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    280m SLI?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by Daximus, May 29, 2009.

  1. anothergeek

    anothergeek Equivocally Nerdy

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    I'd wait until people get their hands on the Clevo M980nu and Alienware M17x before you make the move. Both have sli 280M and QX9300, but there are some differences. By waiting, you'll then know which runs cooler and overclocks better. Then make the move :D
     
  2. Rob41

    Rob41 Team Pirate Control

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    Like aznofans said, with that budget, you can get any laptop you want.

    Now that you've mentioned what you want, yes, you will want to get a SLI or Xfire rig.

    According to your expectations, I don't think you would be satisfied with any single card solution.
     
  3. aznofazns

    aznofazns Performance Junkie

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    I think it's out of stock right now, but the Asus W90 with dual GDDR3 4870's is a good choice if you want to save a good bit of money. The cpu isn't the fastest, but it's still enough for all of those games. Besides, you can always ugprade to a QX series CPU yourself and still have cash left over. If you really want the most performance possible, then wait for at least the Alienware.
     
  4. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    yep. best to get a quad core - sli or crossfire model at that.

    you still have a bit of a wait..maybe 1 month or so though.... don't let over eagerness get the best of you... :)
     
  5. dondadah88

    dondadah88 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    i can't believe i miss this one. Lol.


    get someone with a msi gt725-075 or 074 to run something.
     
  6. Rob41

    Rob41 Team Pirate Control

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  7. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    edited

    never mind..$2800 for gtx280 sli is not bad at all.
    so that means the m980nu is probably not to far behind....
     
  8. dondadah88

    dondadah88 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    no that's with 280m sli

    it starts at 1,799
     
  9. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    yeah, i caught it..lol
    and fully spec'd out your looking at about 4200 without ssd drives...that's still pretty dammn good for alienware!

    so if you catch a barebones from rjtech or someone...you can cut allot of the cost down by using your old parts from your old machine...
     
  10. Rob41

    Rob41 Team Pirate Control

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    $3299 isn't bad at all for dual 280m GTX's in SLI and a QX9300 Extreme Quad!

    Welcome to the record books M17X. :D

    So long current record holders! :eek: :D :eek:
     
  11. dondadah88

    dondadah88 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    not yet we still have to see how it overclocks
     
  12. Aristotelhs2060

    Aristotelhs2060 Notebook Virtuoso

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  13. anothergeek

    anothergeek Equivocally Nerdy

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  14. Aristotelhs2060

    Aristotelhs2060 Notebook Virtuoso

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    this is only because some people say that 4870 is of lower performance of gtx280
     
  15. Melody

    Melody How's It Made Addict

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    Is the difference even mind bloggling enough to be worth an argument? If it's under 15-20% then I don't see the big deal to start arguing over it >.>
     
  16. Aristotelhs2060

    Aristotelhs2060 Notebook Virtuoso

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    but dont argue. just discussing.
     
  17. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    and i say the 9800m gtx is better as well... in about 80 percent of the test we have run. :)
     
  18. Rob41

    Rob41 Team Pirate Control

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    Careful now, there's a ATI fanboy here that will fight to the death! :realmad:
     
  19. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    that's nothing new... :)
     
  20. Melody

    Melody How's It Made Addict

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    So one is better then the other, big deal, it happens lol :p If anything, it'll force the other side to make a better product which will make the other side lower prices and yada yada.

    I really don't see why it's such a big deal that either company has a better product. Both Nvidia and ATI are very good manufacturers with solid products and really as Rob said, it all comes down to what an individual needs.
     
  21. Rob41

    Rob41 Team Pirate Control

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    I've never been one to have too much brand loyalty.

    The pendulum is always swinging and I don't ever want to get the short stick just because of a name.

    If a superior card came out tomorrow by brand "y", I'd be all over it. :D
     
  22. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    that has always been the main point with me, but yet you get people all bent out of shape speculating on who is better than who...and when it came down to it..we found out...but then the excuses pop up all over the place. if i thought the ati was the better choice..i would have switched by now..but that has yet to outright be proven or winning 51 percent of the test.... the minute that happens...and ati has driver support on a regular basis, im there....well that aint happen yet...
     
  23. Melody

    Melody How's It Made Addict

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    Well I understand that there are reasons to like a brand over another, but I mean, it's just silly to plain out ignore the benefits elsewhere. Everything has pros and cons.

    "Nobody's good at everything, but everybody's good at something"

    I mean, I always admired my dad in that regard. He may have preferences in certain brands/places, but he won't think twice before actually saying that another place/brand has it done better or whatnot.

    ATI has strong points and so does Nvidia. They're both solid companies that are doing well for themselves last I checked >.>

    I mean, Nvidia had a grip on probably most of the laptop GPUs until last year, now lots of manufacturers are switching over to ATI so they've obviously got some redeeming quality.

