For dual-card junkies: GeForce GTX 485M SLI vs. Radeon HD 6970M CF

Notebookcheck has done a comprehensive review of the GeForce GTX 485M SLI vs. Radeon HD 6970M CF:

Review GeForce GTX 485M SLI vs. Radeon HD 6970M CF - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

Both of these setups will be available for the M18X I take it?

 

Good review although I disagree with some of their conclusion.

 

There is also single card scores here:
Eurocom benches mobile graphics cards

covering a range of cards on the same 2920xm platform
Take those x1.8-1.9 and you get rough concepts of the SLI scores
Shouldn't be too hard to see where the M18x will land with good cards in it

 

Eurocom Racer: Why the Radeon HD 6970M Rocks - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

The anandtech review is even better imo

In games, it looks like the 6970M CF and GTX 485M SLI more or less trade blows

But we don't know if 485M SLI is even going to be offered at this point

 

I concur, it is not worth recommending a desktop vs a monster notebook, obviously the buyer knows the pros and cons going into that lol

 

Definitely going to go with the 6970Ms

 

Just like with the M17x R3, there's no reason to expect the GTX 485M to be offered.

 

Unfortunately this is the truth. Does not mean it wont work, but you would have to get the cards on your own at about $900 a piece.....)

 

Do you think they are taking a page from Apple?

The cost/benefit/heat/power supply sizes/reliability/noise issues aside, the number of folks who would go for this setup are too few to bother and they rather "boast" (for the M17x R3 at 5 hours on the 6970, was impressive to all on the IGP) the long battery life when needed on the road for work.

 

For utmost Horse Power you can not deny the 6970's. Ive never had luck with drivers with ATI cards and Ive read too many posts about R2 users and their ATI driver issues. What good is the horse power if you cant use it? Im going to order a M18x in six months, by then I hope all the kinks will be worked out But Im ordering NVIDIA cards, their driver support is better.

 

The drivers are fine. The 5870s initially had a vbios that made them incompatible with most ATI released drivers. Since then a new vbios was released by dell that fixed that problem.

ATI drivers have come along way in the last 2 years from what they used to be.

 

Ever thought that there were more ATI driver issues because they were the cards more people go with?

Both sides have had their issues, and lately, its Nvidia that's been with more driver problems (see how they killed the GTX 590 desktop card) and has had less scaling in SLI than CrossFire

 

Why is this and is the GTX 485M the top card right now?

 

Dell appears to be scared of it. And yes, it is the best GPU in the world for a laptop right now

 

to be honest, i think id stick with Nvidia simply because im a fan of them and always prefered and used them, and it seems as though more games favor nvidia cards. my 2c

lol but either way, i dont think either card ever droped below 40 FPS in any game in that review. lol, and im perfectly fine with just that.

 

LOL, "is being apple about it"

 

According to Eric G over at Dell-Lab, the M18x GPU lineup will include GTX 485 in SLI! How awesome! I'm not 100% familiar with this site or Eric, but he has known this info for well over a month now and seems to certainly know his stuff. Some really awesome extra info there too (am loving that the M18X will have the same WiHD (Wireless HD) option as the M17X R3!)

Apologies if this is old info.

Cliffnotes:

 

So I take it this is awesome news? I intend to get the dual GTX 485M's if that is the case. Should be able to take anything I throw at it.

 

Not to get your hopes up, but this was posted months ago

He said the same thing about the 485M in the m17xR3, and it still isn't here

At this point, I wouldn't put too much stock in it until we get more confirmation. The leaked m18x config sites all didn't have the 485M in SLI, nor did the service manual or user manual

Besides, why pay more for the same thing?

 

+1

The 5870 was the mid-range king for what, a year? And every system had one. It wasn't until the 460m came out in October last year that people considered anything but the 5870m.

 

With the M18X one is able to upgrade the video cards, right?

Reason I ask if the 580M seems to be around the corner so when I order I am thinking of just getting a single card and upgrading later.

