Dell 1730 XPS SLI or Sager NP 9262 SLI

I have been looking to buy a new gaming notebook, and with all the research these two are my last choices.
Besides price and value which system is able to get better performance/FPS in games?( I am willing to spend more money for better performance)
Just a side note both will be optioned with the most powerful processors.
I also hear that Sager might have have the new Quad Core 9650 available around August 10,Is there any significant performance gain getting the newer processor?
I know both are big and heavy how are both there cooling sestems?are they very loud?
I am also thinking of a Raid configuration which is best for performance and security/safety?2 or 3 Hard drives?(I have asked both Sager and XoticPC but they sort of both said they are both good and bad and is a option for the laptops with NO real answer)
Is Raid really necassary? or is one bigger faster HD better for game performance/FPS?( I have read conflicting reports that Raid does not really help in any gain in FPS only boot and load times)
I am a noob to this site and apologies in advance if this question was already posted but I am going to purchase a new Notebook in about a week so any answers are greatly appreciated.
How much RAM should I get? at least 4GB's right?I see that Sager has a option for 8,is that overkill?
Just one last thing, any other suggestions for a SLI notebook besides these two?
THANK YOU!

 

Either way the Sager will be faster overall. The 9800GT SLI is the same as 8800GTX SLI in the 1730. U can wait for the 9800GTX SLI which nobody knows when will be available but It should give u noticeable faster FPS. I just cant tell u if it ll be worth the wait or the extra cash.

 

Welcome to the NBR forums.

Even the lowest quad-core (Q6600 or Q9450) will kill any mobile CPU.

You will notice little to no difference between one quad-core to a faster one, unless if you are doing some heavy multi-threaded work... like media work (rendering, converting, editing, mixing, etc..).

It is an undisputed fact that the Clevo D901C (aka. Sager 9262) has the best cooling design to date that no other notebook can match. The fan noise is not even audible.. even if you use the Fan Toggle to switch all fans to max speed.

RAID-1 (two drives) will be the safest for giving you data redundancy.

But you do not have to do RAID, you can just have separate drives and use some free data syncing programs (like Microsoft SyncToy or Karen's Replikator) to backup your data from one location (drive) to another drive... and they can be scheduled to do so automatically.

_________

Lastly, both systems are comparable in gaming, but the Clevo D901C will win overall for being faster with better CPUs and HDDs configs... as well as having newer videocard options.

The Dell is fine if you can get a good deal for it, but you must realize that its Santa Rosa platform is now one generation behind after the recent launch of the new Montevina platform... in other words, it just became an older technology.

 

+1 to what Gophn said.I also chose 9262 compared to 1730 with respect to cooling,HDD numbers,power(desktop CPU) support etc.

 

Wow!MasterMarek, You pretty much have the same specs that i am looking to put in my Sager.
I also asked about the 9800 GTX in SLI and they said it's coming in the future but who knows when + I want my laptop now.
Is there really going to be any significant gain in the GTX in SLI over the the 9800M?
I know the GTX is not out yet but I just can't see how much of an advantage the GTX will give knowing that the 9800M in SLI will pretty much handle every game you try to play on it.
When are you getting your Sager? You have to give us run down of the performance and how do you like it?(when you get it)
Congratulations on your Laptop

 

SLI will give you a significant boost in gaming performance if... :
1) the drivers are stable and optimized
2) the game that you are playing is fully supporting SLI

Lastly, the 9800M GT is the same as the 8800M GTX (specs and performance), so....
SLI 9800M GTs = SLI 8800M GTXs

In either case.... a whole lot of gaming power that can make any gamer drool... especially when they realize that you have that much power in a notebook environment.

 

Randy: "Thank you for calling the Dell, my name is Randy (really it's "Rashi Abhaya" in Dehli, India), would you like to be buying a computer today."

Customer: Yes I'm looking to spend a lot of money on an XPS gaming machine.

Randy: Ok, I understand what you are be saying (No he doesn't).
*refers to English-India Dictionary*
Randy: So you want to buy a computer?

Customer: Yes, i want to buy an XPS Laptop for gaming.

Randy: Ok good. We have lots of laptops.
Randy: What Kind of laptop are you looking for?

Customer: An XPS laptop, for gaming.

Randy: Great choice!
Randy: And what will you be using this laptop for?

Customer: um... gaming?

