My build! Final thoughts and bottle necks?

Hey all,

Hope to be ordering my new laptop by this Thursday at the latest! Pretty excited- my research has lead me to go with the m15x simply because of the battery life it boasts (although I also like the m860tu.) The AW should play all the games I want to at a decent level of detail, and I will be able to use it at school, but before I go ahead and order it I wanted to ask a few final questions of the experts on this forum.

Here is the build proper:

Silver Ripley or Skullcap (haven't decided yet)
15.4" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD (720p) with Clearview Technology
512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800M GTX
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 512MB
Intel® Turbo Memory (1GB) – Accelerate Data Transfer Speed
250GB 7,200RPM (8MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection
8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW) w/ LightScribe Technology
AlienFX® Illuminated Keyboard

Price: Not including my student discount, it is $2,900 CAD after taxes and shipping.

Notes: The rest is stock. Didn't up the screen because I don't want too high a res because I've bad eyes lol. The 1GB ram shall be upgraded to 4GB's by me too save a few bucks.

Questions:
With the 8800M GTX GPU in my comp, what will the bottleneck be? I do not need a lot of processing power per se. This will be strictly a gaming, word, and web computer. No other 3d rendering or processor heavy things like that. My question is, will the bottleneck here be my processor or my GPU? Could I get away with the 2.4 Ghz processor? or even the stock 2.1? I DO wish to have the best performance, but I would like to save money where I can. Anyone know what's the best choice?

 

save money

Buy the m860tu and a spare battery or 2

loaded, it still comes to a lot less than the m15x

 

if you are paying for turbocache, ditch that.

you could probably get away with the 2.1, but i would go with the 2.4 (maybe... really depends on the price differences) assuming its a decent amount of cash.

otherwise it seems fine.

or yeah, if you really want to go crazy get the m860tu. better machine and probably cheaper too?

 

If you really wanted to save money you could upgrade to that 250GB 7200RPM yourself. You could also buy a M860tu like one user suggested which should save you some money easily.

 

That memory is very low and will be the bottleneck.... but if its upgraded it should be fine.

$2900 CAD is quite overpriced as compared to the Clevo M860TU alternative.

 

I agree with the others. Forget about the turbo memory. As soon as you upgrade that RAM to 4 gigs you should be fine playing Crysis at medium settings IMO.

 

the only game that i can think of where cpu really matters is tf2. tf2 uses the cpu alot more than the gpu. it is the only game that can make my m15x choke . tf2 really needs duo core support or reoptimize the game to let the gpu handle more of the load

 

Im hearing a lot of stuff about the clevo, but since this laptop is got school too, I need long battery life (as I already said) and the clevo just doesn't offer that. Plus with respect to gaming, I do not believe that the m860tu will perform much better than the AW. Correct me if im wrong though.. There is also the matter of visual preference. I find the sager/clevo to be absolutely hideous. The only other computer that I am considering (other than the m15 x and the m860tu) is the dell XPS 1530, but the GPU on that is old and outdated, so I am leaning away from that one.

Please, if there is another good reason why I should get the clevo, let me know... I would love to be convinced.

 

Then OC and Godspeed.

You could just get the Clevo and have it painted or skinned or both. About the battery, what about using a smartbay and spare batteries?

 

wth people...
why is that someone asks about a build for a m15x you all spout BS about the clevo or sager line up....
geez - im not knocking that you like the product, or that you play the fanboy part. but come on. enough already.
the OP asked about the options he chose for an AW system, not a clevo or sager.
geezzzussss....

 

Looks good seems to be what most guys buy except most skip the turbo memory. It helps more if you have less memory but I still think it makes a bit of a difference especially with bootup. Save you 50 bucks though as will doing the memory yourself.

