Alienware M17x

P

ptrainman

Future NS Conductor
I know Ive posted another thread about laptops before, but Im just trying to go through my options. I am looking at the Alienware M17x, this is the laptop I will be getting when I can but I have a couple questions. There are 2 graphics card choices, the AMD Radeon HD 7970M or the Nvidia GeForce GTX 675M. Which one it the better one for Trainz? The Dell website shows the AMD card as recommended. The other question is hard drives, there are several choices here. 1st choice is 750GB normal hard drive, 2nd is 2x500GB hard drives set up for RAID 0, 3rd is a 750GB normal hard drive and a 32G eSATA caching solid state drive. Which one of these would be best for Trainz? Also, is 16GB of memory enough for Trainz to run smooth?

Paul
 
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steamboateng said:
A 32 Gb SSD is next to useless.It's too small for Win7 64 bit OS and way too small for TS10 or TS 12.
Click to expand...
Thats about what I was thinking, but what about the caching part? The way I understand it, the SSD is used to store commonly used files to make them load faster.


Paul
 
As far as I know you can't "split up" your CM database, so I don't see how that would be of any use to you. If it's too small to hold the OS, and too small to hold Trainz, then what would you use it for?
 
Euphod said:
As far as I know you can't "split up" your CM database, so I don't see how that would be of any use to you. If it's too small to hold the OS, and too small to hold Trainz, then what would you use it for?
Click to expand...
The way I understand it, it makes copies of the files and stores them on it. What about the 2x500GB RAID 0 setup? Are they any good or am I just as well off with a single 750GB? I like what I have read about SSDs but they are so darn expensive, 1 512GB SSD is $800!


Paul
 
I have a m17 (no X) using 2x500 in raid zero, and i do enjoy it more than any single HDD. I believe raid0 allows for quicker read/write on the HDD.
 
raid0 might works quicker in some setups, but i was scared to use it on a laptop, having lost more than one hdd due to accidental bump or something. if you lose one drive on R0 you lose all of it. all R0 does is stripe the data across both volumes.

my m17x has trated me well since i got it, and i am close to moving up.
 
Just a general note....
Most notebooks come with a default 5400 rpm HD. Thats fine for general computing, but if you are gaming with an i7 cpu, look for the 7200 rpm HD's.
 
steamboateng said:
Just a general note....
Most notebooks come with a default 5400 rpm HD. Thats fine for general computing, but if you are gaming with an i7 cpu, look for the 7200 rpm HD's.
Click to expand...
The HD for the M17 are 7200RPM. I will probably go with the 750GB plus 32GB caching SSD because it is supposed to improve boot times. 750GB is the largest you can get anyway with out doing RAID and NS37 has a good point on RAID in a laptop.
Thanks for all the help guys, you answered my main question which was about the graphics card. I have done some reading and the AMD card seems to be the best by far and its $150 cheaper than the Nvidia card. The only thing that I can find thats better about the Nvidia card is it has slightly faster clocks but the AMD card is alot better in other areas.

Here is a full spec list for you guys to look at:
Processer: Intel Core i7-3820QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
Memory: 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
Video Card: 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 7970M
Hard Drives: 750GB 7200RPM plus 32GB eSATA caching SSD
Display: 17.3 inch Full HD 1920x1080 WLED
OS: Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit


Thanks again
Paul
 
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Just a pointer ptrainman, ...if you want a botique computer maker like Aiienware, which is expensive, take a look at Digital Storm.com. They are reasonabley priced and quite freindly and knowledgible. I bought my desktop from them 16 months ago and am well pleased with it.
 
norfolksouthern37 said:
raid0 might works quicker in some setups, but i was scared to use it on a laptop, having lost more than one hdd due to accidental bump or something. if you lose one drive on R0 you lose all of it. all R0 does is stripe the data across both volumes.

my m17x has trated me well since i got it, and i am close to moving up.
Click to expand...


I am quite aware of the risk, I have chosen the Raid path because I make sure the laptop is set on firm flat surface before firing up, thus reducing the bump chance. I also frequently create backups just in case of HDD failures.
 
The 675m would be the better choice, because Trainz 2012 prefers Nvidia.
16 GB Ram is overkill, unless you do serious rendering.
The full speccs and the price of the Alienware would be nice too.
And if you think about a high end notebook/laptop, you should have a look at sager http://www.sagernotebook.com/ aswell. I have heared bad things about Alienware.
But that is your choice, isn't it?
And finally: Do you need a laptop? A desktop for such a high price will run Trainz (and other games) without any problems (maxed out, ofcourse ;-))
 
I need a laptop so that it can go with me where I go. I am planning on going to work with the railroad and will probaly be moving around alot.

One more question, why does Trainz prefer Nvidia over AMD? What is the major difference between the brands? The AMD card is a better card from what I see but if it wont do well for trainz which is the main thing Ill be using it for, then Ill get the Nvidia. I would prefer Nvidia also but I am looking for the best one and if its AMD then thats what Ill get.Now the card in my laptop now is a 512MB Nvidia so, either one would be better than that.

I looked at both the Digital Storm and Sager laptops, DS is about the same price as Alienware and Sager is slightly cheaper. I am looking at Alienware because I prefer Dell because I have one that is about 6 years old and have never had any trouble with it. I have not seen any bad reviews of Alienware so far.


Paul
 
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Nvidia has better drivers.
Why don't I like Alienware? Have a look here http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&model_id=alienware-aurora-r4.
Those ****ing greedy bastards want 150$ for a stupid 0.1 GHZ overclock!! You won't even nottice it!!! On a proper Sandy Bridge system (A 3820 is a 2600 on a 2011 socket) with an overclockable CPU you can easily do a 1 GHZ overclock with an about 30$ cooler (Coolermaster Hyper 212). That's 120$ less for proper overclocking, not just stupid rip off (if you haven't got a good cooler already). And 150$ for 8GB DDR3 RAM is again a plain rip off.BTW a GTX 555 in a 1400$ PC
You shouldn't support thos greedy assholes!
Well it is a Desktop related rant, but I don't think they do anything different with their laptops.
If you still want to give your money to Alienware... It is your money, it is your choice.
Edit: Sorry for the language, but isn't it true.
Edit #2: A reference build (what can be done for the price of the desktop: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8mk0 Better GPU, less overkill CPU, more reliable HDD, SSD, a non OEM PSU, overclockable, just to show how a real gamig PC can look.
 
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The Alienware laptop is a alomost the exact same price as the Digital Storm laptop. I see your point on the desktops but as far as laptops go, I dont think you can get much better.


Paul
 
I've had bad experiences w/Alienwae just before the were bought out by Dell. Their service sucks. I can't say how they are now because I've had no dealings with them for about 5 years. But I will say, I'll never buy from them again.
I got a lot better service and answers from Digital Storm. I often go on their forums to get geeky answers to my tech questions. Very freindly and helpful bunch. I haven't been over to AW site in years, but if they're competitive with DS in price, there's a reason...........
 
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