Randy: Great! Thank you.

Customer: Thank you?

Randy: Can I be putting you on hold for a few minutes?
Randy: It will just be a few minutes ( I think their clocks run slower in India).
Customer: ok.

***** 20 MINUTES LATER *****

Randy: Ok, I do show that we sale XPS Gaming Computers.

Customer: ok, good. I would like to purchase one today.

Randy: Great, I would like to be helping you with your choice.
Randy: How am I doing so far?

Customer: ...

Randy: Thank you for that you would be speaking to me, Can I ask how I am doing so far?

Customer: Dude... your doing bad, really bad!

Randy: Great! Thank you so much.

Customer: ???

DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A GOOD CHOICE?


or how bout this...

Donald: Thanks for calling Powernotebooks, This is Donald (Really is Donald) What can I do for you?

Customer: I'm looking for a Gaming laptop that will last.

Donald: The Sager NP 9262 SLI would be your best choice.

Customer: Great! I would like to purchase one right now.

Donald: Thank you for your business.


Or does this sound more like what you are really looking for.

 

The Sager NP9262 also does not have any flashy LEDs, a backlit keyboard, or that Logitech display thingy. The NP9262 does not scream "Steal me!!!" like the M1730 does, but it is the most powerful mobile machine you can get.

8GB of RAM might be overkill or it might not be. That totally depends on what you will be doing with the machine. If you will be doing high-end rendering, then yes more RAM will be beneficial.

The cooling system in the NP9262 when the fans are not on max is barely audible. When on max speed, they are audible but they are not as loud as my desktop.

I don't have a RAID setup myself, but I do use a separate drive to have games installed on. RAID 0 configuration is fast, but it is risky because if one drive fails, they all fail.

For your worry of the 9800m GT vs the 9800m GTX, what you could do is get a single 9800m GT now, and upgrade to the 9800m GTX SLi yourself when it is released later on down the road.

 

wow that's going to cost über bucks

 

After having dealt with PNB in 2003 (a now ancient 8887) and a 5670 in 2006, I will not consider another laptop reseller. They are the gold standard, I find myself incredibly lucky to how found them in my googling in those past days

 

Thats a funny dialog However I was about to buy the XPS M1730 and I have to say that the DELL support is top notch!! XoticPC are very good but I was blown away by Dell's. They call me everyday to see and check If I m still interested in buying the laptop. and to tell me about the system status. Your gonna be happy with either Sager or Dell support. So far thought Dell gets my kudos. I mean if they know that they have a shortage of some of the parts they let u know before paying

 

The 8800M GTX cards are more overclockable in the 1730. Users on mvktech have reported raising clocks to 800/2000/2000 at 1.15v and still been stable and within decent temps. If you are into squeezing performance, the 1730 would be better.

BUT!

The 9800M GTX is going to be far superior to the 8800M GTX, I'd personally go with the 9292 with the 9800M GTX in sli. I like how configurable it is. Plus, it takes a desktop cpu...

 

Stveinspokan you make a excelent point, I was on the floor man.LOL
Sadly what you say is true but how is the customer service for Sager,XoticPC and Powernotebooks?

 

Hey, I just call it like I see it.

Sales CS are great, I've never had to deal with Tech support from PNB/Xotic.

 

Did you even read their resellerratings and BBB records... ? (in Clevo Guide)

They are way up there.

 

If u are ever going to buy an XPS call this guy:

Your Sales Professional: Christopher Tisdale
[email protected]
1-800-289-3355 x 2166874

Chris was amazing. He's American as well + he got me $750 off my Dell XPS config.

 

Well Emike09 I was really cosidering the single GTX but decided against it because I am not sure if I would be able to upgrade it myself due to my limited knowledge of how it works.Would you have to send it back to the manufacturer?And would you need to do anything else to it to accept SLI if you have a single card?This site is awesome and I thank you again for all your answers.

 

IKAS V: If I could make a suggestion. There will be a Fastest Notebook's in the World shootout in about 3 weeks. It will include DELL, Alienware, Falcon, VooDoo and KillerNotebooks. I can almost guaranty that DELL is going to send in the system you are asking about. I have heard minimum two of my competition will be sending in SLi systems. That will be an independent trusted third party review site that will have real test results for you to help make your decision. I will link you that article when it comes out.