 

this isnt the comp's fault....its the game's fault. just go over to the steam forums and you can see people with the 8800 GTS are having this problem. Even some people with the GTX 280 are having problems. ATIs seem to be doing fine for some reason. OCing will not help

 

@ Ryujin Thanks for that lol

@ everyone else, are there any other reasons to get the sager? I mean will I REALLY notice the difference in performance when I am gaming? I would be willing to pay this price for such a beautiful machine, but if someone can convince me that the sager is a better MACHINE (not just price) then I am open to suggestion.

As per my origional question, what I am hearing is that I could probably go for the 2.4 processor. Is that correct? And I will ditch the turbo memory too. That saves a few hundred bucks right there...

 

I believe that what needed to be said was said and thus let's close this discussion.

 

you wont really see a difference or gain in fps using the sager. it will most likely be equal. there is no game i can think of that can even use 4 threads. in processor intensive task you will notice a difference. in gaming you wont notice a difference.

you could go for the 2.4 but i would still recommend the 2.5 for the extra cache size.

 

Apuleyo- what needed to be said had not yet been said, so thus lets not close the discussion just yet. Not to sound contrary, but I have not been given solid advice except for the information by exiled. I does strike me as weird, however, that you will post a message to try to shut down a thread that is not yours, but not take the time to help me out at all. I am not starting an argument, just commenting that I do not know much about this topic and I am open to general ideas.

Hearing what exiled has said now, I had not noticed that the cache size was different, so I will most assuredly be opting for the 2.5 GHZ.

As one final question- and whether or not this belongs in the thread or not remains to be seen- how does the AW compair to the new Toshiba qosmio X305. I know that they are waaay different, but I am still open for ideas.

Thanks for the help guys,

 

Sorry, I thought that your questions were answered and that the discussion was going nowhere. And don't judge me so quickly, I'm foreign! XD

 

I most certainly did not mean to offend, I re-read what I wrote after sending and I am so sorry that it came off so harshly LOL. I meant to imply that I am still very much open to ANY form of advise and didnt mean to put you down. My bad dude. But as for the tread, I am still not sure if I should get the sager, the AW, or something entirely different.

IDEAS PLEASE!!!! PEOPLE!!!

 

the toshiba is a 17 in notebook while the m15x is a 15.4 inch notebook. the toshiba has a 9700M GT which is weaker than the 8800M GTX. the toshiba has a 2.0 ghz processor which is also weaker than the lowest one on the m15x. what is good about the toshiba i guess is the price. i also think the m15x looks better than the toshiba. the toshiba is good for games right now but it wont be as future proof as a the m15x you are getting. 17 in is also kind of big. you can go to your local best buy and you can see how big it is. THe toshiba is also light for a 17 in at 9 pounds. the m15x weighs about 7? the toshiba uses faster ram which is a plus.

 

Thanks for the advise. I added you some rep . I am not sooo interested in the Toshiba because, as you have already said, its a 17er. Not goo for school. Since the Dell XPS 1530 wont handle games like crysis, bioshock, assasins creed, etc. very well, I guess that just leaves me with the decision between the AW and the sager..... I HATE DECISIONS.
Exile- if you were me what one would you go for?

 

if you can wait a while i might suggest taking a look at the sager. you should wait a while until people post reviews and what problems they will have with the m860tu. you already know the possible problems with the m15x but there could be worse problems on the m860tu or it might have less problems than the m15x. the m860tu also uses the latest and best technology and montevina will help you notice around a 10% increase in cpu intensive performance which you should factor into your decision. so your decision would depend on how long you can wait. i chose the m15x since looks mattered to me . you should really not consider a 17 in for school. 15.4 inch is the max you should go for school. im using the m15x for school too .

 

What about getting a Mac? They are very good and you can install Vista on it to play games.

 

When are the first of the sagers slated to arrive? My problem is that I do need the computer relatively soon...

 

Sorry double post...

Macs to me are kind of like... hmmm..... fashion accessories at my school. I go to a very upscale, cliquey school and all the princesses use macs. They just are not an option for me at all. Haha. Sorry to sound superficial, they are just waaaaay to hot an item for me to have.

