NP9370 Configuration Questions!

Hey guys,
I have been lurking for a while and finally bit the sager bullet. My I7 960 570 GTX took a dump when hit with lightning. I have decided on theNP9370. With my budget my two options are I7-3840qm with 680m sli or I7-3940xm with 7970 cf. I dont want to upgrade a major component for atleast three years and have high end gaming. Other than gaming I edit HD video and encode my blurays. Which way would you guys go or do I need to go back to a desktop.

 

i7-3840qm with the 680's for sure.

The 3840qm is plenty powerful and the 680m's are a ton less trouble than the 7970m cf.

Also, the 7970m cf setups tend to have heating problems. If you aren't afraid of opening the laptop up and modding the heatsinks so they put more pressure on the gpu die, go ahead and get them I suppose.

 

The heating problems were mostly sorted with a re-application of the heatsink but the 680M does run cooler than the 7970M and if you have the money the 3840qm with the SLI 680M is a potent combination.

 

So will this setup give me years of perfornance on the top end? First time to jump into the deep end of gaming computers let alone laptops

 

maybe 2-4 years and then with latest game releases you will have to tone down from ultra to high and so on.

just for example my m860tu with a 260gtx was the fastest 15" almost 5 years ago with 3dmark06 scores of 10000 and vantage scores of P4500
now the 680 gives 3dmark06 22700 and vantage of P22400

 

Ok so from benchmark scores the I7-3840 blows the I7-960 out of the water. So really in 2-4 years I could upgrade my video cards and be back on top for a while?

 

as long as they dont change any connections on the gpu you should have no problems but we have no idea whats coming out in the future.

 

Well I am pumped to get this computer. Josh from Xotic is supposed to call me Monday and I should have itrushed by the end of the week!!

 

Sounds like a good setup. I would overclock the cpu some as well so it doesn't bottleneck the 680ms. I'm going to be running the 3740qm at 4ghz on all 4 cores if possible (I'm upgrading the cpu heatsink to the 3 pipe model used on the 3940XM) It would be a good idea to upgrade to a 3940XM later in the year as well, especially if you think you'll upgrade the gpus down the road. Ivy bridge cpus should drop in price significantly once Haswell is out.

 

So the cpu will be a bottleneck. Would I benefit more with going 7970m cf with 3940xm now and get the latest gpu's in 2-3 years?

 

No, I would definitely stick with the 680ms, they're better than the 7970ms. The 3840qm will be fine for gaming, but it will still be a slight bottleneck in benchmarking, so a mild overclock would alleviate that (just be sure to watch your temps.) Then you can pick up a 3920XM or 3940XM later this year for $300-400.

The 880ms (Nvidia's Maxwell architecture) will be a massive improvement over Kepler, so those would a be great upgrade. I'm planning on either upgrading my 680ms or getting a new M18x in 2014 when the 8xx Nvidia gpus are out.

 

Cool. I will leave things as they are. The full specs on my build are:
-120 hz. 72% gamut screen
- I7-3840
- 680m sli
- bluray reader
- 16g ram
- killer 1103

I have some Agility III SSDs I will install when the machine comes in.

 

Sounds just about perfect, looking forward to seeing some benchmarks. 680m sli FTW!

 

I'd recommend you go for the 3740qm. The extra you'd pay for the 2840 is not worth it by any means. The extra 100mhz isn't worth the price diffrence.

 

You could make the same comment on the ram, you only need 8GB at the moment. I'd go with 1866mhz ram too though since its worth getting the most out of the CPU at this point to increase those minimum frame rates.

 

I agree with both those points, though the 3840qm does come with an extra 2mb cache compared to the 3740qm which is nice. I figured it would be better to save the cash since I'll be upgrading to an Ivy Bridge XM once the price drops some.

 

Considering the minor jump haswell will offer don't bet on that happening any time soon.

 

Benchmarks I have seen puts the 3840 ahead of t he 3740 by atleast 550 points.

 

You're planing on gaming aren't you? The extra 100mhz and the 2mb's of cache won't matter there. The extra cache would be useful if you did rendering and other cpu intensive stuff. If you're planing on doing that than go for the 3840! If you only want to game than save your self the cash and get a bigger ssd. Samsungs 840 and 840 pro look like awesome performers. I'm considering a 500gb 840 my self.

Yes that is true. If he could get his hands on some 2133mhz Kingstons than I'd recommend 8 gigs of those. I think I saw them on amazon. Worth checking out.

 

Gaming first, encoding my bluray rips, editing my HD family movies, and running a CAD program second.

What about NP9570 Configured the same except I7 3820 desktop processor.

 

Don't even consider that ugly,bulky,plastic box. lol Clevo doesn't deserve a dime for that design. The np9370 has cooling issues btw. so I wouldn't recommend that either. You'll probably burn me for this but I'd say go for an m18x.

 

2133mhz on really works in the M18X AFAIK.

The M18X is certainly very good but there is nothing wrong with the 9570 for what it is.

 

Well if one absolutely needs a desktop cpu than sure but otherwise I wouldn't recommend it by any means. For the price they're asking for that thing it should come with a professional grade screen and a metal case as stock. The only bad thing I could say about the m18x is it's glossy screen but for the superior cooling and build quality that's not a big trade off.

Don't Clevos support that ram with an unlocked Bios? I think I remember someone using them on a p170. I might be wrong though.

 

The Sandy Bridge XM are pretty cheap by now, I figured the IB would drop in price after Haswell releases the same way. The 3920XM is already quite a bit cheaper now that the 3940XM is out.

Yeah, I guess I'd just rather build a desktop than spend $4k on a Sager with a desktop CPU. The plastic chassis, styling, and two power supplies kill it for me. Performance is awesome though.

 

Gaming performance is the same as the m18x at best. The desktop cpu won't get you any better framerates in games. The m18x has better and quieter cooling. I really wouldn't waste money on the Clevo sli setups. The 570 is ugly and has subpar build quality especially for the price and the 370 has bad cooling. Hitting 85-90c on the slave gpu? Really? The m18x is the only viable option for an sli notebook right now. At least that's the way I see it when I compare the complete package to what the clevos have to offer.
The setup in your sig is pretty much perfect. I'd get the exact same config as you have with a 4 year warranty (if I were buying now) and I wouldn't recommend for anyone to go higher than that because there's just no point for gaming which is the main purpose of the m18x.

 

Well guys I changed my mind today. I will have a NP9570 coming in before Friday. You may ask why go with ugly piece of poo. Honestly I like the look. I also figured that desktop cpus will be easier/cheaper in the future. As far as my needs go I wrotw rhem all down and concluded aside from gaming I actually can utilize more cpu horsepower. Not knocking the M18X but this was more cost effective for me. I did just go with 8Gb of ram so I can do the 1866 upgrade later. As far as cooling goes xotic pc did a video and temps stayed around 50c while bench marking. I again appreciate your input. It really help me to make up my mind.

 

Atleast get a screen upgrade! The stock screens are garbage on the 570.

 

I did a screen upgrade. Really pumped.

 

Now all you need to do is cancel it and get an m18x.

Just kidding. lol

 

It is a beast of a machine lol.

Let us know how you get on, i'm interested in what users think as they get their hands on this machine rather than reviewers and sellers.