Worried about GeForce 6600

So here's my situation, I'm headed to college next year, am pretty into gaming and wnat to be able to run the latest games, but dont have a very disposable budget (around 1750 max?)

I wa slooking really into a Dell e1705 with Dual Core and GeForce 7800 to set me up, but after seeing an e1705 in person, the thing is frikking huge, and far too big to lug around for college!

Right now my #1 option is an Alienware Area-51 5500 with the following: Intel M 2.0 Ghz, GeForce 6600, 1 Gig RAM, 7200 RPM 80 Gb HD

I'm worried alot however that the GeForce 6600 won't cut it for stuff like FEAR on high settings, let alone newer stuff coming out...

 

S96J: The X1600 will handle most new games on high settings well. Just make sure to get 1 GB ram at the least. Some resellers

www.geared2play.com (options for screen)
www.rjtech.com
www.gentechpc.com
www.powernotebooks.com (options for screen)

 

Yeah the X1600 bumps the price right to 1750.... dunno how that'll work out, but the X1600 is a solid card though?

 

$1,750 is enough to get what you want easily - the S96J is your best bet, I agree. The X1600 is very powerful, the best card in that size of laptop. It can handle all the latest games at high settings with zero problems.

 

The x1600 is an amazing gaming card. It may not be top of the line but it'll throw out great settings and frames in just about any game you throw at it. I agree to go with the Asus s96J.

I recomend staying away from the alienwares. You have to wait forever to get one and their tech support is total ****. A friend of mine had a terible experience with them and it took forever to fix his notebook. He sold it after that because he was protesting

 

Thanks for the help guys... I do think I'll have to go the Alienware route though unfortunately as my parents are buying it, and I'm sure they wouldn't shell out a system unless it was from someplace theyd heard off

 

What about the X1400 with Hypermemory, how's that stack up?

If I went with a Dell 1505 I could bump it up to a Dual Core system as opposed to the alienware and fit in 2 gigs of RAM....

 

Dells even worse than alienware. A dell feels like it falls apart if you touch it.

Asus is one of the most reliable names in computers. It wont take much searching to find out how reputable they are.

 

I would never buy a laptop from alienware, they are overpriced, and from what I've heard their customer service is lacking. I'm going to agree with what most people are saying here and go with the s96j. Just show your parents www.resellerratings.com (I believe thats the website). It gives you good feedback on the various resellers. You'll get a much better deal on a laptop with any of the resellers that deadbolt mentioned than with alienware or dell. I've heard very good things about powernotebooks.com, and you can get the s96j from them with a glossy wxga+ (better resolution) screen.

 

Well it is true AW overcharges for the x1600 but for what its worth, mine hasnt haad a problem that i had to deal with tech support yet, worked flawlessly for the 4 months I have had it. I've been lugging it everywhere and its very solid.

 

stay away from taiwanese makers like asus, msi if you want phone/replacement/repair support. obtaining rma/repair/service from these oem manufacturers is non-existent or like pulling teeth. despite whatever system-builder geek reputation asus may have for mobos (no longer deserved nowadays imho)

 

This is not ture. I own an asus Z81sp (built on Asus not ensemble) and the tech support which is thourgh my reseller which is powernotebooks.com has been great. They got a resolution for me on my video card issue which happned to be overclocked too much within 2 days which involved sending me a beta bios through email. If I have to ever have my unit serviced, I would be without my notebook for about a week and they would pay for overnight shipping both ways and concidering most big venders such as dell, HP, etc..., your notebook would sit int he shop for at least 2 weeks. In the end it depends on your reseller.

Back on topic, if you are going through alienware, I would say that you would want to look else where for a better video card. The 6600 Go is a getting outdated and if you are looking to play the latest FPS such as F.E.A.R, the 6600 will not be able to keep up too well. The x1600 which is a 128-bit card that was mentioned is not too bad of a card but if it's in the budget, I would go for a notebook with a 7800 GTX oe X1800 which both are 256-bit cards.

If you cannnot afford a 7800GTX/x1800 and are looking to play games that are very demanding such as fear, I would try to find a notebook with a 256-bit card in them such as the Go 6800 and Go 6800 ultra but then again, both of these cards are hard to find in notebooks these days since the 7800GTX is much faster. Even though the 6800 is getting a bit outdated also, this card will still have the edge over the x1600 when it comes to graphically demanding games.

 

Agreed on the differences between the memory buses . . my X700 256MB is just as powerful as my desktop's 256MB Radeon 9800XT in benchmarks (~3300 3DMark05). However, the X700 has a 128-bit memory interface, while the 9800's is 256. You can see the difference in a lot of games, even though the 9800XT is an older card. For example, Far Cry: I play on both cards at SXGA resolution just fine. Once I add antistrophic filtering, the X700 chokes, where the 9800 has no problems and barely loses any frames. This is especially apparent in indoor areas.

 

although i havent bought directly from ASUS, proportable was/is VERY helpful..before i bought my z70va, i was sending emails to them late at night (11-12pm) and they were responding to me withing minutes...and i can almost always catch them on AIM. so pulling teeth? definitely not...from asus/msi..maybe, but not their vendors.

pb,out.