Noob. Needing advice on ordering a m17x
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PhoenixBennu
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i7-2760qm, as itsw a nice upgrade from the 2670 but the next step to the 2860 is not really a noticeable improvement, especially for the price. Personally I am using the 2670 cause I needed to keep cost lower. and it runs just fine.
4gb ram (upgrade yourself for cheaper and 4gb works fine for gaming .... trust me...thats how I did it and almost send back to 8gb of extra ram I bought cause I didnt need it)
750gb HDD. Do not get a hybrid drive. You have get a second drive, like a 1tb or 1.5 tb 7200rpm for cheap on amazon.
I recommend 1080p screen, but its up to you. i went with the 3d bundle.
6990m, cause right now 580m is not available. but if you want 3d go with 560m which is still good, or wait til 580m is back
wifi card wont make much different really, so dont go for higher end unless you have a real need for it
optical drive...I went bluray just so I have it, but its up to you.
Get the 1 yr acidental coverage. for fifty bucks its cheap and worth it.
The rest is up to you.
4gb ram (upgrade yourself for cheaper and 4gb works fine for gaming .... trust me...thats how I did it and almost send back to 8gb of extra ram I bought cause I didnt need it)
750gb HDD. Do not get a hybrid drive. You have get a second drive, like a 1tb or 1.5 tb 7200rpm for cheap on amazon.
I recommend 1080p screen, but its up to you. i went with the 3d bundle.
6990m, cause right now 580m is not available. but if you want 3d go with 560m which is still good, or wait til 580m is back
wifi card wont make much different really, so dont go for higher end unless you have a real need for it
optical drive...I went bluray just so I have it, but its up to you.
Get the 1 yr acidental coverage. for fifty bucks its cheap and worth it.
The rest is up to you.
Maelstrom
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(Stealing some of Phoenix's advice and then adding some of my own)
You really want the i7-2760QM over the i7-2670QM although you don't have to if you really don't want to. OS is up to you but a lot of people like to Win7Pro. You don't need Win7Expert at all since it is for businesses. Just take the 4GB ram and buy your own from one of these,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007609 600000401 600000410&IsNodeId=1&name=DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
As you can see, you can get your RAM from Dell for $200 or from here at $70 or less (I would recomend getting the Kingston RAM). Unfortunately, the only video card that they have that supports 3D is the GTX 560M. So, unless your willing to wait for the 580 or something else that is better and supports 3D go with the Radeon HD 6990M. They used to offer 1600*900 as a screen resolution size but now you can only have 1920*1080 (which is better) or the same with 3D. For the wireless card I would either go with the WiMAX 6250 or the Killer Wireless card. Internal optical drive is your choice as to if you even use Blu-Ray or not. I don't so I don't have it in my laptop. For the drive I would go with the boot 256GB SSD + the 750GB HD for storage. They have that as a package on the site.
So, currently with the below selections it will cost $2654 and then at least $69 more for the RAM; $2723 total.
Intel Core i7-2760QM (2.4GHz, 3.5GHz w/Turbo boost)
Win7 HP
4GB dual channel DDR3 @ 1600MHz
256GB SSD boot drive + secondary 750GB HD for storage
2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M
1920*1080 FHD @ 60Hz WLED (not 3D)
Intel Advanced N + WiMAX 6250 a/g/n 2*2 MIMO Technology
*8 slot loading dual layer DVD burning
That's $23 over your limit but you can lower the processor if needed or switch to the GTX 560M and 120Hz 3D monitor for a drop of $25 putting you at $2698. You could also choose one of the lesser RAM choices at $49 (if you do that then get the Corsair Vengeance RAM).