    Ina few years, it might switch back again and so on and so forth. It's just a cycle really.
     
  24. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    and apparently they are switching back because lack of driver support and to many returned machines...(speculation of course) just like nvidia when they had there over heating gpu issues....
     
  25. dondadah88

    dondadah88 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    my personal opinion is that ati has better hardware in terms what it has. the 4870 has 800 streams. i know you have to divde by 5 but to have that much with low clock speeds and still achieve those numbers.

    my wish for ati is to separate there core and shader or up there core clocks alot higher. i notice raising my core clock improves my benchmarks by alot. (3870).

    the problem right now in the mobile market for ati is the fact there clock speeds are so low. 4870 is 550/850 and my 3870 is 660/850. also the driver support is soooooooo low and ati isn't doing nothing about it. if you go on ati's forum there is so much complains and they are not even responding to them. also the x2 is a great idea but again they arent even trying to see if they work when you install. i had so many problems trying to install them.


    nvidia has much better software and just goes after and anything that will improve there cards WITH TO MUCH CHANGE TO THERE GPU'S. physx,cuda(i think that's nvidia.) and alot more.


    i still like ati better then nvidia though there is so much potental in them. me having the 3870x2 and has seen this. but we can only do so much.
     
  26. Melody

    Melody How's It Made Addict

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    ATI has mobile drivers for Windows 7 right? So at least they're willing to give in an effort for the future for driver support(I don't see why they're not bothering with the now though).

    Well in th best of worlds you'd have a good selection of both so that you can pick whatever fits your needs best.
     
  27. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    yeah, we said that back with the 3870s and now the 4870s and probably the 5800's...who knows about the future....
     
  28. Daximus

    Daximus Newbie

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    k so i just messed around with the alienware m17x and its worked up to $5,350(161 a month) and well its a nice setup but as someone posted above ill just wait and see what clevo/sager does ( im looking at xoticpc to buy from. if anyone has a better place lemme know. im in canada btw >.<) in terms of pricing. i do notice that brands like sager seem to be better priced than the alienware stuffs so maybe it would be wise to wait ? or would it not make a difference ....

    y'all been an awesome help so far btw throught the debates and all that makes me feel that in the end ill have a safe decision in buying something worth it.

    thanks guys for all the help thus far
     
  29. Rob41

    Rob41 Team Pirate Control

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    Just so folks don't get the wrong impression, the base price for the new M17X is $1799.

    The m17X with a QX9300 and dual 280 GTX's in SLI is $3299.
     
  30. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    you mean sli...
    and the cheapest i got was 3,450 with qx9300

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    My ComponentsSpace Black – Anodized Aluminum

    Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1

    Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)

    Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M, 2GB – SLI® Enabled

    17-inch WideUXGA 1920x1200 (1200p)

    4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz

    250GB 7,200RPM w/ Free Fall Protection

    Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

    1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis


    PersonalizeQuasar Blue

    Alienhead 3D

    Alienware RSS Feed


    My AccessoriesMcAfee® VirusScan Plus – 15-Month Subscription (English)



    Also Includes
    Internal Wireless Bluetooth® 2.1 with EDR
    Internal 300Mbps Dual-Band a/g/n Wireless with MIMO Technology
    Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0
    Windows Style, Default
    Mouse Pointers, Standard
    Power Plan, High Performance
    Automatic Updates ON
    (GMT - 6.00) Central Time (US & Canada)
    Standard Nameplate (Alienware M17x)

    Compatibility Alert[​IMG]


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    Last edited by a moderator: May 12, 2015
  31. Rob41

    Rob41 Team Pirate Control

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    Holy crap! I better change that fast before the ATI fanboys start a riot! lol

    Nope, it comes to $3299 with the QX9300 and dual 280's in SLI.

    SYSTEM COLOR Space Black – Anodized Aluminum edit
    PROCESSOR Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB) edit
    OPERATING SYSTEM Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1 edit
    VIDEO CARD Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M, 2GB – SLI® Enabled edit
    LCD PANEL 17-inch WideXGA+ 1440x900 (900p) edit
    MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz edit
    HARD DRIVE 250GB 7,200RPM w/ Free Fall Protection edit
    INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW) edit
    WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis edit
    Personalize
    ALIENFX COLOR Quasar Blue edit
    AVATAR Alienhead 3D edit
    RSS FEEDS Alienware RSS Feed edit
    My Accessories
    SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee® VirusScan Plus – 15-Month Subscription (English) edit
    ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
    BLUETOOTH Internal Wireless Bluetooth® 2.1 with EDR
    WIRELESS CARDS Internal 300Mbps Dual-Band a/g/n Wireless with MIMO Technology
    Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0
    WINDOWS STYLE Windows Style, Default
    MOUSE POINTERS Mouse Pointers, Standard
    POWER PLAN Power Plan, High Performance
    AUTOMATIC UPDATES Automatic Updates ON
    TIME ZONE (GMT - 6.00) Central Time (US & Canada)
    Standard Nameplate Trigger Standard Nameplate (Alienware M17x)

    Total $3299
     
  32. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    i pasted it from them as is and thats the price it came back with....so im going to say yes. thats the price i got.
     
