Looking for some expert opinions on the following X7200 Config

Background:

Games I will be playing later this year: SWTOR (Star Wars the Old Republic Online). Oblivion to prepare for Skyrim. Skyrim. Perhaps Witcher 2. These games are going to keep me busy throughout 2012. I doubt I will have time for other games since Skyrim is expected to be over 300 hours and SWTOR has 200 hrs per character you create and you can have up to 8. I work, go to the gym and play tennis so I don't play 24x7 lol.

Price is not so much an issue for me. I will be using this as a desktop replacement. A company that couldn't fix my iBuypower 4 yr old desktop with an Old processor and a Nvidia 280 GTX sent me an i5 with a 550TI. I will probably spend a couple of hundred ugrading the video card to a 560TI or one higher in SLI and a better power supply. I will use this as a backup or for friends that visit and want to game together Id rather have a laptop so I can still game online when I visit my family 2500 miles away.

Config I am looking to buy for over $4K,

I7-970
12GB 12288MB PC3-8500/1066 MHz
Dual Nvdia GTX580
250 GB Intel 510 Sata III
8X Multi DVD
WIndows 7 Home Premium
Intel 6300 Ultimate 802.11
IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound
3 Year parts and labor/USA support
Cooler Master Notebook Cooler

1) For a 3 year life (I usually replace every 3-4 yrs), is there anything in this config where one would bottleneck the other?
2) Do you think that anything should be upgraded to the next higher component? example, is a 990X extreme with the same triple memory except at 1333Mhz really necessary for anything?
3) Do you think (other than the price) that anything is overkill and won't have any effect on anything and is a total waste of money? Example, should I drop down to the i960 instead?

Just looking for opinions putting price aside. Thanks.

 

I'd to 6990CF over 580M SLI, as independant testing by Mythlogic showed that the 6990CF was actually more powerful. Also, the 6990CF should be cheaper as well

 

Thanks, I should have prefaced this thread by stating that I didn't want this to become a 580 versus 6990 thread. I prefer Nvidia because the differences will be negligible and will vary by game and I have had absolutely no compatibility issues with Nvidia, understand their driver process, and am already familiar with their Control Panel. Id rather stay with what I know has worked for me over the years, unlike my Alienwares where I have had horrendous technical support from India, I mean Dell tech support.

 

If you really want to have a solid setup that can last for 3-4 years with some upgrades down the road, I encourage you to wait for 3 months before pulling the trigger. The entire platform will get refreshed and upgraded to Sandy Bridge E, SATA 3, faster ram, etc. Normally, I'd say go for it now or you'll be always sitting on the fence but here we have an exception. The upgrade from Nehalem/Gulftown to Sandy Bridge E is a huge move and not too far away, IMHO.

 

..perhaps, but does that kind of an upgrade for the types of games I mentioned really matter in the scheme of things? When they are released in the November/December timeframe, will going from an i7 970 (which is already near top of the line of available processors) to a Sandy Bridge E really matter when I'm playing SWTOR on max with FPS at 60 and then a Sandy Bridge E arrives and my FPS is at 70? Id prefered not to wait that many months knowing that in two years if something ever comes out that pushes everyones hardware to the max that I can buy a new desktop for less money utilizing whatever Sandy Bridge is available at that time and still play SWTOR while traveling since that game is unlikely to push Hardware requirements up and I can see myself playing it for a minimum of 3 years.

 

^ The processor wont matter but the GFx card BIOS support would. The X79 chipset laptop will defenitely have BIOS support for the upcoming 28nm cards.

 

Well, if you put it that way and the only important factor for you is to be able to play a few titles at 60FPS+, why do you even bother with a 6 core and 130W + CPU to begin with? There are other notebooks out there that cost less and can handle those games.

But since you are aiming at the top of the line, isn't it an underkill to buy a platform which is already obsolete? A far less power hungry 2920xm will outperform the i7-970 in games and provide a better battery life. What about SATAIII, wouldn't you rather have a potential for 2x SSD speeds in the future? What about extra 40%+ gain in RAM speeds with the potential to go even further?
Dunno, it's up to you, I've just provided my personal opinion.

 

Thanks understood, I just don't want to wait that long since I've been using a scaled back desktop because my older Alienware Laptop broke a few months ago lol. I tried to validate what you said about the 2920xm versus the i7-970. When I go to Notebookcheck.com, the i970 is not even listed, but the 2920xm is listed between the higher ranked i975 and the lower ranked i7-960...all pretty close to each other. Do you know why?

Here is the link Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

Yes, but those results are based on various synthetic benches and stock clocks. The 2920xm can be pushed all the way to 4.5GHz (at least temporary) and due to a better arch will tear apart all Nehalems and Gulf's except for the Xtreme editions with a decent OC'. Again, I'm talking about gaming performance here. In my sig there's a ES version of the 2920XM (2400) which only costs 300$ and at 4.2GHz totally stable it beat's the heck out of the stock 990X in most benches except for those that can really benefit from all 12 threads. And as a bonus, I'm also getting 5hrs+ of battery life, lol.

I know, 3 months maybe a long wait but it will payoff 10-fold when x7200's successor is announced. With up to 8 cores and future upgradeability the E line will demolish the current line.

If you were looking for a Sandy Bridge gaming notebook, I'd recommend buying right now, as it's truly a good time for it, no refreshes will be coming in the nearest future and the GPU's were updated just a few days ago. But X58 is a dinosaur.

 

right, 2920xm all [email protected] during benching(stock turbo boost), of course out perform i7 975/965/960........ but play game for hours it may downclock to stock 2.5ghz(on bad cooling lappy)
btw 2960xm 2860/2760qm refresh is coming soon

 

True, cooling would need to be extremely robust for the 2920xm to maintain the max turbo. I played with the M18x BIOS and it's possible to force the CPU on all cores up to 4.5GHz (unlimited time), but since I only got a single piped HS, it becomes unreal after 3.4GHz

What do you mean by soon? Q1 2012?

 

If you ordered 2920xm they should have equiped your m18x with tri-pipe CPU HS. Did they make a mistake?

 

Nope, my M18x came with a 2630QM. I upgraded the CPU on my own (ES only costs 300$). So now I'm waiting for the dual piped HS to be able to push the CPU higher. BTW, it''s dual not triple piped HS which comes with the XM.

 

But there is triple piped HS for M18x.

 

Hmm... I have only seen this. Mine is a single piped. Wonder if Dell has 3 types? Makes no sense to me. Is this from a manual or actual system?

 

Actual system with 2920xm, disassembled by a third party.

 

Maybe the HS is made for a different geographic region with higher ambient temps.

I'd really wish I had 2-piped and 3-piped in our lab for comparison testing. Can you contact the owner of this system?

 

Sorry, I just got the pic from Internet.
Quite confused..Bcz there are only two part numbers for m18x cpu HS.
X4KPF is the single piped one.Then what does HD9NJ refer to? Triple one or dual one?

 

In the US/Canada the HD9NJ refers to the 2-piped one, AFAIK.