same speed/frequency, only difference is 4MB L2 Cache for T7300 and 2MB L2 for T7250

are you on A08 BIOS? dont worry, i've seen that before. doesnt happen often, just once i think. screen blank, force it to shut down, switch right back on and everything is ok. nothing to worry about.

im sure it'll be alright.

if gaming is on top of your list, you cant go wrong with 1520. no other dell laptops around 3K can be that good, not even the new studio 15. so it depends on what you need. if gaming is not on ur list, then u r better off getting 1525 or studio 15 because 1520 is famous for being a tank (heavy, thick, bulky but extreme durability-->magnesium alloy case armour)

---

Added on June 28, 2008, 2:13 ambiasa lah, after some time using windows, sure will kena "cancer" one, no matter how careful u use. format it or restore to dell factory windows and you'll get ur speed back.

---

Added on June 28, 2008, 7:42 am ANNOUCEMENT : To all loyal 1520 owners, latest Dell official nvidia driver has been released. dated 8th June 2008, and version 175.97, so it's hot off the oven. suitable for all 8400MGS, 8600MGT and 8700MGT cards. grab yours today from the first page of this thread, scroll all the way to the bottom of the first post till vista 32-bit drivers section. enjoy!

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jun 28 2008, 07:44 AM

im sure it can, havent seen any 175 and above series driver that cannot OC. im using 177 now, but 175.97 is extremely new, newer than the official desktop 175 released by nvidia last week. hihihehe, have u tested the 3DMark06 performance? let us know the result.

r u on 56k? or tm nuts screamyx?

that's odd. it works for me. i've downgraded to 175.97 and tested WEI, score remains the same. now to test other games. i downgraded from 177 because of clock instability.

Update: driver is very unstable for bioshock game. laptop freezes completely in the first few minutes of game play. not sure about other games. reverting back to 177

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jun 29 2008, 02:34 AM

so fast?? battery is extremely expensive now because of the shortage few months ago. be prepared to pay double the original price. last i checked, 9-cell can go up to RM650+

---

Added on June 29, 2008, 7:40 pmif you read a few thread pages back, you will notice i post some quick comparison with newer model laptops. so again, it depends on what you need. if gaming is your priority, you cant go wrong with this laptop. top of the line at this kind of price. if gaming is not your priority, then you can choose from 1525 or the new studio 15 laptop, both are slimmer, lighter, sexier and "up to date" if you like to call it. now the reason i put "" is because they are ALL based on the same santa rosa platform, and besides, you can get a penryn 45nm cpu for 1520 too. so a more accurate answer to your question is, NO, 1520 is NOT out of date, in fact, it's much more powerful (although less feature rich --> HDMI, finger print sensor, touch sensitive media buttons, backlit keyboard), but the 8600MGT remains unsurpassed even when compared to the latest studio 15 (radeon 3450). as for other features like built quality, etc etc, it's very well explained by other 1520 owners here. one short word to describe it is, 1520 is the "TANK" of laptops.

P/S: 1520 is considred "obsolete" by Dell, so it has been discontinued in many countries, and im afraid the next country on the chopping block will be malaysia. it has a relatively short product life cycle because it is seen as a "competition" to the more expensive XPS M1530, a possible internal product "cannibalisation". so if you really want one, grab it ASAP while you still can.

---

Added on June 29, 2008, 7:52 pmone more *possible* reason why1520 owners are proud.

ever heard of AGEIA physX? the company was acquired by nvidia a couple of months ago, and nvidia is now offering GPU physX processing, in other words, physX engine is built into supported GPU and it can be enabled if nvidia gives the green light.

nvidia has mentioned that all CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) enabled GPU (basically geforce 8 series and above, and YES, including 8600MGT and 8400MGS) are capable of hardware physX processing. fingers crossed that in the upcoming weeks or months nvidia will release driver support for 8 series GPU.

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jun 29 2008, 07:53 PM

this will satisfy all your curiosity about physX. Enjoy!

What is NVIDIA PhysX Technology?
NVIDIA PhysX is a powerful physics engine enabling real-time physics in leading edge PC and console games. PhysX software is widely adopted by over 150 games, is used by more than 10,000 developers of all types and is supported on Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and PC. PhysX is optimized for hardware acceleration by massively parallel processors.

Today's AGEIA PhysX processor provides an exponential increase in physics processing power and soon PhysX-ready GeForce processors will be enabled to take gaming physics to the next level.

