Advice on spec of sager 8170

Hi! guys, I am thinking of ordering 8170, please advise on my specs

Sager NP8170
Display:17.3" Full HD LED-Backlit Display with Super Glossy Surface (1920 x 1080)
Zero Dead Pixel Insurance:None
Video & Graphics Card:AMD Radeon HD 6970M GPU with 2GB GDDR5 Video Memory
CPU Processor:2nd Generation Intel® Core? i7-2630QM Processor ( 6MB L3 Cache 2.00GHz)
Thermal Compound:IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU plus GPU
Operating System:Genuine MS Windows® 7 Home Premium 32/64-Bit Edition ( 64-Bit Preloaded )
Memory:8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 2 X 4GB
RAID Storage Options :Non-RAID Storage
Primary Hard Disk Drive:500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive
2nd Hard Disk Drive:None
Optical Drive :8X DVD±R/RW/4X DL Super-Multi Drive
Additional Hard Drive in Optical Drive Bay :No Additional Hard Drive in ODD Bay - When Selecting Optical Drive is NOT Included
Caddy Case Options:None
Wireless Network Card:Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
Primary Battery:Smart Li-ION Battery Pack
TV-Tuner:None
Microsoft Office:New! Microsoft Office Starter 2010 - Included in Price
Additional Power Adapters:None
Additional Battery Pack:None
Additional Optical Drives:None

1)Sager is releasing amd 6970m again. Any of u guy have the 6970, or most get nvidia card, does this 6970m got any bad problem. Amd 6990m is coming out soon, don't know whether should I wait, $ also another factor to consider. IF the upgrade cost is exceeding $200 range. Might as well forget it, really stretching my budget. Is there big difference between 6970m and those gtx 485m, 580m and 6990m. I mean in real life, can I really feel it when playing games or just on paper?

2) thermal paste -should I go for ic diamond or stock? Is it difficult and dangerous to DIY, Do not want to wake up next morning and discover my laptop would not boot up anymore.

3) Regarding SSD, for most brand, is the 60gb version performance same as 120gb? If I only put windows and application into ssd, and other data into 7200 hard drive, when i use winrar to unzip my downloaded zipped files (located in 7200 drive) like 40gbs to 50gbs,will it give big speed improvement comparing to using 2 normal 7200 hard drive.

please recommend some brand, 60gb or 120gb, other size exceed my budget.

4)Wifi card- I am also using dell vostro 3750, whenever I downloading in full speed, I have difficult in browsing, firefox will appear blank page or forever loading...which model 6230 or 6330 have less issue and good performance.

Thank you guy, sorry for the long post. Hope it will clear my doubt.

 

Ive heard that the 6300 has more issues, and if your router doesn't support 450MB/s its not worth the upgrade.

Take a look at malibal, they have the 6990m available for pre-order, which will outperform the 6970m by quite a bit. you will notice the difference in demanding games, like crysis 2, metro 2033, and the upcoming bf3.

In addition go ahead and get the thermal compound, as it will increase the efficiency and life of the machine, and it will reduce the fan noise due to it cooling faster.

Your build looks good.

 

if price is a huge difference then u might save some money if u get the p150 as u can get the same laptop but cheaper, but if u want the 17in understood. the 6230 is good, i have it in my laptop and i was downloading 2 games from gamersgate and browsing on the web, and also playing some hoi 3. ssd are expensive but i dont own one, but everyone that owns one will tell u that they would never switch back. again if money is a problem then dont get thermal paste upgrade, u can save yourself money if u do it. finally for the gpu if money allows it i would get the 6990m, it might be a 15% increase from the 6970m, but the 6070 has had high failure rate. but if u happen to be an nvidia fan then go for the 485 as it is basically the samething as the 580m.

 

Hi! aduy,

I just check out maliba website, 6990m cost US $ 295 and 6970 cost $65, I think 6990m is 15% to 20% better than 6970. will the performance of the card justify the cost?

headache....

And 6990m only available for P150 and P170, but not x7200.. i think they will get pretty jealous.. lol


Hi! d2c,
Yes, I like 17", it is very difficult to read magazine or comic in 15", I often red eye then headache, dun know whether it is because i use too much computer or screen too small.. lol I just searched through the web and check with someone with 6970m crossfire in x7200. They said quite ok the card, temperature normal. And this card is returning to sager few days ago.
I think it is pricing strategy. (I guess, hopefully nothing wrong with 6970m.)

So both of u recommend 6230 wifi card, so I will go ahead for it and forget about the 6300 and bigfoot.

From my customize, P150 is not much cheaper than P170, may be only 100 dollars.

Yes, u r right, I only started thinking to get ssd after reading many post by those ssd user. Like a spell.. haha... After consideration, I think i will wait a few month more. At the moment, looks like every brand have some problem and the cost is still a bit expensive. May be the price will drop half.. haha... I wish..

Nvidia price is very expensive comparing to amd. Dun think I can afford it.
From the australia dell site, M18x 6990m crossfire add A$125, and Gtx 580 sli cost... A$999.... lol... crazy pricing.

So now I have to decide, wait until mid of august, pay $295 for Amd 6990m, or buy it now pay $65 for 6970....Headache...


Thanks for helping, both of u.

 

yes it will because they don't offer the 6970m on the 17" model for some reason. you wont be disappointed if you upgrade to the 6990m, as it will be the fastest currently available mobile graphics card. and it is available in the x7200, but malibal's website is organized in an "odd" fashion. trust me you will love having the graphics turned all the way up even on the most demanding games. Even on my gtx 485m i can play bfbc2 at all settings maxed 32x AA, 16x AF in the range of 45-60 fps, depending on the map of course. what this means to you is you will get even better performance than i get with my 485m.

 

It $245 now and I'm waiting because the price can drop further as well, and I want the BEST!

 

Last time you said max AA was 4AA? sigh