9280(D900F) or 9850?(M980NU) Which way are you leaning and why?

but the 3.33GHz Quad that John want is LGA775, not LGA1366

 

So I was correct. That 6 core CPU coming in Q1 2010 will work in the NP9280. That is one great reason for getting the NP9280.

 

correction made:
bloomfield is a lga1366 cpu...dammn!
oh well..it was wishful thinking on my part...

really for the workstation enthusiast...the gamer part of the community will complain about not having sli...

 

Can't argue with that...

 

flip side blacky....

the d900f will be the fastest single gpu machine on the planet..in the right users hands and with cpu over clocking... ..(speculation of course)

 

machine... as in notebook. Yeah, it will be .

 

this is notebookreview right?

lol

of course notebook...or rather..laptop.

 

I need help... The power of the i7 draws me away from the M980NU. I know the M98 has SLI but does that benefit more than the i7 does on gaming. how well will a QX9300 overclocked play GTA 4 compared to a i7 920? Which laptop should i get? Which is overall better? Will NVIDIA malke a 280M GX2 so that we wouldn't need an extra slot? that would make the 9280 the best gaming laptop if the performance was on par with the GTX 280M SLI.

 

To answer part of your question, the 9280 will have a nice review up by the end of this week so this should help in deciding. I am torn between the two as well at this time. As for the M980NU, it looks like we will have to wait a few more weeks for a good write up on it. Of course if gaming is your main dish the M980NU probably will edge out the 9280.

 

I'm probably going to end up going with the 9280, with 950 I7... However if gaming is your bag, no 17" is going to beat the new Alienware M17x with dual 260m's or 280m's! And to answer your previous question, the X9300 will handle it flawlessly, the I7's are desktop processors, therefore have higher clock speeds, and it technically has 8 cores which can be suited well for individual tasks, so it is really good for multi-tasking and multi CPU threading like in video decoding and Cad work, in games you won't see a huge difference besides what the clock speed helps with.... also remember the I7's have a 130w power draw! that's twice as much as the X9300

 

I am looking at 3 notebooks. the 9280, 9850, and M17x barebone if there is one (like OCZ -> M17). How will the 9280 play games? Crysis Warhead on Very High No AA? Crysis on Very High No AA? If it can do that then i think im set with 9280. but is SLI worth it? I have had some people say it helps with high res. But then I have some people say it is not worth it. M17X is really not appealing to me. Very oddly shaped. They cant make same freaking shape as the previous M17X. That is ridiculous...

 

sli/crossfire is worth it only if your a gamer... not a gamer...then go with single card machine...

 

is there even a thing called a M17x barebone ?!



that wouldnt be too bad ... especially when them alienware ones are a sellin for so much ...

a top setup of one of them m17x in singapore costs almost SGD 7000++ ...

 

the m17 is built off of the OCZ DIY 17" barebone. I might get one of those for the new m17x if possible. maybe if it wasnt so freaking oddly shaped.

 

say ... would you happen to have some more infor on the OCZ m17x barebone ?

and would it be more affordable then them alienware m17x setup ?

 

i think they sell them at xotic

 

you mean they sell them "yet to debut" alienware m17x barebones at xoticpc ???

them oddly shaped laptops with adonized aluminium casings ?

 

no i meant m17 not m17x. sorry for misunderstanding. if the release a MXM 3.0b 280M GX2 for 9280 then i will get a 9280 and it will probably beat any gaming notebook on the market. i would love to see that. the 280M GX2 wouldnt use sli because its not actually two cards right? then it would beat 280M SLI in single card games by far.

 

Just to clear things up here.

m17 = W840DI = OZW Whitebook 17"

M17x is the new "Allpowerful" from Alienware/Dell. There is no way you can obtain a barebones for this at all, unless by a miracle from Alienware.

 

does any1 know if nvidia will make a 280m gx2. that would be great to find out?

 

I brought up this idea a while ago for a SLI solution for the 9280 but others have stated that the PCB would be GIGANTIC and no way they could squeeze all that tech onto one card . The Desktop GX2's are also humungo so i can see why it wouldnt work but its still a great idea nonetheless.

 

damn... that would have been very nice. the D901F should support sli and overclocking because x58 is great for both. btw is this an evga x58?

 

Well...it is obvious which one of the two I want as per my signature...but this waiting is torture.

 

great idea..yes!
or they made it like a quad core mobile cpu...2 dies..if that we're even remotely possbile. then it could fit on one board...something like 10 years in the future...maybe...

or they made some type of memory heat sink that was part of the dual gpu board...

 

Take a look at this and tell me what you think:

http://www.villagetronic.com/vidock2/

It is a Port Replicator and Video Adapter that will allow you to use ATi RADEON desktop video cards with your laptop through the ExpressCard slot (nVIDIA is still working on making their cards work with it).

It will support two high resolution external monitors (HDMI, DVI & VGA ports), and has 4 USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 ethernet and audio ports.

Not only can you use desktop video cards, you can upgrade it to the next generation video card any time you want simply by unplugging the old card and plugging in the new card.

