Already own gaming desktop, looking at X7200

Here are the specs of my gaming desktop:
Rampage 3 Gene Mobo
i7 930
GTX 470
6GB DDR3 OCZ Gold XTC
1TB 7200RPM HD + 320GB 2.5" HD
DVD-RW Burner
USB Wifi 802.11n (D-link dwa-131)

My parents are divorced so I go to my dad's house on the weekends and I stay at my mom's during the week. I want a portable machine that I can take back and forth from both houses without looking ridiculous... I think the Clevo X7200 is the best choice correct? I know someone who might buy my desktop but I haven't given him a price yet... Would it be a good idea to give up my desktop for a Clevo X7200? I think I should be able to achieve better performance with the X7200 but the thing is I can't afford the dual 485M's because, well, they are just ridiculously expensive IMO... I want to wait for the ATI Mobility Radeon 6970's come in. If Eurocom's prices are true and the performance compares well to the 485M then it will be the perfect alternative. I have always been an NVIDIA fan but I hope ATI brought their A-game this time because it would really help me out... If anyone is wondering, I will use this mainly for development (i will also do a lot of compiling with linux distros such as gentoo or linuxfromscratch) and of course hardcore gaming...

Tell me what you guys think is the better option. I don't think I really need a desktop, just a portable PC and I think the X7200 will take the place of my desktop very well...

 

So many have purchased the x7200 for the very reasons you mentioned! If you need the power of a performance desktop in a portable package then this is the one. Why not check out the owners forum for this model in the link below...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo-reviews-owners-lounges/486713-clevo-x7200-sager-np7280-owners-lounge.html
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i'm going for the 485m boat, i'm into hardcore desktop fine tuning eyefinity type of , but recently last few months i'm on the go alot, and will be for a while so i'm looking for the most bleeding edge mobile style, just like i did with my 4 480gtx's in the past and 3 x 30" monitors anyways.

I was wondering something though, if say somebody bought a x7200 configuration with 1 video card, it wouldn't be an issue to add another one later down the road right? say they bought 1 485m with the x7200 if you find another some where wouldn't be an issue yea?

nother thing is, is the x7200 the only last generation and current generation board that can support dual 5870m dual 285m dual 460m dual 470m dual 480m dual 485m, or are there any other models? which brings to another point if one had an old school x7200 would it be capable of handling 485ms with out any other modification to say internal power supply or motherboard?

 

as long as you have the 300w psu, which i believe comes with every x7200, u should be able to run all mxm3.0 type b (i think its backwards compatible as well, bios may be too) but they have to have support through bios though.

so, in a word, yes you will be able to add an additional gpu and upgrade the gpu as things progress as long as a new mxm type isnt introduced, then it would require a motherboard revision.

Any suggestions for a price range for my current desktop?

 

so your saying the x7200 any date is more plausible to say run future cards like 680m gtx, presuming it's within the TDP off course, how much headroom btw does the x7200 psu have, with say a 980x and 2 485m's stock and overclocked, and estimate figure. that would be very nice indeed

 

it should be able to run the gtx 680m as long as its the same mxm (likely) and its within the psu requirements... idk what those are. i really hope to get this though. i saw some benchmarks for the 6970m and it looks really good.

 

i heard the 485m was much better, plus there drivers are superb, i'm all for the nvidia.

 

New cards are supposed to be more power efficient same as new cpu's i hope in the future no body has to use 2 Power adapters for a laptop for now is ok those 485's probed to be the best mobile cards and they will hold the crown at least for this year

 

while that is true, the dual 485's add like $1500 onto the price and simply put, im not willing to pay that, or better put, i cant pay that lol. I also ran into the M18x, which will house the sandy bridge chipset creating a decision to make, the X7200 or M18x. Idk if it will be the desktop chipset or the mobile chipset. My guess would be mobile but either way, it will support integrated graphics allowing a much longer battery life. I might not base my entire purchase off the battery life but i gotta say, thats a pretty good pro to have. i will probably wait till this releases until i do anything mostly because if im going to wait for ati 6970's then i might as well wait for this which might even come out the same day for that matter. i hope the prices are well for the m18x as dell seems to be going easier on the prices with m17x-r3.

 

Interesting thought. Consider the following: Neither M18X nor X7200 will have switchable graphics. The only system, IIRC, having the hybrid switching, was M17X R1 (because of the Nvidia chipset). You can't have Optimus with high-end cards in SLI (or the equivalent from AMD in CF) just yet. That makes things much more simple.
On the other hand, mobile SB CPU's are very close to the desktop SB in performance, and if the 2920xm can be OC'ed just as easy as 920XM can, and better yet, if the M18X's cooling system has enough reserves, - that's gonna be interesting


BTW, I heard no word from Clevo regarding the 6970M's in X7200. They may never get officially supported. It means, that those resellers currently offering these cards will probably remove the option from their configuration pages (like it was with 5870's not long ago).

 

does m18x use clevo or did they manufacture there own board, also what are the specs for that? At the moment desktop cpu in a laptop with 485m is king, the difference in branding off course the features like screen 120hz etc...

I was wondering something in general about say sager, or alienware as well. Say i bought a high end now, in the future when they release sandy bridge desktop cpu's for laptops, has alien ware or sager or malibal ever been known to off upgrade's of there system for example trade in your x7200 dual 485m's and get a sandy bridge with 585m's + $ smaller cash difference as opposed to paying for practically another $3k system.

personally i upgrade once a year, if i shell out an additional $500-$700 for top of the line for my already top of the line notebook, it doesn't seem bad at all. That would definitely get me to consider a certain company which the bleeding edge stuff =]

EDIT: btw where do you have proof that the sandy bridge laptop is close to the desktop, as far as the boards so far, i've been hearing a 980x on x7200 platform would destroy sandy bridge hands down... if you can provide some benchmarks and comparisons that would be great, seems not many websites properly test gear just the laptops themselves individually

 

AFAIK, AW makes their own (based of Flextronics barebones? ). At the moment, 980X is the most powerful CPU found in a laptop. But this may change if 2920XM can be OC'ed.

