m17x - Dual 260m vs. Dual 280m

Hey all. I just ordered my m17x with Dual 260M's (SLI), but I'm wondering if it'll impact me significantly since I didn't choose the 280M's instead. Is the difference really that sizeable or will I be fine? It was just a tight fit into my budget and I decided to get a nice processor instead. Thanks!

P.S. I am aware of the pointlessness of this thread since I already ordered it. I'm just wondering.

 

Nope.

The 280's are maybe 15% faster. They are the same as the 260's except the 12 extra shaders and slightly higher clocks...

 

The 260s are the best choice for the cash period. 280s will bench higher in synthetics but in actual gaming there will be no difference or it would be so slight that its insignificant.

 

There's a big post about this subject on these forums.

 

It's actually a 16 stream processor difference, not 12, but yeah they are too close to pay 300 or 300+ depending on where one lives, for such a small gain in performance.

 

sli 260m is for casual gamers,

sli 280m is for hARDCORE gamers big difference.

 

I don't quite get this post, I am a hard core gamer, I game every day and it is important to me, my decision to go with the 260M's was based on the fact that the performance difference in games between the two was negligible enough to the point where it defeated the purpose of me spending 370.00 CAD for it.

260M's are for price performance, and 280M's are for those who have the money and don't care about spending a few hundred for a minor difference in performance and for hardcore benchmarkers who need those extra synthetic points the 280M's will bring.

 

ok if your the type of gamer that wants to squeeze out as much power as possible go for 280m, 260m is fine too. thats what i mean.

 

Well thats the better way to put it Warcraft because calling 260SLI for the casual gamer made me seriously lol. A 9400m would be for the casual gamer ..

A single 260 is plenty to run many if not most all games maxxed out as Moo has shown so SLI is just icing on the already sweet cake.

 

Really i know very few people who actually have something better than an onboard or something that preforms close to that on their laptops.

 

For me personally, im a hardcore gamer i choose sli 280m to squeeze as much fps as possible in games. 260m i feel does not maximize my spending.
Dont forget your buying the laptop to game on, i rather maximize my return on investment and went for 280m sli, instead of 260m. Also i feel it does not maximize potential power of the alienware m17x by going into 260m. But thats my personal taste. Casual gamers are usually wouldnt mind not ocing or unlocking their gpu potential in games, as long as it runs of course and other factors such as not be able to spend the extra $300 upgrade to 280m sli i understand that. People say why are you spending an extra $300 for a 10-15% performance increase, well that just shows how much power you can squeeze out of m17x then not unlocking m17x potential power. I am happy with a 5-10 fps increase then not be able to maximize m17x full power. For hardcore gamer like myself it has to be the best video card or its nothing, i dont settle for less.

 

You don't seem to understand the difference between the two really, 5-10 FPS is exaggerating. Sorry to disappoint you my friend, but you are over estimating the difference between the 280M and 260M.. between the two I think we are looking at 5 FPS difference at MAX most of the time you wont even get that.

 

In the end, its all personal preference...

 

For me, anything but the best is a total waste of money....

 

There is a thread somewhere on this forum discussing how a nvidia employee of a friend on this forum claimed that the 280's are mostly for marketing purposes and that if the 260's didn't exist, they couldn't charge as much for the 280's and there is minimal difference. He claimed it was a waste.

 

stupidest thing i've read in awhile.

to the OP check the benchmark thread to see the differences.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=392377

 

Sli 9800M GTX have gotten 11k GPU in vantage... Sli 280M has gotten 12k (barely), so the 260M's are in between. All said and done, it's less than 10% jumping from the 9800M to 280M, even smaller from the 260M. $300 well spent? Not a chance

 

Some people know the difference, other's choose to be ignorant.

I guess I would be pi$$ed if spent an extra $300 for the same cards minus 12 shaders....

 

LOL or some have the money to spend and it doesn't bother them....I really fail to see why some people are all pissy, it's our money we spend, not yours....

 

You're absolutely right!

And you help keep my costs down by spending a ton of money on these systems.

I think a big "THANK YOU" is in order

 

You are quite welcome, I am happy to be talented enough during a global recession to personally contribute a sizeable "economic stimulus" to the economy....I accept my responsibility to spend conspicuously with honor....

 

Well, 16 Shaders is like *no* difference in performance what so ever, Someone could easily overclock the 260 to 280 clocks and beyond and get the same performance or better performance without spending $300.

 

LOL, oh, sorry, I did not know I spent your $300, I thought it was my $300 I spent....

 

yup thats great contribute to a company that outsources 99% of thier work. good way to stimulate your economy. you goose.

 

Please refrain from calling names.

Just an FYI because the mods will give you an infraction....

 

For me all the points to have a M17x was for its cooling abilities, the overclock capacity and the fact that it has the latest MXM module. And yes the incredible looks of it .
Other than that it's well known we have "9800m GTX rev3" in our notebooks (if not 8800m GTX rev4)... But yes, when I was on the Dell "purchaze page" I had a strong doubt when I saw GTX 280m...I had to focus on the fact that it's just a marketing lie and I saw tons of benmarks proving it.
There is not such a thing as a GTX 280m, if it was I would spend the 500 dollars it cost us here in Japan for the upgrade in a blink.
Hell, even 1000 bucks for a dual real 280 mobile chip is a bargain...
If you don't care about superior cooling, overclocking, and upgradability, you better go for a D900c (which cost 1000 dollars cheaper here...).
But I agree it feels good to have written GTX 280m in the device list in windows...