AVADirect’s X7200: The GeForce GTX 485M SLI Mobile Graphics Giant
Table of contents
- 1. Better? Faster? Cheaper?
- 2. Taking It To The Limit, One More Time
- 3. Test Settings
- 4. Benchmark Results: PCMark And Sandra
- 5. Benchmark Results: Non-Gaming Applications
- 6. Benchmark Results: Crysis
Hot on the heels of Eurocom’s Radeon HD 6970M CrossFire-based launch, AVADirect promises even bigger performance using pair of GeForce GTX 485M modules in SLI. Can AVADirect claim the performance crown at a lower price than its competition?
Always ready to scrap, Nvidia was quick to respond to AMD's Mobility Radeon HD 6970 In CrossFire On Eurocom's Panther by pointing to lower-cost vendors selling dual-module versions of its solution at a lower price. It was finally time for us to put the whole “AMD vs. Nvidia” mobile performance supremacy debate to rest, at least when it comes to this generation of cards.
With the sole goal of testing both performance and value claims, AVADirect supplied a configuration identical to its competitor’s except for three items: the HDMI input device included by Eurcom was removed, the Bluetooth feature removed by Eurocom was replaced, and the pair of GeForce GTX 485 graphics modules in SLI would take the place of the previously-tested Radeon HD 6970 CrossFire solution.
| AVADirect X7200 Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Platform | Clevo X7200 Chassis: Intel LGA 1366, X58 Express/ICH10R, MXM-III Discrete Graphics |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition Six-Core 3.33-3.60 GHz, 6.4 GT/s QPI, 12 MB L3 Cache, 32 nm, 130 W |
| RAM | Crucial 12 GB (3 x 4 GB) DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM, CL9, 1.5 V, Non-ECC |
| Graphics | Dual Nvidia GeFore GTX 485M, 2 GB GDDR5, SLI |
| Display | 17.3" Glossy LED-Backlit TFT, 1920x1080 |
| Webcam | 3.0 Megapixel |
| Audio | Integrated HD Audio |
| Security | Built-in Fingerprint Reader |
| Storage | |
| Hard Drive | Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS Hybrid, 500 GB + 4 GB Flash |
| Optical Drive | H-L Data CT21N 6x Blu-ray Reader / 8x DVD Writer Combo Drive |
| Media Drive | 9-in-1 Flash Media Interface |
| Networking | |
| Wireless LAN | Intel Ultimate-N 6300, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, 11/54/450 Mb/s |
| Wireless PAN | Integrated Bluetooth Device |
| Gigabit Network | JMicron PCIe 10/100/1000 Mb/s Ethernet |
| IEEE-1394 | Optional (not installed) |
| Telephony | Not Available |
| Peripheral Interfaces | |
| USB | 3 x USB 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0 |
| Expansion Card | Not Available |
| HDD | 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s |
| Audio | Headphone, Microphone, Line-In, Digital Out Jacks |
| Video | 1 x Dual-Link DVI-I w/VGA Adapter, 1 x HDMI |
| Power & Weight | |
| AC Adapter | 300 W Power Brick, 100-240 V AC to 15 V DC |
| Battery | 14.8 V 5300 mAh (78.44 Wh) Single |
| Weight | Notebook 13.4 lbs, AC Adapter 3.6 lbs (x 2), Total 20.6 pounds |
| Software | |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Edition, OEM |
| Service | |
| Warranty | One-year parts and labor |
| Price | $4,518 |
AVADirect’s GeForce GTX 485M-based solution is several hundred dollars cheaper than its competitor’s offering based on Radeon HD 6970M, in spite of its identical processor, memory, operating system, and storage. Even the Bluetooth module AVADirect supplied is priced similarly to the HDMI input modules supplied by its competitor (according to that competitor’s price sheet), making today’s system appear a better value than the one previously reviewed. Our benchmarks will reveal whether that apparent increase in value rings true.
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these thing are ridiculously expensive. Besides it seems dual gpu's(at least in the mobile sector) scale HORRIBLY in most scenerios.
wonder who buy these things
Those who really, really need the power, or just have lots of money to blow on stuff like this.
Those who need to process large data sets on the go would likely see lots of use from a machine like this.
Also, those who develop software and need a mobile machine to showcase their new products (especially if that software happens to be a game).
Diminishing returns? Maybe with personal laptops < 1000 dollars. Not with this class of machine.
these thing are ridiculously expensive. Besides it seems dual gpu's(at least in the mobile sector) scale HORRIBLY in most scenerios.
