Solved! Which Alienware configuration - also raid 0 (non SSD) v SSD

Gunnedoo

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Hi guys, I am in a delima of what configuration for my laptop. I will be using it for work as well as occassionally gaming. I will need it to last at least 3 years so it be good.

Question 1: Which is faster or better in the below senario below for gaming pros and cons: a)Raid 0 - 320GB - 2x 160GB 7,200RPM or b)256 Solid state drive

Question 2: Which setup is better M15x or M17x? My delima is that the M15x from all reviews seems pretty impressive and could be upgraded later. M17x seems to have reached its peak!(will it still be effective in 3 years in gaming????) Here is the set ups

M17x= -Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB) -Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M, 2GB – SLI® Enabled -17-inch WideUXGA 1920x1200 (1200p) MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz edit HARD DRIVE - Raid 0 7200 rpm or SSD - Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD -RW, CD-RW -OPERATING SYSTEM Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit, English

M15x -Intel Core i7 920XM 2.0GHz (3.2GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache) OPERATING SYSTEMWindows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit, English 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M edit LCD PANEL 15.6-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 (1080p) WLED MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz – 2 x 4096MB HARD DRIVE 256GB Solid State Drive or Raid 0 7200 rpm PLEASE HELP! I Have been out of the game for some time. Which one?
 
Solution
Hello and welcome to the forums :)
M17x would be faster for gaming because 2 GTX 280M perform better than 1 GTX 260M.
SSD is faster than normal HDDs but VGA is the most important factor for gaming.

Gunnedoo

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Thanks what a great site. :)

a) So a solid state would be the choice over the Raid 0 ..... is there much of difference as there certainly is in price. Would the Raid 0 slow down gaming?

b) does the i7 speed make up for its lack in graphics?