AVADirect M570RU: SLI, Drivers, and 8800M GTX Performance
by Jarred Walton on March 14, 2008 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Closing Thoughts
As much as we like blazing fast performance, the reality is that many of us can't afford top of the line computers. If you're looking to get your mobile gaming Jones on with the fastest system money can buy, something like the XPS M1730 (or AVADirect's Clevo D901C behemoth that uses desktop CPUs) with 8800M GTX SLI graphics should be at the top of your list. If you're more interested in getting good gaming performance without taking out a second mortgage, single GPU laptops like the M570RU make a lot more sense.
In terms of design and performance, there's little to separate this AVADirect notebook from any of the other Clevo-based 8800M GTX notebooks. Where AVADirect excels is in their configuration options and their pricing. If you're in the market for a gaming notebook, you should give some serious consideration to AVADirect. They may not be quite as well known as some of the boutique system vendors, but they certainly aren't small in the computing industry. AVADirect competes against companies like Newegg, selling many computer components in addition to their notebooks and systems. The prices might not be the lowest on the Internet, but they're certainly competitive, and when it comes to getting a prebuilt laptop they offer a ton of flexibility at a reasonable price.
We also made a few calls to the technical support line, and received better than average assistance. Besides the hardware warranty, all AVADirect systems come with lifetime technical support, which is great for those people who don't live and breathe hardware. Even if your system breaks down out of warranty, the number of computer components AVADirect stocks means that you should be able to get repairs done at a reasonable cost without having to buy a completely new system.
We would like to see AVADirect offer an 8800M GTS as another GPU that falls in between the 8700M GT and 8800M GTX -- both in terms of price and performance. If they did that, they could come very close to competing with the Gateway FX P-6831 notebook -- we should have our review of that posted next week. If you're interested in a decent gaming notebook for under $1500, there really aren't any other options right now. As it stands, if you want something more powerful and you're in the market for one of the Clevo 8800M GTX notebooks, we'd look no further than AVADirect. Since performance remains the same, why would anyone want to spend more money?
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docjon - Monday, March 17, 2008 - link
So let me see if I understand this correctly, Nvidia will not be offering mobile drivers to the public but will make them available to the vendor who can validate them and then offer them to their customers on their web site? ie through Dell?JarredWalton - Monday, March 17, 2008 - link
See above. There will still be official driver updates from the vendors after validation, presumably - or at least, they'll come as often as they have in the past. :)docjon - Saturday, March 15, 2008 - link
Jared,How about a link to the beta drivers? I checked the nvidia web site and can't find the 174.20 drivers you used.
JarredWalton - Saturday, March 15, 2008 - link
The 174.20 drivers were directly from NVIDIA but they are still undergoing testing and validation. The plan was to hopefully have those available (well, an updated version that addresses a few things probably) within the next month. Note that the LaptopVideo2Go 174.xx drivers are not the same, as those are based off the desktop parts and lack mobile optimizations as far as I can see.ap90033 - Saturday, March 15, 2008 - link
When they finally are on Nvidia's website, will they only work for 8800M GTX's or will they also work for 8800M GTS's? I have a P6831FX Gateway and would love some newer drivers. :)JarredWalton - Saturday, March 15, 2008 - link
My understanding is that the next "Mobile Driver Update" from NVIDIA will cover all GeForce M chips on Vista 32-bit/64-bit for participating vendors. So that means the Gateway FX, Toshiba X205, Dell XPS, and various Clevo notebooks should all work with the beta driver. Probably some others as well. I *hope* that they get GeForce Go support on Vista as well with the next driver, and likewise I would appreciate seeing new XP drivers for both Go and M series cards.docjon - Monday, March 17, 2008 - link
So these drivers will not be offered by nvidia to the general public but will be made available to dell to offer after they validate them?JarredWalton - Monday, March 17, 2008 - link
No, the "Mobile Gaming Drivers" or whatever you want to call it are going to be available from NVIDIA. The last release came just before 8800M launched, so it only supports up through the 8700M. They also didn't cover all GPUs on all OSes - so 8400-8700M got Vista drivers and GeForce Go 7xxx got XP drivers.The laptop vendors do have to agree to participate - so Dell pretty much tells NVIDIA it's okay if they release a driver that will work with the XPS laptops, as an example. Note that this is not just a vendor decision; it's a model decision as well. So while Dell is okay with "beta" drivers direct from NVIDIA for their XPS (gaming) laptops, they don't want beta drivers for Inspiron or Latitude laptops.
Normally, notebook vendors do not allow manufacturers to release "reference" updated drivers that support the mobile chipsets, which is why we see stuff like LaptopVideo2Go.com. Well, this is a step back from that stance, but only for laptops where updated video drivers are a major concern. Thus, the vendors still have to give NVIDIA permission to release the drivers to the public. Make sense?
builtone2many - Friday, March 14, 2008 - link
Great article. Kind of curious about the casing in the pictures. The latest version from Clevo for systems with X9000 processors has a slightly different casing, labled "Extreme Edition", with an additional molded section on the bottom to provide for better ventilation around the CPU. Wonder if AVA is shipping old case versions?JarredWalton - Saturday, March 15, 2008 - link
Thanks for the comments. I've had this system for about a month, and it's pre-release. It could be that the final shipping models will cool the CPU better, have a working overclock for X9000, and not be as loud at idle. I can only hope so.