Is the 920XM worth it?

This is the configuration I'm planning on ordering by this month, hopefully!

Core i7 920XM
Dual 1GB ATI Radeon™ Mobility HD 4870 in CrossfireX™
17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
128GB Solid State Drive
Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
500GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
Intel® Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology
1 Year Advanced Service Plan Warranty
Space Black

I have access to the EPP discount and someone in the family has the Dell credit card and they are offering the 3% off deal. Anyone have any other coupon codes? I'm also going to try bargaining with the representative! Also if someone would give me the contact of a great representative, that would be great!!

Would a 820QM make any difference in games or should I remain with the 920XM? I've been reading the 920XM and the dual ATI video card are still stuttering but it seems like the 820QM is not stuttering with that video card. So is the 920XM worth the hassle?

About the solid state, is it worth it to get it? My brother builds computers he's not so familiar with laptops, but he can do it. Would it be worth it to buy the solid state drive now or go with a SATA HDD and buy a solid state on ebay? Anyone know the read/write speed of the solid state dell is installing in the systems??

About the blue-ray burner/writer, I'm from the US, has anyone called and had that put in their system?

Also does anyone know when the new video card will be installed in the systems?

Thanks

 

im not sure if you have been reading around on the forums but maybe joker or someone else that has a 920 will let you in on the screen flickering problem. may want to wait if you have to have the 920. the 820 has worked fine for me so far.other than that it looks awesome man. especially if you can get some more discounts

 

Best to wait on the 920XM there have been a few issues with it. (Throttling, flickering in games etc etc) So i would wait on that.

 

I was thinking of going ahead with the 920XM anyway. I have the advanced warranty in case I have serious problems. That would most likely give me more leverage to complain and have the price knocked down some more in the future, I hope! Has anyone tried bargaining with the rep by first configuring low and then making them think that they convinced you to order the more expensive stuff?

 

It's worth it.

 

Absolutely not worth it.

 

lol, maybe I should have created a poll!

 

i look at it this way. i got the 820qm which i believe was a $300 upgrade from the 720qm and the 920 was a 900 dollar increase from the 820qm and i didn't think there was gonna be that much of a difference. so im saying that if you do have the extra cash, go for it i mean it is faster (does have problems that are being addressed by dell) and who doesn't want to have the fastest computer they can have. i would have went for the 920 but i am only an engineering student working an internship and didn't have the money to do the 920 upgrade.

i guess if you have the money go for it

 

I think the main advantage with the 920 is the ability to overclocking is built into the system.

 

I think a poll is in order here.. my 5 cents is that there's absolutely no reason (unless you are benchmarking) to go with the 920. It's a 500$ difference that could go to better use in increasing your overall experience (such as an awesome Intel x25 SSD).
There will be absolutely no real life gain in games in 820 vs 920 imho.

 

Wow.. Right on! It's even more outside the U.S. And absolutly true to swap at least your primairy HDD for an intel x25G2 SSD...

 

mine was a 900 difference from 820 to 920

 

The 920 is absolutely worth it as confirmed many times by Rengshey and Mandrake which both take the CPU to it's limits.

Of course if you are only going to use Excel on your PC then yes it's not worth it...

 

Wow, 900$ diff, it's crazy guys, whichever what you look at it.
i think that 820 gives the best value for money.

 

In the Netherlands it's a $957 price difference.

 

At this point in time, I would wait. The issues in gaming are fairly severe if you enable Xfire, so if you are buying this for gaming purposes expect to be running only one video card until a fix is issued.

 

I found an earlier post of mine which has some extra figures to back up a desision. (If interested)
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5799931&postcount=16

 

sorry mine was 600 and not 900 but still...

 

the ONLY reason i can think of (except benching) to get that CPU is thinking about future replacement systems and the argument that since you have top of the line CPU in yours you should get top of the line replacement.... but that does not worth the 600-900 dollars difference in price

 

My 2 cents....

Is it really worth it for a 820?

The 920 is an extreme processor which allows for over-clocking and over-volting, thus the higher price tag. What does the 820 have over the 720? A few Mhz? Is that noticeable...probably not. If you don't care about benchmarking or don't need to have the fastest possible don't bother with the 920, go for the 720. 820 gives you very little for the upgrade price.

