Mobile Haswell Refresh imminent ? - I7 4940mx / 4910mq / 4810mq & I5 4310m / 4340m / 4610m

Firstly - oops...title should read 4940mx and NOT 49340mx

This may or may not be groundbreaking news, but I just noticed that (another) bios update was available for my AW 14 dated 14th March A08. It adds new microcode for two CPU's which possibly indicates addition of newer processors which ties in with Haswell Refresh. It's obviously not new news, as this article was dated a few months ago.....but with new GPU's upon us, AW/Dell might be adding in new CPU's shortly as well.

Intel Core i5 and Core i7 Mobile Haswell Refresh Arrives - 10 New SKUs with the Usual Upgrades



As with most refreshes, there's probably not a HUGE improvement, but improvement IS improvement and anyone thinking of a new purchase might want to contemplate their order if this is gonna happen.

I did check updates for the 17 and 18 as well - 17 has a microcode update incorporated into A09 dated 13th March, nothing in the latest A06 18 bios indicating microcode, but there was microcode updates in A05:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-18-m18x/747583-new-m18-bios-a05.html

Anyway, thought I'd post it - probably already been picked up on, but hey.....why not! details of CPU's can be Googled or found on Intel's web site, here's the blurb on the "Bad Boy 4940mx":

Intel® Core™ i7-4940MX Processor Extreme Edition (8M Cache, up to 4.00 GHz)

 

More re-branding? I'm shocked...

 

Just a clock speed bump over the previous models is all.

 

Yeah, but a bit faster is better than a bit slower, right? - actually, it appears that the 4940xm is live on Dell.Ca.........

 

I hope the 4940MX fixes the lackluster performance issues with 4930MX. There's normally almost no difference in performance between the A and B versions of the XM processors in the same generation, but in this case there needs to be a remarkable difference between them.

 

It'll certainly be interesting to see what gives. Like with most things, I personally tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to these things....but I guess we will see soon enough.

 

I certainly hope so too, but the more I read these forums, the more I'm starting to think it could be a mobo issue as much as it is a Haswell issue.

 

Could be... whatever it is, seems Clevo has similar issues with 4930MX not living up to the "Extreme" label.

 

Yeah should've made it more clear, that's basically what I meant. If the 4930MX is not performing up to par in either the AW or Clevo, perhaps it really is just more than Haswell itself. I guess we still have to consider MSI, but I just can't see it happening with the 180W PSU and the pathetic "NOS" that draws power from the battery when overclocking because the PSU is not up to snuff LOL.

 

The 4940mx won't really bring anything new.

 

These are already up on the Alienware.com website as config options.

 

They weren't when I posted

 

They definitely weren't earlier when I checked. Glad I waited, I can now order my 18 with a 4940MX. :thumbsup:

 

haha I didn't mean it like "Why did you create the thread brah?", more of a "Oh cool, let me check their website, BAM!"

 

I can't see +100hz making much of a difference to an unlocked part

 

Please do report back your findings. I very much would like to know if Intel fixed anything with the 4940MX, or if it's just as broken as the 4930MX. Really not in the mood for making a $1100 mistake.

 

I was going to order Monday with the 4930MX. I decided not to. I waited a day and now at the same exact price as the 4930MX one, I can get the 4940MX. Don't see any downfalls in that. :thumbsup:

 

^have you been keeping a tab on the threads regarding the 4930MX? I think that might be a reason why people are starting to advise against grabbing the 4930MX. Hopefully 4940MX will be much better, but if it is anything like the 4930MX, it's just going to be another disappointment.

 

I know. I'm not getting my hopes up for the 4940MX at the same time since it might just be like Meaker said, just a 100mhz clock increase with the same overclocking performance.

 

Well, either way it was still smart to wait a week for the 4940MX. If all you get out of it at the end of the day is an extra 100MHz, so be it... take it, as a 100MHz increase is better than no increase. At least the laptop will have a better resale value, same with 880M versus 780M. Makes good sense to get the newer flavor for that reason even if there is no other benefit.

 

Exactly my point. No point in buying older hardware when newer hardware is available. Even though it is simply a refresh and only a small incremental clock bump, it's still an improvement over the previous processor. Given the choice, I'd take newer and slightly faster over older and slightly slower every day of the week 24/7. If someone is on the verge of buying, it makes little sense to plump for older vs. newer - unless there is a substantial enough price reduction for older....in which case, in this scenario, I'd go for a 4930mx if there were be savings to be had, chances are the 4930mx variant will hold it's price for some time - unless Dell have a huge stock pile of them!

 

^of course. My point was unless 4940MX offers substantial improvement over the 4930MX, much better to just go with the 4910MQ and save yourself a couple hundred bucks. You can still OC the 4910MQ to 4.3 GHz, and you'd probably start running into thermal issues beyond that anyway, so seems like 4910MQ hits the sweet spot.

 

On that logic the 4810mq is the best choice.

 

Well there is a 300 MHz difference between the 4810 and 4910MQ if both are OC'd. Bang for buck wise 4810MQ is probably the best choice. But if you wanted the best performance without breaking your bank and dealing with the epic fail that is Haswell XM, 4910MQ might still be the best choice. This is exactly why I went with the 4900MQ. But here's to hoping that 4940MX is fixed and will be much better.

 

Wouldn't the extra 2mb cache make a difference?

 

Nah, it won't. Not for gaming.

 

Yep the cache thing is mostly just an excuse from intel.