  33. spradhan01

    spradhan01 Notebook Virtuoso

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    So dell is selling Alienware laptops then instead of Alienware website?
     
  34. aznofazns

    aznofazns Performance Junkie

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    In case you guys were referring to me when you mentioned the "ATI fanboy": please note that I am no fanboy. I've owned Nvidia and ATI products and love them both. In fact, my 4870 is the first ATI card i've ever had (I nearly bought an 8800GT instead).

    I argued because it was just a simple debate about which card should be faster and have more raw power, regardless of nitpicks about driver support, etc. To just state that one card beats the other like it's a known fact is silly. It all depends on version, memory type, stock clocks, overclocking, cooling, etc. For instance, johnksss keeps boasting about how his 9800M GTX SLI beats the 4870's in most tests... that's a true but faulty claim. First of all, he has a QX9650. Secondly, he overclocks his 9800's way past what most users would. Comparing that extreme setup to a base, non- or mildly overclocked 4870 setup is being unfair to ATI.

    To be honest, I hope ATI wins this round because it's good for competition, not because I'm a die hard fanboy. Nvidia has been dominating the mobile market for years, so obviously this would be a nice temporary shift that would drive prices down and innovation up. Afterwards, I'll probably be rooting for Nvidia to come back on top.

    Regarding the Alienware, i agree that it's a pretty good deal, especially since you have a lot of customization options. Saving $300 for GTX260M SLI is pretty nice.
     
  35. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    me, im not a hater of ati...but lets look at the facts...sure, they have a good card. best damn cards when it comes to msaa as well,but who wants to wait 6 months for a driver. when the new cards will be out and that card will be out dated? they are having issues with crossfire now. look at how many w90's were rma'd how many issues the whitebook had when it came out...allot of people bought that laptop thinking they we're gonna get 20k 3dmark scores and didn't...i even looked into getting one when i seen that, but in the end i stayed with what i had.

    it's
     
  36. ichime

    ichime Notebook Elder

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    more like 1.5 to 2.0%, haha

    but seriously, with a difference in the more popular games this close, it comes down to certain advantages. The extra memory and driver support would give the advantage to the nVidia cards in certain games while the ATi cards generally perform better when in-game AA is involved. Unfortunately, we haven't seen much comparisons on these boards when AA is turned on (2x, 4x, 8x, etc.)

    I'm sure it will overclock pretty decently. The M1730 overclocked very nicely (both CPU and GPU) even though their GPU cores were close together. The schematics of the new M17x show the GPUs separated by a good distance, which should improve cooling.

    Already? I don't think it's a matter of them switching back rather than simply having more GPU options. And if anything it wouldn't matter to them seeing as the manufacturers prefer having control over their drivers (for example, Toshiba recommends against using the new nVidia mobile drivers for its Qosmio notebooks).

    I wouldn't base it on the number of stream processors, regardless of how they calculate it. The more SPs you have in a die, the hotter it gets, though performance scales pretty nicely. That's another consideration and explains why the clock speeds are lower. Kinda like how the GTX desktop series are considerably lower clocked than the g92 based cores and the ATi RV7xx cores, but offer better performance per core clock due to having more SPs.

    Don't really know yet. Configuring the M17x through dell's website shows a page identical to Alienware's current homepage, except it has dell products under products and only offers the M17x and the M1730. The regular homepage has the M17 and the M15x still.
     
  37. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    me, im not a hater of ati...but lets look at the facts...sure, they have a good card. best damn cards when it comes to msaa as well,but who wants to wait 6 months for a driver. when the new cards will be out and that card will be out dated? they are having issues with crossfire now. look at how many w90's were rma'd how many issues the whitebook had when it came out...allot of people bought that laptop thinking they we're gonna get 20k 3dmark scores and didn't...i even looked into getting one when i seen that, but in the end i stayed with what i had.

    it's quite a few other things...but im not the complainer type...i deal with the cards im delt and make things happen.:)
    it's allot of nonsense going on with all that, but ill leave that all in the past.....

    never said you we're an ati fan boy either...
    but then i could care less about some internet forums diswords...that nonsense be killing me. rotflmao! ati/nvidia fan boi..trolls ..yada yada...yada yada...lol...to funny.

    ichime....

