosses used to have those and they were very happy.

 

Cheaper and wiser to wait. Purchasing the system with x-fire will be much cheaper than purchasing an additional card down the road. And as of yet, no one knows if the current 5870 shipping with the M17x has the x-fire interface on the card. If it doesn't than you will have to purchase two cards and the cable down the road assuming they actually do end up releasing 5870 x-fire.

Also not sure if this was cleared up ealier, but currently only the intel drives support TRIM in R0, the Samsungs do not to the best of my knowledge. Just intels drivers.

 

Don't know why I asked after re-reading this thread. I guess I meant to clarify.