I3-2310 + GT555M

T

Trimlock

[H]F Junkie
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Sep 23, 2005
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I had a thread earlier asking about a laptop under $500, but I was given a little bit more room to work with so now I'm no longer looking at barebones gaming with a laptop. I have heard people were dissapointed with how the GT540M performed and the GT555M was a really good sweet spot with out getting into some of the more expensive lines of gaming (6870M/GTX 560M/and up)

So is an i3 with a GT555M a bad idea in general?

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...r.workflow:Enter?mtm-item=:000000F3:0000449E:

I'm thinking "yes" will most likely come to mind, the GT555M is a step up from the 520m/525m/540m/550m line up (this is really confusing) and slightly faster then the GT445M.

Or should I just go with a XoticPC Sager built laptop?

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5165-clevo-w150hr-p-3063.html?wconfigure=yes
 
It's not a bad idea in terms of specs, but I heard that the Y570 isn't the best machine in terms of quality. I don't have one, so I can't comment directly, but check out notebookforums.com 's Lenovo page. I believe they have an owner's thread there.
The GT555m in that Lenovo does not have all the SP's, so expect a little worse performance than what's posted in benchmarks.

Other options that have decent GPU's include some offerings from Sager and the HP dv6.
 
Copy, I'll take your word for it on the Lenovo, thanks for the fast reply. Checking out the DV6 later tonight, off to work!
 
It looks like with the dv6s they only have the option for 6770s which looks like are comparable to the gt540m. Im still looking this up but am I completely off track here?
 
The 6770m is on par or faster than the GT555m. I have a dvt6 myself with an i5, 6770m, 6gigs of RAM, and a 1080p screen (highly recommended). I've been quite pleased.
 
Then its a done deal thanks for the help

What did you pay for your DV6 and which variant did you get? (I'm pokey)
 
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I got the DV6t select edition (you can opt for the quad for $100 bucks more, could be worth it)
I paid $854 for mine, I believe, after a nice 33% off coupon last month.
Things of note: There is a bit of keyboard flex around the f4-f5 region and the keyboard could be better overall. It's still quite usable, however. Build quality otherwise is very good. The 1080p screen is really nice. Battery life is impressive with the 9 cell. I've heard reports of the quad getting rather hot during games. I haven't had any major heat issues with the dual i5.

One other laptop to consider is the Sager 5165. I'd check around a bit for information on that as well.
 
Think ill stick with the 5165, the notebookcheck forum seems really happy with it. The gt555 seems to keep up fine with the 6770m.

Is it with the 80 upgrade for the i7 over the i5?
 
Trimlock said:
Think ill stick with the 5165, the notebookcheck forum seems really happy with it. The gt555 seems to keep up fine with the 6770m.

Is it with the 80 upgrade for the i7 over the i5?
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Careful, there are 4 (2 well known) variants of the GT555m. All have different performance levels. Some cannot even come close to parity with a HD6500m GPU.

Dell is the only one using the strongest variant, in the m14x (and one other Dell laptop, iirc).
 
Well how do you find out? People posting in the 5165 thread haven't mentioned not getting the 144SP one. Khanis has said that the Lenovo has variants with the cut down GT555m. But honestly how do you find out?

edit: Sager 5156 has the 144 shader (YES!) but 128bit bus on DDR3 (CRAP!) it apparently does hit it pretty well in performance.

edit2: the difference between the Dell m14x and the one in sager is only about 10%. Apparently the only GT555M's that have the 192bit bus is the 3gb variants. Still feeling happy about going with a Sager at this point.
 
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RAM capacity is one way of differentiating the main two.

768MB, 1.5GB, 3GB are the Dell 144SP variant.

Any with GDDR5 or DDR3 in 512MB, 1GB, 2GB are the 96SP variant. 96SP isn't that bad.... but it only has 4 ROPs, which utterly butcher it's performance vs the 144SP variant and any AMD Redwood/Turks GPU.
 
Must be one of the stranger 3rd or 4th variants :eek:

Well, beyond decreased rop count, it should perform at the hd6770m level or better.

Have fun!
 
jeremyshaw said:
Must be one of the stranger 3rd or 4th variants :eek:

Well, beyond decreased rop count, it should perform at the hd6770m level or better.

Have fun!
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Thanks,

the 16 ROPs is still at a lower count? So weird with all these damn variants.
 
Yeah, that's the 128bit bus version.

Top gt555m configuration has 192bit bus and 24 ROP :eek:

Also mind and rop and nvidia are different in performance (partially rested to core clock speeds for the rest of us).
 
jeremyshaw said:
Its becase the 96sp variant is a souped up gt430 desktop with gddr5, while the others are cut down gts450 desktop gpu.
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That explains a lot, just not the reason why its a GT555m and not the GT550, because the difference between the 550 and 540 is scarse.

People in the 8165 thread are reporting only a 10% difference, which is probably from the ROPs and not the mem bus? Regardless I can live with 10% difference, not looking to load up the AA which the 24ROP would destroy the 16ROP variant at.

edit: I can see how the M14x can ask for that price premium now, if those are locked core's I wonder if its unlockable?
 
Trimlock said:
It looks like with the dv6s they only have the option for 6770s which looks like are comparable to the gt540m. Im still looking this up but am I completely off track here?
Click to expand...

I have a DV6-6170US from Newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157876

I will say this. i7 [email protected] using Throttlestop 3.0 and set to turbo. Thing can deep fry a chipmunk at it's temps (167F) BUT... It said "Box may contain Awesome" and it DID! I'm playing WoW (Cataclysm) at everything MAXXED at 33fps avg and LOVE the fingerprint doohickey :) Take a look, pull the trugger, and LOVE IT :)

Annoyance
 
went with the dv6t from HP

i7-2630
HD6770m 1gb (wtf is up with the big price premium on the 2gb)
6gb memory upgrade (FREE)
640gb 7200rpm hdd (screw the 750 5400rpm)
blu-ray player (FREE)

Everything else is regular, I was a tad bit dissapointed in the price of the 1080 screen, with that selected it put it out of my price range. Over all happy with the laptop for the price, with tax just over $900.

I was getting fed up with the GT555m hunt, it has a lot of options out there but the idea of getting a hacked up version didn't sit well with me. Plus the reports of the increased power consumption with no real performance advantages (except the dell M14x version) made me stick with the 6770M, don't think I'll regret this decision at all.
 
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