Test Settings
The M17x was originally scheduled to go up against AVADirect’s Core i7-820XM notebook, but arrived with a faster Core i7-920XM processor. In order to make this a fair comparison, we held onto the system until Eurocom’s i7-940XM units arrived. Today, we get to see how well Alienware’s $3900 configuration fits between $3100 AVADirect and $4100 Eurocom competition.
| Test System Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Alienware M17x CPU | Intel Core i7-920XM PGA988, 2.00-3.20 GHz, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache |
| AVADirect W880CU CPU | Intel Core i7-820QM PGA998, 1.73-3.06 GHz, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache |
| Eurocom X8100 CPU | Intel Core i7-940XM PGA988, 2.13-3.33 GHz, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache |
| Alienware RAM | 2 x Samsung M471B5673FH0-CH9 (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1333 CAS 9-9-9-24, 4 GB Total |
| AVADirect RAM | 2 x Kingston KVR1333D3S9/2G (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1333 CAS 9-9-9-24. 4 GB Total |
| Eurocom RAM | 2 x Kingston KHX1333C7S3K2/4G (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1333 CAS 7-7-7-20 4 GB Total |
| Mobility Radeon Graphics | 2 x AMD Mobility Radeon HD 5870 1 GB, CrossFire 700 MHz GPU, GDDR5-4000 |
| GeForce Mobile Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M 2 GB 425 MHz GPU Core, GDDR5-2400 |
| Alienware Hard Drive | 2 x Seagate ST9500420AS, RAID 0 500 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache, SATA 3Gb/s |
| AVADirect Hard Drive | Corsair CSSD-V128GB2-BRKT, 128 GB MLC, SATA 3Gb/s SSD |
| Eurocom Hard Drive | Crucial RealSSD C300, 256 GB MLC, SATA 6Gb/s SSD |
| Sound | Integrated HD Audio |
| Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
| Power | FSP 19 V 11.57 A (220 W) Power Block 14.8 V 4650 mAh (68.82 Wh) Battery |
| Software | |
| OS | Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit |
| Graphics | Alienware Version 8.692.2-100203a1-095371C-Dell Eurocom Version 8.75-100527a-100755E-Clevo AVADirect Version 257.07 Desktop Version 10.3 |
| Chipset | Intel INF 9.1.1.1020 |
Each notebook manufacturer customizes its graphics drivers to fit the unique designs of its graphics modules. Though Alienware’s driver appears older than Eurocom’s, it was still the released version available at the time of our September tests. Its parent company Dell therefore takes the credit for any effect the lower-numbered driver has on gaming performance.
Bear in mind that AMD now offers universal drivers for its mobile products, following Nvidia's example. These aren't always guaranteed to work, though. On two different occasions, we've been unable to install the GeForce drives on Clevo-based notebook models. Most recently, this was the case with the GeForce GTX 480M tested here. You're of course welcome to try these universal packages when they work, but to keep our comparison even, we used the latest driver from each system vendor at the time of writing. Note that Alienware released a newer driver after testing on its unit was completed. With that said, you'll notice that Alienware already dominates the benchmarks, so performance can only get better from here.
We also retained the desktop performance data from our first Mobility Radeon 5870 review to see if high-end gaming notebooks can reach the performance expectations of mainstream gamers. This is no trivial feat, since notebook components must be designed to generate minimum heat. The desktop platform is based on a Core i7-920 CPU, Radeon HD 5850, and 6 GB of DDR3-1333 CAS 7.
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | Campaign, Act III, Second Sun (45 sec. FRAPS) Test Set 1: Highest Settings, No AA Test Set 2: Highest Settings, 4x AA |
| Crysis | Patch 1.2.1, DirectX 10, 64-bit executable, benchmark tool Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Very High Quality, 4x AA |
| DiRT 2 | Run with -benchmark example_benchmark.xml Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 4x AA |
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat | Call Of Pripyat Benchmark version Test Set 1: High Preset, DX11 EFDL, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Preset, DX11 EFDL, 4x MSAA |
| Audio/Video Encoding | |
| iTunes | Version:9.0.2.25 x64 Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 min Default format AAC |
| HandBrake 0.9.4 | Version 0.9.4, convert first .vob file from The Last Samurai (1 GB) to .mp4, High Profile |
| TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress | Version: 4.7.3.292 Import File: Terminator 2 SE DVD (5 Minutes) Resolution: 720x576 (PAL) 16:9 |
| DivX Codec 6.9.1 | Encoding mode: Insane Quality Enhanced multithreading enabled using SSE4 Quarter-pixel search |
| Xvid 1.2.2 | Display encoding status = off |
| MainConcept Reference 1.6.1 | MPEG2 to MPEG2 (H.264), MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG2), Audio: MPEG2 (44.1 KHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Mode: PAL (25 FPS) |
| Productivity | |
| Adobe Photoshop CS4 | Version: 11.0 x64, Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 | Version: 11.0 x64, Rendering Dragon Image at 1920x1080 (HDTV) |
| Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus 9.0 | Version: 9.0.663, Virus base: 270.14.1/2407, Benchmark: Scan 334 MB Folder of ZIP/RAR compressed files |
| WinRAR 3.90 | Version x64 3.90, Dictionary = 4,096 KB, Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB) |
| 7-Zip | Version 4.65: Format=Zip, Compression=Ultra, Method=Deflate, Dictionary Size=32 KB, Word Size=128, Threads=8 Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB) |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| 3DMark Vantage | Version: 1.0.1, GPU and CPU scores |
| PCMark Vantage | Version: 1.0.1.0 x64, System, Productivity, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2010 | Version 2010.1.16.11, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / MultiMedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |
