Single NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M good enough?

I am deciding how i will customize my m17x and was wondering if the Single NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M is good enough to run most games? Its just a bit painful to pay an extra $300 for a second video card...

Are all games and apps sli capable?

Are there any other advantages non-game-wise to an sli setup?

Alex

 

It is good enough for most games but also keep in mind of the games coming down the road as well. If you had to buy that GPU later on from dell it could be upwards of $600-700 for it is something else to keep in mind. Theres a couple people around here who only ordered one and are now trying to find a second one at a decent price which is not easy to come by .

 

Well I was in the same boat and decided to spend the extra 370$ CAD for the second 260 and IMO it was worth it for the performance gain in Crysis Wars, all gamer/enthusiast mixed setting at 30fps + but if Crysis is not a concern for you, then get the single 260 and save yourself 300 bucks because a single 260 will run around 85-90%% of the games out there (ATM) at 1920x1200 on max settings with no problems.

But for future games, you might want to invest more now to extend your M17x's gaming longevity.

 

huh.. i never thought it would be possible to order it down the road... but 600 to 700 is quite high! yikes!!

Is it possible to upgrade processor aswell?

 

yep

 

to be honest i dont think ill be playing crysis but i WILL be playing other shooters... I work doing vfx and a LOT of 3d and redering which is honestly my main concern.. Im not sure sli will help me out work-wise, ideas?

Alex

 

yep go for it you wont be wishing at the end

 

wow! that is great... i thought laptops could only upgrade ram and hdd, this is great news!!

Is it mandatory to upgrade through alienware? i mean other components, not ram or hdd...

Alex

 

Buy the components wherever you get the best deal (def NOT AW lol).

If the upgraded part has problems it won't be covered by AW. That's all...

 

what do you mean i "wont be wishing"?

Alex

 

If you do a lot of 3D rendering, I would say pick a fat Quad core. It's CPU power u need (no need to take off from DELL). But of course a good GPU will help whilst developing 3D stuff (modelling and such).

 

Only thing you can't upgrade is the monitor.

Secondly, check out Microcenter's M17x deal, the specifications are in my signature. It was ~$2300.

 

He means you wont have any regrets for not getting it .

 

yes you can ask quad the only thing you can't upgrade is the motherboard for now and a single 260 runs any game on the market but believe 300 is nothing for the second one, now if you plane to upgrade later for the 4850's get the single one for now

 

im not what you would call a hardcore gamer, so spending an extra $600 on the dual 280s would be bit of overkill for me. I wish dell offered a single 280 option.

 

M17x is a great laptop but if you're not going for SLI there's better single card options like the ASUS G51 or a Clevo m570tu rebrand.

They don't offer a single GTX 280m option because the cost would be very close to the dual GTX 260m SLI option and offer no where near the same performance.

 

2 260s vs 2 280s. About 10% difference. Not sure about a single 260 vs a 280 though. Probably the same. Pretty sure you can even OC a 260 to match a stock 280.

 

Isn't resolution a factor in determining this? I'm not a gamer at all but read about this in most reviews.

 

Higher the resolution the more power you will need . So 1440x900 will last alot longer on a single card interms of gaming then 1920x1200. If your not a gamer then a single card would obviously be more then you will ever need and you really could just run on the 9400m most of the time.

 

To SLI or not to SLI, that is the question! (lame, I know).

I have benched my 17x (t9550, 4GB, RAID0320's and SLIGTX280s) using 3dmark06 with both single card and sli. The results are:
default settings single card - a touch over 11000
default settings sli - about 12300
1920x1200 with8xAAx2 and 16xAF on single card - 4600
1920x1200 with8xAAx2 and 16xAF on SLI - 8200

These results obviously are driver dependent but hopefully will give you an idea about what extra you get going for SLI (I would minus about 10% off all these results to account for 260's rather than 280's). I will be posting a spreadsheet with these becnhies and more in another thread I just started (with some questions of my own!) if you want more details (e.g. SM2/SM3 scores).

Hope that helps

 

Well couldnt one have 1920x1200 native and just change reolution to a lower number?

 

Appreciate the input, I really do have my heart set on the m17x. I do intend on gaming with it, I just dont need all settings maxed out like some do.

 

Yes but running your LCD out of its native resolution is not something that most people want to do since it makes things blurry . Some people dont mind this though i myself hate it with a passion .

 

Ahhh, I see! Well on something similar. At that rez, how do you see letters and numbers while surfing the web and viewing pages? Wouldnt they be very small? Serious question!

 

When I first read your post I thought it said "i hate myself with a passion" lol

But yeah I also hate running at a lower than native resolution, it just doesn't look good

 

At default settings, some things are very small yes, but you can change your font size in your display settings. Also, if you are using firefox, just hold CTRL and scroll to adjust the size of things

 

Well im sure we all have our moments .

 

oOh come on quad i love u brotha....

 

Let me just say that no matter what kind of M17x you get you'll fall in love with it. I'd love to see this machine side by side with the ASUS. LOL, this computer is a beast.

 

I would get the SLI'd 260s and sell the second card on here for $5-600 easy. Lots of people are looking to buy them.

 

Smart

also you can upgrade the screen

 

i have both and will probably be taking pictures of the M17x and the Asus w90vp next to each other.

 

wow! this is amazing! I never expected to get so many responses in such short amount of time! thanks guys I think im prepared to make my decision!

One more thing you might be able to help me out with... any way of getting a discount? I've tried googling for a coupon code but so far, no luck... :S

Alex

 

If ur a student 7% off n if u use the Dell perfered account another 3 off