15 inch DTR Gaming.

A barebone from the Taiwanese manufacturer Clevo, which comes with a 15 inch display but can be configured with high-performance hardware components, is harbored behind the mySN XMG5 from the German notebook reseller Schenker Notebooks. Efficient dual or quad core CPUs from Intel can be selected from just like the GTX 260M graphic card from Nvidia, currently still the number two, behind the GTX 280M of the same batch from the Californian GPU manufacturer.

The built-in keyboard also correlates to the previously tested Deviltech 9000 DTX. A check confirmed this also in regards to type feel and manufacturing. Hotkeys (mail, internet, silent mode) were preprogrammed in our test device, as well as all additional key functions, like volume, display brightness, WLAN, etc were visualized on the display. Otherwise, we can also refer to the already existent test at this point.

The Deviltech 9000 DTX comes with a centred keyboard with usual layout with the Ctrl key in the left bottom edge and the Del key at the right top. The enter key is double-spaced too, at least in the German keyboard layout model.
However, the key row right of the enter key, which consists of the Pos1, Page-up, Page-Down, and End key, might require some time to get used to...
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The notebook's viewing angle stability turns out to be constantly good. Obtuse viewing angles are also possible in the horizontal as well as in the vertical viewing field. First, at tilting does it come to color deviations. You are completely spared from reflections.

It won't really be the "compact, mobile" case, which will provide for special interest in the XMG5.  With almost 3.5 kilograms and a proud construction height of up to 41 millimeters, the notebook has a case which can be configured particularly exciting in regards to hardware. For instance, Schenker offers state-of-the-art two core CPUs from Intel, up to the T9800 chip with 2.93 GHz (+421.00 Euros) or as a low-cost starter alternative a T6400 CPU with 2.0 GHz, 2MB L2 cache and 800MHz FSB.

Meanwhile, the quad core chips from Intel almost count as standard for devices labeled "gaming notebooks", even if their plus on performance is still kept very much in a limit.  You will find further information about this in our test with focus on mobile quad core CPUs.
However, the "common" alternatives of the current quad cores come to use as the Q9000 and the Q9100, which are clocked with 2.0 GHz, respectively 2.26 GHz, and in comparison to the T6400 CPU make themselves evident with a surcharge of 244.00 Euros and a proud 735.00 Euros respectively.  You are still better off with higher clocked dual-cores for gaming use, which are also available at a considerably lower price.

The quad core CPUs could be exciting for professional users, for instance for video editing or CAD applications. For scene rendering there are then four cores available parallel, which can do their work respectively faster, as for instance dual core chips, even if these have a higher clocking. This can be observed impressively in the Cinebench R10 benchmark.

Talking about professional users: Schenker also considers this group in regards to graphics and offers also a correlating GPU for CAD applications with the Quadro FX 2700M Graphic card from Nvidia.  This chip is based on the G94 architecture and positions itself on about the same level as a 9700M GTS in regards to performance. The drivers of this graphic card are especially tuned for CAD applications, through which the performance is to be positioned considerably over that of the single consumer versions.

The configuration we had at hand came with the Geforce GTX 260M , which is the second strongest non-SLI graphic solution from Nvidia. Based on the G92b core (9800 GTX), but designed in 55 nanometers and supplied with a 550 MHz core clock and 1375 MHz shader clock, the graphic chip lines itself far up in the efficiency class 1 of our comparison of mobile Graphic cards. Therefore, the XMG5 can be described as definitely being apt for current games, even under DirectX10.

This is also shown impressively in the 3DMark2006 benchmark comparison, in which the mySN XMG5 delivers a good presentation with 10684. In order to squeeze even the last point out of the notebook, the originally employed graphic driver (7.15.11.7927) was replaced with the most state-of-the-art (7.15.11.8585) and retested. The result, 10839 points in the 3DMark2006, stayed similar, though.
Cine4D users should keep up with the most current state, in view of an increase of 3743 points to 4573 points with the new driver.

However, in the PC Mark benchmark test the graphic card update backfired because the result fell from an excellent 8259 points to a still very good 7982 points.

Because a fast hard disk is required for a good result in the PCMark benchmark test, the choice of a 7200 rpm hard disk with a capacity of 320GB wasn't a surprise.  This is also attractive in regards to money for value with a surcharge of only 28.00 Euros to a 250GB 5400 rpm starter solution.
The Seagate Momentus (ST9320421AS ATA) hard disk reached very good transfer rates of an average of 66.1 MB/s and an equally fast access time of 15.9 milliseconds in the HDTune benchmark test. Only the solid state drive are probably more efficient, like for instance those Schenker offers from OCZ, which quickly lie in more or less price-uninteresting regions at a correlating capacity (250GB 600.00-700.00 Euros).

8 Gigabyte RAM – System-Turbo or Pure Luxury?

Slowly but surely you find single notebooks on the market, which are promoted with a maximum storage allocation of 8 gigabytes. While most devices are equipped with a comparatively cheaper DDR2 memory, Schenker duly strikes out and offers alternately up to 8GB DDR3 memory of type PC3-8500F. Naturally true: The more memory, the better, but to what price? And above all, with which result?

The first question can be answered fairly fast. Schenker assesses for this non-plus-ultra configuration a surcharge of 720.00 Euros. This is almost equivalent to the device's total price in the minimal configuration. If you compare this sum with the configuration with 4GB (2x2GB) at a surcharge of merely 40.00 Euros, it quickly becomes obvious where the catch is - Right, in the 4GB DDR3 storage modules. Price deterioration can first be counted with as soon as the DDR3 chips are more common and the production capacities have increased accordingly.

But what can you await from a bigger random access memory and which application fields can benefit from this? The current PCMarkVantage, which also delivers a detailed breakdown about single partitions, might be able to answer this. Apart from a slight improvement in almost all sections, a special bonus for specific applications can't be noted. 
The Result of both SPEC-Viewperf benchmark run throughs (CAD and visualization software) turned out very similar, having almost the same results.

GTA IV

We couldn't resist an extensive session with Grand Theft Auto, Edition 4, being equipped with a quad core CPU and an efficient GTX 260M graphic card. Beforehand, we approached the maximum possible resolution and detail level carefully.
The game integrated benchmark test delivered a good 57.88 fps at minimum graphic settings. It was then slightly less at medium settings (1024x769, all med., 21710/50/8), that is to say 47.97 fps. With this, the notebook seemed to be ready for our highest benchmark class, with which the hardware is properly demanded at a resolution of 1280x1024, all high and the settings 25/100/100/16 (view, detail, vehicles, shadows). The mySN XMG5 came up with 36.74 fps in the state of delivery. After the graphic driver update this result increased to a good 40.56 fps.

FEAR 2, GRID, CoD 4

For the following games tighter rules were, of course, applied for the executed benchmark tests, meaning the yardstick was set for each at high detail levels. FEAR achieved, but for a few studders, averagely a good 77.03 fps (1280x1024, high, 4xAA) and slightly less (73.4 fps) with the outdated drivers.

You also needn't skimp with graphic details in the racing game GRID, with the according configuration mind you, with the mySN XMG5.   The device delivered a good average of 60.6 fps at high detail setting (1280x1024, 2xXMSAA). A slight increase (56.2 with the older driver) could also be observed here, due to the graphic driver update.

The shooter Call of Duty 4 already has a few months more on its back, but doesn't give itself less demanding at high graphic requirements. The test sample reached an average of 63.7 fps at a resolution of 1280x1024, all options on and on high. The performance gain due to the driver update of more than 10 fps (52.8 fps older driver) is very perceptible.