*OFFICIAL* "All Powerful" M17x-R2 Edition Owners Lounge!

Intel is the best, and the Dell SSD's are samsung brand. They are not that bad per se, but they don't have the greatest TRIM support which is essential to keep them running optimally. There are numerous threads on it, and at least this one in the side topics. Sorry I don't have more links, I haven't used an SSD yet so I've done little research on them

 

I notice that on a few of the computers on AAFES. If you look closer though they usually have something else added in that Dell's normal site doesn't automatically give you. In this case it was the McAfee Anti-virus subscription added for $89. On Dells site it is normally checked as "None". There is an option on AAFES to not take it and subtract that amount so it ends up being the normal $1799 starting price.

One thing I did notice though is on AAFES something is offered for free. When I ordered my M17x I was able to select and get the TactX gaming headset for no extra charge. They normally cost around $75 I believe. I am hoping to see something like that on the R2.

 

You have to remember, AAFES should eventually have the discount soon. There is also not having to pay tax and shipping through AAFES. I saved $900 when I bought my M17x through AAFES versus Dell. If you are military I think it's crazy not to buy through AAFES. Wait until they put up the discounts (hopefully they do) and then compare with tax and everything added.

Remember when Dell first put up the R2 on their EPP site it didn't have any discounts at first and then they added it later. Hoping for the same here. I don't think Dell will be cheaper in the end.

When I go to do a price comparison right now between AAFES and Dell's non-EPP site I get the same price for the same exact configuration. Not sure how you see it cheaper though Dell.

Besides, AAFES will do a price match. If in fact you do see the same exact configuration cheaper through Dell then they state they will give you the same price. You just put it in a cart and mail the cart to [email protected] along with your contact information. You can't lose imo.

 

When I ordered though the EPP Program, because it was being shipped overseas to an APO, I didn't have to pay taxes or shipping costs either. I'll be waiting till Dell offers the 5870's so I'll have to check with AAFES in the mean time. Thanks for the heads up. Also is there a number I can call AAFES to work with somone on the issue? I'd also like to get the blu-ray burner on it as well, and think the only way to do that is by phone straight to dell. We'll see what AAFEES offers.

 

Guys, when ordering through EPP do I have to presend any proof of me being associated with one of the organizations that participate in the EPP program?

 

not on usa. but i don't know in your country

 

Well if I ship to a US address I don't need to proove my eligibility for EPP? Correct ?

 

yep. that's correct

 

so how much % discount do you get on the eep thing????

 

Depends on the orgainization your associated with. You can call 1-800-695-8133 and ask them based on your company. Differant companies have differant rates

 

k thank you.!

and what about the harddrive .. which should i get... i want the best from the option list. so which one???

 

My personal preference is the 2x 256gb SSD raid 0 option. The next best option would be the 256gb ssd and 512gb 7200rpm HD option.

 

1) is the ultimate n wifi link 6300 good or should i get --> Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini-Card
2) what is -->240 Watt 3 Prong AC Adapter with 6 ft Power Cord???
3) why is there no blu ray option???
4) will there be soon a new refresh??
5)and when will the 5870 be released?
6) and what is the different between ssd 256 or 1TB Raid 0 (2x 500GB 7,200RPM HDDs)
i mean why is ssd so good anb better than the other drives???

 

Yeah, just a question, why are so many not waiting till the REAL revision comes with the 5870? I just don't understand. You know this must be coming VERY soon and when it DOES come most all will want to sale theirs for it...

 

Because the 5870 will be a slight bump in performance (if it truly is GDDR5 on 128 bit bus) that most people aren't willing to wait for...

 

do you think in february?????

 

Probably closer to mid/late March, maybe even early April. Of course I'm hoping for sooner

 

I am waiting for the 5870s, and in the meantime, I will be enjoying the new i7 with the 4870s.

 

will they be 2x better the 4870s??

 

I think by March. Still you are buying the latest Intel chipset MB, the latest i7, and putting in last years video card setup. The 5870's WILL give a noticeable bump in graphic performance. I say this as a former M17x owner and would consider the REAL revision to come.

 

Not 2x better. maybe 10-20% better as far as benchmarks go. I really am not sure. There is some testing in another thread going on, might be in the side topics that are trying to do some comparisons given the current information. But at this point no one really knows. It's all speculation. Whatever it is, I'm excited to get them and put up some benchmarks so that we know what the differance is. I'll base them on my Vantage and 3DMark06 scores which were not to bad.

