AVADirect's Clevo X7200 Redux: AMD 6970M CF Takes the Crown
by Dustin Sklavos on June 2, 2011 3:05 AM ESTGaming on a Pair of AMD Radeon HD 6970Ms
Spoiler alert: they're fast. The X7200 with the dual AMD Radeon HD 6970Ms is the fastest gaming notebook we've ever tested, and as you'll see it's usually by a healthy margin. We start with our "high" preset, and what's really impressive is that you'll see the top end start to actually get a little CPU-limited. This is the first time I've really seen this happen with notebook graphics and a processor this fast.
The X7200 is at the top of the charts nearly every time, and often with a very heavy lead. The only game NVIDIA still wins is Mafia II, and given the substantially improved performance of the GTX 485M over the GTX 480M it's not unreasonable to assume that game is going to be an NVIDIA stronghold for some time. In every other case, the 6970M CrossFire solution is as fast at 1080p as the GTX 480M SLI is at 1600x900. When we move to the "utlra" preset, the gap will only widen.
Once we ratchet up the quality settings and resolution, the pair of 6970Ms in CrossFire win every time, and better still, CrossFire scaling results in a near perfect doubling of performance in most of the games tested. It really is simply the fastest mobile solution we've ever tested. A pair of GeForce GTX 485Ms from AVADirect could very well be faster, but they'll cost you another $600. We think the 6970M CrossFire solution is more than adequate for high-end 1080p gaming, so unless you're buying a notebook to plug into a 30" external display, this should keep you covered for a couple years.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
44 Comments
View All Comments
bobbyh - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
cool laptop.first!Sufo - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
Yay, first to reply to first!tipoo - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
I vote that all "first" or similar comments constitute a temporary banShadowmaster625 - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
As long as the first comment doesnt include hawking nik e, jord an, and pr ada it is ok by me.m.amitava - Saturday, June 4, 2011 - link
Yeah..let the kids play! :PJamahl - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
To waste your first comment with such a crap one.mustafaka - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
But it is really cool, so not a complete waste :)wordsworm - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
the author wrote that AMD took the crown. But then he says for $600 more you might be able to do better? He doesn't know? Well, what is it? Is it the holder of the crown or not? When I see something like that, it looks like the article is not really objective and that it's really just a, as some say, sign of fanboyism.Will Robinson - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
Umm...eew k...in other words,you wanted to see NVDA win ...somehow...never mind.wordsworm - Thursday, June 2, 2011 - link
I don't care. Shy of becoming very wealthy, I won't ever buy a computer that's more than 2k, or a laptop that's more than 1k. So, it's all out of my ball park. I was just saying that it's misleading and false as well. I am, therefore, more interested in what's going on with Llano than this kind of stuff. I was drawn into reading it because of the misleading title.If he doesn't know which setup is better, then he should have said so. It's a cheap page-hit trick that I expect from Daily Tech, but not from Anandtech. For some reason, I have very high expectations here. Most of the time, the articles are not like this.
@Creig The author was saying that this setup holds the crown. If he hasn't tested the 485M in SLI, then he shouldn't have said it. More honest would have been, AMD's high end SLI significantly improves on AMD's previous effort.