m9750 still a decent gaming computer?

Does anyone else still think the Alienware M9750 is a decent gaming computer? i downloaded several games throughout the course of a week to include:

Singularity
C&C Kains Wrath
C&C Tiberium Wars
C&C Red Alert 3
CODMW2
Mass Effect 2

I kinda wanted to see how the computer stood up to them granted a few of those games are quite old and so far i havent had to lower settings at all. all highest i could set them. now, with Singularity i had to have the nvidia control panel override game settings and force AA to 32x but i havent seen any problems. i know the computer is old and, x2 8700m / 2gb ram / 2.0ghz / 1440x900 is for lack of a better term - crappy but, so far i havent had to lower settings. So, does anyone still use their m9750's and would i be okay to hold off on buying an m17x till january 2011 and still manage to play newer games to date? i feel like im the only one usin a 9750 and kinda feel like im behind the power curve a bit. I hope it isnt time to retire the m9750...

Legends Never Die.

 

I say keep it until there's some sort of refresh or some sort of processor/graphics update. Since sandy bridge was announced hopefully they'll update the processor at least by next year sometime. I have an m17 and I haven't had issues with it granted my specs are a bit better than yours .

 

yea your specs are significantly better than mine.. i was looking at the dell website and customized an m17x and it came up to like 4500! im not too worried about the price its just that im gunna have to wait till jan, hopefully. like i said though, i havent had issues, its just that i went to the store the other day lookin for a computer for my wife and noticed that these 600 - 800 dollar laptops have quad cores in them and my alienware is still rocking a T7200 at 2.0ghz with 2 gb ram... this laptop was expensive, granted its 3 years old. i dont know, parts go out, i fix them, laptop gets dirty, i clean it out every so often, i just hope im not wastin my time. i keep lookin online to hopefully see a forum with people still talkin about their 9750's. i did notice that people were putting ATi 3870's in their m9750's and saying it keeps up with the 8800's but the 3870's run close to 400 dollars so, if i wanted two im lookin at another grand for gpu's to try to keep this computer up too par. Lets say i get them, then i have to worry about the CPU bottle necking.. Are they actually able to upgrade a computer like this without replacing the motherboard?? Also, this may be a bit off topic but, instead of the m17x, i was considering an OCZ Whitebook. apparently they can keep up with m17x's
check it out:

OCZ 17” DIY Gaming Notebook

Processor Supports Intel® Core 2 Duo / Extreme Processors
(T7500, T7700, T8100, T8300, T9300, T9400, P8600, P9500, X9100, QX9300)

Core Logic Intel® PM45 + ICH9M

Memory Supports up to 8GB (2 X 4GB) Dual Channel DDR3-1333 @ (1.5-1.8V) w/ Intel® XMP Support

Disk Storage 2 x 2.5” HDD slots
-Supports 80-500GB 5400RPM or 7200RPM SATA Hard Disk Drive
-Supports all OCZ SSD Drives

Built-in 4-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS PRO/SD/MMC/RSMMC)

Display 17” WUXGA (1900x1200)

Graphics Processor Supports ATI® HD3870 w/512MB (M88XT)

Supports ATI® HD3870 w/512MB (M88XT) Crossfire

DirectX® 10.1 Compatible

Optical Drive 24x CD-R/RW, 8xDVD+/-R, 6x DVD+/-R DL Combo DVD Drive -OR-
16x CD-R, 10x CD-RW, 8x DVD+/-R, 4x DVD+/-RW DL, 2x BD Blu-Ray Driv

Audio System High Definition integrated sound, Built-in stereo speakers

Slots 1 Express Card 34 / 54 Slot, 1 Media Card Slot

Pointing Device Integrated Touchpad with Scroll Bar

Keyboard Full Sized Backlit Keyboard 2.5mm Stroke, Vista Key

Interface 3 USB 2.0 ports
1 IEEE1394a
1 HDMI
1 TV Tuner optional
1 eSATA port
1 Headphone jack
1 Microphone jack
1 D-Sub 15 VGA port
1 S/PDIF audio jack
1 RJ-45 jack for 10M/100/1000Mbps Intel Boazman Ethernet
1 DC-In jack

Kensington Lock

Power System
Full Range Auto-Switching 100V/240V AC Adapter

OCZDIY17A2-DM88XT – DVD with single VGA card UPC: 842024010326
OCZDIY17A2-BM88XT – Blu-ray with single VGA card UPC: 842024010333
OCZDIY17A2-DM88XTX2 – DVD with dual VGA cards UPC: 842024010340
OCZDIY17A2-BM88XTX2 – Blu-ray with dual VGA cards UPC: 842024010357

