M15x now with the 5850!

Check the M17x 5870 thread for the details, but a rep just "confirmed" to me that the 5850 alienware has in the m15X is, indeed, GDDR3. Information taken from their newly updated tech pages.

 

The big wigs at CLEVO are laughing there assses off now.
What a sham.

 

on the Canadian site the HD5850 is half the price of an upgrade than the 260GTX. If that is with GDDR5 then its gold, but I just dont see how thats possible when it's cheaper than the 260. All signs point it to being GDDR3

 

Well, 5870MR is about 50 dollars cheaper than the 285M, so it's likely that 5850MR GDDR5 is cheaper than 260M.

 

That was a dumb move by alienware.... especially with HP going to release envy 15 and 17 with 5850 and GDDR5

 

I spoke to 2 reps and they have said it is definately GDDR5

 

^^^thats just the thing. ive spoken with 2 reps and and they have each told me differently. Im not trying to be negative. I really want it to be GDDR5, but until somebody gets one and checks it out for us its going to be a guessing game.

i think we can tell from these rep conversations that they either do not know whether or not it is GDDR5 yet, or they are just telling you what you want to hear in order to try and make a sale.

just do yourself a favor and don't take their word as gold. with so many different answers, you really just cant tell yet. im sure somebody will get one or we will have more solid info of the card within a few weeks. i just hate to see somebody spend $3000 on a system that doesnt have the card that a rep said it had.

 

The 5850 offering for M15x is GDDR5.

 

Lol Thanks for the Confirmation. Although I just got off the phone with Alienware Support for Canada, and they just told me that the 5850 has the GDDR3.

I have the option of switching and the general concensus is that its worth it IF its DDR5, (which Bill just confirmed) so I may have to take it unless someone knows why i shouldn't bother. (btw i just got my M15x 2 days ago).

 

Feel free to PM me the email address of any Dell or Alienware rep willing to share that with you, and I will help them and their site lead get the correct information. It's GDDR5 for sure.

 

PM Sent. Now all I need to figure out is if its worth it to switch, I personally don't care much for Nvidia since the 4000 Series ATI cards came out.

 

Thanks Bill. The M15x is a very good deal now. That $100 off EPP coupon is looking very attractive now.

 

Any chance you can help with the mystery behind the M17xR2 A04 bios? A handful of us have it but no idea what issues it addresses. TIA!

 

$100? They sent me $75....I got robbed.

 

thank you for the confirmation. if it really is a GDDR5 card then its a pretty solid card. not quite the 5870, but not bad.

dell-Bill, is there any way to post a confirmation that shows it is what dell is using? evey time i talk to a rep, they send me a link for a generic ATI radeon specs. id love to see something that shows that Dell is using particular card. I know its kinda a tough request, but if possible, i know a ton of people on here would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

here is the link that the reps keep sending me. it isn't to helpful as it doesn't show anything dell related, but according to these specs, if they are using GDDR5 it is not a bad card. Just not quite the biggest baddest thing out there.

ATI Radeon? HD 5850 GPU Feature Summary

 

Damn you are right. Just another $25 to add to the haggling goal I guess.

 

hitokiri1,

Thanks for the PM. Email sent. I will get a note over to address the broader issue of clearing up the internal FUD around GDDR5 vs GDDR3.

I'm pretty sure one thing it is supposed to fix is a DPC latency spike when pressing the ODD eject button on the media panel. I will have to chase for the change log to see what else they did. I'd be surprised if it were anything beyond that.

Let me work on this. Can't make any promises, but I'll run it up the flagpole.

 

the $100 offer was through the alienware arena. i can PM you the code if you need it. im too up in the air to order before it expires. plus im at work so i cant talk to a rep on the phone. let me know if you want it. or anyone else for that matter.

 

No I have that one thanks. It's the EPP codes that are more valuable because they are stackable.

 

thanks Dell-Bill. we all appreciate any help you could give us

 

hmm If we're talking just EPP codes, i only got $75 off too. lame

 

Yeah but 10% + $75 off is still better than just $100 off.

 

^^^ very true. so the $100 off from the arena isnt stackable at all? didn't know that but its good for future reference when i do order.