The other thing you may consider waiting for is that in 3 weeks (or so) the 9800 GTX is supposedly being released and we have reports from PNB and Xotic that these may be substantially more performance over the 9800 GT due to a different core and more dedicated video RAM.

Yet another reason? There will be a newcomer to the 17" Sli gaming notebook arena that will have dual ATi M88XT's in a Crossfire platform in or arround that same time frame. It will be less expensive and even if it doesn't beat what's out there now, will probably drive down the chassis and GPU costs of the system you are looking at.

Best case scenario: maybe you could get a dual 9800 GTX system for the price you are looking at right now or slightly higher???

Worst case scenario: you wait and nothing changes.

If you order a single card, ask and make sure they include the second heatsink and fan for the card that you want to upgrade in the future. You can upgrade without much previous experience BUT YOU NEED THAT SECOND HEATSINK AND FAN with your system when you get it!

 

Hey I have also heard that the new GTX has a built in PhysX engine on it is that true on the 9800M GT also?
Sorry to get off the subject.
Killer you make a great point but it will be a really long 3 weeks if I decide to wait.

 

No.

If you order a single card and want a second one later on to SLI, they will send you the kit for the second card which would include the videocard itself with heatsink/fan and a SLI cable. You would also get the guide to install it... pretty simple.

Yes.

 

IKAS V: I know it seems like a long time to wait, but when you look back, if it turns out the GTX is that much better, or if you make the wrong decision you'll be kicking yourself saying, "Man, that was no time at all, why didn't I just wait!!!" That is unless you need it right away.

 

PhysX already works on the 8800m GTX, at least for those using the NP9262 and XP 32.

 

Is it because the 9262 has a desktop chipset ?
I have the 8800M GTX but on Vista 64 in my 5793..... hasn't worked so far on any 177.xx series driver.... currently using 177.79 driver.

 

the driver has nothing to do with desktop/laptop chipest. and I still waiting for the vista version.

 

Thanks for everyones great answers,Sager it is. Now the big decisions is to either wait and get the GTX or SLI now but either way it's going to be great.

 

go with the sager mate. i was in the same shoe as yourself with regards to buying a dell 1730 or a Np9262. i guess the customizable configuration won me over since i can change the cpu later on or even the graphics card and also add another hard drive in. and the build quality is rock solid too. as for performance it is brutal.

 

I am too in same situation, this is my plan, wait until Aug.10, if there is nothing annunced about 9800M GTX SLI or nothing shows of the 9800 M GTX, i am going to hold out until 2 month anyways b/c of travel, if everything is clear by aug.10 and i can buy the cards then ill do it.

As for the XPS-1730, it is too expensive for the specs it has against a Sager, i can recall the 3x320 drives and the desktop CPU. Dell used to offer a laptop with a Desktop CPU, but not anymore, from my experience it far more superior. The only thing i think of going for the 1730 is it looks cooler and has an illuminated keyboard. on the other hand my friend got one and when i looked at it, its finishing looked cheap, and even the lid over the LCD was a bit cracked.
I felt if i pressed hard enough on the keyboard or the board/mousepad it will crack since it bends so much. Thats when i decided not to go for the 1730

 

I was in this whole 9262 vs xps 1730 and chose the latter because I ended up paying LESS than my sager 5791 last year. And that was the only reason, had I found a 9262 for 300$ more than the xps, I would`ve gotten it.
The XPS is an amazing piece of machinery, and although I would`ve rather had the D901C , the XPS deserves it`s place and trust me, it`s solid, strong and well designed.

I say go for the better deal.

 

Not to talk about that the M1730 in fact has a dual 8800m GTX sort of a GX2 so to speak. Performance wise the 8800m GTX in the M1730 with a minor overvolt 0.5v increment can destroy the Clevo/Sager with a huge GPU overclock, we are talking 700+ on the Core alone here and this without any large increase in heat.

Also the M1730 doesn´t need any overvoltage to the GPU´s to go up to 625/1550/950 with Ntune. With just a small boost a 0.5v increment the 8800m GTX in the M1730 hits 700 on the Core.

Of course I don´t tell anyone that they should overclock, just some peformance, the Sager has the Quad Core, but the M1730 has the better SLI solution and better overclockers in regards to 8800m GTX, not that I want to start any flame war or anything like that.

 

yeh i know the 1730 has a better overclock on the GPU. but the D901C still trounces it in CPU and expandability. by the way i have overclocked my system too but not as high as some people have.

