G73SX-BBK7 (BestBuy model)

Hi, everyone!

I just noticed that BB has this new laptop for sale on their site for $1299. It doesn't show specs for GPU and display resolution. Probably it is watered down version. But I checked my local store and it says that it is available. Can anyone post their opinions on that model and if it is worth to buy?

Asus - Laptop / Intel® Core™ i7 Processor / 17.3" Display / 8GB Memory / 1TB Hard Drive - G74SX-BBK7

Thanks

 

Well, its the cheapest g74 I've seen. Guaranteed 1600x900 resolution. As for the gpu, maybe best buy opted for an ungimped version of the card and put in the real deal this time. Care to run to best buy for us and check the card out?

 

Wasn't it confirmed to be gimped again in the G74 thread?

 

I didn't see anything specifically mentioning the best buy model, have a link? At the price I would assume that its gimped though.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/557761-asus-rog-g74-coming-19.html

Seems to be the same story as the 460M.

 

Any idea of a program I can run that I dont have to install that will tell me the gpu information? I found that he best buy near me has them on display.

 

GPU-Z works and you don't have to install it.

 

Cool, thanks.

 

bump


10char

 

Thanks!! I will call them now to make sure if the display is 900p or FHD and the GPU is blablabla...

Its 900P

here more specs:

http://ryanburleson.com/wpblog/2011/06/24/new-gear-gg-best-buy-asus-g74sx-bbk7-laptop-notebook-rog/

 

So this model is priced at $1249.99 and BB has a $100 gift card w/ any laptop over $699 combined with the Free xbox with over $699 computer purchase, how can you go wrong really?

 

Maybe because they gimped the GPU (almost sure 100%, 128BIT instend 192BIT)

 

yes it's a 2gb graphics card which is the 128bit, probably 4x2GB memory, 1 year warranty instead of 2, no bluetooth on the spec list, no blu ray, 2 non hybrid HDD, 1MP webcam instead of the 2mp one and inferior display but for what amounts to $1000 or so if you get it in New Hampshire (no sales tax, 1 hour ride) after selling the xbox it a pretty good deal. I wonder when the "upgraded" model will be available from them to see the difference.

 

Or as I like to call them '560M VRAM reject card which has been modified so that it can be porned off for cheap GTX'

Dont waste your money.

 

Fellas,

I really need your help. I know this Best Buy version may be crippled compared to the other retail versions, but how much of an upgrade would it be compared to my current laptop?

I'm currently using a Gateway P-6860FX...

[email protected]
8800M GTS (1440x900 Max resolution)
4GB RAM
320GB HD
Vista 64

I don't play games at the moment, but I plan on playing racing games like Dirt 3, and Sim Bin's GTR and Race 07 series, etc...

I also do a lot of video editing and image editing...

Is this Best Buy model an upgrade for me, and if so, by how much?

Thanks fellas...I look forward to your response.

- Paulie

 

Even I am stuck deciding wether the GPU is all that bad....IMHo.....it can't really be all that bad...just saying...even I need to decide

 

Let me put this into context for those that do not have enough money to purchase to full loaded model.

Yes it WILL do the business. I myself despise and hate everything about best buy but then you look at my sig and see I have a BB model hehe

Mine was a downgraded model however and my GPU was not touched meaning that when I had the cash I just upgraded the bits and pieces that needs doing. In your case the 560M is in the board (mobo) meaning that even if you wanted to upgrade to a 192bit at a later date you wont be able to. Your restrictions from the power of 128bit to 192bit may be minor but you will see lower frames, lower benchmark scores and you will struggle more with bandwidth intensive games and games that you wish to run at the highest resolution 1080p. Again these will be quite minor considering but the difference will become more apparant as time goes by.

In my view in this day and age I would not look for a mobile GPU that produces less than 60Gb/s Bandwidth because of the importance of the speed of textures being displayed on screen a prime requisite of The Witcher 2. I have 64gb/s the 192bit has 60gb/s and you drop by 1/3 to 40gb/s which is too much in my eyes and will cause a bottleneck much sooner than a 192bit version would. The other differences are overall less power by ROP and lower core power meaning that you drop fillrate as well I would expect 3D to suffer also.

All of these could be minimalised by how well you can overclock which would be required if you go for this version to improve performance.

If you are happy to lose the extra power for a better price then only you will know and other people's views are going to be varied I can only recommend you wait a save up a bit more money to save you having to upgrade sooner than you would if you had the 192bit version. I did a bit estimation of costs a while back with the 192vs128bit G73SW comparison from BB to A1 and you are better off picking up the full version at the best price.