Also note that buying the RAM seperatly will cost additional shipping and that the above prices don't account for shipping or tax (and in the 3D monitor's case 3D glasses)
You really want the i7-2760QM over the i7-2670QM although you don't have to if you really don't want to. OS is up to you but a lot of people like to Win7Pro. You don't need Win7Expert at all since it is for businesses. Just take the 4GB ram and buy your own from one of these,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007609 600000401 600000410&IsNodeId=1&name=DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
As you can see, you can get your RAM from Dell for $200 or from here at $70 or less (I would recomend getting the Kingston RAM). Unfortunately, the only video card that they have that supports 3D is the GTX 560M. So, unless your willing to wait for the 580 or something else that is better and supports 3D go with the Radeon HD 6990M. They used to offer 1600*900 as a screen resolution size but now you can only have 1920*1080 (which is better) or the same with 3D. For the wireless card I would either go with the WiMAX 6250 or the Killer Wireless card. Internal optical drive is your choice as to if you even use Blu-Ray or not. I don't so I don't have it in my laptop. For the drive I would go with the boot 256GB SSD + the 750GB HD for storage. They have that as a package on the site.
So, currently with the below selections it will cost $2654 and then at least $69 more for the RAM; $2723 total.
Intel Core i7-2760QM (2.4GHz, 3.5GHz w/Turbo boost)
Win7 HP
4GB dual channel DDR3 @ 1600MHz
256GB SSD boot drive + secondary 750GB HD for storage
2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M
1920*1080 FHD @ 60Hz WLED (not 3D)
Intel Advanced N + WiMAX 6250 a/g/n 2*2 MIMO Technology
*8 slot loading dual layer DVD burning
That's $23 over your limit but you can lower the processor if needed or switch to the GTX 560M and 120Hz 3D monitor for a drop of $25 putting you at $2698. You could also choose one of the lesser RAM choices at $49 (if you do that then get the Corsair Vengeance RAM).
Also note that buying the RAM seperatly will cost additional shipping and that the above prices don't account for shipping or tax (and in the 3D monitor's case 3D glasses)
I'm goin with
I7 3.5 ghz
4gb ram was goin with the 8gb but thanks for the heads up
750 gb 7200 rpm hdd
6990 m
1080 wled screen
Killer wireless card
And I got the blue ray
Do y'all think I need to upgrade anything else on the system or should it be ok to run any games I want??
Also is there really that big of a difference between the 6990m and the gtx 560m??
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I7 3.5 ghz
4gb ram was goin with the 8gb but thanks for the heads up
750 gb 7200 rpm hdd
6990 m
1080 wled screen
Killer wireless card
And I got the blue ray
Do y'all think I need to upgrade anything else on the system or should it be ok to run any games I want??
Also is there really that big of a difference between the 6990m and the gtx 560m??
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Maelstrom
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Yeah, the 6990 is a good bit better than the 560. Also getting and SSD is signifgantly better than getting a normal HD. It both notciably decreases boot times and read write speeds for anything you've loaded on it (pretty much halves your boot times and loading times).
Maelstrom
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Solid State Drive. Basically it isn't a rotating disc inside the computer and reads/writes information pretty much at twice the speeds. So if you boot your computer from a SSD your computer should start up twice as fast as a HD because the SSD has 6GB/s read/write and the HD has about 3GB/s. SSDs are more expensive of course but much faster. You would want to put any games you install on there as it will decrease your loading times significantly. I recommended getting the SSD boot drive and secondary HD for storing things that you don't need fast speeds for (pictures/movies/music/etc.). For the M17x they have a bundled deal like that which includes a 256GB SSD boot drive and a 750GB HD for storing files.
PhoenixBennu
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Do not get a hybrid drive. The hybrid drives have some ssd and normal hd mix. Normally a standard HDD, and then a cache of ssd memory.
This sounds good because it claims to be cheaper, while still increasing load times and other memory response.
The cons, however, outweigh the pros, in my opinion.