 

One thing I noticed in that Notebookcheck review was that StyleNote thing with the lights...is that where the different companies can put the logo?

 

yep...i would go for that there.

 

Yes, Miss Malevolent ... sure is!

Look e.g. at this Novatech version

All the best
Frans

 

Pretty
















Expensive

 

Nice.

I'm looking forward to Powernotebooks design.

 

What is the price?

 

Two versions. One with 120W AC Adapter for cards up to say the 4670 = $299 and one with 220W AC Adapter for cards up to say the 4890 - $399.

Buy the box once and then upgrade the video cards for years to come.

 

isnt it gonna be slower since its going thru expresscard slot with limited bandwidth?

 

That was our thought too, but as it turns out it is only slightly slower and it still produces benchmarks WAY above laptop video cards of the same model, and is only just barely behind the desktop version in desktops.

Yup, we were amazed too.

 

That might take all the fun out of modding....OR, open up a whole new world of modding

 

Donald -- any idea when those will show up retail? Do they recommend that you have a discrete ATI card in the laptop to begin with and will the onboard LCD use the viDock card or does it just power the external display?

 

We should have the 120W version in within the next week or so, and the 220W version by mid-July or so.

It does not care what video card you have in your computer, you can even have an integrated card

At this time it will power external monitors, but we are working with ATi to see if we can have it use the laptop monitor. We have been told by an ATi rep that it can, but a rep saying something and it actually working could be a few steps apart

 

One more question. Which expresscard size? The smaller one or the big one?

 

Small one...I think. I won't know for sure until I have them in hand.

 

i know this is external but if it is small enough and you remove the gtx 280m could you add this internally and connect it to the motherboard somehow? that would be awesome...
edit: talking bout the 9280 btw

 

Ok, here is the answer:

It uses the 34mm ExpressCard because it is the only ExpressCard cable solution on the planet that is:
a) 5 mm flat
b) does not transfer any significant force to the ExpressCard slot into the notebook in case you press the cable down with force close the the plug in point.

 

Sorry, the answer is no.

Did you click on the link so you could look at it?

 

they need to make usb cpu's lol

any small notebooks with expresscard slots? will this fit the new 4890 when it comes out? will they make an nvidia version?

 

The ViDock2 is so turning me on right now.

I believe your last two questions have already been answered.

 

Most laptops of any size now have ExpressCard slots, and have had for the last couple of years.

 

This isn't the right answer to this problem imo.

1) it makes notebooks even less portable.
2) Extra cost.
3) This won't fix a laptop that's weak in other areas.

What video card makers should really be doing is putting their effort into making more power efficient, smaller, and more power GPU's instead of making a simple, easy solution.

This is something that could have been created years ago, but it's just now being released, why? My take on this is that GPU companies are lazy and only want a profit. Until now it was more cost effective to research and produce mobile GPUs and sell them for a premium price. Now they've run into a technology bottleneck and are unable to go bounds and leaps with their products without inputting loads of cash into research.
Instead they've developed a mildly expensive product in which you must also buy a notebook GPU. So they're hitting you for 3x the profit. Instead of just buying a notebook GPU, you're buying a notebook GPU (probably a smaller one than before if you're going to get this product, but still one nonetheless), the vidock, and the desktop GPU... Great marketing strategy, but overall bad idea imo.

 

I can't tell if you're joking or not, but, in case you're not, isn't that essentially what they do 365 days out of the year.

 

I wasn't joking. They obviously haven't been putting very much effort into it. There hasn't been a significant improvement in video card generations since the 8800m Series.

 

@ GamingACU - Boy are you missing the point

1. The ViDock 2 is not made by or supported by a video card company. It is a bit of ingenuity that has been driven by the inferiority of laptop GPUs when compared to desktop GPUs and the relative inability to upgrade your laptop GPU.

2. It is a solution that is HERE today, not a wish about what video cards could be.

3. Extra cost??? This will allow anyone with a laptop now that has an inferior video card to just buy the ViDock2 instead of buying a new laptop, or it allows someone who travels at lot for example to buy a 12" laptop and still game when they are at their home base. Or, someone can use the laptop that their company gives them to turn it into a gamer for very little money, or instead of buying an expensive gaming laptop that will be obsolete in a year or two to buy a mid-range laptop and the ViDock2 for about the same price, and this will allow them to upgrade for years to come without having to upgrade their laptop nearly as often. There are several other user's circumstances that will benefit from the ViDock2 alternative. Anybody else have some ideas of who can take advantage of this alternative?

4. Have you looked at how small it is? Sure, it would make your rig slightly less mobile, but far more mobile than many other alternatives, and will weigh less, when combined with a 12"-15.4" laptop, than a typical 17" (it only weighs 2.7 pounds including the 120W AC Adapter). Of course you will also need an external monitor where ever you go with it, but that is solvable as well. However I think there are a lot of people that only game when at their base of operations.

5. It could not have been created before the ExpressCard/PCIe technology.

6. The ViDock2 220W will handle up to the ATi 4890 or whatever else comes out down the road.

 

If it helps my little crappy toshiba satelite W/a ATI X1200, and the price is good...

I'M SOLD!!!