Overclocked 4900MQ vs 4930MX. Which one is best?

[Sarah]

I'm eagerly awaiting delivery of a 17 and I'm kind of wondering if the over-clocked 4900MQ option that I've ordered is maybe better than a standard clock rate 4930MX. The latter is twice the price of the 4900 but isn't available to us via the Dell UK site at the moment but I'm wondering if we're maybe getting more processor power for less cash with this option? I know that the 4930 is unlocked and potentially much faster but I'm thinking about standard clock rates (aaarrgh I hear you say!) and the cost to power ratio. I was just interested in what others thought really.

 

[MattyB]

Not really sure yet since they are pretty new and haven't been highly tested and reviewed yet. I can tell you this though based on the previous gen processors.....
I had a 3840QM CPU in my M18x R2. Yesterday I put a 3920XM in there and ran 3DMark11. My Physics score was higher with the stock 3840 (set to performance so it was running 3.8GHz) than the 3920. This result changed though once I started overclocking the 3920 even by a little bit.
So based on that you could be right. If you have a BIOS overclock setting for your 4900 then you could get similar scores to the un-overclocked extreme CPU. But, that's the point of the extreme cards anyway.

 

[Sarah]

I guess that's why the 4930 is so expensive and to be honest I would not have chosen it for that very reason. But what the heck, my choice is gonna be seriously quick and will be a very fast laptop Wow, it sounds like these laptops are very upgradable and you certainly know what your doing Is it easy or to do this or do you need specialist skils and tools? I mean I've built desktop computers in the past but laptops have always looked like 3D jigsaw puzzles to me! And your R2 sounds like a very sexy little machine to me with that 3920

 

[MattyB]

I'm not too bad with the hardware side of things. I've always enjoyed pulling things apart. The software side is my shortfall. i want to get the Unlocked A10 BIOS so I can play around with it more but I'm very hesitant. It all seems too difficult and problematic.

I love the fact that you can upgrade these machines yourself. There are plenty of videos around with step by step instructions how to do it. Once you've done it a couple of times it's pretty easy. It's easy to make mistakes though if you're not careful.

 

[Sarah]

The thing with software is that you can't physically break anything. You may find yourself in a world of pain and have reinstall stuff but it's less risky than messing with hardware. I'm not great with hardware beyond basic builds but not too bad with software. I admit that flashing the BIOS is kind of risky as it can brick the machine if something goes wrong, such as a power cut! But I'd just try it anyway! I'm sure if you google the correct proceure and follow the steps it will be fine And that unlocked BIOS will have defaults you can fall back to if you screw up so hopefully no harm will come if you don't make massive tweaks.

 

[MattyB]

I'm sure it won't be too much of a problem. I flashed an unlocked BIOS on my old M17x R3 but that seemed a little easier that this one. I don't think I really need to do it though. I should be able to get a decent enough overclock with the standard BIOS.

 

[Sleepy]

I'm sure it won't be too much of a problem. I flashed an unlocked BIOS on my old M17x R3 but that seemed a little easier that this one. I don't think I really need to do it though. I should be able to get a decent enough overclock with the standard BIOS.

Agreed lol

 

[usmc362]

With the unlocked Bios you have access to flex (voltage) and Priplane (Amps) Even using XTU without an unlocked Bios the settings for voltage and amps will revert back in XTU when you reboot.