M17x refresh buyers- why not wait for ATI 5870's??

There's no reason why the inclusion of newer graphics chips would be an official revision. The M17x R-1 started with dual 280 M SLI as its best chips. When dell released 4870's for the M17x, they didn't call it R-2.

You have to change major aspects of the system (like the motherboard) to call it a new revision.

 

100%. The new revision will not take place until the end of the year. But I can understand those waiting for the new cards. To replace them in the future without voiding the warranty (I mean by selling the 4870s to minimize the costs of the 5870s and being unable to use the warranty for things like system replacement) gonna cost an extra 1k+.
But mind you, AW was famous in the past for staying behind the "bleeding edge" for quite a while, so no guarantee for those cards to appear in the M17X-R2 at all! They may just wait another year and move to Fermi or something else.

 

you know what guys... what if AW ends up giving the M17x the GTS 360m? j/k.... got you all.... seriously, i don't want to see the GTS 360m being an option early next month.

 

Don't worry, you will probably see GTX360/380 instead.

 

I swear to God I will come for you and... question you how you dare saying those words (but only when your wooden sword is not around, at least )

 

Well, if I hear nothing after ceBit about the 5870's, then I'll probably start thinking about rolling with the 4870's, but still keeping my fingers crossed for the 5870's. We'll see I guess. Ultimately though, I may look at other options for DX11 in the meantime just in case - but I really hope they offer them in the M17x. Seems everything is backed up anyways, so i don't see the harm in waiting much either way.

 

I can honestly say after getting my M17x-R2 I have no interest in 5870 Ati cards. None. For anyone that has had the 4870 Ati cards longer than me ((Two days)) it might be a great idea. But, dual 4870's is running circles around my single 9800 GTS. It's not even a fair comparison. I can honestly say I won't want to upgrade again until the 6870 Ati cards. lol.

 

For current games even the xfire 4870s are overkill IMO. The 5870s will be good for benchmark runners or those that must have the absolute latest and greatest. I MIGHT upgrade to them if I can get them for a reasonable price and sell mine with minimal loss in $$. Otherwise my next true upgrade will be a die shrunk nVidia and/or Fermi.

 

Ive heard people waiting for 32 nm quadcores. They arent for another year so stop waiting.

 

Do you remember when Montevina platform was released and companies like Lenovo, Fujitsu and a few others started successfully implementing the 1066MHz RAM, all mighty AW machines were on 667MHz for another 5months

 

i wonder when i9 is going to be available. desktops don't even have it yet.

 

I didnt know that thing. But since a $399 Dell Inspiron has much better LED screen than the " All" Powerful M17x Im not being surprised

My point is: Dont ruin my hope

 

That's a good thing for me. That means I can worry about buying other components for my laptop besides new graphics cards. Though if you do get the 5870's let me know how you like them.

 

cuz i want the thing now! when they come out with the new gpus hopefully i can just upgrade the cards if not. YAY warrenty!

 

Yeah but they are from Dell now, only the brand name and cool design of AW is left. So how much can that be taken in account?

Asus already has a good compeditor, will Dell want to fall behind?!?

 

In my previous post I mentioned about outdated display on Dellienware M17x lol.

 

That's what we all are really hoping for, I guess. Dell can make a huge difference and so far it does, although not without glitches.

 

DX11 isn't like DX10. It will be far bigger, most especially be the successors to the PS3 and X360 are going to use it. So all those "cross games" that hit the PC are all likely to be using it. Since DX10 will become a memory, won't it feel funny in a year or two saying "I have a DX9 machine" when you could have waited a few months to jump 2 generations? Up to you and your need, but if you don't truly "need" a machine now, smart money might wait just a bit.

Upgrading? I don't know how many times I've read posts for years about people "upgrading" and waiting months, or never getting the "upgrade" they were sure would come when they bought their machine ahead of the upgrade. Remember the 8700GT debacle with the first 1730's? This trend is breaking down and Dell is behaving far better about upgrades, but be prepared to wait a long time for them to come and be prepared to spend a small fortune to get them. Wait or buy now, that's the choice.

USB3. It's coming and it's coming fast. 3x the external hardrive speed and all on a single cable (no ESATA external power supply idiocy). It may not seem like much now, but USB 3 will drive external displays easily, and connect to devices like cameras and memory sticks at speeds that are a multiple of today's speed. Again, may not seem like much now, but if you were using USB 1.1 right now, would you be satisfied with that? It's not the "now" that's the issue but this same machine you are owning a year or two from now that you want to dump because "it's so slow". USB 2 is going to feel like a dog when the market moves over. And with more power output, it can drive more powerful cooling pad fans as well. That impacts gaming notebooks a lot. HP just announced they will be bringing USB 3 to all their notebooks in upcoming refreshes. Dell/AW will follow suit because they have to. Again, waiting or not, is up to you.