 

In my eyes, paying 1000€ more for the 920 is definitly not worth it, not even if it would cost 500€ more.

I'd rather keep the money aside for future gpu upgrades when new gpu's will be released, or buy the 920 when prices drop (which might take a while with atom out of the picture...).

 

There you go OP. All the info you need to know right there. You can always upgrade later on. Plus, I have mine with a 720QM and I have, by far, the coolest avatar here.

 

just a for your info.... 720 threw test on various sites has proven to give you the most for your money. If your just going to game of course because what the 820 offers over it is minicsule in that regard. Also the 920 is for benchmarkers and people who push the limits its not helping them in gaming at all your gpu's always going to be your biggest bottleneck anyways.

 

Does your avatar has anything to do with 720QM and 920QM

 

When is the 32nm version of Nehalem suppose to come out? Anyone knows?

 

Well, when you see a member using such a quality avatar it should inspire you trust. Consequently, anything I say must be adhered to.

It's all about the avy man, the avy. Too bad witcher and you don't use your previous avatars, then it would be a challenge.

 

Arrandales are already out.

 

How far could you even Over clock the 920? isn't it like 5%? Or can you bypass that?

 

The 920XM is 45nm not 32nm.

 

Arrandale is out but it not a quad processor its only in the dual core i3-i7 variant

 

The 920XM is not an Arrandale. The i5s and i3s are Arrandales.

 

the difference in price from 720 to 820 is 300$. the difference from the 720 to the 920 is 900$. the difference from the 820 to the 920 is 600$.

As far as gaming is concerned, the best deal is hands down the 720, which is why I'm returning my system and switching to it (unless they offer me a 920 to keep the system and not cancel, though i doubt they will. We'll find out tomorrow). There really is no conceivable reason to buy the 820.

Mandrake and Rengs, do you guys actually play games? both of you seem to be happy with the 920... So, are you experiencing issues (flickering, stuttering, etc)? Do you keep xfire disbabled? What games do you actually play and are they honestly playable?

Are you keeping the 920 because you believe a bios fix will be released that resolves the issues (if you've having any)?

 

Ok, so when are the i7 arrandale coming out then?

 

Thanks everyone for the input. It was down to 820 vs the 920, but I've been convinced and now its the 720 vs the 920, lol!

 

Yeah haha 820 is just for those few mhz bragging rights really If your into CAD or benchmarking 920 is the way to go but if your just going to game on it save all that money and get the 720 because before a game maxes out that processor these 4870's are going to need to have been upgraded 2-3 times so dont worry about your processor speed so much since your gpu's will always be your bottleneck

 

Further because of over-volting and the ability to change multipliers in Windows.

Yes I game but my games work fine with a single 4870. I will not keep the system if my replacement does not fix the issue. I have an Asus G73 on order that can handle my games just fine with a single 5870.

 

So for someone who wants to game to the max and the best, most stable performance, a 720 with dual 4870's is the best bet (for the price) right now...

You mentioned a replacement possibly resolving your issue, are you under the impression that not everyone with a 920 is experiencing issues when crossfire is enabled?

Are you at all worried that the time it takes you to get the system exchange and test it will put you outside of the 21 day return policy? I got screwed with the m17x r-1... guy told me I HAD to try a system exchange before getting a refund. Since I called in explaining about all my issues around 10 days into having the machine, the time it took to build the new one and ship it to me put me outside of the return policy (because they go by your original order date, not the exchange system's creation date). I had to fight for about a month with the "special escalations team" in order to grant me a refund because they couldn't track down the agent who lied to me. Crazy stuff.

As of right now, I'm returning this system (which came with a broken laptop key, bsod errors on a clean format, and the wrong hard drive (they sent me a 250gb 5400rpm instead of my 256gb SSD). I'm going to consider reordering with a 720 to save $300 bucks.

 

its the best bang for your buck sure the 820 will out do the 720 but the diffrence is very very minisucle price wise its pointless

 

Thanks again everyone! I made up my mind and I am going to go for the 720. With the saved money, I can get a digital camera and an ebook reader and probably a new treadmill, lol!

