M17 proccesor

Hi ive been reading a lot of the things on the forum but i couldnt find what i needed. on the m17 what would be a better proccesor the Intel® Core™2 Extreme X9100 3.06GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB) or the Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB) Thanks

 

depends 32 or 64 if you go quad try 64 bit and crossfireX

 

Bull, not even the constantly bumped thread that says would you order the m17 with the qx9300 or x9100 and why? Clearly you haven't looked once, because this is the number one question about the M17 people ask most.

- F

 

Umm no not bull i have been looking over these forums for the past week and i never noticed that until after i posted this thread

 

No worries Aj.. Go for the x9100 if buying AW. OTherwise, the QX9300 if buying the Whitebook from elsewhere. You're wasting money on a qx9300 with AW cause you're running @ 2.53GHz vs 3.06 GHz. Even though it has 2 extra cores they all run slower..the x9100 is faster stock than the QX9300..depending on what type of software you're running. And since AW doesn't allow you to overclock then no point in spending the extra money on a slower setup.

 

well the quad does have the 12 mb cache when the extreme has 6 mb and im not totally sure on this but can you get the 4 cores to run all on one program ex. crysis and be faster then the extreme? and im choosing alienware

 

IMHO, it's not worth several hundred(I believe thats the cost difference) dollars to have the QX stuck @ 2.53 vs the x9100 @ 3.06 - Obviously if you do a good bit of multimedia encoding and other CPU intense processes..then quad core is a better idea. For gaming, your GPUs do about 90% of the work. And, the 12MB or 6MB cache isn't going to offer any difference when it comes to in game performance. Maybe someone here would be nice enough to post a 3dmark06 Run with a QX9300 running @ stock 2.53 GHz? Then I'll post a comparison. I understand it's "just 3dmark" but it acts much like games when it comes to resources and system stressing. Truly tho, the x9100 will pull better 3dmark, and ALSO better gaming performance. At least, until AW allows overclocking

 

Ok thank you it was very helpfull. btw are you saying "until AW allows overclocking" as a joke or will they ever allow overclocking?

 

Im not the right person to ask Aj.. I'm sorry. As of right now, they aren't supporting overclocking the Extreme CPUs. You can BIOS flash the OCZ BIOS to support the unlocked multiplier however that voids your warranty instantly. So should anything happen you're out of luck. There has been speculation that it will be supported down the road. And, common sense would say.. "Why sell extreme cpus if you don't let us use them?" - Well.. protecting their assets is one reason, and quite possibly the second is because they don't have a official AW BIOS finalized that supports it. I'd be inclined to think it's a bit of both. But, Im just an outsider looking in..and making assumptions.

 

Knowing full well the QX will bury the 9100 after overclock and have two extra cores to spare, I purchased the extreme on that knowledge and comfort that I won't have to upgrade in a year or two. I sure as hell didn't waste my money.

You probably don't know it, but the M17 is a rebranded OCZ Whitebook with identical hardware. In fact, there are a whole host of 17" laptops that are rebranded Whitebooks. Having said that..

Buy the Extreme, flash the OCZ BIOS to it and overclock the thing. Absolute best bang for the buck. See here for all your answers to that question:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=325944

- F

 

Thats if alienware will ever let you overclock

 

oh.. and sorry to double post, but see my sig? That's using an x9100 with the same system the M17 is built around. Not too shabby for dual core, eh? There's a couple of guys with qx9300s and I smoke all of their benchmarks, both artificial and gaming. I'd like to get a qx9300 personally, just to see how far I can push it. I know there's room for it to be pushed harder than where I'm at now. But, the systems are only as good as those who use them.

Anyhow, either way..you'll be satisfied with your choice. I can assure you of that. Future-proof with the Quad-core, or think about now and today with the x9100.

 

Yeah anything will be better than what i have right now an
intel pentium 4 2.8ghz lol i know thats old

 

oh dang..yea man, you can buy a P8400 and be happy. ;P kiddin.. but, please post and let us know what you decide on

 

i will remember to do that.

 

Welcome to the green square club Aj.. +rep

 

I already did. My stock QX was nearly 13,800.

- F

 

Im honored to join it

 

As noted the Extreme Edition processors are not worth it since you can't overclock them. The sole reason to buy one is to overclock.

The Q9100 is the best choice if you have the money, though part of me says that spending $850 for any processor is ridiculous.

I personally would save some money and get a dual-core. The T9400 2.53GHz is a good performer and it is more than powerful enough for any game. Go no higher than the T9600 (2.8GHz).

 

so whats the special thing in extreme proc. thats makes it an overclocker

 

The Extreme Edition processors have an unlocked multiplier.

 

Well, Chaz finally agrees with me on something..

 

They have been overclocked. Do you say this as it applies to the default Alienware BIOS? Because with the OCZ BIOS flashed to the machine, the QX has been pushed to as high at 3.6Ghz by at least one member here, if memory serves correctly.

- F

 

Thank u chaz!!!! u have made me a happy man! +rep

 

Correct, Alienware does not allow overclocking; it is disabled in the BIOS. The problem with flashing it to a newer BIOS is that it voids your warranty.

You are welcome.

 

i want the qx and will void my warrenty if i ned to get that 3.6 ghz out of the q-core. if i had the money right now i would get it.

 

Well, the QX9300 plays GTA IV better than the X9100, even at stock. Overall, the QX9300 performs better than the X9100 in anything that is multi-threaded, meaning they support x number of processors, not just 2.

That includes programs like DivX Encoder, Xvid, WinRAR, multi-threaded games like GTA IV, Crysis (Warhead).

 

aaa for Goodness sake just put a woman in the laptop and u will get all the multitasking power u need...and i guarantee u its gonna be futureproof!

 

This is true. But then the laptop would only work intermittently, and only when you cuddled/said nice things to it .

 

she could always be replaced

 

And once every 30 days you laptop would get a little irratable and need a bottle of Mydol.

 

I wasn't gonna go there, don't know if any of the forum members are females, lol.