i7-2920XM for $715, worth it?

I was offered an i7-2920xm for $715. It would be a steal if its not an ES/QS version.

Does anyone know the quality difference between an ES/QS vs OEM? I know the ES overclock better due to the unlock multiplier in the old days. Evidence suggest that new ES/QS doesn't performance as good as the OEM version.

I am looking to achieve 4.0GHz OC ... same as Alienware's factory overclocked speed. Should I go for it?

 

ES means "engineering sample", while OEM is a fully retail product. The difference is going to be that you won't get any support on an ES, and it's hard to say if they'll perform on level, better, or worse than a retail part. Some ES 6970 graphics cards were able to be flashed to 6990 vbios and unlocking a ton of extra stream processors, while some ES 6970's don't even perform on par with the retail versions. It's a crap shoot basically.

Do you need the 2920? Most people will be bottlenecked on the GPU long before the 2920 becomes useful unless you do heavy video encoding or other CPU intensive tasks.

If you need the processor power and don't mind the questionability of ES parts, then that's up to you.

 

Aside from Es/QS version your looking at atleast one and a half years before needing to upgrade again.

 

I occasionally need to to do batch vector to raster conversion with this laptop (200+ @ 8000x8000pixels). So, any performance lead will help.

I am willing to spend $500~$700 if it can hit 4.0Ghz... not sure if I can expect this from an ES version.

 

Since I don't have my NP8170 yet, can someone tell me how is overclock handled in Sager? Is there an option to adjust multiplier on Extreme processor?

Also, what are you guys getting on 2920xm? Anyone hitting 4.0Ghz stable?

 

AFAIK from when I was researching the 8170 for buying it, there are no overclocking or even advanced options in the Sager bios. You can set the time/date, boot order, SATA mode, and that's pretty much it. If you needed to do overclocking, you would have to wait for a software clock generating solution.

It is also this way on the 8130/50. 8170 owners correct me if I am wrong.

 

You can run 2920XM @ 4GHz, it's stable. But my concern is the extra heat it would generate.

 

i wouldn't stress about it being able to hit 4.0ghz. i'd be more worried if it can handle the heat. turboboost 2.0 has matured some so heat is handled differently now. maybe turboboost could be turned off, and then it would sustain ~4.0ghz, but how long before the heat craps out the cpu or motherboard? is that worth the $700 chance? the other option is a milder overclock worth the extra dough?

 

it can boot up @4ghz for sure but no good when all thread 100% load.........
for exp i7 2630qm with stock turbo bust 2.0 [email protected] full load, but in p150hm/m17xr3 keep 100% load for 0.5~2hours temp rise to 80+c and it down clock to 2.0~2.2ghz(average)

remember the sandy bridge great scores we see most are "short test" ([email protected]@3.2g)................but most laptop cant mantain that performance(ex some of acer/sony maching even downclock 2630 to 1.7~1.8ghz slower then stock 2.0ghz= =)

 

It all depends on what you want to use it for but at $715, I would find almost any use difficult to justify. You could get a decent SSD or an entire laptop for that.

 

Very important points, Bro!