 

I would say they will be baout 15%-20% faster based purely off clock speed differences (the architectures are about comparable clock for clock)

 

i'm waiting

 

Here is the number I started with: 1-800-527-2345
I believe you have to verify right from the start that you are an AAFES customer, but it's simple.

Would be nice if they offer the bluray, but I haven't seen that on Dell's site either. You'll probably have to call Dell direct for that.

 

They got me with the extra 5% off which I managed to haggle up to about 7%.

I figured the 5870 wouldn't be that much better and knowing my computer luck I'll be getting it when I need to warranty exchange my laptop in about a year (seriously the 8 years I've been under warranty with my last two computers I ended up averging a complete replacement every year or so).

Plus there's always the 21 day return policy.

 

The 5870's numbers put up so far (the G73 tests by notebookcheck's pre-review) aren't making me want to wait for them. I won't want to sell my M17x when they arrive.

 

~15-25% extra performance (especially at high res), cooler, lower power consumption, better crossfire utilisation, higher minimum framerate, likely better overclocking and HDMI HD audio bitstream isn't worth waiting for, especially given the cards [by rights] shouldn't be any more expensive than the 4870m (cheaper card to produce, and a smaller core die size)?

Note: the above is if they're not retarded enough to stick GDDR3 on the cards which'd be a massive facepalm

 

Those tests done in the other thread were done using a desktop system with a different shader count, desktop board and CPU configuration and worse yet, synthetic vantage tests. I don't put any stock in those numbers. In general I put very little value in vantage/06 runs but even considering those for a minute, the G73's initial numbers aren't exactly impressive. If those are indicative of the 5870 performance in the M17x, I won't care much about going the 4870 route.

Edit: G73 results:

Stock 06:


Turbo OC'd 06:

 

if you wait for new hardware you going to be all your life waiting because they always come up with something better at the time you get the latest

 

The card actually used was WEAKER than the specification we've had confirmed (lower shader count). A desktop board shouldn't make any huge performance difference on a modern system, especially considering the CPU used performance wise is on about the same level as a QX9300 overclocked (which was reflected in the CPU scores).

You're right I used vantage, but only because its the easiest thing to compare and it was on both systems, whilst I don't trust 06 anymore, Vantage does at least tend to be reasonably consistant.

The scores you've quoted above are 06 runs, which everyone knows doesnt exactly scale amazingly anymore as it doesn't focus on the same things as modern cards and games (which you've also implied yourself), hell, 14-14.5k is the average stock score for a DUAL GTX280m machine, you're telling me 2k behind this isn't reasonably decent for a single card on a pre-release machine with pre-release driver support?

On top of that performance increase, even if it's not HUGE, there's still the other benefits on top, its not like we're expecting the 5870s to be more than a couple of months away, we're not talking 6 months time.

 

because I'm buying a G73, duh!

All we know for sure is that the 5870 will support DX11. Beyond that it's all speculation.

 

How about power source? Isn't that a huge difference?

 

Providing both cards are being supplied enough power, with a stable current, that shouldnt even come into it. IF the cards weren't recieving enough power and throttling/became unstable that'd be a different story!

The 5750 desktop cards dont actually even need a PCI-E power connector, as stuff like the Tul Green card proved (all it's power from the PCI-E socket), so with the reduced power use in a smaller card form factor, with cards specifically tweaked (often the voltage is lowered vs a desktop core etc), that again shouldnt become an issue.

 

Exactly, you used a desktop machine with a shader count that doesn't match, final clocks that you aren't even aware of (nobody is at this point), desktop CPU and synthetic tests. To me, those tests aren't indicative of the 5870m's numbers, especially in real world gaming. Who knows how well the core/gddr5 memory will overclock in these mobile chips? You can't make any assumptions based on the desktop counterpart since the design of the pcb for both are completely different. Going by actual 5870m numbers so far, the shader scores are on par with what I'd expect to see from a very minor update.

 

I just believe people should not make a decision on whether or not to buy based on tests done with a desktop. The G73 will be out next month and people will get a better understanding of what it is capable of. BTW, has ATI confirm Crossfire support for these cards yet? I haven't seen anything regarding it.

