Need Some Help With Specs.

I was looking at the Alienware M11x laptop with these specs:

Intel Core i7 2637M 1.7GHz(2.8GHz w/Turbo Boost, 4MB Cache)
2GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO for Gaming & Video

Is this setup too weak to run FFXIV? If so can someone please point me to a good gaming laptop that isn't too big and bulky? Thanks in advance ^^.

The GPU is too slow. You will at least need a 560M and an SSD if you don't want stuttering (laptop HDDs tend to have a bad seek-time).

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Originally Posted by Coldfire

The GPU is too slow. You will at least need a 560M and an SSD if you don't want stuttering (laptop HDDs tend to have a bad seek-time).

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Alright thanks for the info, guess I'll keep looking XD.

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Originally Posted by Natabant

I was looking at the Alienware M11x laptop with these specs:

Intel Core i7 2637M 1.7GHz(2.8GHz w/Turbo Boost, 4MB Cache)
2GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO for Gaming & Video

Is this setup too weak to run FFXIV? If so can someone please point me to a good gaming laptop that isn't too big and bulky? Thanks in advance ^^.

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That'll run the game just fine... someone else I know runs it on that same GPU and has no complaints. You have 8GB of RAM so no need for an SSD.

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Originally Posted by Laraul

That'll run the game just fine... someone else I know runs it on that same GPU and has no complaints. You have 8GB of RAM so no need for an SSD.

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You could have 800GB RAM and it wouldn't help a bit. This game never ever gets above 1GB RAM usage and knows no preloading. An SSD is the only solution until they fixed the engine. And there's a big difference between "running" and "enjoyable". With a 540M it will definately not be enjoyable.

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Originally Posted by Coldfire

You could have 800GB RAM and it wouldn't help a bit. This game never ever gets above 1GB RAM usage and knows no preloading. An SSD is the only solution until they fixed the engine. And there's a big difference between "running" and "enjoyable". With a 540M it will definately not be enjoyable.

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An SSD is the only solution? You think everyone playing this game runs it off an SSD? Well I assume most people don't. I certainly don't. I have 8GB of RAM, and I know that Windows will map files fetched off the disk by the game to RAM for quick retrieval later. The next time the games fetches them it just grabs them from the disk cache, rather than the HDD. This is highly effective on systems with enough RAM availible to support 2-3GB of files mapped off the drive. Which is why most people don't need an SSD.

And this video of a 2010 MacBook Air running the game, using a far less powerful GPU than a 540M, shows that you can get the game running well enough to enjoy.

I run the game on my m11x R1 sometimes. Its not bad but I can't crank my settings like I do on my desktop. That R3 will run the game just fine I'm sure and once 2.0 hits will run even better. That being said......

The m11x CONS..
The switchable gfx b.ecomes a hassle when you are updating drivers. So that feature doesnt last long. There is an option in the BIOS to disable this feature and use the nvidia card, but even then, some older games (Like FFXI) will tend to try to use the intel gfx over the nvidia when using SOME driver releases. It's a real headache.

Make sure you get the one with the new hinge, the old hinges snapped so much that dell is replacing ALL of them, even if your PC is out of warrentee! I had mine upgraded/replaced and it was not even broken but that took about 10 days.

Other then those two things it is a great laptop.

Hope this helps. :D

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Originally Posted by Laraul

An SSD is the only solution? You think everyone playing this game runs it off an SSD? Well I assume most people don't. I certainly don't. I have 8GB of RAM, and I know that Windows will map files fetched off the disk by the game to RAM for quick retrieval later. The next time the games fetches them it just grabs them from the disk cache, rather than the HDD. This is highly effective on systems with enough RAM availible to support 2-3GB of files mapped off the drive. Which is why most people don't need an SSD.

And this video of a 2010 MacBook Air running the game, using a far less powerful GPU than a 540M, shows that you can get the game running well enough to enjoy.

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Please stop spreading nonsense on the support forums that could lead to people buying junk. Windows will NOT fetch files for FFXIV into memory and that video shows an empty area with no fighting and an outdated benchmark. If you read reports of people on the forums you would know this.

My reply was a overly harsh and I apologize. I really don't know how many people use SSDs in the game. Just because I don't doesn't mean everyone doesn't.

But what I did state about Windows caching FFXIV's data into RAM is accurate under Windows Vista and Windows 7 (XP also but it lacks the Windows "Superfetch" service and it's memory paging isn't as sophisticated). I was just stating that an SSD is not necessary. I am not saying that it has no impact on game performance.

Sorry, but that's simply not how SuperFetch works. It preloads frequently used programs. For big games this does not work as the required data is too big/too randomly loaded. Sure an SSD is not needed to start the game. But playing this game on a laptop 5400RPM HDD will have a big negative impact on gameplay.

I play on an older M11x with a GT335M at native resolution with standard settings. It gets a little laggy in towns and the load times are 10-30s depending on the zone, but it's certainly enjoyable. If you want to shorted those load times, get an SSD.

Ok thanks for all the feedback guys, I'll start looking around again. ^^