The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    A few questions before purchase

    Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by wkcecil, Jan 22, 2012.

  1. wkcecil

    wkcecil Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Hi I been looking around for a while now for a new gaming laptop. I have looked at MSI, Asus, Alienwares and clevos. Tax money is coming very soon and my gf increased my limit to spend a tad so now Im looking for the best performance for what I can spend.

    I was looking at the Sager 8170 with he 6990m option.
    Now for the few questions i need to know.

    Is the 6990m very worth it performance wise? (ima play games such as swtor, skyrim and tera online etc but i would like to play them maxed out)
    Can I OC a gtx 570m to reach the same speeds as a 6990m to save money(if i cant how close is the performance gap)?
    Is sagernotebooks the cheapest place to find a 6990m? I have a very strict limit at $1500.

    thanks for any answers!
     
    wkcecil, Jan 22, 2012
    #1
  2. imglidinhere

    imglidinhere Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    387
    Messages:
    1,077
    Likes Received:
    59
    Trophy Points:
    66
    Yes, the 6990M is the best option primarily due to it's high overclocking potential and lower asking upgrade price. The 570M costs as much to upgrade to, so the 6990M is the best option. If you wanted to save some money, a 6970M only costs $75 to upgrade to from the 560M in the Malibal laptops. Mind you a 6970M is faster than a 570M and generally overclocks better due to the higher stock voltage.
     
    imglidinhere, Jan 22, 2012
    #2
  3. wkcecil

    wkcecil Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    really now! i had no idea the 6970m was better then the 570m lol but for the 70$ more i think i would grab the 6990m
     
    wkcecil, Jan 22, 2012
    #3
  4. Support.3@XOTIC PC

    Support.3@XOTIC PC Company Representative

    Reputations:
    1,268
    Messages:
    7,186
    Likes Received:
    1,002
    Trophy Points:
    331
    I agree the 6990M is the best bang for your buck.

    To touch base on the question about the 570M being able to be overclocked to 6990M levels. If it were able to, keep in mind you could then overclock the 6990M and it would end up being ahead again.
     
    Support.3@XOTIC PC, Jan 23, 2012
    #4
  5. RiddlelddiR

    RiddlelddiR Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    40
    Messages:
    296
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Out of curiosity, how much better is a 6970m compared to a 570m?
     
    RiddlelddiR, Jan 23, 2012
    #5
  6. wkcecil

    wkcecil Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    that's true and would be great! but i have heard that the 6990m runs really hot so wouldn't overclocking it make it too hot to run?
     
    wkcecil, Jan 23, 2012
    #6
  7. Anthony@MALIBAL

    Anthony@MALIBAL Company Representative

    Reputations:
    616
    Messages:
    2,771
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    56
    The 6970 is ~20% faster than the 570m in most cases. Here are links to benchmarks that you can use to compare them:

    AMD Radeon HD 6970M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
    Computer Games on Laptop Graphic Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech

    The 6990 on the other hand would be an addition 10-20% faster than the 6970:

    AMD Radeon HD 6990M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
     
    Anthony@MALIBAL, Jan 23, 2012
    #7
  8. wkcecil

    wkcecil Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15

    thanks for the great links, seems like the 6990m outperforms the 580m by a bit!

    But I forgot to add one question, are the screens on the clevos good quality??
     
    wkcecil, Jan 23, 2012
    #8
  9. acroedd

    acroedd Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    17
    Messages:
    443
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Please do not compare 6990M and 570M eva. :)
     
    acroedd, Jan 23, 2012
    #9
  10. Altair4

    Altair4 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    12
    Messages:
    130
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Altair4, Jan 23, 2012
    #10
  11. Anthony@MALIBAL

    Anthony@MALIBAL Company Representative

    Reputations:
    616
    Messages:
    2,771
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    56
    The stock screens are pretty good by themselves, but the 95% color gamut upgrades are some of the best screens you can get in a laptop. Here is a link with comparison pictures between stock and upgrade:

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...-between-different-screen-options-photos.html
     
    Anthony@MALIBAL, Jan 23, 2012
    #11
  12. gwilled

    gwilled Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    288
    Messages:
    1,467
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Also, a few other laptops share the same screens as upgrades. Check the screen section of the reviews as linked.

    For the 95% matte:
    Review Lenovo ThinkPad W520 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

    For the 95% glossy:
    Review Dell XPS 15 Notebook (i5-2410M & GT 540M) - Notebookcheck.net Reviews
     
    gwilled, Jan 23, 2012
    #12
  13. wkcecil

    wkcecil Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    yeah i guess im fine with normal screen, there's no way i can add 95% screen and stay under 1500$ lol. oh and btw Im trying to stick with a 17 inch laptop, bigger screen would be better for gaming
     
    wkcecil, Jan 23, 2012
    #13
  14. sha7bot

    sha7bot Company Representative

    Reputations:
    259
    Messages:
    249
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    The 95% is nice, but it's only necessary if you're using photoshop. Stick with the regular screen (60-75% Gamut) and you wont regret it.

    On a side note w/ TOR: It can have some nasty load times. A SSD might be worth the extra dough.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 29, 2015
    sha7bot, Jan 23, 2012
    #14
  15. wkcecil

    wkcecil Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    30
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15

    yeahhh i have a old 5400 rpm drive and swtor loads sooo slowwww, i almost dont make it for warzones from how long it takes to load me in haha. but ssds are so much money i was thinking maybe a 1tb raid 0 setup like this


    Satori P170HM - MALIBAL

    with the 100 off discount, cash discount, and if i can get any NBR discounts ill be under my 1500 strict limit
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 29, 2015
    wkcecil, Jan 23, 2012
    #15
  16. gwilled

    gwilled Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    288
    Messages:
    1,467
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Just get a small 64GB SSD by yourself. That may actually be cheaper or almost cheaper than a RAID configuration with a second hard drive. Hard drives are expensive these days. The SSD will still be faster.
     
    gwilled, Jan 23, 2012
    #16
  17. sha7bot

    sha7bot Company Representative

    Reputations:
    259
    Messages:
    249
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    gwilled is right,

    TOR takes up roughly 24GB and your OS will take roughly 40GB with drivers and such, so 64GB might get your feet wet.

    A 1TB RAID0 will set you back some bucks, and the performance isn't a big enough bump for the inherent risks/costs.

    I would bump from 64GB to 80GB boot drive and would recommend a cheap secondary HDD.
     
    sha7bot, Jan 23, 2012
    #17