Exclusive: WidowPC Sting 517D2: GeForce 8800M GTX Benchmarks
by Jarred Walton on January 7, 2008 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Benchmark Setup
Considering that this is the fastest mobile GPU currently available, we expect to set some new mobile benchmark records. As mentioned earlier, however, this is the first time we've tested with 64-bit Vista so there may be areas where it doesn't top our mobile gaming performance charts. We've also tested Alienware's m9750 with dual GeForce Go 7950 GTX chips, which has the advantage of two last-gen GPUs as opposed to one current generation GPU, and as we'll see there are plenty of areas where 7950 SLI ends up being faster than the 8800M GTX. If you want that much performance, you can always go with an SLI 8800M setup of course.
We did run into one issue worth noting with the 517D2 - caused in part by Vista 64-bit. The display we tested with runs at 1920x1200, but we usually like to gather results from a variety of other resolutions. The NVIDIA drivers on this laptop omit the ability to add custom resolutions, and we could not get PowerStrip or RivaTuner to work properly. After fighting with the issue for the better part of a day, we decided to gather what results we could for now and add this disclaimer. Ideally, any 1920x1200 display should also ship with the ability to select resolutions of 1680x1050, 1440x900, and 1280x800 - all 16:10 aspect ratios. The 517D2 out of the box provides the ability to run widescreen 16:9/16:10 (or thereabouts) resolutions of 1920x1200, 1920x1080, 1600x1024, 1280x720, and 720x480 - with a bit more time we could likely work around the limited resolutions, but with CES coming up we wanted to provide an exclusive first look rather than trying to work around minor issues.
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For comparison, we are running the WidowPC at 1600x1200 instead of 1680x1050. Results for those two resolutions are not going to be identical, but they should be within 10%. 1600x1200 technically has 8.8% more pixels, but we have seen various titles where performance is still slightly lower because of the widescreen resolution. As long as you understand that the margin of error is going to be greater when comparing results at 1680x1050/1600x1200, the general information we will find in the benchmark results is still valid.
Several new gaming titles came out since or last review of the Toshiba X205 notebook, so we'll also have results in a variety of new games as well as including scores from older titles for comparison with previously reviewed laptops. Unfortunately, we won't have results on newer titles from other laptops, but as we'll see shortly, the performance pattern that emerges is pretty easy to follow. Again, for reference here is the overview of the WidowPC 517D2 as tested.
| WidowPC Sting 517D2 Tested Configuration | |
| Processor | Core 2 Duo T7500 (2.20GHz 4MB 800FSB) |
| Chipset | Intel PM965 + ICH8-ME |
| Memory | 2x2048MB DDR2 SO-DIMMs |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX 512MB NVIDIA drivers: 167.43 |
| Display | 17" WUXGA (1920x1200) ClearView |
| Hard Drive | 200GB 7200.2 Seagate Momentus |
| Optical Drive | DVDR SuperMulti |
| Audio | Realtek ALC882 HD Audio |
| Battery | 9-Cell 65WHr |
| Operating System | Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit |
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stassas - Tuesday, January 8, 2008 - link
I just cannot believe there are manufacturers of FullHD notebooks not puting HDMI port to their products. Same thing for Dell 1730, I just hope Alienware will not make that mistake.Can you believe that HP do not have Gigabit internet port in their top HDX?
I am happy to spend tons of cash on my gaming/multimedia desktop replacement notebook but I want all standard stuff I could easily pack into my desktop. The only comprimise I can accept is slight performance difference.
fabarati - Wednesday, January 9, 2008 - link
This has Dual-link DVI instead, meaning you can drive a WQXGA screen att full resolution. There are few laptops who can.strikeback03 - Tuesday, January 8, 2008 - link
Depends what display you plan to connect the laptop to. As this doesn't have a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive, it is probably more likely to be connected to a true monitor than a TV, and monitors are more likely to have DVI than HDMI. Plus, adapters are cheap.Yahoo - Monday, January 7, 2008 - link
Hahaha, I love the add in about the cake being a lie. Portal was fun :)Foxy1 - Monday, January 7, 2008 - link
I’m at CES this week. During one of the many presentations, I seated myself behind the cutest guy in the room (as I figured he would be more enjoyable to watch than the presentation). After much eavesdropping, I was able to determine that it was none other than Jarred Walton of Anandtech (the author of this article). I’m happily involved with my own cutie; otherwise I would have made my move. With no wedding ring in site, I’d say he is fair game. A tall, dark, handsome geek, what more could we ask for?Foxy
JarredWalton - Monday, January 7, 2008 - link
I'd take you up on the offer, but I too have a new lover. She's short, dark, about 17" wide, and she has this cute spider tattoo. The orange pin-striping seals the deal. What's better, she lets me play computer games like The Witcher and doesn't get jealous (well, not very) when I look at other women. I'd marry her, but the courts are claiming she doesn't have a soul. I keep arguing that there's more soul in some computers than in women - the only souls they have come from the hearts they rip out of their boyfriends.(One silly post deserves another, I suppose. Back to your regularly scheduled comments.)
SiliconDoc - Monday, July 28, 2008 - link
Best two comments I've seen so far. Congratulations, that 'ell teach the hotties that their nerd desires might wind them up with more than they can handle. Outside the box !eye smite - Monday, January 7, 2008 - link
It's interesting to see how much the advancements are accelerating in technology. I have an x700pro 256 card in this system. I'll be sticking with it for a while yet. heheGholam - Monday, January 7, 2008 - link
Just for the reference, who is it this time? Clevo again?fabarati - Monday, January 7, 2008 - link
Yes it is. It's a Clevo M570RU. Used by many other resellers. So you can get the same Laptop, save the Spider logo, for much cheaper.