I can't decide. Alienware is confusing the sh* out of me, and I can't decide which to pack into this laptop. either dual Nvid cards mentioned above, or the ATI's. I do heavy 3d Animation, so a gaming laptop would be perfect, but I just can't decide. I've seen benchmarks where the ATi's fall under the Nvid cards, then seen them blast to the literal top of the list when "SLi"ed. I'm confused. HAlp! Cyrus
SLI is nVidia's form of combining multiple graphics cards Crossfire is ATI's form of combining multiple graphics cards, the 3850X2 is when there are two GPU's on a single card, roughly equal to two single gpu/card in crossfire. 3870X2 > 9800M GT 9800M GT SLI > 3870X2
Right, I knew the SLi/Crossfire thing, but according to this site ( http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9800M-GT.9906.0.html ) The ATi cards (x2, 3870) is the very MAX on the list, unless I'm reading it wrong. ON the exact same token, the laptop that comes with the ATi cards has ddr3 mem clocked higher, and what appears to be a better processor, but somehow ends to be almost $1k cheaper, which I can't seem to grasp. Its rated higher then the lappy with the nvid cards, but the nivd cards cost more, even though it comes with ddr2 mem and clocked slower. BUT, according to the 3dmark you have, two sli'd Nvid 9800m's are beter then crossfired ATi mobiles? I realize marketing is a heartless business, but even on alienwares site the nvid laptop is rated lower in everything in comparison to the ATi one, but cost more, and has lower clocked mem and processor, but the other is rated higher, has higher clocked mem and ddr3, but costs almost 1k less. I've been leaning towards the nvid because I've always loved nvid cards and products in general. I'm just lost as hell. Thanks for your help and future replies. Cyrus (And if I just picked the Quadro would it be better then BOTH of those choices?)
quadro is a workstation card, meaning it's for 3d rendering. the 3870x2 and 9800M GT are gaming cards. take note, you cannot game and do 3d work on the same card. they are specifically designed to either maximize gaming or do complicated 3d rendering.