 

I'll wait till 485 sli comes in it. I would prefer not to have ATI cards again. The drivers are not "fine" imo. They may "do" but the ratio of complaints to owners of 5870's is not all complimentary of ATI. Now I know well that folks complain more than they complement, so I know what gets said in the forums isn't the end all and be all, but I hear the same kinds of stuff out in world when talking about desktop ATI cards, odd behaviors, strange software glitches, all tracing back to the use of ATI cards.

You are 100% correct that ATI drivers have come a long, LONG way in a couple of years. But that's because they were utterly garbage 2 years ago and now they are "ok".

And I'm going to try and put a fine point on this because what I said above sounds harsh. ATI cards are not "bad", and their drivers are not "bad" in the current age. But they are not the equal (yet) of Nvidia drivers and cards. However if you are talking double the price for one vs the other, that has an impact on the buyers choice. But most of the time it's just a bit more to get the Nvidia cards these days, and some of us prefer to get that bit higher quality.

If I were rating the two on a 1-5 I'd say ATI was a 3, good to great performance with a higher dead card rate and worse drivers, and Nvidia is a 4 with good performance and great drivers. Neither rates a 5, because they both muck up in key places they shouldn't, but there is a slight quality edge to Nvidia. When they go ballistic on the price it doesn't make it worth it, but for a small premium it is very justified.

 

That's true, but he updated it as recently as today and has been consistent for those 3 months and right on all accounts so far

Anyway, I'm not going 485m SLI anyhow - I have no need for that much GPU And regrading the user/service manuals, they were 'finalised' months ago also. Manuals can change right up until release day, and often do. So anything can happen between now and the official launch (or even after if its a parts sourcing delay)

 

And Eric G over at Posterious was dead on correct about the 330W PSU, dead on about the screen and quite a number of features of the M18x, including the very fact that there was going to BE a M18x not a M17x R4.

So if he says there will guaranteedly be 485M's in SLI made available for the M18x, that's good enough for me. I'll wait for them.

 

gimme a single GTX485m and I will be happy.

 

Only it's not a bit more, it is exactly double the price, upgrading from single 460m to 6970 Xfire should cost $700, and upgrading to 485m SLI should cost $1400, and for drivers that should work better but won't necessarily do (look at the driver issues with the 460m in the R3), one has to be mad or not care about the money to choose 485m SLI.

 

Yes, but there still hasn't been a 485M on the m17xR3 so he may yet be right, but he hasn't been absolute

Or just be a fanboy, that always works

 

Would someone be able to clarify that the cards are upgradeable please? As in, you can go to SLI later if you wish when new cards come out?

 

Yeah, $700 more will be a bit much for my budget...I hope they will eventually let you configure it with just 1 6970 initially and I can get the other card if more funds present themselves later.

 

They should be. In fact, I think the 6970M has only come in upgradeable fashion

 

If that's the case, you could pick up the system with a single card up-front, and then just buy the second, maybe a bridge, and the bigger PSU down the road. The question is how cost effective is it to buy a second video card later on as opposed to right away.

 

Ryan, until you see the pricing for 485M's on the US site, you have no idea what they will cost, right? Let's wait and see! If you are right, then yes they (Nvidia) went price crazy again and I'll agree. But given the nearly identical performance of the 6970 to the 485 I don't think Nvidia has the wiggle room to charge a fortune and still sell chips. So there is a reason I think the pricing won't be as dramatic as that.

 

That is exactly what I'm thinking. I will just go with the base card and then upgrade.

 

I've read the M18x should start above $2,000. After adding the pre-requisite screen, CPU and video card upgrade (to a single 6970) that's going to be a good $2,500 is my guess. When I buy in the fall I'm going to be limiting myself to about $2,500. Not sure I could ever bring myself to spend three large on a laptop to be honest, but if I could wait a year or two and add a second 6970 down the road to speed things up, that would make sense for me.

Or I could just get an M17xR3 similarly specced for $1,900 after all upgrades and call it a day, knowing I'll have to replace the laptop a year or two sooner.

