Critique please.

Hey again all!

I am posting this, obviously prior to buying, in order to get some feedback from the experts and the community at large. How does this system look to you guys?

My plans for the system are gaming and some future proof. Hence the quadcore over the faster dualcore and I am banking on that the upgrade to SLI 9800GTX will only require a slight software or firmware upgrade and not a complete motherboard overhaul. Anyway... without further garbage from me... here she is:

- 17" WUXGA "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1920x1200)
- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- Intel Core 2 QUAD Q9450 2.6GHz w/ 12MB L2 Cache - 1333MHz FSB
- 1,024MB PCI-Express nVidia GeForce 9800M GTX DDR3 DX10 (ETA Early August)
- ~ 4,096MB DDR2 800 (2 SODIMMS) Dual Channel Memory
- ~ 320GB 5400RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 8MB Cache)
- Everything else is the standard default choice except for the 17" Targus XL backpack.
- I will also be adding a Zalman 2000 to add longevity since its a high performance gaming platform.
Price from xoticpc = just a hair shy of 2900.

How does it look?
ANY input is appreciated, even negative input
~E

 

Awesome machine!

I'm planning on buying one almost as same as yours.
Question: why the 5400RPM drive and not the 7200?

 

If you get the 9262 now, since the system is already offered with 9800GTX in SLi, albeit not for delivery until later, there will not be a need for a motherboard upgrade, just a driver upgrade most likely.

 

cheaper and just as good as the 200gig 7200 rpm drive...
lower heat - better battery..

good choice imo.

320 7,200 RPM would be faster but you lose bat. and get more heat.

 

320 GB 7200 RPM from WD actually has the same battery life as the 320 GB 5400 RPM.

 

beautiful, and amazing to think a month ago this wasn't possible, not to mention a month ago, an inferior system cost $400 more

^^good point on the battery life, tankbuster

At 17" it has plenty of room to dissipate the heat, but it's still a matter of personal choice.

 

That sounds like a pretty sweet system you've specked out Erlend83!

As Garandhero pointed out, a 7200rpm HHD would make some more heat, and it might drain the battery a little faster too. The advantages would be a small performance boost, and a quicker boot time.

Which one do YOU consider to me most important?

 

My reason for the choice of harddrive is both financial and speed related. I really dont need more than 200gig or so, max, however the 320 5400 drive is the same speed as the more expensive 200gig 7200 drive while producing less heat. Batt life... come on... its a 9262 we are talking about , thats like buying a sportscar for fuel echonomy .

But yeah, Nall, you scored a bullseye with your post. I was so damn happy when I saw that the new notebooks had pushed the price of this beast to a resonable, for my budget, level. Amazing how "the fastest notebook in the world" gets a lower pricetag when no real competition got released Gotta love market echonomics. YEYH for us!!

And yeah... Shyster, that is exactly what I am hoping for. My thought is that once the 9262 can utilize a single 9800GTX card, all I need, in order to upgrade to SLi some time in the future, is install some kind of patch that will enable SLi. I am not expecting that day to come anytime soon, but I will make sure I get another 9800GTX card before they are no longer in production.

Any other thoughts on how the system meshes together? Considering what I just mentioned regarding future plans, think this system will stand the test of time, at least for a few (3-5) years before becoming quite outdated? I mean... with the desktop quad core, I could always upgrade to the extreme quad core once the price drops, with 3 HD spaces I can always add more storage space, with possibility to upgrade to 8gig ram that should be future proof, and last but not least... the possibility to run 2 9800GTX cards in SLi for a full 2gig of video memory.

Anyway... long post, but yeah... done now
Take care and thanks so far for your posts!
~E

 

I beg to differ w/Garandhero and Crimson Roses about the 320 7,200rpm HDD using more battery and producing more heat. I just installed the Western Digital 320, 7200 in my 5793, and it uses the same battery, and actually runs a few degrees cooler. And the performance boost is not insignificant. It's definately faster. It's just better tech.

 

welcome to the NP9262 Clan Erlend83. enjoy your beast

 

Looks like a great system to me, I think the config you have is a future-proof as it gets. 8GB of RAM is ridiculous and not necessary. I have found that 4GB is plenty for all modern games, even Crysis.

The only change I suggest is a 7200RPM hard drive for the best performance.

 

its also supposed to give out the same amount of heat and have the same amount of audablility

 

Congrats on the purchase, Erlend83! I can't wait to see a review

What temps does it have??

 

its even stated on western digitals website that the drive has lower or equivelant encomberments to the 5400rpm drives.

 

Didn't Justin say that they were using the seagate 320 7200rpm model?

 

yeah, thats why they only have 8mb cache. the western one has 16. I think thats the only difference between them.

 

It's running pretty consistantly at between 38C & 40C. My old drive ran between 43C-45C.

I thought the new Seagates had a 16mb cache also ( here)

 

It does...XoticPC had a typo on the config screen of HDD's and it stated the 320 GB 7200 RPM had only 8 MB of cache. It has since been fixed

 

since we're on HDD here, don't mind if i hijack and ask: what brand is xoticpc using for their 200GB 7200RPM HDD? ty!

 

ah. ok sorry about that. i was jumping to my own conclusions again.

 

Better that than jumping to someone else's conclusions!

 

Thank you!