 

the m860tu should be arriving to consumers in early august.

also buying a mac and installing vista on it defeats the entire purpose of owning a mac.

 

Within a week or so.

 

@jm: i do not have either unit as of yet. I still lean towards the AW for the bay system they have and the integraded gpu. you can get xtra batteries and additional HDD for the smartbay which allows for more flexibility and longer useage when not near an outlet. the gpu option is great for daily use which in turn reduced battery consumption. but you have the option to use the 8800gtx or whichever unit you choose for gaming or more graphic intensive programs.

as exiled said, i would wait if you can if you desire to see the differences between the two. but like i said, the AW has better options for my tastes.

 

He won't need the cache... just my $.02, but if he's doing light multitasking, and gaming, he won't need nearly as much cache... very few games will tax the CPU enough that it will slow down the GPU. 90% of the time, even with the 8800M GTX the GPU is the bottleneck.

even the 2.1 should be enough for what you're saying you need. but I'd never steer you away from the 4GB of RAM. everyone can use more RAM.

as for the Turbo Cache, I'm going against the grain by saying keep it. I almost wish I got some in mine... in fact, I want it so much I've been looking at prices for Turbo Cache on e-bay... but I kinda wanna see if I can find a 2GB module (but I'd have to do some research to see if it would work with the chipset)...

the Turbo Cache will allow the HDD to stay spun down for longer periods of time while you're on batteries (doing word processing for instance)... extending your battery life (in theory).

Additionally, if you're going to use this computer for long hours while away from power (eg. school), you might like the BinaryGFX option of the m15x. It REALLY HELPS battery life. a lot. forget this sager stuff (props to the user who said "wtf" about all the sager/clevo information popping up in the AW forums... I know who you are but I'm not gonna guess at how to spell your name )

overall, the m15x is a well rounded machine, it looks good, has awesome battery life when needed, awesome performance when needed, and the flexability to be able to switch between the two within minutes.

I'm really loving my Smartbay Battery, and I'd really recommend that to everyone.

happy hunting!

 

... unless you're using some type of virtual machine... but most can't do that due to lack of know-how...

not to say mac users are generally stupid....

 

@jmstewart93,

Now the M15x does look amazingly good. I start college August 25th, so time is an issue to me as well. The np8660 could be a total flop with plenty of problems but remember if you order from xotic pc and you don't like it then you can simply return it with no 15% restocking fee. Now as quite a few people on this forum know I had a few problems with my M15x and I really wish I didn't have problems with it because I really liked it. So when I get my refund I'll have to find another laptop. From my experience, the m15x would be great if it had better build quality and will....my faulty speakers pissed me off too,lol

 

Not quite. The only thing that prevents me from getting a Mac is the fact that to install Vista in order to play games I would have to pay big in HDD space and the price of 2 expensive OS.

 

yeah but macs aren't exactly the most powerful laptops, are they? i mean, the MBP has i believe an 8600m-gt in it, which you can find in any number of cheaper Windows machines...

 

i dont see why you would get a mac and install windows on it. the only difference between mac and a pc is the os and maybe those os specific programs. the parts used are the same. unless you cant live without those mac programs which im sure windows would have a different version of the same program somewhere.

 

don't stiff yourself on RAM unless you are upgrading on your own.

 

your CPU should not be a Problem in TF2 AT ALL.. i'm playing it @ max and its never below 60 FPS even at stages like achievement boxes where everything is messy. and thats with a 2ghz CPU.. 2.4ghz should be an overkill

 

Hmmm. Well I do want this to last as long as possible. The cache size... What exactly does it effect and when would or would I not notice it is smaller or larger?

 

the cache is a place where your CPU can store information, sorta like RAM, but faster, and dedicated to the CPU. it's also accessed much faster. more L2 cache means your CPU can store more information. this is especially useful when multitasking. with that said, a larger L2 cache (in the case of the T8300 and T9300, 3mb vs 6mb) won't result in, say, 10 more fps in games or something.

