Questions before I order a 9261 or D901C

I'm about to order a D901C from PCMicroWorks but I have a few questions before I order:

1. I know RAID 0 is less safe because the chance of a hard disk failure becomes twice as great. But since the chance of hard disk failure is relatively small, what I want to know, is whether or not RAID 0 configuration increases the likely hood of data corruption simply because data must be split by the RAID driver.

2. Are there a lot of problems with SLI? I know SLI isn't supported on Vista but I don't plan to use Vista anyway. Are there many issues with SLI in XP though?

3. Is notebook SLI comparable in terms of efficiency to desktop SLI? Desktop SLI usually sees most gain at high resolutions and gains are usually at least 50%. I want to be playing games at 1920 x 1200.

4. Will a quad core run hot on the system? If I bought a q6700, could I overclock it to 3 ghz or is this above the 9261's limit in terms of power consumption?

5. If I order a 9261 without SLI, will I still receive the heatsink and fan the missing card so I can go SLI later? If it does come with the heatsink, will the fan still run even without a card?

6. Is the processor on the 9261 user replaceable? I have a lot of experience building desktop systems so I'll probably be able to change a notebook processor given the proper instructions on where to find it.

7. Are dead pixels common on this unit?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

1.) Negative, it will increase the chances of a HDD failure because of 'access'. I.e. anytime a HDD is accessed it has a chance of failure.

2.) There are problems with SLI, but if you know how to deal with them its not much of a problem. Vista supports SLI, fyi.

3.) Desktop SLI gains are 50% at high resolutions but when your talking about 7fps to 14fps i wouldn't call it playable. Instead people like to tout numbers like 50%. You won't go from 60fps at 1920x1200 in Crysis to 120fps. Mobile chips are about 40% less power than their desktop counterparts, IMO.

4.) It will run hotter than a X6800 (75TDP) vs the Q6700 (95TDP) but my CPU at full load, a X6800, barely reaches 61C at 100% utilization, running it for 30 minutes. But still nothing to worry about. And there is NO CPU OVERCLOCKING IN THE D901C.

5.) You will not get the extra fan. If you order the 2nd video card later it should come with the fan though.

6.) In theory it should be replaceable, but I would check with your reseller. It may void your warranty.

7.) I ran the dead pixel check when I got my unit with 0 dead pixels. I have not heard from any other D901C owner that they received a unit with a dead pixel. Either the # of users to have problems is low or they just aren't vocal. IMO, I would not worry about it.

Hope that helps.