Either will perform and in response to both of your request as to will it perform better than you current models. Well yes most definetely.

8800M GTX to 560M is 25+ places lower in notebookcheck and the 8800 is minimal requirement for most new games and nearly Class 2 now and older architecture.
6770 to 560M is 20+ places lower in notebookcheck but your 6770 is still more than able of performing but the shader power will be the difference.

(compared against the 460M)

 

I think the g74sx bb model with the 128bit will have the same performance like 192bit on non hd or only hd... no?

 

Why don't you go for full fledged G73sw and not G74Sx and save money too:

Newegg.com - ASUS G Series G73SW-XN2 Notebook Intel Core i7 2630QM(2.00GHz) 17.3" 8GB Memory DDR3 1333 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M

 

Brilliantly explained....one last question...if you see my signature I have ordered the dv6 with the 6770m....considering that's. 2gb....is that the 128bit card too?? (noob question) also as compared to the dv6 in my sig how does the best buy model line up (g74) ...I gotta go through bb since I have 18 months to pay it off

 

Remember the ATI card has a totally different architecture than the Nvidia and we get a higher bandwidth from our 128bit bus than the Nvidia does from 192bit. (5870M 128bit 64gb/s 460M 192bit 60gb/s) and your version of the 6 series card has the same 5D architecture as the 5 series which mine has.

The difference for you is the amount of shader you have nearly half of mine which limits your performance 800 vs 480 but your bus width remains the same so you still see good results. Personally I would stick with what you have if you like it because it will produce pretty good results as long as you are using GDDR5 which I belive your version has if you are using GDDR3 then you will suffer and it would be a better option for you to upgrade.

Here is the 5870M stock so you can compare your card to mine:



Here is the 460M 128 bit BB version. You can compare the difference which will be similiar in the 560M 128 bit version just with higher core/shader clocks.

 

G74SX gimmed version = $1,199.99
G73SW full fleged version = Now: $1,249.99

Price difference = $50.00

Go figure!

And, we are not only discussing GPU, but also the display too.

Gimmed version display: 1400 x 900
Full fledged display: 1920 x 1080

Price difference = $50.00

Go figure!

 

Gimped version = 1600 *900 Display

Also dosent look like i have a option to go for the G73SW...cause like i said...i need financing to get the laptop from Bestbuy........so its either the g74 or the dv6t

 

Trooper like I said if you like your HP stick with it because the power difference is not really worthy of an upgrade depending what processor you have the benchmark difference of a couple of thousand is not worth an 18 month finance deal.

Overclock your ATI as far as it will go and then check GPU/z against the Fillrate, bandwidth of the gimped 460M.

 

Either i am confused...or maybe i dint put it right.....i havent got my HP...its still under shipping...so i have the option to turn it back..(6770 and its inability to switch on with OpenGL)....and get the Asus G74....well.....when i almost made my mind...i now...see....Alienware.....Models...popping up on the Bestbuy....website but they are sold out lol

 

Oh I see so either way you are paying for a finance deal. hmmmm.

Do you have to go through BB? Would be much better to get finance elsewhere and get a full on gaming rig. If you are able to test it and then return it do that otherwise I think you might benefit more from getting the G74 from BB to be honest.

I have 1600x900 and it gets a lot of stick but trust me the difference on a 17 inch screen is not as much as you think and you gain in performance at native resolution because 1080p requires a lot of oompf. When people in Witcher 2 were seeing 30fps I was seeing 38fps because of the resolution.

A gimped 560M will also benefit a lot more from the 900p screen because of the restricted bandwidth.

 

The only reason ..i have to go with BestBuy is cause of the 0% Interest on 18 Months of financing...whereas newegg and others are giving 12 months..

 

Ahh I see well if you can try out the HP do it you might like it otherwise send it back for a G74. Much price difference?

 

They are the same price.... Hw abt this model...i went to bb and saw this Sony - VAIO Laptop / Intel® Core™ i7 Processor / 16.4" Display / 8GB Memory / 750GB Hard Drive - Black - VPCF226FM/B

 

Attttttccchoooooo...cough...burp. Sony.

As I was saying. I have heard good things about the DV6/7's so you might like it, overall you might see better gaming performance from the SX gimpette though but that also depends because you have the 2620QM so its going to be very close with the SX. The 6770M is a great card and you will get the power from it but the amount of shaders let you down and in an ATI 5D architecture the Shaders are vitally important which is why the desktop version of my 5870M destroys it because it has double 800vs1600.

Honestly try out the HP I reckon you will like it and personally I think they are really good looking notebooks. 1080p on a 15.6incher. Also that beats sound system is suppose to be the dogs.

