NVIDIA 880M vs 860M SLI

I'm new here and from lurking it really seems like your forum regulars know their stuff.

I'm gonna buy an Alienware notebook and it seems to work out a similar price to get an AW17 with an 880M or an AW18 with 860M SLI for similar money. Which way would you go? Will 860M SLI produce similar performance? What about heat & power consumption?

TIA

 

Just get a single 880m and no worries.

 

I wouldn't worry about power consumption, Alienware isn't a brand you buy for the best battery life, but the highest gaming performance and build quality for a gaming laptop you can get. As stated, I would grab a single 880M over 860M SLI (I believe the Alienware 860M are Kepler based and NOT Maxwell based).

 

Thanks for the info - i was curious whether AW would have the Maxwell based 860M. One of the appeals of the AW18 over the AW17 was the better quality screen (I hear the colours on the AW17 are all over the shop), thats why I was hoping that I could get similar performance for my money out of the 860M SLI. Just how much worse do you think it would be? If marginal, it might be worth it for the better screen...

 

You can get the 120Hz pannel on the 17 and it has way better colours etc compared to the 18 and hence you solve all your issues

 

I'd go for the SLI in a heartbeat. More choices down the road should you want to upgrade if you're that way inclined.

 

But huge investments required to do it.

Usually a high end single card will get the job done.

 

Bacon Doge and Bastion know what they are talking about.

A single is simple better.

 

Not to mention that the IPS display on the AW18 is amazing (If you can get one without light bleed). Plus the notebook is more quiet than AW17.
If I can pick between 18" and 17" Id go with 18" because watching movies and gaming on a bigger display is always nicer

 

NOT an easy choice. the 120hz screen isn't that big of a deal since most demanding games aren't going to be playing at 120FPS which is really the FPS needed to match the refresh rate of the screen. The build quality of the 18 is better. Period.

However, a single 880m is just a better solution for the moment as you never have to worry about SLI profiles. It will age a bit better than the 860m SLI imo.

HOWEVER, you can upgrade the 18 more than the 17 if you want to go 'bleeding edge.'

HOWEVER, as stated above, it's expensive to upgrade (even taking into account selling the 860ms).

I don't care what people say, there really is not much future proofing with mobile gaming..it's flat out expensive. Get the best system you can afford and the GENERAL rule is get the BEST card in your budget which would be the 880M. I think you will be happier with the 880m. The extra bulk of the 18 and contending with 860m SLI is likely worse than having similar performance, easier and more consistent performance and a cheaper and lighter notebook. The screen will be a non-issue. Again, very tough decision but I would lean toward the 17 in your case and this is coming from an 18 owner. Good luck.

 

I disagree with this. The 120Hz screen has many benefits, including the elimination of dealing with Optimus technology and throttling. The response time and smoothness of the screen is also amazing in comparison to the regular 1080p screen. It's bright, crisp, and shows every little detail. Secondly, the build quality of the Alienware 17 is equivalent to, if not better than the Alienware 18.

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You should go for the 880M. It's a very powerful GPU, and has a huge amount of vRAM to support pretty much anything. SLI also doesn't scale well in some games, which is odd considering NVIDIA GPU's are the "superior" cards on the market. I've learned that AMD cards in Crossfire actually perform better than SLI does (in that regard), lol.

 

Thanks for all the info guys. FWIW, it looks like the frame of reference has changed somewhat - I narrowed it down to those 2 configurations based on my budget ($4K AUD) from Dell in Australia. It looks like they've put a sale on (15% off everything), so I can afford to get something a little bit better. I'll most likely be considering the 880M in an AW17, 4900MQ, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD vs Crossfire R9 M290X in an AW18, 4800MQ, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD... This is getting a bit off the original topic, so I might post about it in another thread, but I'd be crazy to get the AW17, wouldn't I??? The CPU is a little better, but SURELY 2 x R9 M290X beat the pants off an 880M - don't they???

 

I would do crossfire M290X or 870m over a single 880m (in fact, I did choose the 870m SLI). However, I wouldn't go below that.

 

Totally agree, if you are on a budget go with m290x, amazon has it on sale for $2520 USD, that is a great deal, on games, I bet it will easily out perform and gtx880m, and the price is awesome

 

For quality screen, I would go with 18" - it's also good for gaming and watching movies in high quality and other stuff but the performance is just the same as with 17".because the NVIDIA860 is SLI (2 cards are binded).

 

I've said it before and I will say it again...

If you do not KNOW you want an SLI laptop, then you don't.
If you have to ask, you shouldn't.

This isn't to say that SLI/X-fire laptops are bad things or that they do not have a market. They most certainly do, but those people usually know exactly what they want and are willing to do the work to make the SLI/X-fire do as they need it to.

If you have never owned an SLI/X-fire computer, you should know that not every game supports it, or better to the point supports it well. Sometimes you get a bit under double the performance of a single GPU, sometimes it performs just barely better than a single, and sometimes it bugs out and doesn't work at all unless you use it in single-GPU mode.

More often than not a tech-savvy person can get it to work at least reasonably well, but if you aren't that kind of person, you may regret your SLI/X-fire purchase and will be entirely better off with the best single GPU you can afford.

This isn't really posted for the OP as it seems he has made up his mind. It is posted for others reading this thread and for future posters doing searches.

 

Can testify that the AW18 display is amazing.
I feel AW17 doesnt have a display worth bragging about in todays market. We have notebooks with 2K, 3K, 4K and IPS from many brands, and AW17 doesnt have any of those. 120Hz display is nice, but 3D is dying and I personally feel its not as nice upgrade as higher res or IPS.

 

120 Hz does not imply 3D-capable...

 

Umghh on the AW17 it is 3D capable.. And we are talking only about that and AW18..