What is physics for gaming and why is it important?
Physics is the next big thing in gaming. It's all about how objects in your game move, interact, and react to the environment around them. Without physics in many of today's games, objects just don't seem to act the way you'd want or expect them to in real life. Currently, most of the action is limited to pre-scripted or ‘canned' animations triggered by in-game events like a gun shot striking a wall. Even the most powerful weapons can leave little more than a smudge on the thinnest of walls; and every opponent you take out, falls in the same pre-determined fashion. Players are left with a game that looks fine, but is missing the sense of realism necessary to make the experience truly immersive.

NVIDIA PhysX combined with CUDA-enabled GeForce GPUs will deliver the computing horsepower necessary to enable true, advanced physics in the next generation of game titles making canned animation effects a thing of the past.

What is GPU PhysX?
NVIDIA's industry-leading CUDA-based GPUs are being enabled with NVIDIA PhysX technology. With this combination, we will ensure that gamers and developers alike can take advantage of the most compelling physics on the market. Physics is a natural for processing on the GPU because, like graphics, physics processing is driven by thousands of parallel computations. NVIDIA is committed to making the gaming experience exciting, dynamic, and vivid. The combination of graphics and physics impacts the way a virtual world looks and behaves. And soon, GeForce will deliver both in one compelling package.

Why is a GPU good for physics processing?
The multithreaded PhysX engine (originally from AGEIA) was designed specifically for hardware acceleration in massively parallel environments. While AGEIA's PhysX processor had tens of cores, NVIDIA's GPUs, have as many as 128 cores today, so they are well-suited to take advantage of PhysX software. More importantly, the GPU architecture is a more natural fit than a CPU because of the highly parallel and interactive nature of game physics. PhysX will provide gamers even more value utilizing either today's or tomorrow's GPUs.

Which NVIDIA GeForce GPUs will support PhysX and when will GPU PhysX be ready?
NVIDIA will deploy PhysX on CUDA-enabled GPUs later this year. The exact models and availability will be announced in the near future. Please click here for more information on CUDA ZONE.

How do games get PhysX-optimized?
NVIDIA provides game developers with the world class PhysX SDK (Software Development Kit) which enables game developers to create next-generation physics features and hardware acceleration capabilities. Not only is the software unmatched in functionality, stability, performance and scale, it's also supported by nearly every major development tool and enables straightforward cross-platform support for Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStaton 3. NVIDIA continues to add features to new revisions of the PhysX SDK, which game developers will integrate into the latest and greatest titles.

What is the AGEIA PhysX Processor?
The AGEIA PhysX Processor is the first dedicated hardware accelerator for PC games that enables dynamic motion and interaction for a totally new gaming experience. It is available as a PhysX Accelerator add-in board from leading system and add-in card makers today.

NVIDIA acquired AGEIA Technologies in early 2008 and continues to evolve the entire PhysX platform from both a software and hardware perspective. This is just the beginning of a new era of physics enhanced gaming.

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jun 29 2008, 09:04 PM

i dont think dell will attend to your request. they might redirect you to dell sg. however, i might be wrong, because dell sg is supported by dell malaysia (penang). they share the same callcentre for sales and support. you might just be able to pull this through. as for international warranty, only those with AT LEAST 2 years complete cover(maybe optional) will include international warranty for SEA region. double check with dell, but im sure it is at least 2 years.

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jun 29 2008, 11:52 PM

1525 is not being replaced, so dont worry. 1520 however, is being replaced. studio line is another whole new product line, so it does not clash with inspiron line. i agree with hrd, if graphics card is not your priority, i would strongly recommend you to wait for studio 15, and compare it with 1525. they are both much lighter, thinner, thus more suitable for ur stated needs (lighter because of the cheaper plastic material used). another thing you might wanna take into consideration is how often do u travel, because if you travel a lot, a more sturdy laptop might be a better choice to guard against those bumps and drops. then again, a lighter laptop would be more ideal for travel use. it's a dilema only you can solve.

as for price, i wont count on studio 15 to be as cheap as inspiron 1525, because studio line is positioned in between inspiron and xps. in other words, expect the price to be somewhere in between too. you mentioned that your budget is less than 3k, my best guess is you might need to settle for 1525.

lastly, performance. all things being equal (CPU, HDD, RAM, etc), all 1525, 1520 and studip 15 should have IDENTICAL performance due to the reliance on intel santa rosa platform. unless it's montiviena, there wont be any noticable performance improvement.

