Need help with sager np9150 configuration!

Hey guys I'm a new member and am eager to purchase a sager np9150 from LPC-Digital. I will be using it for schoolwork (Accounting and Information Systems double major if that helps knowing which apps I will be using), downloading watching HD movies, gaming with ethernet (mainly FPS's).

Here's the configuration I'm currently looking at:

8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 2 X 4GB
IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
Genuine Microsoft Windows® 7 Home Premium 32/64-Bit Edition ( 64-Bit Preloaded )
NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 675MX 4GB GDDR5 Memory (ETA: End of October, 2012)
Primary hard drive: Crucial® M4 128GB SATA III SSD
Optical drive: 750GB (7200rpm) HDD + Caddy Case
15.6” Full HD 16:9 LED-Backlit Super Clear MATTE type
Intel® Centrino™ Advanced-N 6235 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN + Bluetooth 4.0 Combo Module
NEW! 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.40 GHz)

Comes out to about 1712 with the sager $100 discount.

I am on the fence about my GPU upgrade to the 675mx. Is kepler technology and the better performance worth the $250 price tag? Or should I just go with the free upgrade to the 675m?

Thanks. All comments help.

 

Hi mainbro, welcome to NBR!
You didnt mentioned gaming in what you will be doing. If you dont plan on it there wont be any need to upgrade the GPU, stick with the free upgrade 675M and save the $250 or put it towards another upgrade that you'd benefit from.

 

You got the most important right, getting the matte LCD. Props to you. Glossy, hideous reflections. I'd probably go with a 7970M myself because it's about same price as 675MX, but a much better performance/cost option and far more versatile. Even vs 680M the 7970M is 200% faster for real world work, like CAD, 3D rendering software. If 680M was same price as 7970M, I'd say go for it, but it's not, so 7970M I think will get the most for your money.

 

Looks legit! Perhaps you can keep the stock or 750gb HDD and find a cheaper SSD on newegg. Lots of good deals these days for capacities. You'll have the capability to be so efficient with homework you won't know what to do with yourself

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

Lols about the homework.

@Hutsady The games I will be playing will mainly be first person shooters such as the Call of Duty series and other graphics intensive games like Battlefield 3. I wasn't planning on getting the amd 7970m because of its bad rap (ive been lurking these forums for months) and I don't want to hope for a fix. I also want to be able to play games on high-ish graphics for the next 2-3 years which is why I opted for the 675mx over the 675m.

In the long run will the benefitsof the 675mx be worth the money? Thanks guys

 

You may want to lurk more then. The 7970M is outperforming the 680M in your BF3 now. It's not a hope for a fix, it's already here. 7970M will crush your 675MX in BF3 and MOH:W.

 

Ah I havent really read the new threads about amd drivers. It sounds like the 7970m is finally behaving like it should have. This definitely changes the game haha. Would everyone else agree that the 7970m is now a great buy?

 

As you mentioned the 7970M did have some problems in certain games but as hulawafu77 mentioned there are some drivers which are doing much better.
For gaming its tough to beat for the price/performance. Personally I do like Nvidia cards better as they are great performers and the CUDA cores help out in what I do as well (video editing)

 

It is still questionable. A lot of people are having issues with the drivers (BSODs, CCC/Profiles failing, continuing utilization issues). It is better than it was, but not there yet. Meanwhile I've been loving my 680m for months.

Now, if they fix the issues the 7970m is the better buy. Even if the 680m was 10% better it isn't worth the cost, and when they both perform in equal systems without switchable graphics the 7970m is just as good if not better than the 680m in some points. If you are planning on using it for light gaming and mobility you have a choice. The 675MX is very good from what we have seen on battery life and temps. On the other hand you can get the 7970m for the same price, which will run warmer, but will outperform the 675MX by a very large margin.

If you use a lot of professional programs than the 7970m, driver issues and all, is the card of choice here. It is very good in that department.

TL;DR

675MX: Lower performance, better temps, better battery life in use.
7970m: Better performance, best potential, better at Professional programs, current drive issues (Fixes are starting though)
680m: Best performance as of now, better driver support, lower performance in profession settings.

Chose what you want and go with it.

 

Would you say that the the 675m would give me 45-60 fps in graphics intensive games for the next 1.5-2 years (my graduation)? Because after that time I plan on investing in a solid desktop. Is the fact that the Kepler cards or 7970m run cooler/more efficient worth the price for this short amount of time. As a college student I would only be gaming when I am not busy with homework or socializing. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I am not as intense a gamer as I used to be and am considering just grabbing the free upgrade to the 675m

 

Aren't Enduro and Optimus supposed to use the integrated graphics when it doesn't need the performance boost so battery life on the dedicated cards negligible? I don't plan on gaming if not plugged in

 

Adobe Premiere doesn't use CUDA anymore, it's OpenCL and the 7970M destroys anything from Nvidia GeForce in that regard.

 

Adobe Premiere doesnt like you said. If you're using that program you wont take advantage of it. There still are many programs that do however like Sony Vegas or Freemake Video Converter.
It's up to the OP though if he will be using anything that will take advantage of CUDA acceleration.

 

True but if CUDA was important to anyone, the GeForce are terrible recommendation since Nvidia is slashing CUDA performance on them.

 

Yeah, I was just giving all the options. As for your other questions, depending on the games you play the 675m should give you enough power to play things for the next year or two. Again that depends on what you play and what settings you want.

Battlefield on Ultra? Look towards the 680m or the 7970m (Which still seems to have some problems with it, however the latest drivers helped a lot.)

Starcraft 2? You can get away with the 675m. So your games determine what you want here.

 

However they are adding many more CUDA cores and thats the main advantage over a CPU as they are used for processing instead of the CPU which on these models will max out at 8 logical threads. The GTX 670M has 336 CUDA cores, vs the 670MX with 960 CUDA cores, plus Open GL support on Nvidia cards.