HP dv7t vs. Dell XPS 17: Gaming Performance

Both of the new Sandy Bridge-equipped HP dv7t and Dell XPS 17 are bound to become very popular desktop replacements. None of them specifically target gamers–Dell has their Alienware lineup for that and HP has the Envy series. They are nevertheless capable of running Dragon Age 2, Civ 5 or any other new DX11 title at respectable frame rates, even if you have to turn down the detail control knobs a little. But which one is the most powerful? Here’s a quick and dry comparison.

Considering that both of these laptops utilize an otherwise identical Intel platform (not counting the budget variants of the dv7t) it mainly boils down to what the GPU is capable of. Besides, even though it has a profound effect on other aspects of any system’s performance, the choice of processor has a relatively small effect on your 3D games’ frame rates – practically negligible if you just compare the latest generation mobile Core i7 CPUs, which is the case here. What drives games is the graphics cards, and this is also where the XPS 17 and the dv7 differ. Whereas Dell has moved to Nvidia in their new XPS line, HP uses AMD Radeon graphics.

More specifically, the XPS 17 is available with either an Nvidia GeForce GT 550M or a GT 555M. There’s actually quite a bit of difference between these two cards. The GT550M has 96 shaders – or CUDA cores as Nvidia calls them – and an 128-bit memory bus, while the GT555M has 144 shaders and a 192-bit memory bus. Moreover, the 555M comes with 3GB of DDR3 video RAM whereas the 550M has to make do with 1GB. In other words, the 555M is a more worthwhile upgrade than the single-digit difference in model names implies.

The GPU alternatives in the quad-core edition of the HP dv7t is either a Mobility Radeon HD 6490M or a 6770M. Considering that the 6490M has 160 shaders – or Stream Processing Units as AMD calls them – and the 6770M has 480 shaders makes this $25 upgrade a no-brainer. (On a side note, you can’t compare the number of shaders between Nvidia and ATI GPUs due to different architecture.)

But how do the 6770M and GT 555M measure up in the real world? Both GPUs are brand new so there are no reviews available yet (or are there? drop a link in the comments if you know of any) but we can still compare them based on specs. Theoretically, the Nvidia card is a more powerful piece of silicon, but the 6770 has higher clocks and faster GDDR5 video RAM, which should help even out the difference. All in all, the difference in actual graphics performance between these two laptops should be small. Although none of them can compete with gaming machines equipped with a GTX 460M / Radeon 6870M or better, there is no doubt that both have enough horsepower to run the latest games with medium to high detail settings.

Jesper Berg
Jesper Berg

Gaming hardware enthusiast since the 80286 era.

7 Comments
  1. Well, I didn’t know if Christina or Dell_dude was right. I did a little looking around for some information. According to these posts (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=598239 and http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1329318)it sounds a lot like having a 256bit Bus on GDDR5 is the same as a 512bit Bus on GDDR3 if the memory is the same size. So twice the memory on GDDR3 is not the equivalent of half the memory on GDDR5. Also, don’t the cards have to have identical GPUs for the comparison to even work? For the Dell, if I remember right, one card is an Nvidia Geforce GT 550M (1GB) and the other is the 555M (3GB). Thus my conclusion being: You cannot state that having a card with 3GB GDDR3 is similar to having a card with 1.5GB GDDR5 because the memory alone doesn’t say how fast the card is. I think I got that right. Ohwell. A couple bits of new info under my belt is always good.

  2. Christina wrote:

    “(for those of you who don’t know, DDR5 Nvidea graphic cards are twice as fast as a DDR3 – so a 3gb DDR3 would be pretty similar to a 1.5gb DDR5 Nvidea graphics card, if not the same).”

    Sorry but that is pure misinformation and its Nvidia, not Nvidea.

  3. Both are very good…

  4. Thanks for sharing Christina! Sounds like you have a really powerful laptop on the way. Configured at $1,8k including rebates it better be πŸ™‚ The XPS 17 is certainly more discreet than the m17x. It doesn’t have “gaming laptop” written all over it, but still a nice machine.

  5. I just bought the XPS 17 laptop with ultra upgraded specs (minus the 3d – didn’t feel as though I needed it). I built it on Dell’s website and, after 2 weeks of waiting for it to get produced, it just got shipped this morning. I should receive it tomorrow (according to the est. shipping date), so I’m happy. πŸ™‚

    Before buying the laptop over 2 weeks ago, I compared it with Alienware m17x and couldn’t find much of a difference besides the graphic card – Alienware m17x comes with a 1.5gb DDR5 Nvidea graphics card whereas the XPS 17 laptop only has a 3gb DDR3 Nvidea graphics card (for those of you who don’t know, DDR5 Nvidea graphic cards are twice as fast as a DDR3 – so a 3gb DDR3 would be pretty similar to a 1.5gb DDR5 Nvidea graphics card, if not the same).

    I also liked the fact that I could customize the XPS 17 with my own personalized laptop cover (cost me $65 more to do so), whereas you only have a choice of red or black if you were to buy the Alienware. I ended up going with the Lovers in Morning cover display, so it should look pretty neat.

    I also personally prefer the Nvidea graphics card over the Radeon because of the Optimus technology (which is why I opted out of a 3d display, since Optimus isn’t possible if you’re playing in 3d).

    All in all, I paid about $1.8k for this bad boy (got tons of discounts with coupons – saved over $600+!). Can’t wait to receive it tomorrow! I’ll update this comment thread when I do – and might even link a pic or two if that would be allowed. πŸ™‚

    Thanks for the awesome review!

    Christina

  6. Sounds like a nice machine. And yeah, using it in bed is one of the problems with a 17-inch desktop replacement πŸ™‚

  7. Got one of the HP dv6 6027’s on order here in oz, 15.6″ (which i prefer), the 1gb 6770m, 8 gb ddr3 ram, i think at 1066Mhz, i7 2.0, 2760 or something like that, 1tb hdd and bluray burner, all for $1449 Australian, which i think is great value.

    It’s going to be used predominantly to lie in bed and surf the net and play dragon age 2 etc lol, just like reading a good book before sleep. Can’t wait, just hanging to see some benchmarks on the 6770m.

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