m9750: Going SLI

I currently own an m0750 with a single 7950 gpu. I have been thinking alot lately of moving up into a SLI configuration, either with dual 7950s or dual 8700s. I know the latter card is weaker than the 7950, but Dx10 is awefully compelling. Also I hear the 7950 is much faster when it comes to high resolutions, but I usually run my games at 1024 x 768, so should I be concerned? My main question is this: I want my notebook to run games smoothly for a long time, with that in mind, should I upgrade to dx10 cards in hopes that they will perform better in time, or just get a second 7950?

 

wait a little with this upgrade,there is a chance that AW will offer 8800gtx for M9750!

 

Yeah, I've been hearing alot about that, I also heard that it won't fit because its not MXM-III

 

Im in the same boat as you are. I now currently have a single 7950's and is doing fine. Can't max out all games but looks decent and runs smooth. I usually max out my RES to 1920x1200 if the game supports it. But my computer runs hot with that setting. I'm still crossing my fingers and holding on to see if they make a 8800M GTX that will fit our M9750. I did also post about the 8800M's and yep they don't fit. If you are going with SLI I still do think that the 7950's will be they way to go. Im sure dx9 will be out for a long long time.

 

I did a search through google, and there definititely is enough evidence of a MXM-III module 8800. Just search "8800m MXM-III" and a lot comes up. Very interesting....

 

i dont see them adding it as it would dent the m17x sales, but if they did add it then i would think about getting one but if it doesnt then i wont

 

when you google mxm III 8800m you get mostly old news on the 8800m cards and they say they're going to be III compatible. the 8800m cards are similar to mxm III, but they're not mxm III. who knows what's going to happen, we just need to wait for them to retire the m9750 model to see what alienware will do with the owners.

 

Yeah, I figured we would have to wait until the m9750 was discontinued. Now we play the waiting game

 

you will need a new motherboard to support the 8800m so this will not happen. the forums pretty much proved this so don't hope on it too much.

 

I am not sure that the addition of a second GFX card for SLI is worth the price. I have a m9750 with two 7950gtx cards and I don't see any significant difference in fraps between single and SLI mode for the games I play. It could be that many games are not optimized for SLI graphics and are not fully utilizing both graphics cards.

 

Don't bother with the 8700M. You would have to buy two of them for SLI which would be more expensive than buying a second Go7950 and they are not as good of performers as you know, sometimes by a significant margin.

Secondly, DirectX 10 has not amounted to much, I personally see no reason to get it considering that DirectX 9 is going to be around for a long time. By the time DirectX 10 (or it's successor) are mainstream, you will probably have long gotten a new computer. DirectX 10 performance with the 8700M is low anyway.

I have one question - why run your games at 1024x768? That is a very low resolution and you have a very powerful video card. Running at higher resolutions means greater clarity and detail.

 

I play at that resolution to max my fps, Games seem to start chugging when I jack up the resolution, especially Gears of War, which has low frame rate even at lower resolutions.

 

Let me know the cost of 2nd 7950GTX? I might go that route with mines too if there's a real difference in performance!

 

yeah i agree. Just need to know where to buy and the price

 

Unless they are completely out of stock you can buy them directly from AW. The will sell you the daughter card and the SLI cable.

 

The cards are 419 (or something like that) dollars from alienware