M51x: 8700M GT vs. 9800M GT -- HELP?

I'm at a crossroads. The 9800M is really sweet, but the $450 cost of the upgrade is well, costly. So, will the 8700M GT suffice in games such as Oblivion, R6: Vegas, Gears Of War etc.?

I will be coupling the GPU with a T9300 (2.5, 6MB L2, 800mhz FSB) ona 1440 x 900 display.

EDIT: OR, should I downgrade my CPU to a T8300 (4.2, 3MB L2 cache, 800mhz FSB) and get the 9800M GT?!

 

At 1440*900, the 8700m GT more than suffices for now. If you want some really excellent future-proofing, that 9800m GT will last your for a few years at high settings with that resolution.

I'd say drop to the T8300 (you can always overclock later. Cache is not important and its very hard to distinguish 100 MHz) and get the 9800m GT. If you really need to save, cut back the ram to the bare minimum and purchase the ram elsewhere (i.e. newegg). It'll be cheaper.

Consider getting a 1680*1050 screen for even better gaming graphics (for now) and more work space when not gaming.

 

Thanks for the reply. And yes, I will be opting for the 9800, if I didn't, then what was the point of going Alienware?

How big a difference will that cache make? I mean, a 3MB difference is pretty considerable.

 

i dont think alienware allows you to oc so if you do it will void the warranty but i could be wrong, and make sure you dont get the 4gb ram from alienware since its a big rip off, and like adyingwren said the 9800m gt will be future proof a couple years, well thats what i was told

 

The cache makes very little difference except in a few very intensive applications. It should make little difference to gaming. At that res, you're comparing 110 fps to 114 fps if you get the T9300.

What you should do a year or two later, is then to upgrade to a quad core. What you should do now is get the T8300 and overclock to 2.7~2.9GHz. Check your temps to be safe. Alienware won't be able to detect it.

 

LOL. Is this even a question.

 

I just found some comparisions, and you're right. The 3D Mark scores reflect only a ~5% increase with T9300.

Well, now I got a real bargain on my hands for $2,990 with taxes since I've gotten that out of the way (I'm being sarcastic).

- 15.4" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD (720p) with Clearview Technology
- 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800M GT
- Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8300 2.4GHz (3MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
- Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1
- 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 512MB -- I'll just grab 4GB for $80 at a PC shop. I can't believe they charge $450 for 4GB. Ridiculous!
- 320GB 7,200RPM (16MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection
- 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW)

Hope this lasts me a few years.

 

yes its a question dont you see the question marks.haha.jk, well i guess the question was if he should get the 8700m gt with the t9300 or the 9800m gt and downgrade the cpu, which i think he should get the 9800m gt and the t9300 or buy a sager like i decided to do

 

wow thats a lot of money, have you looked into the Sager NP8660? you should look into before you buy the M15x. You might like it, i do and i picked it over the M15X but dont get me wrong i really liked the m15x alot but the sager was cheaper and didnt have as many problems as the m15x but i wish the sager had the smart bay option

 

Don't get the 8700 GT. Worse than a 7900 GS.

 

Yea... check out the OCZ whitebook too as well as Sager. They're much cheaper but less flashy than alienwares

 

Wow! Seriously? 3Gs for THAT!?!?

Ok, before you get robbed, check out xoticpc.com. For 3Gs you should either be looking at SLIed GTXs or any other machine they have maxed out. You should really check them out, and the Clevo guide here on NBR. I definitely think you should go with the M860TU ( NP8660 ) or the NP5793/7 ( cant remember clevo names ).

 

Yeah 3 GRAND is rediculous. I was planning on spending 3.5 grand on sli'd 9800 gtx's and a QUAD EXTREME PROCESSOR.

ALIENWARE BETTER STEP UP THEIR GAME SOON!!!!!!!

BUY the Sager 5796 and you'll be playing any game maxed out.

 

Get the SAGER 5796.

Has a better GPU and CPU for a much lower price.

Or if 3G is ok with you.

Buy the Sager 9262 9800m GTX SLI and 3.0 GHZ C2D CPU.

 

One of the main reasons to go for the m15x is for the 9800m gt / 8800m gtx in a 15.4" frame.

There are some people in the Alienware forum who regretted not going for the 9800m gt.