 

or you could get a m11x for your collection with that money.

 

protecting my investment.

 

I'm having trouble PMing. Is it still limited by 10 posts?

 

If so, 10th post! AND 920XM is back on the page again!!

 

Hi all,

1st post here, been following this thread a little... good info, i "was" going to go for 920xm (i'm not suggesting money is no object, but i can afford it ! lol) but am now convinced otherwise, though being a show off *cough* im still thinking of going with the 820 over the 720....

I just have a couple of other questions on the Alienware M17X configuration though, whilst running the 820....

Firstly i should point out i'm waiting a little while for Dell to hopefully get 5870 gpu (or gpu's) in there, though there is a possibility the money may start burning a hole in my pocket & i opt for 4870 xfire option if they take tooooooooooo long...........

But apart from that, is there good reason to go with 8mb ram, i'd planed on 6mb, but now have room in my budget (no 920xm) to go with 8mb if there's a good reason ?

Lastly, hard drives, 1st is there space in the m17x for dual HDD's AND an SSD ? If not then this is a redundant question already.... i need atleast 500gb storage as though this machine is 95% games machine it's also a replacement for my DELL XPSM1710 & that has about 300gb of photo & music on it already... i had originally decided to go for dual 500gb 7200rpm HDD's in Raid 0, but again now with a little extra money (no 920xm) i could squeeze an SSD in there from a cost point of view...

Thanks for reading my waffle

Any thoughts ?

 

All these questions have been answered many times:

1. Yes it's worth it if you OC and want to be more future proof but not required especially if you only use your PC for gaming.

2. We are all waiting for the 5870's crossfire but it seems that the option from Dell will not be available for a while. Some people are speculating it won't come out before the end of the summer.

3. If you are going to use your PC for gaming get the RAM from Kingston and 4GB is enough. 8GB is only useful if you do very intense work on apps like Photoshop, 3D Max, etc...


4. Get an intel SSD for your operating system as sold on newegg and get a second hard drive of 640GB for storage. It's the most cost effective.

 

I don't want to start a new thread so I wanted to ask here if there is already a thread showing how to effectively overclock a 920xm through the BIOS and what speeds did peopel achieve for all 4 cores running at the same time. Some of the options on the BIOS are a bit confusing for me. Thank you.

 

Please go to the OC thread or to the Benchmark Part 3 thread.

Mandrake has a step by step guide to OC.

 

I did say "1st post here" sorry for asking questions in a forum designed, presumably, for answering such questions....

As for your answers to points 1 & 2 fair enough & thankyou.... but no 3, why would i buy ram from Kingston ? im in the UK, i appreciate you may be considering cost in the equation, but as i stated this is not really a concern, and would it not invalidate the warranty buying separate ram & upgrading myself ? let alone the hassle... i'd like to be able to do what i'v done with the other 3 dells in my house, unwrap, plug in, use, but still point noted 4mb is enough thanks... a similar problem apperars with your answer to no 4, surely ordering with a single 640gb drive (not that that's even an option on dell uk) then buying an SSD to add myself would invalidate the warranty ? and sadly i have no time or inclination to start pulling apart a brand new £3000 laptop to save a few pounds....

Sorry if this creates more questions, but i thought i'd come to the right place for answers

 

Go big or go home! You're spending thousands of dollars on a gaming laptop. You might as well protect your investment and make sure it lasts a long time.

 

hey, i believe that Joebarchuck here told you to buy memory separately because it has better timings that the Elipda memory that dell installs. (and you might also save some $$ on that). No, it won't void your warranty although there is some tinkering involved as you have mentioned. Maybe 2 minutes of work

Same goes for the SSD, dell uses Samsungs, and they are not the fastest option possible. Intel X25-M 160gb are considered the best option to go with. Again, some hassle to install, but best results later. Up to you i guess, if you're the kind of guy that prefers not to mess with the thing and just use it, then by all means order from dell. If on the other hand, you want MAX performance - do as suggested.

I personally bought 8 gigs of memory, because i had a good discount from Dell and as to why i need it - i am going to run a couple of VMs on top of my main OS - and that thing is memory intensive.