Many resellers offer trade-in options, so you should ask them directly.

 

Ok, well that made the decision a lot easier. i will wait to see how good the M18x is and if the x7200 will fully support the 6970m's in cfx.

 

Can anyone recommend a good price to sell my desktop for so I can buy a notebook?

 

any benchmarks though? i've only read one review on a sandy bridge based laptop, i don't see why it wouldn't be able to get higher clocks, but i was talking about feature wise, whats lacking between the sandy bridge desktop and mobile, it's more then just clocks correct?

as for the trade in's has anybody ever done it, maybe a story could be shared, high end trade in off course.

 

trade ins referring to the m18x or the x7200? either way you can just ask the resellers for gpu cards and stuff and they will likely set you up. im pretty xoticpc/sagernotebooks will do this (try live chat) and i think alienware/dell will do this too.

 

wondering if anybody had a story to share and how much they shelled out. btw since were talking about, any contacts around here for direct gpu's ? like 485m's etc apart from having to buy it from the laptop manfactuers

 

for all the people out there that want to dump the cash for the 485m sli.
6970 might be on the same level of performance but about 500 dollars cheaper.
so 6970 crossfire vs 485m sli might be 1000 dollars less and provide nearly identical perfomance, if not BETTER.

Nvidia ALLWAYS sucks on pricing.

Just wait a LITTLE BIT MORE.

To the OP;

I picked up the cheapest specced version of the x7200: 950 cpu and 460m sli. I might have added a few options here and there; Total price is 2580 eur and the laptop simply rocks.

 

i worked with alot of high end desktop period, nvidia has superior drivers and dual 6870's, crossfire's performance is horrid you'll barely get 50-75% scalability unlike nvidia most of the time. That's the whole thing about it, i've conducted my own tests so i know how sli rocks and ati is inferior to multi gpu

 

Though I like the X7200, if all you are doing is going between parent's homes, why not just buy a second desktop and upgrade your old one as well. You will get better performance / better screens for less money.

 

Series 6xxx from amd scale pretty well. You get from 85 to 95 more performance with 2 cards.

I dont know where you get your numbers from.

 

your talking most games that ati had work with, not everybody plays only COD or otherwise, and nvidia usually scales 90% to 100%, it's plausible crossfire has improved off course, but not by much, games that natively don't support sli, ati has a big deficiency there, if your talkin name brand games i guess, but given the alternative nvidia would do equal if not better.

if you check even most name brand titles nvidia superceeds against crossfire, it only equals out in performance if the devs coded specifically for different cards, i know this is only 2 cards, but in desktops anything with 3 video cards on a ati, is 90% crap unlike nvidia being able to scale 4 to 100% linear 80% of the time. Nvidia has ati beat in multi gpu, i wouldn't want to go multi gpu with ati period.

 

thanks to everyone for advice. the main reason why i wont go for 2 desktops is because i would have to buy upgrades for two then and id have to transfer game saves and data and it would be a hassle. plus, this gaming notebook is faster than my current desktop

also, about the ati cfx scaling, it may be much different on the mobile version of the cards and certain ati 6xxx series cards may scale better than another 6 series card. i would just wait for reviews and benchmarks on the ati 6970m's in crossfire.

 

http://www.amd.com/us/products/note...md-radeon-6900m/Pages/amd-radeon-6900m.aspx#1

I didnt think 6900m series would be on their site yet but i guess i was wrong... cant wait to see some benchmarks from other reviewers.

 

You have only two places where you need the computer, isn't it cheaper to just buy another desktop?

 

Buying and maintaining two desktops at the same time is much more complicated and won't be that much cheaper than selling/returning my current desktop and just getting a X7200.

 

well since the X8100 is getting the refresh soon also, i can wait for that as well. the prices on the system are incredible right now though. hopefully sandy bridge + 6970's cfx will allow for better gaming performance. also i am interested to see if there are any change in looks for the refresh. id prefer a matte finish or something more like the X7200. i know the x7200 has some glossy surfaces also but it is mostly brushed aluminum and that would much better than what it is now. hopefully the price is near the price of the current one but that is a lot to ask for. ill see what clevo delivers. if it doesnt have the 6970's at this point i simply wont get it due to budget, not that im a fanboy by any means. i actually havent owned an ati card before so it could be nice.

 

Lets just hope that they fixed all the problems the Xfire 5870s had when they release the new generation of high-end cards.

 

what exactly were the problems? did it stutter? i think i remember the 5870's stuttering on the m17x... did the same happen to the x8100?

 

To the guy deciding between M18x and X7200: Just keep in mind that one is vaporware and the other is something you can buy right now. If I had the cash, I'd pick up an x7200 with a 980x and dual 485m and then throw in an aftermarket B+RG display and chill for the next 2-3 years. If someone w/an x7200 wants to trade it for my M17x-R2 with a 920xm and the works (see sig) lemme know I'm open to it.

 

Wait, what, are there RGB 1080p panels that can fit the x7200 ?

 

B+RG, similar to what is found in Dell XPS, AFAIK.

 

While the RGBLED display provides a 100% color gamut the B+RG display provides a 92% color gamut pretty much the same and i am loving this screen