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jun 30 2008, 02:55 AM

there's no way anyone of us can view the secure link you pasted here. it's best you type the core specs here and price, only then we can help you

---

Added on June 30, 2008, 5:09 pmany games instability so far? looks great, 3DMark06 increase despite CPU score decrease. must be a fast set of driver. i'll update your score when u run the benchmark in an optimal condition and till you are satisfied with it.

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jun 30 2008, 05:09 PM

no worries. always glad to help. congrates on the purchase, the specs and price is quite ok, you have a good deal. good high end processor and still manage to keep the price below 3K. nice.

studio 15 and 17 are now online with a starting price of 4K+. it's "hidden" in dell's website, not accessible the conventional way. anyway, for those curious people, here are the links.

studio 15
http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/p...s=dhs&cs=mydhs1

studio 17
http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/p...s=dhs&cs=mydhs1

Update: ah..it's available now. it was still hidden a couple of hours ago.. haha...

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jul 1 2008, 01:15 AM

there are no GPU options for 1525. only X3100 intel GMA graphics.

well, he dont need any dedicated GPU, so thin and light suits him better. as for 3450, it's a piece of junk. the performance cannot match even 8400MGS. and here's the GOOD news, studio 17's 3650 is also another piece of junk. it's slower than 8600MGT because of DDR2 again, and even if it has DDR3, the performance still is only a little bit better than 8600MGT(without OC). once u OC, 3650 DDR3 wont even come close. so rejoice my fellow 1520 owners! our laptop is still a wild stallion i am proud

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jul 1 2008, 01:20 AM

that's right im happy! arent u feeling the same? lol!

it's all about depreciation. i hate it when gadgets i own become obsolete, so the longer it can last, the better it is! less depreciation, means less $ investment down the drain. as in this case, even though dell released 2 new models after the 1520, non of them are actually better than 1520, they are more or less equal (or lousier if we take GF card into consideration). 1520 has stood against the test of time!

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jul 1 2008, 06:33 AM

2 more pages to go then V2!

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jul 2 2008, 08:56 PM

since im new to starting popular threads, i think i will stick to the norms. when do TS normally start V2? 125 pages, 2500 posts or something else? i personally think 100 pages would be a nice number, but if it's too few, we can always hold on much longer. your feedbacks are very much appreciated.

---

Added on July 4, 2008, 3:22 amNews update!

Are we affected?? (direct quote from dailytech 3 July 2008)

"Nvidia announced that it was facing a massive recall, due to overheating GPUs in notebook computers. NVIDIA reported higher than average failures in both the laptop GPUs and in laptop chipsets.

NVIDIA said that the chips and their packaging were made with materials that proved to be too "weak". NVIDIA passes the blame to notebook manufacturers, which it says contributes to the problem. Typically notebooks have poorer ventilation and components concentrated in a smaller space than desktop computers.

The result of the recalls is that NVIDIA will be taking a onetime charge of $150M USD to $200M USD to cover the damages. It plans to use the money to repair or replace defective parts. It also hopes to collect part of the money from insurers it uses. However, it has acknowledged its problems and switched the materials it uses. The news has resulted in NVIDIA taking a beating on the stock market, sliding over 25 percent."

anyone observed abnormal temperature during gaming? with rivatuner, i get max temp about 68C and average of 65/66C under load, and that is operating at 650MHz Core. everest ultimate edition however, reported an increase of 5C from whatever rivatuner reports. i would believe rivatuner's temp monitor because GPU-Z gives the same result, and so does nvidia's own utility. how about the rest of you?

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jul 4 2008, 03:23 AM

that is what you need to do to get to the performance level close to 8700MGT. bang for the buck! but kids, dont try this at home. a lot of effort and preparation is put into cooling the GPU core to ensure stable GPU operations.

yup, i agree, that's why i compared the temperature readings from 3rd party to nvidia's utility, and rivatuner is the one that gives an accurate report on temperature, whereas everest's readings are always 5C higher than rivatuner's readings

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jul 4 2008, 06:22 PM

u r right, 9500M GS is exactly the same as 8600MGT, in fact, 9600M GT and espcially 9650M GS are identical to 8700MGT, the later being equal. the only real difference is the packaging and built size. in other words, they are nothing more than a die shrink from our 80nm 8 series, to 65nm 9 series, thus lower voltage requirement (more power savings) and lower temperature. no extra features, nothing to write home about. it's like the old chinese proverb saying, change soup but dont change medicine(ingredient).. haha.. my chinese is poor, but i think u get the meaning.