 

Has anyone seen any benchmarks for this card in any other systems? My search only reveals bench's for the DDR3 version (which are pretty bad)

 

If there is any existing discount through the Dell home site then I'm sure it would be. With EPP you already know you'll get 10% + whatever coupon.

 

well this is true the thats crap as 5850s score lower than gtx 260

look here: Notebookcheck: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850


so why on earth would anyone want this?

 

Well, thats the DDR3 version, but its been confirmed that the DDR5 version is the one being shipped. Apparently its much more capable. Slightly more so than that of the GTX 260 and its direct X 11 Capable.

According to Notebook Review that 5850 also scores lower than a 4850. lol.

 

DirectX11 and if its ends up being the GDDR5 version then I can see why people would consider it. But if its the GDDR3 version, then no way.

 

Taken from Notebookcheck

The 3D performance of the Mobility HD 5850 depends heavily on the used graphics ram. As long as fast GDDR5 is used, the performance should be between a GeForce GTX 260M - 280M in the high end segment. Therefore, all current games (2009) should be playable in high details with high resolutions. With DDR3 memory the performance should drop noticeably because of the 128 Bit wide memory bus.

If this is in fact true and Alienware is willing to replace my GTX 260M with the 5850 then I will consider this highly. But some more input would really be appreciated. I don't want to give up my GTX260 for something that could turn out to be a dud. I'd upgrade to a 5870 but this would be a free upgrade.

 

Get the 5850. Since it's gddr5 you can oc it to 5870 speeds or even flash it with a 5870 bios.

 

alrighty, i'm dealing with an alienware rep now hopefully i'll have the 5850 (if everything goes according to plan) installed by tomorrow or monday.

 

i tried this process and was told to send back my laptop and then get a replacement system with 5850

 

Quite dissapointing that the M15x is the weak link in the Alienware lineup.. releasing it with the 5870 will not result in the cannibalization of their own products as an M17x 5870x2 will still beast it by quite a margin.

 

If thats the case i'll have them process the replacement, take it when it comes and just swap my harddrive into the new system. (only thing i'll have to deal with is the wait)

 

no you have to send your laptop to them then they send you a replacement once it has been built looonnnnggg process

 

I wonder why they just can't offer a card for card swap. The card is a user replaceable part. Come on Dell...

 

yea i was wondering why too but they wouldn't say otherwise but im satisfied for now with the 260m oced to 650/1100/1625 scored 12958 3dmark06

also around christmas time if gddr5 has ben proven ill just buy it and should be less expensive due to fermi coming to the market so we will see

 

i've had like 5 replacement laptops in the past year, i've never had to send back my laptop until i received my new one.

Eduardo my alienware rep is in the process of figuring out how to send the new 5850 card with the technician tomorrow (they're replacing my LCD panel) So we'll see if that pans out.

 

please due cause my 21 day replacement time frame is coming up so please update

 

I feel like i'm going to be on hold forever while they figure this thing out. almost 30 minutes now with him poppnig in to ask for more time

 

has any one seen a spec sheet on this card yet or just the generic ati spec sheet?

 

Ok, The 5850 was approved, I should hopefully see it with a technician tomorrow.

 

let me know cause i want to know if its gddr5 if so tomorrow im going to talk with my rep right away and get the swap done

also can you ask your rep if i can talk to him because i tried this tuesday but was told it had to be a replacement system and could not be swapped.

 

Dell_Bill has already confirmed this afternoon that the M15x 5850 is the GDDR5 version.

 

My M15X arrived yesterday and so far i have been very impressed! ....previous desktop gpu was 8600gt lol

Worth even considering the upgrade?

 

I'm not sure if anyone can be certain yet if its "worth" the upgrade. But we'll soon find out.

 

people were confirming the 4870 for the M17x was gddr5 also it also said it on some people order specs but low and behold people get them and they were gddr3 i want to see gpuz shots for confirmation.

 

If it realy is the GDDR5 then yes its worth it... Just ask your sales rep!
Though its not worth paying hundreds to update it afterwards..

 

I couldn't justify the wait.....so i've basically answered my own question

 

Well, Bill seems to be fairly on point when it comes to information. So in this instance I'm going to trust him. (I was there when he was helping with the Studio XPS 16 Throttling issues). Worst case scenario however, if its the wrong memory they will have to replace it with the original Nvidia GTX 260