Look how many folks are debating the sale (and loss) of changing from a R1 to an R2. Choosing the features that make a real difference helps avoid that situation. Again, it's up to you and your need. But there are some very big Generation level changes coming this year (integrated memory controller, auto overclocking on fewer cores, DX11 with Physics and GPU computing features, USB 3 and Office 10 for those that buy it preinstalled) that are all relatively short timespans away. Some may wait and some may not, but just be well informed of what the choices mean before you decide.

There you go. Now you know.

 

100% with this

 

+ rep FXi

I like your *article*

 

There are no right or wrong choices you can make when it comes to Technology, regardless if you save money now and spend later. The world revolve around technology and either you go with the flow or get left behind.

Either route you go, there is always obstacles. Thats basically my interpretation of the above article. You will win and lose at the same with computer technology. The cycle will repeat itself, its the way of life for technology.

 

@FXi
DX11 is still young and the gaming industry is now in the testing and polishing stage. There will be more coming of course but honestly, you won't really need the DX11 cards to run most (if not all) upcoming titles, simply because they will nicely run with DX10 and in many cases, will run better. Jump on it now, be one of the first to own it? Yes, if you like, but there is a small bonus of helluva hours that you will be spending on support forums with drivers and fixes, weird workarounds and as a result less fun from system itself (unless of course you consider the tweaking to be more interesting than playing your favorite games)
This is equally true for USB 3.0, SATA3 and Office 10.
My own IT experience warns me of many more months before those will be reliable. Especially Office. I've never seen a company (in last 15 years at least) that would jump on a new software suit before giving it a year to be polished without regrets. In IT you just can't trust the newly fledged products, unless you wish to become the tester of those. Look at the W7 and the stuttering in M17X-R1. The golden rule with Microsoft: If you want the stability wait till the next Service Pack and a little bit more, just in case, but then go MAC or Linux .
All who stay on the edge, pay for it not just with extra $$$ but with a lot of work and nerves.
So again, do as you wish, wait for the 5870, Hecatonchires, Fermi or Holographic Displays, but know that the moment you jump on it, you start working hard and by the time you will be more or less problem free - new technology is gonna knock on your door
But who cares, right? It's the adrenaline after all, sweet anticipation of the miracle! So screw what I just wrote here and enjoy!

 

Everyone keeps talking about but has there actually been any solid info on a date for 5870's on the M17x? Or has it even been confirmed that they will be offered for the M17x or is that just assumption?

 

There is no info so far.

 

How could they not eventually be offered in the m17x?

AW won't be sticking with the 4870's forever. If it's not going to be the 5870, you can bet a mobile fermi will eventually make it's way into the AW lineup.

Either way, I'm just ebaying my 4870's as soon as better cards come out. So I'll lose a little cash on the deal, but I'm not missing out on owning this sweet computer for an unknown number of months waiting for ever evolving technology.

With the Bios fix coming, there is absolutely no reason to hold off on an m17x right now.

My 2 cents.

 

even if the 5870s fit in the m17x will it be able to get rid of the heat as 4870s are like 45w i think and the 5870s are 60w per card, that will be pretty warm. and does the m17x have enough in it to power the cards being nealry 20w per card extra if in crossfire.

 

The heat wont be an issue, the TDP of the 280M is 75W and the M17x has no issues cooling 2 of those, also the 4870's are 65W each, not 45.

 

exactly and aren't the 5870's less wattage than the 4870's since they are 40nm?

 

Yes, I have heard the same..... and it was suggested to keep an eye on CeBit.

 

Let's wait 2 weeks..

 

With all this issue on the R1's and R2's , AW/Dell should at least tease us and tell us that the 5870s are coming to make up for all the stress we been having. At least we will sleep better knowing that the 5870s will come.

 

Agreed!

I'm waiting for the HD5XXX before pull the trigger

 

While there isn't tons of solid information, the "release" is out on the specs of the 5870, and I don't think I'm entirely incorrect in believing that Cebit in a couple of weeks will probably have a ton of info, timing and products to show off.

There really are many sides to this. Just tried to highlight why some of them are important. But if you don't have a car to drive right now, you have to buy a car. So if you need a PC, you need a PC and you take the best you can manage on your budget and live with the compromises. I didn't mean to disagree with that. But for some users who have "something working" now and want to have a few years of happy ownership from their next machine I tried to highlight some of the changes that are fairly close by.