 

And in gaming what counts more?
The GPU

 

It's too bad you cant just get your hands on both to get the over all feel for them.I really don't want to overclock the GPU or do anything dumb that might fry my system.How safe is overclocking?Does it void your warranty if you do that?How about just cracking open the case for some mods?

 

OCing is safe if you don't push it so far until it fries your whole computer.. SLI is a great choice.. when on batt, it only runs the minimal one GPU, but when plugged in, runs on SLI. perfect for both performance and mobility

oh and the 9262 has great cooling too so you wouldn't be frying yr GPU as easily as compared to other laptops where air seems to be scarce within it..

 

I was faced with the same difficulty -- XPS 1730 or Clevo D901C (9262 equivalent).

After reading a lot of threads in these forums, I chose the D901C and am very satisfied with my choice.

 

Hey Panther whats the performance on your System?

 

Game performance is excellent. Oblivion, Crysis (not at native resolution), Assassin's Creed - that one plays very smooth all settings on high. So far the only game I play not at 1920x1200 is Crysis which I play at 1152x864.

3DMark06 = 13670.

 

Well I know Crysis brings a lot of laptops to their knees, but I can handle one game at a lower settings.Not to get off the topic but is the NEW Crysis game coming "Battle Front" I think as demanding as the original?
Thanks for the score Panther,I am drooling in anticipation..LOL

 

Haha, so true, but I think it's safe to say that Crysis brings all notebooks and desktops to its knees.

That's excluding 5k$+ configs

 

Crysis brings all notebooks and desktops to its knees

.... because its poorly coded and not optimized... and does not take full advantage of a systems hardware. If you check CPU and GPU load, Crysis barely taps 60%.... tsk tsk.

Other games were much better coded and optimized.

 

Crysis bows to this http://c3store.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=621344

 

Check out these Crysis killers....
http://news.gotgame.com/ibm-and-los-alamos-produce-roadrunner-supercomputer-crysis-still-crashes/

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2008/07/mit_graduates_build_16gpu_monster.html

​

 

i for one cant wait to see the results of the shootout and the 9800gtx.. i was in the same place man. i got a great deal on my xps 1730 but honestly if i knew prices would have dropped as low as they did i would own a 901c right now instead. that is so really what i wanted but at the time it was over 1000$ more than what i paid for me dell. i can honestly say dell has so treated me right this time. i have had nothing but TOP NOTCH service this time around with dell. they warrantied parts that should honestly not have been warrantied and even sent me a lg screen aas a replacement for the crap samsung i had which suprised me. sager was great also but i do see now that i can literally buy dell parts all over and not just from sager.. which is a plus.. but either way they are both top notch. as i said id own a 9262 if i knew a week ahead prices would be where they are now...

 

I'll just tell a quick story.

About three and a half years ago, my brother purchased a Sager. Three months later I purchased a dell. My dell was $600 less expensive and had a better video card, processor and larger hard drive. My brother was jealous.

Let's fast forward to now. His Sager is still kicking and gets a 3dmark not too far from where mine used to. My dell barely can play DVDs without overheating and turning itself off. Now I'm jealous.

 

That sounds great for reliability.Go Sager!

 

Just got a E-mail back from Sager saying that the GTX is not available YET! Hopefully really,really soon.

 

can you take a guess if the 9262 will once again require a motherboard revision to accomidate gtx in sli?

 

I really can't answer that since the GTX isn't available yet and most gaming laptops CO. only say GTX SLI might be available in 2-5 months.I'm not sure if I can wait 5 months but I know I will be Kicking myself in the ass if I ordered it with the 9800M GT SLI and then the GTX SLI came out a few weeks later.

 

Hey I also found a site called PowerNotebooks.com, they seem to have the lowest price for the configuration I want,(by like $100) any body do any business with them?Do they come highly rated?

 

LOL. You are new to this forum with that question.

PNB and XoticPC have amazing reps in this forum... in fact they are probably reading this as I type.

Read the Clevo Guide if you havent yet, you would find that those vendors have legendary reps and are near perfect with their ratings from resellerratings.com and the BBB.

 

for portability - Dell XPS m1730
FOR POWER - Clevo D901C

If you're looking for HDMI ports and eSATA, look elsewhere because neither of these two have 'em.