 

There is no evidence of any 480x's in any Dell laptops, currently. That being said, the fact a standalone 485m goes for nearly a grand by itself, and knowing how greedy nVidia gets, I'm willing to go with a 6970 and save a couple hundred bucks. Honestly, paying anything more than zero to go from a 6970 to a 485m is a fanboy move at that point, especially when you know it's not going to be a free "upgrade." The two cards are very close in performance, so why not go with the already existent option, the one you know will be available?

I love my 460m, but I'm not about to spend $150+ to go from a 6970 to a 485m when the cards are more or less identical in performance.

 

Well, sir when ATi will be able to 'nativly' support CUDA applications, yes we can probably say nVIDIA is greedy.
Of course Joe gamer doesn't probably care about this but they won't come to you and ask:
"nv: hey, what's the purpose of purchasing our card, is it CUDA, mhm?
user: gaming only, sir, I promise, so can I get a discount?"
It's not like comparing the 920xm price with the 940xm for only a 133mhz raise just because you know it's the top end CPU.

 

quoted for truth

Do you think the bigger casing of the M18X will help cool the gpu better than if the 485 was in the M17X?

 

Actually we do have a good idea about both 6970 Xfire and 485m SLI prices, by simply looking at how much upgrading to them in a clevo x7200 costs, just configure a Sager NP7280 (which is the clevo x7200) on Xoticpc.com and see how much upgrading from a single gtx 470m costs for both, or see on avadirect.com to upgrade directly from 460m just like in the M18X.
And that's clevo, who is cheaper than Dell on paper, so we'd be lucky if Dell's pricing is similar.

See for yourselves:

Sager NP7280 Custom Laptop (Built on the Clevo X7200)

Gaming Notebook : Clevo X7200 Core™i7 Gaming Notebook, 17.3" Full HD Glossy LED LCD, NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 485M / ATI® Radeon™ HD 6970 Graphics : AVADirect Custom Computer Builder

 

Hmmz probably but the most important part is the fans and the cooling grills

 

I didn't know people actually used that limited, hard to program, proprietary code. That's one valid reason, but any other just doesn't make sense to drop $250 on a card that's 2% faster. :\

 

if i order m18x with dual 6970m in CF , can i go to device manager or through some other method and switch off one graphic card or switch off both graphic card and use the graphic card built in the i7 processor(hoping to get 2920xm)?? this way if i am not gaming and just using net on the go my battery life will be substantially improved. (how much battery life do u think i will get??)

 

Unless I am mistaken I believe there is a built in feature to use the built in graphics to save battery life.

 

ummmm....Sli 485m along with Raid 256gb ssd.......= Brokey + 4yr CC = :cry:

 

Clevo does not have the volume that Dell does nor the contract pricing. Anyway, you believe you have a good idea of price and that's what matters I guess. We'll all have much more useful things to discuss when we have:

1 Real pricing
2 Avail of both options to consider in the M18x

So I'm not going to make you upset with me when we just don't really know much. You could be right for all I know. *crawls back under rock*

 

There's absolutely no reason to be upset, all we're trying to do is guess what the pricing might be that's all
I mean if Dell manage to offer lower prices than Sager due to their much higher sales volume than good for us no? Who doesn't want that to be the case? But historically speaking I've never seen that happen, Dell apparently never play a volume strategy with Alienware, they play a gains/unit strategy, thus never offer lower prices then competitors.
Let's hope I'm wrong here, I really wish I am

 

Fascinating.

 

Nvidia and AMD have always given Dell and Clevo similar pricing. Why would that change, only in this instance, with the GTX 485M?

 

Eurocomm Neptune Sandy Bridge
Cost difference between Quadro 2800 and 3800 is $600, meaning to go to a 3800 from a 2800 is 600 increase.

Dell M6500 (I7 Gen 1)
Cost difference to go from a 2800 to 3800 $440.

Not all prices are the same for the two vendors. So let's see where things land for the M18x. If it turns out to be huge, fine it will make sense to go 6970. But we'll have to see if the pricing is good or bad.

 

Yeah but everything is overpriced at Eurocom, independent of Clevo.