I'm not 100% positive, and I listen closely to the debates on DX11. Certainly DX10 had a lot of hype and turned into a lot of nothing, so you are really never sure of how popular a new DX is likely to be. And even when you do get it right, you can have a 9.0/9.0B/9.0C version change that can upend even careful purchase plans. So it is certainly possible that DX11 isn't worth worrying about. But when the 2 console giants move to something, that is also on PC's you usually have enough "weight" of market to get a lot of dev's on board. It's not a "right now" thing but something to be aware of for a year or two into ownership. Now some folks never own a machine that long. So again, it may not matter. But I hoped it would be worth mentioning that this particular DX change might have a sizeable weight going with it this time around and IF you own this same machine in a couple years and IF, for whatever reason the manufacturer dreams up, you can't change video cards, you might be unhappy if stuck with DX 10.1.

Like choosing a car, none of these choices is going to keep you from driving down the road and, in this case, gaming like a madman or madwoman for several years. But if you feel like you might have buyers regret in a month or two, I thought it was worth laying out the near term roadmap. That's all

Scoring 20k+ on 3D06 is nothing to sneeze at and is a gaming machine that should work well for several years. The M17x is a fantastic machine and more than once I almost reached for the card to buy one. Don't think anyone (once the R2 is fixed) will be sad in what they own either

 

Agreed! It will be worth it! (waiting...... waiting...... and waiting.....)

 

Don't count on anything before April. Or I should say, don't count on having an R2 + 5870 shipped to you until the first few weeks of April or longer. While people wait, I'll enjoy my R2 and then sell the 4870s when the time comes

 

Perhaps, and in this case, I guess I'll be waiting just a bit longer.

Great minds think alike!

 

I'm with you 100% Joker. Not that you are a reliable source, but you went to the mothership. You might know something.

 

I saw and learned a few interesting things there. Nothing relating to the 5870 release though, that's my personal guess based on what I know about AW/Dell. You guys will be seeing A LOT more of Alienware in main stream stores like Best Buy in the future. Plus newer models from AW (and sadly made of plastic, no metal alloy) to reduce weight. Our current heavy (I love them) metal alloy M17x's are a dying breed and one of the last before the change comes. I let them know most of us are quite passionate about having a sturdy metal alloy notebook but again the weight issue was brought up (damn whiners). They did mention having a new notebook in the works for enthusiasts that will blow us away.

I blame this trend of low cost performance notebooks based on a cheap plastic chasis on Asus. They are forcing the industry leaders like AW to change tactics to meet a sales baseline IMO. It's all about making money at the end of the day I suppose but it really irks me that this could have implications on future high end designs like metal alloy M17x's.

 

At the moment I have i7 Desktop & PS3 for gaming, so I can survive until AW release DX11.

I believe game developers will adopt DX11 faster than DX10, because it's compatible with Vista/W7

 

whats stoping us from having 5870's now bios or alienware has to make them fit in the case?

 

I will never go back to plastic!

 

Material Engineering is not to be neglected. Future spaceships will mostly be of plastic You can manipulate polymers easier than metals and assign them any property. It's actually a very simple process to create a sturdy plastic barebones for notebooks that will be far more durable than the anodized aluminum, in addition to being light-weight.
The real problem is like Joker said - companies like ASUS create unfair competition by choosing the cheaper (hence lower quality products) and urging the rest to join the club.

 

Plastic can obviously be molded far easier but feels much cheaper and ends up having flex. Even famed Clevo's have flex in them. Thus why i prefer a solid anodized aluminum/mg alloy. It's going to be a sad day when AW goes plastic.

 

You can make plastic with 0 flexibility and stronger than steel. It just costs more. And yes it is going to be really sad when AW goes cheap plastic. The current costs of high quality plastics won't allow their integration into notebooks for a few years at least.

 

All the more reason I'm glad I picked up the 920XM. The more future proof I can make my m17x the happier I'll be in the long run, because the main reason I stuck with AW is the metal chasis. Expensive plastic machines do not appeal to me, I'm likely to hang onto this metal m17x as long as possible then.

 

i think i'm going to stick with the QX9300 R1 until i see that the 5870's aren't having any issues. then i'll buy one. that's going to be a while. so you guys can sort out all the problems the 5870s are going to cause.

 

this is from a chinese forum that someone talking with an US DELL online rep. any idea on this? i think u guys in US might have more possible info. it might be fake.
for privacy reason, there is no name showed up.

 

anyone else wondering if the M17x will have multiple display ports to support the eyefinity technology?

 

lol wow if they have multiple display ports it would be an entire change in chasis which prolly cause it to be named differently and not r3

 

whats eyefinity?