9280 vs 9850 question

Hey hey;

I'm looking to buy a new laptop soon, narrowed it down to Sager as the brand I'm probably going to go for. Was wondering if anyone had advice for which of the two following would be better as a gaming comp?

Sager 9280
- Display: 17" Wide Viewing Angles WUXGA LCD with Super Glossy Surface (1920 x 1200)
- Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-975 Processor Extreme Edition ( 8MB L3 Cache, 3.33GHz, 6.4GT/sec QPI )[+$790.00]
- Video & Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 Video Memory
- Operating System: Genuine MS Windows® VISTA BUSINESS 64-Bit Edition with Upgrade to Windows 7 Professional 64 Coupon[+$55.00]
- Memory: 6GB Triple Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 3 X 2GB[+$100.00]
- RAID Storage Options: RAID-0 Storage ( Data Strip - Requires 2nd Hard Disk Drive or both 2nd & 3rd Hard Disk Drives )
- Primary Hard Disk Drive: 500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive[+$85.00]
- 2nd Hard Disk Drive: 500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Secondary Hard Drive in RAID configuration[+$135.00]
- 3rd Hard Disk Drive: 500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 3rd Hard Disk Drive[+$135.00]
- Optical Drive: 2X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software[+$145.00]
- Wireless Network Card: Intel Wi-Fi Link 5300AGN - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
- Bluetooth: Internal Bluetooth V2.1 Module
- Primary Battery: Smart Li-ION Battery Pack (12 Cells)
- Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office Ready with Free 60-Day Trial
- Warranty: Sager 2 Year Limited Parts and Labor Warranty[+$149.00]
- Carrying Bag: Standard Carrying Bag

Sager 9850:
- Display: 18.4" Full HD (1920 x 1080) Display
- Processor: 45nm Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Processor Q9000 / 6MB L2 Cache, 2.0GHz, 1066MHz FSB[+$165.00]
- Video & Graphics Card: Dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M Graphics with 1GB DDR3 Video Memory in SLI Mode
- Operating System: Genuine MS Windows® VISTA BUSINESS 64-Bit Edition with Upgrade to Windows 7 Professional 64 Coupon[+$55.00]
- Memory: 6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 1 X 4GB + 1 X 2GB[+$345.00]
- RAID Storage Options: RAID-0 Storage ( Data Strip - Requires 2nd Hard Disk Drive )
- Primary Hard Disk Drive: 500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive[+$85.00]
- 2nd Hard Disk Drive: 500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Secondary Hard Drive in RAID configuration[+$135.00]
- 3rd Hard Disk Drive: 500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 3rd Hard Disk Drive[+$135.00]
- Optical Drive: 2X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software[+$145.00]
- Wireless Network Card: Intel Wi-Fi Link 5300AGN - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
- Bluetooth: Internal Bluetooth V2.1 Module
- Primary Battery: Smart Li-Polymer Battery Pack
- Integrated Security Device: Fingerprint Reader
- Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office Ready with Free 60-Day Trial
- Warranty: Sager 2 Year Limited Parts and Labor Warranty[+$149.00]
- Carrying Bag: Standard Carrying Bag

FW

 

For straight gaming, almost certainly the 9850, as most games will bottleneck on the single GTX 280M of the 9280 before they bottleneck on the quad of the 9850.

 

Thanks Judicator.

Will the difference between a high-end laptop processor and a desktop replacement would be enough to smooth the difference caused by the single vs dual GPU difference?

BTW the comp will be used for office work and some minor photo and video editing. Though gaming will be the biggest power hog on it. So if it can handle that, the other stuff should be good enough.

FW

P.S. off-topic: is there a way to have my sig not link to the Sony FW? :{ Of course I could change it, but I don't wanna.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "smooth", exactly. The basic problem is that a single GPU can only render images so quickly, so oftentimes the CPU will be waiting for the GPU to finish what it's doing before it can send the next bit of data, which means that the GPU is bottlenecking the system because it's the slowest link in the chain, and nothing can happen faster than the GPU essentially "lets it happen". In practical terms, this means that the FPS in a game will be lower on a single GPU than on dual GPUs in SLI (most of the time: there are some games that do not work well with SLI, but that's on an individual basis). Truth to tell, either of them will do quite marvelously for all current games, but some people really "need" that extra edge for those FPS shooters that they play. And then there's games coming down the pipe, but that's all in the future...

For photo and video editing, the 9280 will be faster, as those tasks depend more on the CPU than the GPU.

As for the sig link... it's an auto-link the forum puts in based on certain phrases. You might try putting a space between F and W, or a "." (F.W) which should probably be enough to stop it.

 

my god these threads keep coming up

CAD/CPU intensive work, this DOES NOT include gaming of any kind whatsoever get the 9280

Gaming of any kind get a high end duo or a quad in the 9850

if you want more information then go look at the 50 other threads where this is asked

/close thread