Please help me to decide, which hardware components to choose for P150HM

Ok so i want to buy P150HM (probably Malibal Lotus, but not sure yet).
I want really good gaming machine but i am not very good at tech specs (i know that bigger number is better usually but quite sadly bigger numbers also means bigger price and i don't want to pay too much for something i might not need).

This is my current setup:

Proc - i7-2760QM, 6MB L3 Cache, 2.4-3.5GHz (do i really need better proc for games? Malibal offers i7-2860QM, 8MB L3 Cache, 2.5-3.6GHz or this i7-2960XM, Extreme 8MB L3 Cache, 2.7-3.7GHz and i could save more money for them, if you really think that i should get better proc)
GPU - GTX 580M 2GB GDDR5 (i hope this one is enough for most games because better cards cost too much for me)
RAM - 8GB, PC3-14900/1866MHz DDR3 - 2 SO-DIMM (i think 8gb is more than enough, but im not sure if i really need 1866MHz, maybe 1600 or 1333 will do?)
HD - 120GB Intel® (520) SATA III 6Gb/s SSD2 Drive (this is pretty much the only option i like, for storage i can use external hard)
Optic Drive - 8X Multi DVD+/-R/RW RAM Dual-Layer Drive (this isn't really important for me, i just need to read/burn some regular cds)
OS - Win 7 Home Premium; 64-bit
Wireless - Bigfoot Networks Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 802.11A/B/G/N LAN Card
Cooling - IC Diamond 7 Thermal Compound, CPU & GPU

 

-A faster processor won't help with gaming. You'll be limited by the GPU
-Those other cards are workstation cards and won't be necessarily better for gaming. The 580M is the best gaming card you can get
-There's no reason to go higher than 1600 RAM, or even 1333 really. Also, the RAM is cheaper if you buy it elsewhere like Newegg. It's up to you.

 

You'd be hard pressed to find a more expensive mobile gaming GPU than the 580M right now. I'd take a look at the 6970M instead, which is much cheaper and about 80% of the 580M.

 

That build looks great. You wont see much of an increase by putting a better CPU in there. The 2760QM is the best bang for your buck right now. Going up to the 2860QM or higher will give you very slight increase in gaming but for the extra they cost typically doesnt make it worth it. The GPU is your top concern and the GeForce 580M is the most powerful available right, as mentioned the Quadro cards are for workstations. While they cost more they will actually do worse at gaming.
Your SSD and wireless card are all the top options to go with, you could prob drop down to 1600mhz for your RAM you could get away with that but if 1866mhz fits in your budget go for it. I'd keep the build just as it is.

 

In addition to what others pointed out, you may also want to consider replacing the optical drive with an HDD if you don't burn many disks. It's more convenient to have the 500GB hard drive installed if you use it on a regular basis rather than the optical drive, if the latter is only used occasionally (which means that you can have the optical drive in a caddy instead).

 

-1866Mhz RAM is a bit overkill for gaming. It is essentially overclocked 1600Mhz RAM and can be a little iffy for stability at times.

-CPU, you really don't need anything faster than the 2760 as others have stated it won't have much of an impact on gaming. That is all on your GPU for gaming.

- Regarding your Bigfoot Killer N-1103. What are your current internet speeds? If your ISP isn't offering 450Mbps then it would be like buying a Ferrari to drive around the parking lot. Seeing as Charter was listed as the fastest ISP at 100Mbps, you may want to save a little extra money and step down your wifi adapter a bit.

 

This is not necessarily true. The bigger benefits of the upgraded cards come from latency improvements and signal stability/range. Speed is the most obvious improvement, but the Killer cards especially do a decent amount of QoS to make sure that you get the best possible speeds over the wireless network. The difference in latency is pretty critical in some applications (online gaming, for one).

 

Right on the Killer card doing a decent amount of QoS for best possible speeds but wouldn't the N-1102 do about the same but without the cost?
Both cards seem to utilize the same drivers, just one has the third antenna and is capable of the higher speeds, but really when would it be used?

 

The extra antenna also comes with the slight advantage in range and signal strength as well. For example, I've got both the Intel 6230 and 6300 in laptops at home. The 6300 can pick up my WiFi from several apartments away, through walls. The 6230 can't reach the same distance. For the nominal price difference in the upgrades, the extra range is always a plus. (Note that this isn't dependent on whether the AP actually supports 450Mbps versus 300Mbps, the results are the same on both).

You're right though that latency shouldn't differ much between the two and three antenna models.

The problem with wireless in general is that there are a lot of factors other than simply speed which can make a big difference. A perfect example would be if you had the 1103 at home and had a router that supported 450Mbps. You would assume that you should have the best possible speed right? However, let's also say that you live in an apartment and all your neighbors have their own AP's, plus microwaves, etc. Now you've got a problem with interference (not to mention the problem of walls that come with any indoor wireless). In this case frequency becomes a bigger factor than speed, because being able to switch to say the 5Ghz spectrum will make even a slower rated card seem much faster and more reliable.

The big things to look for in Wireless cards are: latency, speed, noise mitigation, band support, and (potentially) chipset (if that matters to you personally).

Now, are any of these things worth an upgrade, be it a small cost or large? That depends entirely on the person and their particular usage. My degree is in Networking, with a focus on wireless and adhoc networking specifically, so I'm one of the few nerds out there that probably gets too much fun out of wireless site surveys and performance data though

 

Thank you guys very much, you already saved me approx 700$ with proc suggestion and i am very grateful for that
About wireless card, well i don't really mind to spend 60$ on best option, it might help me in some cases, but thanks for suggestion.

What i really want to know now is about RAM speed. Is 1866MHz really unstable?
And is 1866 a lot faster than 1600 or 1333?

 

1866Mhz isn't necessarily unstable, it will be tested before being sent to you. Some machines do have stability problems with it though. That said, 1600 and 1866 each only offer 3-4% improvement over the previous step. (For example, 1600 is 3-4% better than 1333Mhz. 1866 is 3-4% better than 1600).