If you look at the 1920x1080 highest detail results, it's somewhere around 60-80%. I wouldn't call that horrible. You do want to game at the panel's native resolution, no?
Great review as always Crashman
Judging from the specs,1 GTX 485M performance falls between a desktop GTX 460 and GTX 560Ti right ?
Great review as always Crashman Judging from the specs,1 GTX 485M performance falls between a desktop GTX 460 and GTX 560Ti right ?
It looks that way on paper...I'm sure there's an X7200 review with a desktop card that you could use to make the conversions.
Yep,right.
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2855.html
But I liked to see a desktop system in the comparison charts.
Crysis 1280x720 is a bit of an abberation for the 6970 in Crossfire. Had it not misbehaved there, the result would have been closer, however now AMD have to drop their prices as NVIDIA have brought out a very good solution.
I kind of object to using all of the low resolution results on a configuration like this. It seems like all that it does is skew the results in favour of Nvidia, where in actual fact at the highest details and resolutions (i.e. the targeted area for a gaming laptop) the radeons conclusively win in performance.
I understand that the value proposition is not very good still, but your conclusion is misleading in my opinion. People splashing out to be able to play the most modern games at highest res simply do not care how many excessive frames are pushed at the low end.
Ok there's something I don't understand : on Eurocom's website an HD6970M costs 475$ LESS than an GTX 485M ... in fact the 6970M costs the same as an GTX 470M
so how can an SLI'd GTX 485 could be cheaper than an Xfire'd GTX 485M ?
correction : Xfire'd HD 6970M
OK that's the best one !!!
On AVAdirect's website : choosing the X7200 : choosing Xfire's HD 6970M solution costs 757$ LESS than choosing SLI'd GTX 485M
this review DO appear fake ...
please Crashman provide some more info on all this ...
I agree with above poster. Comparing the Eurocom price to that AVADirect price is misleading. For some reason, Eurocom is silly expensive. If you compare two identical AVADirect builds with the only difference being the type of GPU, the dual 6970 build is more than 700 cheaper. Same thing on the Eurocom website. Not that I am a fanboi of either graphics card - I own both makes, but you should compare apples to apples. As written, it appears that 485s are cheaper than 6970s when they are not. In fact, the 6970s are about half as much. Please update review.
Eurocomm marks there stuff up to the moon...compare configs on xoticPC to get a more realistic scenario. Or on sager themselves....(which every one resells). I believe both offer both the 6970m's AND the GTX 485m's
That being said, the stock drivers for the GTX 485m suck miserably. On Notebook Review Forums I have modded 267.76 to include GTX 485m and the reported gains are AMAZING there compared to the original drivers. You are really not doing these cards justice with this review
The GTX 485m are easily the better performing cards but cost more to reflect this
Ok guys I got it !!!
nVidia's mobile GPUs cost less than AMD's one ...
APRIL'S FOOL EVERYONE !!!
mr. soderstorm needs some explaining to do
sorry for theses 2 extra posts, we really need edit function ... :-(
April fool ?
I've wanted to say this for quite a long time.
]. Starting at $1172 (Sager NP8130), it covers quite a broad spectrum(pricewise) and sells more thanks to its better battery life and portability than its "i9+985M" counterparts. The attention you've given to that isn't commensurate with the number of units that configuration sells or the number of models it sells in (Asus G53, G73, Sager NP8130/50/70, Toshiba Qosmio, Alienware M15X/M17X, MSI GT660R + all the boutique options).
Toms compare laptops. We appreciate it. Love it. But please have a look at the last five or so configurations you have tested. They are insanely overbudget top-of-the-line builds that make little sense to most because:-
1. Of the lack of money in most cases,
2. Of the lack of real portability (weight and battery life) in many of the cases where people have the required dough.
Performance does not scale well with price as we move from "low high-end" to "high high-end" (Small increments in clock rate cost hundreds of dollars from i7 2630QM to 2920XM, alright, some increase in cache as well, but you get the point, also upgrading from 460M to 485M costs $500 at the cheapest).
So you see where I'm going ? Far more people go for a 460M/2630QM combo or a 460M/2720QM combo than for a "985M-Super-SLI+i9 HyperExtreme Edition 8 GHz Turbo Boost" [Sorry, couldn't help that
As good as this stuff is, to drool upon, it's configurations like that that would make sense to more of us.
Of course, if it's only the highest end the manufacturers want to be reviewed and showed off, then you really don't have a choice.