Basically the issue is that while a normal HDD keeps spinning, for the most part, a hybrid drive relies on the ssd memory and shuts off the spinning of the drive while not in use. This means that it has to speed up and speed down more frequently, causing additional wear and tear. This, an other factors, reduce the longevity of the drives, and also because the drives have to speed up in order to access info, it increases wait time to load anything that is not accessible on the ssd. Meaning that when you compare loading something from a standard HDD vs from a Hybrid SSD/HDD you have the standard drive already spinning making it quicker to access info, and the hybrid has to spin up everytime you access something on the HDD and makes a longer wait to access.
So Generally, it is faster, but has shorter longevity and higher cost for limited increase in performance. So the overall value is not there.
Personally, if you have the cash , go with a SSD and normal HDD combo, just as Maelstrom recommended. I would recommend purchasing a SSD yourself, but you can save hassle of reinstalling onto the SSD by having it preinstalled.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_drive
This sounds good because it claims to be cheaper, while still increasing load times and other memory response.
The cons, however, outweigh the pros, in my opinion.
Basically the issue is that while a normal HDD keeps spinning, for the most part, a hybrid drive relies on the ssd memory and shuts off the spinning of the drive while not in use. This means that it has to speed up and speed down more frequently, causing additional wear and tear. This, an other factors, reduce the longevity of the drives, and also because the drives have to speed up in order to access info, it increases wait time to load anything that is not accessible on the ssd. Meaning that when you compare loading something from a standard HDD vs from a Hybrid SSD/HDD you have the standard drive already spinning making it quicker to access info, and the hybrid has to spin up everytime you access something on the HDD and makes a longer wait to access.
So Generally, it is faster, but has shorter longevity and higher cost for limited increase in performance. So the overall value is not there.
Personally, if you have the cash , go with a SSD and normal HDD combo, just as Maelstrom recommended. I would recommend purchasing a SSD yourself, but you can save hassle of reinstalling onto the SSD by having it preinstalled.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_drive
Thanks for that info. I've researched it my selfs and not much has turned up about the hybrids
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EMT911inWI
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I'll side with Phoenix on this as well. Definately stay completely away from the Hybrid SSD's.
The original idea behind Hybrid SSD's was that you could store information (cached data) for extremely fast future retrieval. Also, the platters sit at rest during it's idle state which is different than a standard IDE or SATA HD. Information is written/read from the buffer. This can work for you or against in you many cases. If the information is cached it will be retrieved extremely fast, but non-cached data is very long because the platters will have to spin up - grab the data - then return it.
Also, these drives are designed for large amounts of information! Your standard game will not effectively store that much data in order for this to be beneficial. Also recovery of information from failed hybrid drive is extremely difficult. I have dealt with 3 clients in the past 6 months that have had failures, I've only been succesful in recovering data from 1 of those drives.
Just a few tidbits of information for you, hope it helps in the decision making process.
The original idea behind Hybrid SSD's was that you could store information (cached data) for extremely fast future retrieval. Also, the platters sit at rest during it's idle state which is different than a standard IDE or SATA HD. Information is written/read from the buffer. This can work for you or against in you many cases. If the information is cached it will be retrieved extremely fast, but non-cached data is very long because the platters will have to spin up - grab the data - then return it.
Also, these drives are designed for large amounts of information! Your standard game will not effectively store that much data in order for this to be beneficial. Also recovery of information from failed hybrid drive is extremely difficult. I have dealt with 3 clients in the past 6 months that have had failures, I've only been succesful in recovering data from 1 of those drives.
Just a few tidbits of information for you, hope it helps in the decision making process.
PhoenixBennu
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Good info EMT. I always recommend data backup. I personally take all important files and use portable hard drives to back up the information.
Dont use physical media like CDs or DVDs as they degrade over time, and cause create cyclic redundancy check errors.
I also do not recommend cloud storage. I personally have accounts with sugarsync, dropbox. box.net, and some others. The issue with them, though, is that their terms and conditions permits them to access your files to check them to make sure you are not backing up anything illegal like child porn or ripped movies. While those things are not my concern for myself, it bothers me that some stranger can be reading through my backed up documents, pictures of my kids, etc. I may have boring stuff backed up like home movies, but I want privacy in what I back up. If the privacy issue isnt a concern for you, then absolutely use cloud service, just be sure to check all the details of the group you use. I personally still use them for other things, like trading files or other things, but many times I try to use my own FTP server.
