Tell me if I am going wrong :) or nuts

Ok question time. I have a build in mind and want a critique. My main plan is longevity. I usually try to keep a laptop 4yrs so I can pass it on to a kid This will be my traveling game/work machine. Cyrsis 3 is in my future LOL so I expect this rig to at least play it I hope LOL. Also not sure I see all the Differences in the 9170 vs 9370. How well do Sagers build quality hold up?

17.3" Full HD LED-Backlit Display Matte type (1920 x 1080)

NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 680M 4GB GDDR5 Memory thinking this will have longest lifespan IE will keep up with newer games coming out. I keep reading the SLI causes CPU bottlenecks on Laptops is this correct?

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3840QM Processor This is one I am not certain of. Is it really worth it to jump up to this in the long run? I have read conflicting stories saying yes and no. Thoughts please from real world use.

Windows® 8 64-Bit Edition God i guess. I hate the look of metro.

16GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz Why not. Is 16 as much overkill as I think it is?

120GB Intel® 520 Series SSD This will be the C drive with windows etc on it. Some other progs as well. Suggestions please.

750GB 7200rpm SATA 300 or 750GB Seagate Momentus XT This one I really not sure about. Is the Hybrid drive worth the premium. I have read some reviews but would still like the opinion of real world users(they seem positive on the Seagate). I have a large steam lib and I do sometimes rip a movie to my HD to watch when traveling IE Plane rides etc. Also I do some work on commercials so I do need the space.

8X DVD Super Multi Drive So long as it can at least burn a DVD for me to show work to people when necessisary

Intel® Centrino™ Ultimate-N 6300 Just dont buy it that Bigfoot cards are so good? Am I wrong?

If you can see someplace to save a dime or if I am missing something in the way of a performance item please let me know.

 

Bigfoot cards are changeable with intel IMO, just pick what you want.

Not worth getting the hybrid when you have the SSD IMO, but it depends on your usage pattern.

16GB is overkill for now, but ram is cheap at the moment and may not be in the future, with 16GB you should be set for some time.

You can step down to the 3740QM, it's partially unlocked still and while it looses out on 2MB of cache and 100mhz it does not make a huge difference. Even with the 3740qm you wont be bottlenecking a 680M SLI, if you do find you need more in future you have +400mhz to tap.

 

I don't believe it'll be necessary to go all the way to the 3840qm on this. It's possible that the 680m in SLI would cause a bottleneck on the 3630, I haven't heard any users say it does, but it could be close. You'd be safe sticking with the 3740qm.

16gb is a good amount of RAM but overkill if your primary use is for gaming. 8gb is all you need currently, but if you were to upgrade the 12gb is barely less expensive than the 16gb so why not?

The Intel 520 series is a very solid choice. No issues with that whatsoever.

You won't need to go with the hybrid in the secondary, you really won't see any benefits doing so.

The 6300 is also a solid choice, there are still some issues with the BF drivers and so I don't typically recommend them unless somebody absolutely wants it. The 6300 will do everything just fine.

For 9170 vs 9370, you're losing the option of a second GPU on the 9170 and the sound controller is not as good of quality. The 9370 will have an extra fan for the second GPU (whether you get it or not) and doesn't have GPU switching allowed in the system. Dedicated cards on all the time. The 9370 will also have bluetooth on the main board (reseller dependent) so even with the 6300 you'd still retain bluetooth use.

EDIT: Foiled by Meaker

 

There are some benchmarks that pit the Bigfoot and the Centrino or Ultimate cards, and the benchmarks are pretty comparable. Bigfoot might have a slight edge as far as game priority optimization goes, but then there are some driver issues with it more so than the Intel cards, it seems.

Also, as far as Crysis 3 goes, maybe you'll find this helpful:

Crysis 3 system requirements published, PCs everywhere wince | Joystiq

 

9370 for sure, you c an always sli that 680. The 3740 IMO is the way to go, alot cheaper and nearly the same performance. But for gaming I think the general consensus is the 3630 is fine. The 3740 will help for productivity stuff. Although I personally think the 3740 will benefit more if your playing online large player games like 64 player bf3 maps etc. Stay away form the hybrid Seagate drive, nothing but trouble for most. I would opt for a msata boot drive and put the main stuff you use on it and a 7200 rpm or ssd as a second drive for not so important stuff you that doesn't need to load as fast. Or apply that msata $ to a two ssd raid 0 setup I like the bf card myself, any edge i can get or think i can get in gaming is a plus for me.

