My First Sager (Worth Upgrading?)

Hello all,

I'm new to the laptop gaming department, I usually just use laptops for web surfing while using desktops for gaming, and I recently purchased my first Sager laptop because while desktops are more powerful, they're not entirely useful while in the military.

I just bought the Sager NP9262:
Display: 17" Wide Viewing Angles WSXGA+ LCD
- Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Processor Q9650 / 12MB L2 Cache, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB
- Video & Graphics Card: Dual Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTX Graphics with 1GB DDR3 Video Memory in SLI mode
- Operating System: Genuine MS Windows® VISTA Home Premium 64-Bit Edition
- Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 X 2048MB
- Primary Hard Disk Drive: 320GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive

I was thinking about adding an extra 2-4 gb of memory and possibly overclocking it. I've heard that the processor can't be overclocked (unfortunately), but the video cards can. Also I've been told that the bios can't process more than 6.8gb of ram and if you have more than 4gb it won't run at the full 800mhz.
Are there any games out there that would require these upgrades. Currently I've only got assassins creed, Fallout 3, and awaiting Demigod. I was thinking about picking up Crysis, but I don't like the idea of EA putting malware on my computer, and I've never been a fan of the COD games.

Anways, I know that was a lot, but thanks for the input/suggestions.

 

You can overclock the 9800M GTX through the official nVidia drivers (the last time I checked anyway ^^). More information on the card and the overclocking in general (top stable temps, how to overvolt etc.) can be found in the 9800M GTX thread. Apart from that you have pretty much the most powerful hardware available in a (so called) laptop, and I honestly don't think there are any games that will require any updates for quite a while.

Not sure about the memory issues, sorry.

 

that system is already fully loaded and spec'ed.... the best you can get pretty much.

getting more than 4GB of RAM wont really affect the performance... just adds more headroom for heavy memory paging... usually for media work (like 20 megapixel images)

I would not worry about the 6.8GB utilization.

 

I wouldnt upgrade anything, your laptop is already extremely powerful.

If your laptop is running slow, run disc cleanup, disc defragmenter, clean up the registry, etc

K-TRON

 

Thanks for the info. I just bought it last week, so it'll be a little while before it comes in. I had been hoping to get something with the 280m in SLI along with the Q9650 because I know the 9800m gtx's are slightly outdated/outclassed right now (by the 280m and the ati 4850's), but I hadn't seen anything that offered that until today.

 

LOL.

I would not worry about that system underperform to even the latest systems for years.

The CPU is still the best you can find in a notebook... and not a rip off like the QX9300.

The 9800M GTX at still in the top of the mobile GPU list.

The GTX 280M is probably going to be marginally 5-10% faster with 16 more shaders than the 9800M GTX.
- 9800M GTX = 112 shaders
- GTX 280M = 128 shaders

not very huge significance in overall performance... more like bragging rights.

same goes for the ATI 4870.... everything new is just marginally faster than the previous best card.

Just take care of that system and it should treat you well for easily at least 3 years.

 

wait is that system still using the older santa rosa chipset rather than Montevina? what's up with it having only 800mhz? would that not be a bottleneck?

 

You are mixing apples and pears.

PL

 

Well then I guess I'm making a delicious fruit salad. But thank you for answering my question in such detail!!

 

While I don't have an extensive knowledge of laptop processors, this is what I found out from shopping around.

1)The Q9650 is not a laptop processor.
2) the Montevina processors have a lot less overall power compared to some of the other chipsets I was looking at.
3) Comparing laptop and desktop chipsets is like comparing apples and oranges (pears in pasoleatis' case)

 

Congrats on your laptop!! very powerful indeed. You won't need additional ram for gaming. Most games won't even make it to the 2gb barrier.

 

On the Santa Rosa chip 667 MhZ is the max speed the memory, but our laptop is not using the SR chipset. The chipset inside this laptop allows max 800 Mhz for the memory.One could also check using a sofware like sisoft sandra if the memory is a bottleneck for the processor, but I have the feeling that ddr2-800 is more than enough for the processors with FSB 1333. I think that you would need higher than 1600 FSB in order to need faster memory.

PL

 

Thank you, that's a good answer right there. I had wrongly assumed the chipset to be santa rosa since the ram was still using DDR2.

That's def a beast of a system...