considering m17x, blue-ray or not? recommended spec?

I am thinking of purchase a m17x to replace my Sony VAIO Z laptop and Intel i920 / GTX295 desktop. Games I play are TF2, Warhammer online and etc. I am pretty much set on the configuration except blue-ray or just DVDRW.

Intel Q9000 2.0Ghz quad
GeForce GTX 280M SLI
WXGA 1920x1200
4GB DDR3 1333Mhz
1TB RAID 0 (500GBx2)
?? Blue-ray or just DVDRW?

any suggestion? many thanks in advance

 

the only suggestion you said you wanted was blu ray or not


i would base my desision on wether or not you use blu-ray

and i wouldn't get the 280's as they are @ MAX 10% faster then the 260's

overclocked- the 260's get almost on par with 280's since the only difference is the 12 extra shader processors

 

Thanks. I don't plan to watch blue-ray movie much. But do you think game developer will start to put contents on blue-ray instead of DVD soon?

Maybe I should do some more digging on the 280 vs 260 vs SLI. Also, how would GTX280M SLI compare with GTX295(desktop)? assuming CPU is not limiting GPU?

 

it would loose very badly

but it will still play any game out

put it this way a member with a x9100 @ 3.46 ghz and a single 280 m GTX score a high of 63xx in vantage

i scored 62xx with a p8600 @ 3.2 ghz and a single 260 m GTX

 

I bought a system through Microcenter yesterday and it was shipped the same day. It's similar to your specs and it's quite a bit cheaper than getting it through Dell. The specs are in my sig.

 

Wow your 2.4 duo is at 3.2?

 

o yea DDR3 @ 133 mhz is completely useless


my 1066 RAM is running @ 1333 but it does have a higher latency

O well

 

yea i managed to squeeze out 3.3 as my top but its unstable

 

OC'ing freaks me out a little. But I'm tempted to get a Cryo and mess around with it though

 

you don't need a cryo ..... why do you think you need one ?

your Q9000 will only hit @ max 2.6 you will prolly be @ 2.4 all the time if you overclocked

 

Make us an official "The Moo™'s guide to overclocking the M17x". Pleeeease (you have to pretend my avatar is asking you).

 

lol i have been thinking about it but the hardest part would be gathering good settings that people are using ...

maybe tommorw since im off

BTW i hate blondes n i kinda think she is more ugly then pretty


My woman on the other hand

 

If you can afford it, I would go for the BD drive. Hadn't really got into Bluray myself, until I actually had a Blu-ray device. Heck, if they had the option at the time, I would have gotten the BD burner....


Hahaha Moo, I agree....for me its hot Asian chicks FTW....

 

alright, I will take the blue-ray and leave out 1333Mhz.

So, gtx 280M is about 10% faster than a 260M and how much boost do I get from a single 280M to SLI?

 

dude, check the microcenter build, it sounds like everything you need and want and is an awesome price

gtx 260m SLI
1920x1200
Q9000
4GB 1066
500GB hdd
Blu ray reader

$2300 before tax and shipping

 

i need a blueray drive.
but i don't know if the interface is ide or sata. (ide to lower the cost.)

anyone know where i can get one????

 

lol....it is sata in these Don....this is the 21st century.....

 

My toshiba is IDE on the Hdd and the Dvd drive lol.

ok i'll search for one.

 

You can order it directly from Dell. Sleey0 a couple months ago linked where it was on the Dell website to order it or you can just call them.

 

Oh ok. i can do that. i'm thinking maybe 200 for the reader and 350 for the burner. so you have to add the cost for the dvd drive when upgrading

150 for the reader from going from a dvd burner
and i think it's 300 for the writer from going from a dvd burner.

 

Pic?

 

pic or she doesn't exist Moo

 

I suggest against RAID 0, it is dangerous - since you are depending on two drives, the risk of data loss is doubled. There are only very specific applications where it will provide performance improvements.

If you want 1TB worth of space, then get either the RAID 0 or 1 1TB option and then reformat the system and de-RAID it when it arrives. Then you will have two separate 500GB drives.

 

Moo
Better ask your better-half if posting her pic is going to pi$$ her off!

Right, scook? lol

While RAID 0 does inheret some extra risk I have to say HDD failure rates are already quite low. I have been using RAID 0 on systems for years with no problems.

If you want the extra speed than make sure you are being responsible with your data and make proper backups.

 

I don't expect a picture, just having some fun haha

And raid seems to be nice sometimes and not worth it others, I have always ended up not using it personally

 

Personally, I'd be very doubtful to see games put out on Blu-Ray (at least exclusively). I don't see that the adoption rate is high enough for that, and so expect to see games on DVD for a long time (though there may be install disks released simultaneously on both formats).

I got the Blu-Ray player (not the burner), but I did so hesitently. I do watch BD's, not often, but I do intend to watch more over time and wanted the capibility to play these "on the road".

I do see that you did upgrade the screen to the 1920x1200. I think that if someone was not upgrading to that resolution, getting a Blu-Ray player would be worthless, but that's just my opinion.

 

I use RAID on my desktop, and the loading times on that are beastly. (Much faster than my M17 if I'm honest... )

As you say it is risky, but I'm not really worried, they are reliable drives and tehre's nothing really important on the desktop.

I don't use it in my M17 because I don't have two drives that will change soon with a 2nd gen Intel SSD, which should turn my laptop into a beastly quick game loader.