M17x Single 260m

Hello all:

I'm curently running a Gateway FX7811 with a 9800GTS. I figure a single 260m would be a decent upgrade but probably wont blow me away with a huge increase.

I'm wondering how people who purchased the M17X with a single 260m are liking the performance?

The configuration I'm considering:

2.8 GHZ processor
4 GB ram
300 GB RAID 0
1900x1200 display.

If you currently have the single 260m could you comment on your game performance and such or if you're familiar with this single card?

Any information would be greatly appreciated. I've seen lots of posts regarding SLI configuration and web searches yield no lack of reviews of the SLI, however, I've not had any luck with single card reviews.

Thanks!

 

I'd seriously go for the SLI. You'd be seeing a 50% (or more) performance boost from it in the majority of games which is a very nice boost for the money. A single 260M though would not be much of an upgrade over a 9800GTS.

 

I have the single card and I find it runs games fine but I do have the WXGA screen instead of the WUXGA screen that you are looking to get.

 

The 260m would be an upgrade over the 9800 yes, But it wont be huge.
A single 260m will run games just fine but u wont be able to max out all games, Not at 1900*1200.
If it is within your budget I would consider the 260 sli option so you'll be able to max out most of the games today, and you'll have some headroom for games to come.

 

I have a single gxtx260 and i can fully max and rape L4D, TF2, CSS, Eve online, and UT3. I like it. I got this laptop for originality and looks over crazy preformance anyway. My m17x is stock except for the screen, i got the 1920x1200.

 

Yeah those are fairly old games with a really old system.

 

Thanks for the replies guys

I'm curious if anyone has run Crysis with the single card and how did it do with high or very high settings?

I'm not into first person shooters all that much, although its great to pop Crysis in just to see how your machine can handle the load at different settings. I'm looking at MMO play mostly and also want a machine that will handle Star Wars The Old Republic when it's released next year. I want to be able to pump up the settings without looking at a slide show so maybe SLI is a better way to go for me.

Another reason why I'm a little tempted to stick with a single card though is for heat issues as this will be my primary gaming rig and will be used for long durations. Although I do intend to use a 17" laptop cooling pad. I'm just not sure how hot this rig handles heat with to GPUs.

Thanks again for any input!

 

I was able to run Crysis and Crysis warhead on medium and some textures on high on my old pc with a X1950XTX (best dx9 card ever lol) But i have not tried crysis, i have already played crysis and crysis warhead on my GTX285 rig anyway. Didn't feel like taking up space on the m17x.

My m17x gets really loud and it pushes as much heat out the back as my desktop card when you are gaming but with headphones on it doesn't annoy me.

 

A single 260M will bring you able to play on High with Crysis at about 30fps average but not on a great resolution. You'll be playing on 1440x900 MAX (almost definetely less than that) to maintain 30fps average on High.

With dual 260Ms you'll be playing Crysis on very high without problem at 1440x900, never mind average 30+fps, you'll be above 30fps nearly all the time.
On 1920x1200 you'll manage to average somewhere around 30fps on Very High. To get above 30fps most of the time you might need to play on High or a mix between Medium and High if on 1920x1200.

Yes, that's how big a difference the SLI will make.

 

lol all @ high the 260 will run RE 5 @ 50 fps with a overclock

also i haven't encountered a game i can't play @ 1900 res

 

Will the single 260 be able to run a 42" Television on l4d? or will it skip? I heard TV's affect the fps.

 

no TV's dont affect it the resolution does ... and yes it will run just fine i plyed L4D maxed out @ 1200p 2 nights ago

 

Thanks again for the replies folks.

I was watching your video about replacing a GPU, Moo. Awesome video, btw..

After seeing that video and reading comments, I'm consdidering sticking with the single card with the option to upgrade later. If I follow your instructions in the video though, where would one buy a second identicle that card to go SLI without voiding the waranty?

 

Dell is the only place and it will be expensive .... shoudl be more avaliable by the end of the year was the Clevo W360c ( i think ) comes out

 

Ahh I've gone through their accessories and don't even see an option for video card upgrades for an M17x. I'll shoot them a call to inquire about pricing.

 

they will say it isn't avaliable @ this time

 

Is there another source I could buy the cards from that you would reccomend?

 

RJTech apparently has them but you have to email and ask specifically for the MXM 3.0 version to make sure you get the one with the SLI connector.


Why do we have 2 threads, 1 in the Off-topic section, 1 here, on the exact same thing..?

 

Thanks I'll check that out

shrug.. this is a pretty "On Topic" subject, I thought it would be appropriate to post Alienware questions in the Alienware folder hehe. I didnt know there was one in the Off Topic section.

 

Not saying it's your fault..you should have posted here. I didn't expect to find one in the off topic section either...I was just saying that so maybe mods could merge the threads or something. Makes sense to have 1 big thread about this topic than 2 smaller ones as I'm sure many people, including me, want to know how to get their hands on a 2nd GPU.

 

lol i tried ordering a 9800m gt from alienware parts rep for m m15x i hang up the phone after hearing they are charging $550 for 9800m gt for the m15x
scared the crap out of me. LOL i cant imagine the price they are charging for a 260m let alone a 280m card. This happened 3 months ago by the way.

 

those cards are pretty expensive ...

AW is overchargeing about 100-150 ( 1 because they can and 2 because they can)

 

yup thats what happed i sold the m15x on here, not worth it. And it taught me a lesson that i shoudl get the sli now and save me a bundle of money on m17x.

 

Thanks again for all of the insight guys. I'm going to post an updated configuration for feedback, shortly.

 

I played every campaign of l4d maxwd out @1900 with a p8600

 

Ahh cool then you answered my last question I think.. so not worth it to go to the 2.8?

 

What is your config?

 

4 gigs of ram
p8600 @3.0
single 260 (stock)