If you have the money then I recommend buying flash based backup drives, and using them in Raid or other redundant formats. External drives are the best, and keeping backed up drives in a secure location is recommended. This way if your house catches on fire and your computer burns up, your backup drives will be locked up in a fireproof safe or in a different location away from the fire and the data will be safe.
Thats my two cents. Just keep in mind that no backup method of 100% secure and issue proof. So having plan B and plan C is the best way to go. Personally, if I had the money I would buy multiple backup hard drives. Have one set used as primary backup, and then a secured second backup that synced with the primary backup and stored in a different remote location.
Dont use physical media like CDs or DVDs as they degrade over time, and cause create cyclic redundancy check errors.
I also do not recommend cloud storage. I personally have accounts with sugarsync, dropbox. box.net, and some others. The issue with them, though, is that their terms and conditions permits them to access your files to check them to make sure you are not backing up anything illegal like child porn or ripped movies. While those things are not my concern for myself, it bothers me that some stranger can be reading through my backed up documents, pictures of my kids, etc. I may have boring stuff backed up like home movies, but I want privacy in what I back up. If the privacy issue isnt a concern for you, then absolutely use cloud service, just be sure to check all the details of the group you use. I personally still use them for other things, like trading files or other things, but many times I try to use my own FTP server.
If you have the money then I recommend buying flash based backup drives, and using them in Raid or other redundant formats. External drives are the best, and keeping backed up drives in a secure location is recommended. This way if your house catches on fire and your computer burns up, your backup drives will be locked up in a fireproof safe or in a different location away from the fire and the data will be safe.
Thats my two cents. Just keep in mind that no backup method of 100% secure and issue proof. So having plan B and plan C is the best way to go. Personally, if I had the money I would buy multiple backup hard drives. Have one set used as primary backup, and then a secured second backup that synced with the primary backup and stored in a different remote location.
Maelstrom
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Yes, that should keep the price down too. The SSD would primarily be for your OS and any other startup programs or games you install. Anything else can go the the HDD.
Maelstrom
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Lol, Crucial is a brand that makes computer hardware. Their products are on Newegg.com. Newegg is like Amazon for computer parts. They have every brand and all types of computer hardware. I think they sell other things too but computers is their main outlet.
yikes81
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I personally go for 8GB RAM minimum since most you will most likely get Win7 x64. You don't need it, but I like to have it. Depends on what else you are doing with your beast. If you are editing videos here and there, then the extra RAM will be useful.
If you are getting the bluray, I personally would get the Nvidia card as it supports 3D. The 580 is the best, but apparently there are shortages.
But the ATI support eyefinity. So it depends on what you want to do.
Regarding the Hybrid, you can just make sure the platters don't spin down, and you really won't have the issue regarding access speeds. But I would recommend you get a SSD and then buying an extra large HDD later on.
Regarding CPU, I am not so sure anymore. I hear that some games such as BF3 are using CPU power to assist with gaming, rather than use GPU power.
The rest, other people have told you, and I agree.
If you are getting the bluray, I personally would get the Nvidia card as it supports 3D. The 580 is the best, but apparently there are shortages.
But the ATI support eyefinity. So it depends on what you want to do.
Regarding the Hybrid, you can just make sure the platters don't spin down, and you really won't have the issue regarding access speeds. But I would recommend you get a SSD and then buying an extra large HDD later on.
Regarding CPU, I am not so sure anymore. I hear that some games such as BF3 are using CPU power to assist with gaming, rather than use GPU power.
The rest, other people have told you, and I agree.
Yea I was informed by dell that in a few weeks the m17x r4 will be released. Also new graphics card and more.
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