Just finished my 1461 purchase from Xoticpc

I ordered it with Windows 7 for $105. Do you think I should tell them that I no longer want it and order Windows 7 from somewhere else (if it's cheaper)?

 

You can find it for $99 elsewhere but what's $6?

 

Okay, thanks. Am I going to have to install the BIOs and drivers when I receive it also?


Is this a barebone?


FORCE 1761 / MSI 1761
- HDD Raid Settings - OFF
- 750GB (w/ 8GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid (Serial-ATA III 600 - 32MB Cache) (SKU - X5R424)
- Remove Hard Drive
- Standard Finish
- 8GB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2x4GB SODIMMS) - Special (SKU - X4P982)
- No Video Adapter
- nVidia GeForce GTX 570M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 (SKU - X3R454)
- Stock OEM Thermal Compound ( IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU Provided FREE with Processor Upgrade!)
- 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM, 2.0-2.8GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache) (SKU - X2R205)
- Contact us about our Significant Savings on our 30-Day No Dead Pixel Warranty. Heavily Discounted!
- NO Professional Monitor Color Calibration
- 17.3" FHD 16:9 "Matte Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Matte Screen (1920x1080) (SKU - X1R553)
- FREE Copy of Battlefield 3 with any MSI Laptop w/ nVIDIA GeForce GTX
- Combo Dual Layer SuperMulti DVDRW/CDRW Drive w/ Software (SKU - X7R451)
- No Extra Optical Bay Hard Drive Caddy
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- NO External USB Optical Drive
- Stock OEM Thermal Compound ( IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU Provided FREE with Processor Upgrade!)
- Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- No Back Up Software
- Bluetooth Included (See “Wireless Network” Section Below)
- Built-in 802.11 Wireless B/G/N - Stock Wireless Card (SKU - X8R001)
- No Network Accessory
- Integrated Digital Video Camera
- No TV Tuner
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- No Carrying Case
- Smart Li-ion Battery (9-Cell)
- No Car Adapter
- No Spare AC Adapter
- No Dock/Hub/Adapter
- No Fingerprint Reader
- No Headset
- No External Keyboard or Mouse
- No Notebook Cooler
- No Thanks, Please do not Overclock my system
- No Operating System Redline Boost
- Windows 7 Home Premium - 64-Bit
- No Office Software
- No Software Bundle
- 1 Year Complete Care Warranty - 1 Year Parts with Ground Shipping, 24/7 Telephone Tech Support & Lifetime Labor Warranty (SKU - X9R000)
- No Xotic PC Gear

Does that look good?

 

If XOTIC is installing Windows on your primary boot drive they will install all the drivers from MSI that in some cases may be outdated.

Get a better wireless card if you're going to use wireless alot and outside the room where your router is because of disconnects.

You can save some money by getting a normal WD Scorpio Black hard drive.There's little /no advantage in gaming and everyday use with the costly Seagate Hybrid that only has a 1 year warranty.

The GTX570M should be fine for games now but if you are going to own longer than 2 years I'd seriously look into a GTX580M.

 

The seagate drive which boots way faster and will also be able to use that 8gb as a write cache in the future.

After tweaking the 580M is only around 10% faster than the 570M so not really worth it if you know what you are doing.

 

From XOTIC 1761 customization page
750GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s)( + $37 )

750GB (w/ 8GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid (Serial-ATA III 600 - 32MB Cache)( + $139 )

Bang for the buck.Is the price difference worth it?

The creators over at Seagate have themselves admitted that the Momentus XT line is more of a learning process. It is an innovation in every sense of the word, but that does not make it perfect. There are a few issues, especially with the NAND processing as shown by a plethora of tests that outweigh its normal capability. An 8Gb SLC is just too small for today’s standards; it should be at least 32Gb, with 64Mbs of DRAM. This is also the reason as to why FAST is not capable of influencing write tasks. Among garbage collecting, Adaptive Memory, and FAST Management, the NAND just has too much to do with too little.

Seagate Momentus XT 750GB Solid State Hybrid Drive Review - SSD Performance With HDD Capacity - The SSD Review

nVidia GeForce GTX 580M 2,048MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 - (Available Mid-January)( + $399 )

 

For someone willing to tweak their system I would save the $400 and get an SSD. You can get a high quality 256gb drive.

 

Future notebooks may have high capacity SATA 3 hard drives and mSATA SSD for caching

Here's the mSATA SSD intoduces at CES 2012 Storage Visions 2012

Intel Keynote And Future Plans- Storage Visions 2012 Update - The SSD Review

OWC Ready to Ship Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G 480GB -- Smallest and Most Powerful SSD in Today's Marketplace! - The SSD Review

OCZ Everest Finds Its Way Into Ultrabooks - CES 2012 Update - The SSD Review

 

i know you currently own the GTX 570M but that is still...blah! As if the GTX 580M is not overclock-able.

 

I am comparing overclocked to overclocked.

If you are struggling with the rest of the components such as HDD or SSD then it's not

If I were comparing overclocked 570 to stock 580 I'd say the 570 leaves the 580 in the dust

 

Muhahahaha....you're wiser than you think young grasshopper ...But Overclocked GTX580m...oh boy ...fun..

 

By all means, if you have the spare money then why the hell not, it's fun for sure but waiting for a slow assed hard drive is not fun either.

 

If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay? The reason I ask is because I was going back and forth between Xotic and Gentech until I called both and Gentech gave me a coupon code. Here is what I got for $1308.

Intel 2670
Nvidia 570m
IC Diamond Thermal Compound
8GB DDR3 1600
WD 750GB Hard Drive 7200rpm
Bigfoot Wireless Card (you need to add this as I've been told it is much better than the stock wireless card)
4x BluRay Reader
Windows 7 Home Premium

 

This is exactly what I was told by Gentech's customer service. By the way, the guy who handles their customer service seemed very knowledgeable and he had all of the benchmarks in front of him.

He basically told me that unless money was not a issue, the $400 upgrade cost for the 580m was no where near worth the price. He said it's worth about $200 at most and that the $400 would be better spent on a nice SSD and that the SSD would benefit your system more than going from a 570 to a 580.

Here is the way I look at it. If my 570 is starting to struggle two years down the road, I will then purchase the 580 at a mucvh cheaper price or I will splurge on one of the newer chips in two years. In my opinion, the 570 is more than enough right now (especially when it's overclocked just a little bit).

 

If you are at the point where your 570M is not cutting it, the 580M won't either.

That's the secret to knowing if money is a concern is the upgrade worth it. Is the difference large enough in the future that I would not have issues if I go for the upgrade.