 

How about the screen difference between the 9370 and 9170. I know neither is an IPS panel is there any real difference? I will need the performance for video editing so will the 3740 be able to handle the task. Also going forward I know this is a hard one to ask, will the 3740 stay viable? Thanks for the heads up on the Seagate drive, I appreciate real world knowledge. I dont know much on Msata drives is it that big of a performance jump to use one for the Main drive over a standard SSD?

 

The mSata being limited to 3gb/s and the HDD bay being 6gb/s you're going to to get a lot better performance having that in one of the two HDD bays.

The 3740 would be able to handle video editing no problem and the Nvidia GPU would handle the rendering very well. You'll always be able to do the same tasks today as however long in the future, it's when new software is released that you might see performance drags. I'd say the 3740/680 combo would be viable as long as anyone would expect a laptop to be, about 2-3 years roughly.

The screens in both models should be identical but I honestly haven't got that verified, hasn't been asked of me yet.

 

Unless you go with the 3d unit I believe they are the same IIRC.

The 9370 with crossfire 7970M is also a potent combination.

You may find it easier on the wallet.

 

I thought that the 7970 crossfire was having issues and thats why I was staying away from them. Has that problem finally been figured out? What about Heat concerns with the 7970 Crossfire?

 

Those concerns are related to the driver support and how it handles GPU switching. The 9370 does not support GPU switching and won't experience those troubles. The 680m will be cooler and more energy efficient though.

 

So is it enough heat to be concerned about on a 9370?? What about CPU should I stay with the 3840 or will the 3740 be enough to not cause a bottleneck?

 

3740 will not cause a bottleneck any more than the 3840 (or simply put, neither will bottleneck the graphics).

All laptops with high end components will produce substantial heat - you can't sidestep that. But as long as you follow safe practice and keep the laptop on a surface where heat can dissipate freely, and clean it out + perform a repaste from time to time, it will treat you well!

 

Personally, I'd buy the laptop without an SSD and purchase yourself a Samsung 840 Pro. ATM it's currently the fastest SSD out there(on compressible and incompressible data, Intel 520 doesn't work well with incompressible data at all).

 

I thought the Samsung SSD's were having issues. I thought I read that at Anandtech.

 

It turned out to be an issue with the firmware. Andandtech received new ones and they tested fine. AnandTech - Samsung Explains The Firmware Bug Causing The Failures of SSD 840/840 Pro

 

Thanks I had missed that update from them.

 

I have to say doing some of the reading on 7970 CF issues has me a bit worried about going that route. I understand that Enduro problems wont happen with the 9370, but it also seems that there has been alot of bad cards and drivers. Has the situation really improved or should I shell out for the 680SLI? Performance from what little I can find on the 7970m and 680m says they are very close in real world apps, but if the 7970 has that many QC issues still........

 

Since everyone answered all the questions, I might just go ahead and answer the final ones.

You are nuts.
But you are not going wrong.

 

LOL Thanks Bob I was wondering about that one Still having a hard time with the 7970 CF decision I mean I see the performance gains but I dont want headaches from a bad set of cards, especially if I am traveling or trying to work in a meeting. Just having a hard time making myself swallow the Nvidia premium I guess for little performance difference.

 

I hate tinkering, waiting, hoping for driver fixes. I just want my machine to work good when I need it to. So I went with 680sli... It is more money but worth it to not deal with issues.

 

I am begining to think that too but 900 vs 400 and same performance or so close as to not matter??? Damn!! LOL!! I keep hoping to hear more from 7970 CF users but it seems as if they have all abandoned ship since I cant get many to comment

 

For the I was over 3k anyway so some 500 more and I get to play an not fuss around meh, I only live once. I was able to hit my maximum I wanted to spend with te 680's. all worked out good