 

Yuck, has a GT540m, I'd stick with the HP and 6770m, its a better gpu.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...vidia-gt-540m-2gb-vs-amd-radeon-hd-6770m.html

 

Firstly....thanks for all the inputs you guys are giving me....so the Sony is down.....i anyways dint think much of it ....but my brother was kinda convincing me to go for it.....Now its more like buying a portable 15.6" (Sounds portable when i refer it against the G74).....its just that...i fell in love with the B2 kinda stealth look of the G74 . Argghhh i hate myself for making it so difficult !!

 

Your forgetting a vital point ^^ you get to spend your days roaming the G series forum instead of being moved over to the HP forum which is run by businessmen and women with horns and tails and they drive skoda's

The G series is cool looking I give it that I love the design of my G73 so if you dont like the look of the HP which although is tidy is pretty bland just send it back.

 

If you would like a real look at the performance of the 128-bit card here is a link to my screenshot of my "gimped" 460m :

As you can see my overclock has resulted in a full 10 GB/s increase over the stock 40. So im betting the 560m has even more potential. But for most things I dont have a problem running them on max settings except for Metro 2033. I still envy those with the 192 bit version but its the exact same GPU except for memory bandwidth so anything that does not hit the memory bandwidth ceiling I would expect to run equal to the 192 bit version. But correct me if im wrong.

 

Sorry to say you are wrong fella. The 192bit has 8 more ROP's and the core/shader is also gimped meaning that the 192bit version also has 2 more gb/s texture fillrate at stock and near 5.4gb/s more Pixel fillrate, on top of the 20gb/s bandwidth it is a pretty drastic loss.

 

Interesting I didnt know that. I allways figured it was the same other than the memory bandwidth. Well at least I got the bandwidth up some and it does show. Next year around this time I will defiantly be going ATI if Nvidia keeps this mess up. preferably a 6970. But wouldnt my overclocked 460m beat out a 6770m? Im pretty sure a 460m is supposed to compete with a 5850-5870m... lol but we all know the ATI's are faster. As for Trooper, I would go with a G74 as it does have a pretty good cooling system and its stellar looks.

 

here's what my 460m gets with my max overclock... makes quite a difference in theory... not quite sure how much in real games though... LOL

 

Haha....just one more question...do you move your G73 around..?.....how difficult is it to carry it??

 

Only when I go away on holiday and I move my G73 around which is 3.5kg so you will have no problem at all moving a G53 around.

 

Hehe...you mean the g74 not the g53

 

I assumed you where going for the G53SX model as you had a 15.6 inch HP?

 

Looks like a great overclock!

 

Its just strange that BB go backwards. Check out my GPU-z max overclock which they sold in Jan 2010 Texture fillrate owns and Bandwidth is very good for one of the first Dx11 mobile cards. The gimped 460M is a lost cause you would be better off picking up a cheap JH and maxing it out like I did.

 

Here's a snap of the g73sw I'm working with:

 

Final Verdict guys come on.....the G74 (128 bit 560M) Vs HP Dv6t(6770 Radeon - Not able to OC - As posted on forums / OpenGl- Not supported )

The only reason i am being pushed towards the Hp is cause of its portability due to it being a 15.6 -am not sure...if i`ll regret the portability aspect ..if i get a G74

 

I'd suggest using the HP for a while, with Best Buy's return policy, you should be able to return it with no restocking fee(even if it was opened/used, just has to be within 14days). If you don't see yourself parting with it after a week, then keep it. If its starting to frustrate you, return and get the G74.

Thats the most likely scenario I'd do if I couldn't decide. :>

 

Thanks for the advice....I would do that too........but i hate ....doing that to BB.....as in ...if i could decide ..the first time...why...go through the ordeal....you own a G73...do you carry it around??

 

Sorta, I mostly move it room to room in the house on a daily basis. But I've also taken it out of the house a few times too. It hasn't been much trouble, but I also have a nice big Dell XPS backpack that I carry it in.

So far I haven't gotten the feeling its too big to lug around, but to be fair, I've never had a small laptop long enough to get used to it. So it feels natural for me to have a big laptop to carry around.

I understand about not going through the trouble of buying/returning, but way I look at it, all BB cares about is getting your money, so one way or another, they will.

 

Gee thanks for the input.......i guess i`ll only find out tomorrow...if ill be keeping the hp or the asus .....if bestbuy ships my.........hp tomorrow ie...

 

I wonder what BB does with those opened/used laptops which are returned within 14 days. Sell it to other suckers as new laptops!