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    6990m vs 560M SLI

    Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by twigs, Oct 9, 2011.

  1. twigs

    twigs Notebook Enthusiast

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    I would prefer to go with the 6990m but I want a NP8180 (which only comes with 560M SLI) for the bigger screen. I know the 560m SLI benchmarks a bit ahead of the 6990m but I don't really want to deal with the annoyances that come with SLI (possible micro-stuttering, problems playing games in windowed mode, driver issues, etc...)
     
    twigs, Oct 9, 2011
    #1
  2. Larry@LPC-Digital

    Larry@LPC-Digital Company Representative

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    Larry@LPC-Digital, Oct 9, 2011
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  3. Hybrys

    Hybrys That Damn Cactuar!

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    You always have the option of asking a NICE dealer if they can just drop the SLI 560Ms from your config, and buy a 6990M from the same/another dealer. I've had luck asking for similar things. (Dropping HDDs or WiFi cards)

    I personally prefer a single card solution, vs SLI. It's just less painful and annoying.
     
    Hybrys, Oct 9, 2011
    #3
  4. BenWah

    BenWah Notebook Consultant

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    I think your instincts are right twigs
     
    BenWah, Oct 10, 2011
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  5. DropZite

    DropZite Notebook Geek

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    Is it really that bad using SLI in a laptop? Or is this a Sager/Clevo issue?
     
    DropZite, Oct 10, 2011
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  6. Anthony@MALIBAL

    Anthony@MALIBAL Company Representative

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    It's an SLI issue. There are a lot more variables wen running SLI compared to a single card. Scaling isn't always perfect (it can be 50-80%, though very rarely double- it depends heavily on driver and title support). There are also stuttering and artifact issues from time to time, though that depends on the title. Typically speaking it's just more simple to deal with one card instead of SLI/Crossfire at all.
     
    Anthony@MALIBAL, Oct 10, 2011
    #6
  7. hotblack_desiato

    hotblack_desiato Notebook Consultant

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    is the 8180 capable of supporting the 6990m? It seems like it should be.
     
    hotblack_desiato, Oct 10, 2011
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  8. jml00a

    jml00a Notebook Guru

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    yeah i would like the 8180 with the 6990 single card instead of the dual 560 sli.
     
    jml00a, Oct 11, 2011
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  9. TechnoWhore

    TechnoWhore Notebook Evangelist

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    I used a Sli config in my sig for four years and never had an issue with it.

    However there are a few things to take note of:

    (1) GPU performance scaling in a Sli configuration isn't 2 x single cards (I think this is still true). Therefore Sli performance tends to be less than the performance you would get from the sum of both cards separately.

    Performance may not fully scale, but you do get significantly more more than a single card.

    (2) Some games cannot use Sli at all, or effectively. In a game that can't use Sli, you'll be effectively running one 560M (ouch!).

    (3) If you plug your Sli laptop into the TV to watch/play something, one card has to be disabled (manually or via driver software). I'm not sure if this is still true of the Nvidia 500 series, but it was for older cards.

    (4) A good thing :) If one card burns out, you can use the other as the main card. May need to do a vBIOS flash depending on which card it is.

    Someone else may be able to confirm/rectify whether some of this still holds true for present Nvidia cards.

    I would go for the 6990M as a single card, but would go Sli only if cards were higher than 2x 560M's.
     
    TechnoWhore, Oct 11, 2011
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  10. hotblack_desiato

    hotblack_desiato Notebook Consultant

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    one 6990m is almost equal to 2 560's. And I think they scale better in crossfire than nvidia's cards. I would definitely go for the 6990 if I were you, especially for two of them (but in that case I would take a look at the m18x from alienware).
     
    hotblack_desiato, Oct 11, 2011
    #10
  11. DropZite

    DropZite Notebook Geek

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    Thanks for the info!
     
    DropZite, Oct 11, 2011
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  12. twigs

    twigs Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks for all the feedback! I'll definitely look into getting a single 6990m in the NP8180
     
    twigs, Oct 13, 2011
    #12