 

the T8300 is a better bang for the buck as most new buyers did pick this model, and since you are on a Single 8800GTX, then you are good to go

 

my m15x used to tear through the game until that awesome patch came out where they said they updated the engine. ever since that patch tf2 has never been the same . it is also affecting other people with a 8800M GTS. Since 8800M GTX is basically a 8800M GTS im guessing thats where the problem is for me. at least every other game works

 

Bottleneck in the end (half a year or a year) will be the 8800GTX.

About turbocache, if you aren't going for a extra internal hdd, it won't hurt to pay for it.

Also, i think the m15x is a very good choice, even with the new sager 15", since the new platform (montevina) on this one (15,4") wont make a astonished-uberkill performance boost over the m15x.

So, the pros to get a m15x are:
- A.W.E.S.O.M.E. battery life (smart bay battery is a must have);
- there are plenty of reviews around, so you will, at least, know what you may expect with the m15x;
- far better looks that any other 15" notebook around;
- smart bay multi use;
- gaming performance, for the time being, is very very close to the top what you can get.

The cons are:
- plenty of problems listed, but heck, which online notebook buy isn't a gamble?
- relative expensive near the clevo; and
- little upgrade space since it is the top end of the santa rosa platform (if you aren't hardcore tech specialist, just ignore this one).

 

actually the clevo comes out quite a bit cheaper compared to the m15x. i would still choose the m15x over the clevo any day tho

 

The processor is going to be the bottleneck for games, even with a beast of a video card like the 8800GTX. I'd stick with the 2.1GHz CPU, it has more than enough power.

Good choice upgrading the RAM yourself.

Your config looks great, go for it I say.

 

Do you think? But aren't the most games still single core only?

 

Wow- I have been given all sorts of answers, so thanks all. Some are saying to go for the 2.5 and one (very reputable source) is saying that the stock 2.1 is more than enough. Let me explain a tad better and see if we can reach a consensus. I want to be able to play Crysis and bioshock and assasins creed on as high settings as possible on the m15x. Other than that, I need to use word. In crysis, will my 2.1ghz processor limit my fps's, or will that strictly be determined by the gpu? It's not a HUGE deal, but it is 250 bucks and if I don't need it, I don't need it. Maybe I should get the 2.5 just to future-proof it?

 

I'd recommend reading this post if you have the time:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=122013

 

Did you mean to say the processor is not going to be the bottleneck...
Looking back I think that is what your 2nd sentence implies and if it is a typo I think it has confused the OP.

 

@Chaz - Thanks for the link, it got me through my boring morning

I have the same question as jmstewart93 - I'm thinking of switching to the T8300 cuz it's $95 cheaper which I can use to upgrade my OS to Vista Ultimate for the extra security/backup features (and extra assurance to my parents that my data will be protected).
Is this recommended or would I be better off getting the T9300 to future-proof my laptop ?

Oh and while I'm asking, how much space does Vista take ? I'm also looking to switch to the 120GB hard drive - the laptop is for college use, and I'd like at least over a 100GB with Vista etc. loaded. Good idea ? Bad ?
I'm going to go for a 200GB Smartbay in a few months after getting the m15x. It's ~$120 if you order after getting your m15x, any similar price on the 320GB Smartbay ?

(Specs in sig)
L8rs all !!

 

Hay jmstewart93. I think you have to look at what you will be useing your system for.

Me I between high grapics and Turn base games.

High end grapics

Like Lord of the rings
Crysis
and other high end games

which will use GPU power and some cpu power

Or turn base games like
Civlilation 5
Space Empire V
Sim City

Which use more RAM or CPU power.

 

imho, you won't notice the difference between T8300 and T9300 in normal use. about the future-proofing: if one's outdated, the other's outdated as well.

 

the only difference between the 2 Cpus will Only shine when doing Encoding and something like that, other than that Probably the faster CPU will give you a couple more FPS on that max FPS, which doesnt matter really.