    yeah, that's why it's a speculation..who really knows..no one, but yet we get people in here trying to pass off speculations as facts when they aren't....
    toshiba needs to quit anyway...how they going to run an extreme cpu and not allow it to be over clocked? that was ridiculous to say the least...lol
     
  38. ichime

    ichime Notebook Elder

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    Well, as much as he does have a tendency to compare stock system with his overclocked system at times to make judgments, his system is performing better regardless. Great thing about the 9800M series in general is that it doesn't need a speedy CPU to perform to it's best, yet it won't perform at its best with a speedy CPU (philosophical speak ftw), so a QX9650 won't really matter much in benchmarking. Also, the 9800M and the G92 cores in general are great overclockers. Unfortunately, nVidia realized this and got lazy with the GTX 200M series technically. So although a stock Mobility 4870 would thrash a stock 9800M GTX, the latter remains very competitive since it can clock within 25% of its core and shader clock (and the extra 512mb helps too :D ). If the 48xx series could do that, then I'm sure things would be different now.
     
  39. The_Moo™

    The_Moo™ Here we go again.....

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    just think how old his card is vs 4870's age

    took ATI how long to get something that would beat the 9800m gtx?

    i like ATI...cheaper , fast .... but they are CPU dependent
     
  40. ichime

    ichime Notebook Elder

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    well, the mobile G92 is almost three years old!

    edit: nevermind, it's more like 2 years
     
  41. dondadah88

    dondadah88 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    umm that's one reason why i went back to nvidia. they have been using the same cards and can still max out games. i really like ati and if there 4870 can fit the 9262, i will get them. (couple reason for that.)

    i shipped out my whitebook today but i think if you raise the core clock, it wouldn't fall back on the cpu to much. what do you guys think? if you don't get it i will explain more in detail.
     
  42. Johnksss

    Johnksss .

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    hummmmm i compare stock for stock or ovr clocked gpu vs over clocked gpu...not cpu. yet to see one ati card win this battle yet.

    dadah..wait about 1 week..might have a gtx for ya...we'll see though.
     
  43. dondadah88

    dondadah88 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    check my album. it's not organize but my runs that are overclocked are with gpu-z. i wish i had my system to test this and send it away. i am installing xp on my back up laptop so i can check the stats. rob41, ichime, mr. moo, care do
    run me something?

    i'm dying right now that i only have one card and my sager comes in tomorrow. lol. i think i can wait that long. but if you getting rid of them then that only means one thing :) just don't hurt me to badly with the price. lol.
     
  44. The_Moo™

    The_Moo™ Here we go again.....

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    what do you need ran?
     
  45. anothergeek

    anothergeek Equivocally Nerdy

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    1440 x 900, seriously?

    And I'd also like to note that while John has a 3ghz Q9650, the highest 4870 scores were using QX9300's in the range of 3.5ghz.
     
  46. The_Moo™

    The_Moo™ Here we go again.....

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    seriously :mad2:
     
  47. anothergeek

    anothergeek Equivocally Nerdy

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    Just for the sake of dumb people, Dell should require you to upgrade to the 1920 display with Sli 280's lol
     
  48. The_Moo™

    The_Moo™ Here we go again.....

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    :p lol im getting 1200p

    and sli 260's
     
  49. dondadah88

    dondadah88 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    it's kind of long and hard. but i need 4 runs.
    1 stock cpu and gpu
    2 oc'd cpu stock gpu
    3 stock cpu oc'd gpu (both core and memory)
    4 stock cpu oc'd gpu(core alone)
    5 stock cpu oc'd gpu(memory alone)


    the first test is to get the basic scores

    the second run is to see how much it needs the cpu

    the third is to see how well the gpu will handle it self if the cpu was left alone

    fourth is the main question which is seeing if the clock speed is to low on this gpu's why it give's the cpu the data to run.

    fifth is just a run to see how the memroy helps. seeing as the nvidia cards aren't that much father apart it shouldn't be a problem


    now the drivers are ????
    i know that 9.2 and 9.3 uses the gpu more.
    8.12 does that stream stuff
    and i don't know the rest. i know you know a good overclocking driver.


    the problem remains i am trying to think of a game that uses both the cpu and the gpu. i would say farcry2 but 8.10 and below overclocks for the 3870. and the stream issue for that game wasn't resolved until 8.12 so it renders that useless. any thoughts.

    what do you have? is mayne the most inportant thing.
     
  50. ichime

    ichime Notebook Elder

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    Unfortunately, we haven't seen many benchmarks of Tester's MSI or an OC'd W90 running on 1 GPU. I think anothergeek requested someone to do it to compare with his GTX 280M. So far, it's just Vantage which is in favor of the ATi cards.

    But maybe we can get don to run some games and test with his Sager system in conjunction with these systems.
     
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