Dell XPS M1730: SLI, Penryn, and Overclocking
by Jarred Walton on February 28, 2008 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Benchmark Setup
The launch of the 8800M GTX allowed us to set several new records in mobile graphics performance in January. Armed with two GPUs in the fastest mobile Core 2 Duo to date, we expect to shatter every laptop performance record. We also have several new titles were adding to our benchmark suite, and we ran a selection of the benchmarks at the various overclock settings. Here's the system configuration we received for review.
| Dell XPS M1730 Test System | |
| Processor | Core 2 Extreme X9000 (2.8GHz 6MB L2 800FSB) |
| Memory Slots | 2 x 1GB DDR2-667 (Nanya NT1GT64U8HB0BN-3C) |
| Graphics | 2 x NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX 512MB |
| Display | 17" UltraSharp WUXGA (1920x1200) LG Philips LP171WU1 |
| Hard Drives | 2 x 200GB 7200RPM RAID 0 Hitachi HTS722020K9A300 16MB |
| Optical Drive | DVDR SuperMulti |
| Networking/Communications | Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet Intel 4965AGN WiFi |
| Audio | Sigmatel STAC9228X HD Audio |
| Extras | AGEIA PhysX 100M PPU |
| Operating System | Vista Home Premium 32-bit |
| . | |
One component that we wanted to talk about briefly is the LCD. We've complained in the past that laptop LCDs often offer significantly worse performance than just about any desktop LCD. They aren't as bright, they have poor viewing angles, nearly all of them use TN panels, and color accuracy even after calibration is relatively poor. Dell uses one of the newer 17" LCDs from LG Philips, the LP171WU1. This is the brightest notebook LCD we've tested to date, coming in at over 250 nits at maximum brightness. It has a glossy coating, but with Dell TrueLife - a technology that supposedly reduces reflection. We could definitely see reflections still, but perhaps they weren't quite as noticeable as on other glossy LCDs.
Besides having a brighter backlight, the LCD panel also boasts one of the best response times currently available in a notebook display. Many laptops still come with 25ms response times, but this new LG Philips display boasts 16ms TrTf/7ms GTG response times. For a gaming system, that can be a significant factor and we're glad to see Dell taking a holistic approach to the system. So far so good, right?
The only drawback is that the color accuracy is off the charts. Prior to calibration, we measured a Delta E of over 15.0, but even after calibrating the best Delta E we could achieve was still almost twice as high as the next closest laptop. We asked Dell about this, but we didn't get any real answer as to why the color accuracy was so poor. More likely than not, the display has been calibrated to be more subjectively pleasing at the cost of color accuracy - a case of Best Buy HDTVs meeting laptop LCDs. For gaming and watching movies in particular, there's a very good chance that many people will subjectively prefer the slightly oversaturated colors.
Honestly, most people probably won't notice the color inaccuracies, but they will definitely notice that the display is brighter and the response times are better than competing notebooks. For those that really need accurate colors, however, this particular panel seems to miss the mark. For gaming and movies, we had no complaints, and even doing photo editing it wasn't a serious problem. Placing the display next to a calibrated 30" desktop LCD, however, clearly showed the differences in color reproduction. Given that this is primarily a gaming notebook, we certainly don't consider the high Delta E to be a major concern, but we'd be remiss if we didn't at least mention the fact.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
32 Comments
View All Comments
mark3450 - Thursday, February 28, 2008 - link
This is a near perfect computer for me. I'm always near a plug at a friends house or traveling for work, and in those places I want my machine to be as powerfule as possible. I bought and still use one of the original XPS laptops, and I've been happy with it. It is however getting near time to upgrade.One drawback I see however is that dell won't supply it with Vista64, which is disappointing as I'd defiantely get this beast with 4Gb and want to make full use of it. I've been using Vista64 on my gaming desktop for several months and have been very pleased with it. I'm sure Dell just doesn't want to deal with 2 sets of drivers, but Vista64 is the future and they should support it on a machine like this.
JarredWalton - Thursday, February 28, 2008 - link
Dell did ship me 2x2GB of RAM for additional testing, but I didn't get time to look at that (yet). 32-bit is still better for a lot of people, and I think the real inflection point is going to be when we start moving to 8GB systems. 64-bit can address all 4GB of memory without the need to split things into application and OS memory spaces, but usually it doesn't *need* it.I know Dell is starting to offer 64-bit as an option on some other systems, and I'd imagine down the road they'll have 64-bit for the M1730 (or perhaps the successor). Drivers are just so critical and notebooks don't get updated quite as often, so you really are living on the bleeding edge with SLI and Vista-64 right now. It's possible, of course, and in fact I'm sure you could install Vista-64 on the system on your own; Dell just isn't ready to support that yet.
mark3450 - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
The problem with installing my own Vista64 OS, aside from the cost, is that it's likely impossible to get NVIDIA drivers for it. I currently own an XPS/inspiron Gen2 and anything but the blessed drivers from Dell crash the machine, and it doesn't even have SLI.JarredWalton - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
Have you checked with NVIDIA? My understanding is that they now have quarterly driver updates that apply to various gaming notebooks, so even if Dell (or someone else) has abandoned an older model laptop, you might not be totally out of luck. If that does work, let me know as well - I'm certainly curious about it. The last driver release was supposedly just a couple months ago, and it should cover up through 8700M notebooks. (Dell XPS is supposed to be one of the participating vendors, so it's still voluntary, but most of the gaming notebook companies hopefully understand the importance of drivers and agreed to allow "reference" drivers from NVIDIA to work for certain systems.)Regarding Vista-64, again the above may offer a solution.
strafejumper - Thursday, February 28, 2008 - link
this is what i meani only use desktops my whole life so i don't know much about laptops but - for $3500 i would want to be able to watch a 120 minute dvd, and this thing can only make it through 60 mins... also can only browse the web for 60 mins, justdon't get this.
maybe i had the idea that the appeal of the laptop was you are free from outlets and wires and etc. but with these even for $3500 you still have to be near a plug to watch a dvd
7Enigma - Friday, February 29, 2008 - link
The purpose is to have the power of a desktop with the portability of a laptop. NOT that you can have a 5 (heck 2) hour portable laptop. As the author mentioned, it really is a niche product. You want to be able to take your screaming desktop pc from home to work or to a friends house, not on the plane/train/automobile that a typical notebook computer is used for. If I had oodles of cash and went to lan parties frequently, this would be the perfect computer. And forget the loud fans, if you are gaming on it and need the overclocked performance, I'd be playing the games with headphones!Put simply, this is the 10lb desktop computer.
IvanAndreevich - Thursday, February 28, 2008 - link
Hey guys, you might want to blur out the serial number on that COA sticker on the bottom.JarredWalton - Saturday, March 1, 2008 - link
Ooops... yeah, forgot to do that. :|legoman666 - Thursday, February 28, 2008 - link
Thanks OP, in for 3!crimson117 - Thursday, February 28, 2008 - link
Jarred - here's some advice:Find a woman who thinks it'd be romantic to buy his and hers M1730's :)