Physical Characteristic 9.5 lbs without Battery Pack
15.5" (w) x 11.75" (d) x 1.75" (h)

Realtek® 802.11 b/g Wireless LAN or Intel 5300 b/g/Draft-N

Bluetooth V2.1 + EDR

Built-in 2.0MP Digital Video Camera

Fingerprint Reader

***Hey i Googled the Sandy Bridge thing and wow, it sure it nice! correct me if im wrong but can i actually put a processor that new into a computer this old?? they meantion on Wiki that it supports DDR3-1600 dual channel RAM. i dont think the m9750 can go past 667MHz DDR2...

 

The OCZ Whitebook is actually the base for the old Alienware M17 (not M17x) notebook produced before the Dell merge. It's a very potent platform, HOWEVER...

Saying it can't keep up with the M17x is absolute rubbish. The two mobility 3870s are potent, but definetely not in line with the latest technology. In games that support Crossfire well, they'll manage to keep up with a single 5870, and they'll beat pretty much any other single GPU configuration. However, any of the latest dual-GPU configs just blow it out of the water.

Sandy Bridge will NOT be backwards compatible, most likely. The odds are almost definite that it'll require a new processor socket. For that reason alone, I'd say hold off until they realease an M17x refresh with Sandy Bridge processors. Yes, it won't be cheap, but that WILL be powerful. As it stands an OCZ Whitebook/M17 really isn't that significant an upgrade over an M9750 to really justify it right now.

 

Thank you for your response and i have to admit i know nothing as far as how GPUs stand up against others. im really glad you meantioned that OCZ whitebook was about the same as the former m17 and im also glad you pointed out that i should wait for the m17x to support sandy bridge. despite the price, sounds like a good deal! ultimately, i should wait for the m17x with sandy bridge. so, until then, should i just save my money and keep my 9750 for now? like i said earlier, its a little over 3 years old but playing new school games like a champ! do you still think that for its age its decent compared to these 500-600 laptops from walmart with quads?

 

it can keep up with the m17x .......... just need a little ambition you know
how ever it need uberrare 4850 that will soon be out dated

but sandy bridge and the next gent GPU will just blow it out of the water

 

Despite its age it's still a fairly potent laptop in terms of GPU power. There's no point in upgrading (yet, at least) if you find it's still playing new games well.

Don't forget that those $500-600 laptops might have quad cores in them, but the odds are definite that they won't have the same GPU power. Your CPU may be slow by today's standards, but most games rely on the GPUs, not the CPU.

Well, yeah, IF you're lucky enough to have an M17/OCZ Whitebook with 4850s, then it'll keep up. It's damn near impossible to get them these days.

 

Thank you for all of your responses i feel a bit better about it now. like i said, over the past week ive been downloading games nonstop tryin to see where the limit is and hoping it wasnt at the least gpu heavy game out nowadays. im sure that after i buy my next laptop wether it be an m17x or an OCZ whitebook, ill hold onto my m9750 cause, its a beast, old school

 

I agree, I still have mine and its still a well treasured friend with no issues.

 

the dual 3870s dont keep up with a single 5870

I have a M17 and M15x side by side and it isnt really close

 

Depends a lot on the games that are being played.

On those that support Crossfire very well, the 3870s will keep up fairly well. Not enough of a difference to make it unplayable on one, and playable on the other.

On games that DON'T support Crossfire very well, then yeah, the 3870s are going to come a long way behind.

 

and good luck finding a game that don't most game won't even notice the diference when they are using 2 or 1 card because of the way ati implemented CFX unlike nvidia's sli


the dual 3870 should not be more then 20-40% behind the 5870

 

i was online lookin at systemrequirementslab comparing my wife's HP Pavillion DV7 1129WM with my M9750 with SLI 8700m's and it told me that hers had 1.9gb video ram and mine had 512mb.. ? mine should be at 1gb also, what doesnt make sense is that it says hers doesnt come close to recommended and mine does just fine, she has allegedly more video ram and a AMD Turion X2 Dual Core RM-72 2.10Ghz "Rated at 3.553Ghz" <--- not sure what that means "rated at". why is hers not coming close to my computer when she has those specs does SLI 8700m gt 512mb still beat an ATI Radeon HD 3200 1.9gb?? (((BTW, the game in question is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (not 2) i know, its an old game which was why i figured it was a good game to compare her laptop with mine. can anyone tell me why hers has more specs i guess but, for a lack of a better word, less powerful?

 

The Mobility Radeon 3200 is an integrated graphics chip that has none of its own memory. So it shares memory with the system's RAM. That's why it's got 1.9GB; it's sharing 1.9GB of the main system RAM.

As for your own M9750, that's because of the way that SLi (and indeed Crossfire as well) works. It has to store the same information on each of the graphics cards. This means your total graphics memory is actually only as much as a single card: 512MB.

 

oh okay, thanks for info

 

whatd does it mean when it says: CPU Speed
Recommended: 2.5 GHz
You Have: 2.00 GHz Performance Rated at: 3.3 GHz

 

it's because the cpu performance per clock has been going better end better with time so we can't just compare a cpu performance clock VS clock cause 1 core of a cor2 architecture when runing at 2.0ghz can deploy the same power as a pentium IV at 3.2 and a single core of a I7 architecture at 2.0ghz out matche a core 2 at 2.53 so they need to place it on a common ground to compare the power and this common ground as been accepted as being the pentium IV so that means that a single of your core can deploy as much power at 2.0 that a pentium IV could at 3.3

 

Thank you for your response, it makes sense now

 

EDIT: wrong thread

 

I think sometime we get so caught up to with the cpu and gpu in our laptops that we will drive ourselves crazy. I am all ways ready and looking up info on how to improve my system that sometime I don't think I even appreciate how good it is already. I have got a pretty nice Toshiba that has a 9700 gpu in it. I think to myself all the time " man I want to upgrade that GPU or just get a new rig. So I did I blew $3800 on a M17x about a year and a half ago. I thought man this is it. This has got to be one of the best rigs that could be made. I sent off for it and gave the Toshiba to my mother to use. " I need to say at this point the Toshiba at this point had never given me any problem and I have played every game you could think of on it." Anyway I got the all mighty Alien in and to make a long story short, I had problems with it from almost day one. I remember thinking to myself the first time I played Crysis on it man this does not really look allot better then my Toshiba did but I have got to be wrong this is a $3800 alien with duel 3870 and a extreme cpu that by itself was a almost $1000 upgrade. Anyway time went by and one day I went to power up the alien monster and guess what. No luck. I called in to support and after a good 3hrs on the phone they come to find out that both of my hard drives where fried. Well they did good and overnight ed me 2 new ones and walked me threw the recovery process. I got it going again and update everything and was off to gaming again. Well I downloaded the new battlefield bad company 2 to play. Guess what the system would hardly play it. Even on med setting. If I got into thick brush or water man it got real slow and choppy. Well I looked around and found out that BF2 was a game that they said did not play well with crossfire. So I said oh well and went on playing other games. Then The long awaited Metro 2033 came out. And guess what it did run it beautifully. Man it made no since to me that a game that is more of a power-hog then crysis every was would play perfect but BF2 and some other older games would be so crappy. Anyway Time goes by and I have to sell my M17X due to some hard times. Went a few months with nothing and was going crazy and my mother felt sorry for me and gave me back my Toshiba. I got it and thought to myself wow this is going to suck. Slow cpu and only a 9700 single gpu in it again. So I went to my steam account and downloaded Metro 2033 to see if this thing would even play it. And guess what? It did. And pretty damn good too. I was really quite amazed. So then I downloaded CODMWF2 and guess what ran on full high setting then went back and downloaded Battlefield bad company 2. And guess freaking what? Run perfect. Yes it is not on high but neither was the $3800 alienware. It got me thinking that if I was just happy with what I had at the time I would have not wasted close to $4000 and had all of that crazy trouble ya know? LOL Anyway what I have been trying to say is if your system plays the game you want it to play and it looks good to you then remember my little story and save yourself allot of money and trouble!

Just a note guys this is not meant to be a bash Alienware post I still love the brand but it just happened that I got a lemon. lol

 

your right, times are tough for me for now as far as cash and my m9750, as old as it is, plays all my games just fine. for instance, i just downloaded starcraft 2 the other day and it cant handle it on very high but all on high so, for it to play a brand new game on better settings than most newer laptops, its a beast. someday i will upgrade to a newer 17" alienware like the 17x but i want one with the sandy bridge processor XD