 

We've had screenshots of the GPU-Z readout from the 5870m, explicitly showing clocks of 700/1000 [taken at CES], so we have at least some semi-confirmed core speeds, I then ran test using these clocks. As the card used for the test had approximately 11% LESS shader cores, then the 5870m should be slightly stronger (I'd expect the difference to be closer to the lines of perhaps 4-5%). I've not said elsewise.

Yes, we still have to see realworld gaming, however there is definately a step up in raw performance terms, at least for the synthetic. The 5750, with it's less cores, clocked down to 700/1000 was already performing at a margin of about 20% higher than the 4870 single card score provided by Scook, and he's using recent drivers too.

We don't KNOW how far these chips will overclock, but that doesnt even have to come into it, I provided a 700/1000 run, the clocks which we have seen used with the 5870m, to provide one of the tests, and it still came out with a reasonable performance lead - 2980 vs 3660.

The design of the PCB may be different, but the actual core of the card is virtually identical, which is why the performance tests should at least be relatively close.

Even from a clock perspective, you've got a 15% approx core clock increase going to the 5 series core from the 4 series core. (550-->700).


Edit (trying to keep up with the thread here!)
Now dont get me wrong, we still need to see final proof from the actual card, but we at least have some relatively reasonable background for speculation at this point, it's not just smoke and mirrors, we're actually working off results produced from a slightly lower specced core, in the same product family, using the same design, same core process etc, just a lower shader part, which implies the mobile part should actually be slightly faster at the same clock speeds. All of this is based around logic, not some wild guesswork.

It was also confirmed previously that the 5870m should support crossfire.

 

Precisely...

 

Some of us don't have a laptop at ALL right now, so that's an issue as well

 

Yeah, once the AW gets the 5870's there will be some buzz about mobile fermi being right around the corner.

Rinse and repeat in an infinite loop

 

That's half the fun. Testing new shiny toys!

 

Yes, yes it is

Especially if your new shiny toys don't stutter like my shiny toy haha

 

Any one know what is codename Lexington? (Read wiki mobility section)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_AMD_graphics_processing_units#Mobility_Radeon_Series

It even on HWiNFO change log

 

We were already expecting a 10-15% increase in performance, that's nothing new. The 5870 is after all mainly the same architecture as the 4870 with a tessellation engine thrown in. We'll have more numbers soon enough. What could could work out in the 5870s favor is the overclocking given the smaller process.

 

I remember seeing a crossfire cable slot on the card when someone posted the picture of the card.

 

I never said it was a new thing, just one of the several benefits over the 4870, which is why I considered them worth waiting for if you're buying in the near future, as they should be a matter of a few months at most.
The 4870s actually had tessellation already (actually they've had some form of tessellation since what, the 8500?), just a slightly less powerful version, the whole 5 series is basically just a refinement of what ATI have been using since the 2900XT, based on a different revision with minor tweaks as it's gone along. I'm quite interested to see what the next architecture will do actually, seeing as the current is quite a deviation from the more traditional core designs, especially in regards to shader use

The overclocking is definately something I'm looking to though, providing heat/power doesn't become an issue, the desktop 57 cards run very,very cool in comparison to the power they kick out (and to the previous 4 series chips) however who knows if the mobile cards will be the same in this light...hopefully

 

I am sure any game I throw at the CF 4870's will run just fine.

DX11 means nothing to me really...

 

Aye, they should be. If anything, heat and power consumption are my main interests [and HD Audio bitstream as I like my home cinema use], the extra performance, DX11 and possible overclocking headroom are the cherry on the top

 

Are these new M17x-R2 really shipping with RGB LED Displays ??? Has anyone seen or used one in person yet??

If its anything like the RGB LED 1920x1200 in my Studio 1737 it should be amazing. Sony calls RGB LED Displays in their AW series Triluminous and using one at the official Sony Store they are so detailed and rich in color but expensive and worth it.

Question is don't these RGB LED displays use more power???

Which is why the MacBook Pros use only white LED's.

 

I wonder if we can change the gpu after that, I don't want to wait April it s a long time

 

Well, the cooling on the system makes the heat issue moot really.

There will be more room for oc'ing but I don't see it being enough to wait (especially if the bus is limited to 128 bit).