Oh and I have no idea where you got the $2.900 value. Just configured a same spec'ed one as yours in www.alienware.com and it came out somewhere above 2,024 USD before taxes.

 

rot- if he wanted a 15" before, he probably isnt interested in the behemoth that is the 9262. Also, the price quoted from before was with all the extras, I think since the same config for me came out to about ~1974.99 which is 1000 less than OP stated.
Lots of people forget that you have to pay good money for the size of the m15x.

That being said, checking out an Asus G50VT may be something he might be interested in- while slightly bigger than a regular 15.4, it's still much more portable than 17" laptops and has almost as potent a video card and you get a P8400 base, which has the faster FSB, allows for Overclocking right out of the box (Asus includes the little CPU overclock app thing) and comes with the 4GB of RAM and a 2nd HDD slot. Plus, not as many horror stories, and a price that can be lower depending on where you buy it from.

That being said, carry on.

 

Consider checking the G50VT as suggested and also the NP8660.

@Topic

You can always change your CPU later.

 

oh and Thimk make sure you dont get the 4gb ram from alienware so upgrade it yourself, and if you want to save some extra money and can wait awhile you should order an xbox live diamond card its only like $7 and you will save 6% on the m15x.

 

erm its not

 

Wot rollocks. The only reason to go for that is the light up keyboard. And even then that only attracts moths. You're not a moth are you? For a 15" with high-end graphics, it's not the only one. Forget the 'melty machine' and go for either of the two afformentioned notebooks - either the Asus G50VT (9800M GS) or the Clevo M860TU (9800M GTS/GT) both give you much of the same perfomance with superior buildsmanship. Oh, and save that spare $1000 you'll have left over for some pretty thing, when you finally get bored of blowing sprites up.

 

Get an Asus and save yourself tons of money compared to buying an alienware. I was looking at laptops for a desktop replacement a bit ago because I moved out of my country for the next year and wanted something I could game on and tried making a computer with alienware, but after a bunch of research I found out that on average it was around 1000-1500 more for the alienware for the equivalent asus and with asus you get a 1 year accidental and 2 year warranty for free. No contest. You want the best bang for your buck don't even look at alienware.

 

Hahahahaha. Yeah, I know it's alot of money, but do keep in mind that I live in Canada so I'm getting the shorter end of the stick here.

Regarding Sager, do they finance? I'm getting an AW because they finance and I can never seem to save up money.

I'll be willing to look at alternatives, but I just need the financing option.

 

Even in CAD thats still bad. Thats like $2500 USD.

As for financing, im unsure you d have to ask the reseller

 

our dollar sucks, thats a good deal actually, I i think we lose about 40cents for every american dollar, I think it will be expensive either way, doesnt matter who he goes with at this point.

 

Then I suggest Eurocom, that price is just so....unsettling. I think XoticPC ships worldwide too.

 

I'd also suggest looking at a Sager. Alienware really overprices most of their stuff.

Eurocom prices high and I believe you need to make them price match for it to be viable. Their prices are also in USD.

AET solutions is located in Montreal and has their prices already converted.

Both of these are located in Canada so no need to add in extra duty taxes and such(which ends up putting the end price roughly at the same for most of the resellers anyways).

If not, XoticPC is a good place to buy and they do ship to Canada.

ProStar is more Canadian friendly in the sense that they've combined all the shipping and taxes into one cost so you don't have to deal with it.

 

Yes, I was saying it in the context that if one was to purchase an m15x, it would be a waste not to go for the 9800M GT. The other advantage of the m15x is the ability to switch between integrated and dedicated GPUs, giving you up to 6 hours of battery life with the smart bay battery

You should also know about the build quality issue of the m15x. There have been many forum members who have had their hinge break. Here is milc's thread regarding the hinge issue.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=254627

My solution to this problem can be found here, but I don't think it's available in all countries.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=316976&highlight=black+m15x

But as everyone said, do also check out the asus g50vt and the sager np8660. The Asus is a lil bigger with a 15.6" screen, but it can be configured with dual hard drives.

Good luck with whatever decision you make

 

The best choice is the OCZ Whitebook, branded as the m17, or nagamaki, etc, and it can be found at XoticPc cheap also.