Short story long: Vortex 3 [pre-review]

Short story long: Vortex 3 [REVIEW] vol.3

Hello !

I suppose everyone has his or her five minutes here - on this great PCS forum. And the life of the account we might divide into 7 sections:

1. I don't want to buy. I want to check! It all starts when we go and just check how rich we ought to be in order to buy a new laptop. That one dream machine. I would bet you started from selecting the best spec available just to see the price out of this world. Than slowly adjusting the budget to the required performance.
2. Becoming an expert. Than you rush to the websites/forums read all the articles about the peripherals. You gather knowledge and suddenly after a while you do know the newest models of the processors available on the market. The GPU that will be released soon. The benchmarks results. Known issues...
3. Order Finding the sock with money, destroying the piggy money box, robbing the bank... Whatever works for you. As soon as you are out of the money you enter the next phase
4. Ultimate patience test/ Rapeing the forum And it started... poor forum users. But that feeling of belonging to the internet society is not that bad, is it?
5. Setting up the beast Installing the system; drivers; testing the performance; checking temps... etc.
6. Review or no review. It is up to you. However writing a review is beneficial for people that are still not sure. If you got a great machine for the attractive price I can not find a reason why shouldn't you write at least a short few words to describe your experience with the comapny who made your dreams come true. Or turned your life into nightmare! jk.
7. Bye You compared with others. You showed them yours, they showed you theirs... If everything works as it should be. We will see you as soon as a problem with you new toy arise...

So what is my story?
I was following dell outlet for half a year to get my dream machine. I set up a budget of 600. Than 700... And during one night (I ought to be studying for an exam I came across the PCS website. I'm gonna have a resit now

I was tracking an i7 2nd generation + gt555m from dell outlet that was going for about 770. (+-100 depends from the configuration)
I saw Vortex 3LE: I7 3'rd + GTX 660M - wow and just under 900. I needed a laptop to work. As I have plenty of time. And I got addicted to the GW2. What is more D3 was released. As my journey with Blizzard started 12 years ago... I had to!

I had a chat with the sales advisor. (Don't remember the name correctly but I think his surname was somehow related to Pirates of the Caraibbean. - Turner?) Man you are golden! From the very start I was surprised how friendly and helpful people prof PCS are. Than I ordered. Vortex 3 LE. I wanted to buy it on finance. I would pay 27/month for 11 and pay the rest in one go next year. Unfortunatelly I didn't get it that way. I remember that I was slightly shaking giving my card details (as bank at the beginning blocked my card I couldn't pay through the website).
6th day of pre-production ... and I just couldn't ! I'm spending fortune on the new computer and the HD 7970m that will outperform everything was just 200 quid more. What is 200 quid? I got two speeding tickets in on go for 120 overall today. I cancelled the order. I wanted the Vortex 3 with ATI on the board. + Some other amendments and I was just under 1200. ps. F*** me. If I wont be able to play GW2 on ultra...

Tomorrow is the day. In the morning I want to see a delivery man giving me the parcel in soo gentle way as he would walk with the egg. Tomorrow I want to plug in my prepared usb with Win7. I want to see 3dMARK11 result of about 5800. I will edit that post to post some pictures for you. And short reviews are to come as well!

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
AMD® Radeon® HD 7970M - 2GB DDR5 Video RAM (PRE-ORDER, EARLY JUNE)
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB Momentus XT (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
"That caddy something."
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1102
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity


Production Dates

• Processed Date 29-05-2012
• Pre-Production Date 06-06-2012
• Build Date 14-06-2012
• Test Date 15-06-2012
• Awaiting Dispatch Date 15-06-2012
• Dispatch Date 15-06-2012

Who Worked on This Order?

• Built By Tom Davies
• Tested By Carl Auckland
• QC'd By Carl Auckland
• Packed By Anthony Cunliffe

It arrived around 11. I was after the nightshift but the even pumped some blood and I couldn't hold myself from opening the package

The delievery in general was very smooth even if I had to wait for the whole weekend. I got a txt 2h before the delivery that the driver will pop in slightly after the 11. I am very happy about the DPD service in my area. I saw a guy couple of time. He is always a bit in a rush but he carries the packages in a way I do not have any complains. Now there will be some pictures and after them short review. I know it might be boring but keep up! I did it for you


























I opened the package that was packed to the high standard. Nothing was moving inside. I was happy about that fact. Inside I found only few items. First thought? OMG! What the f*** is that brick!? Just kiddin' I knew it will be large. I expected it to be. Its high-end laptop. I wasn't excited about the PSU but the performance which I saw later was a nice turn on - I'm telling you.
Summing up: That was sooo coool. No rubbish advertisements. Only neccesary staff. However I thought that I will find the Arctic Cooling Arctic MX-4 Thermal Compound's tube which was used for my CPU. Personaly I think that charging £9 for applying it JUST for the CPU (if I knew before I wouldn take that option) is imho not worth it. Having that knowledge beforehand I would buy it from Amazon with ArctiClean 60ml Kit (includes 30ml ArctiClean 1 and 30ml ArctiClean 2) for less then £10 and did it myself.

Before I turned it on or opened the lid. I turned it around/upside down/ twist(?) it few times very slowly to check if there is something inside that is moving. Unfortunatelly it didn't pass that test. I heard like a grain coming from the side to side each time when I placed it vertically. After few times it stopped. Probably that sth got blocked somewhere. Nextly I opened the lid very slowly but in one continous motion. I checked it for the scraches - there were none. I pressed every key before starting the notebook. It failed again "C" button was somehow different. The button isn't as tight as the other ones. Nothing serious. But that is not what I was expecting. You can see it in the photos. Does the warrany cover it? What would you recommend? After all I do not want to be with a missing "c" button on the keyboard







Show me what you've got! It started. I checked the BIOS first. Seeing label HD 7970M made me happy from the start. I just checked what is there and moved on. I plugged in an USB with Win7 and what I couldn't believe it was... After less then 30 minutes I had running system. My old Acer doesn't do tricks like that. Shame Than I used old laptop to copydrivers from DVD to another USB. ...
With my old laptop I wouldn't reboot the notebook after each installation of new drivers but I do not now the devil within yet.

Installed chipset driver first - reboot.
Intel HD 4000 driver - didn't reboot
AMD drivers (from the dvd I didn't want the modded drivers) - reboot...
and through all the drivers from the folder Drivers on the DVD

Then I installed IE 9 + Microsoft Security Essentials.
Next were the drivers from the folders Option(?) After installing the fingerprint scanner I had an error which dissapeared after the reboot.
I didn't find the Bigfoot 1102 drivers maybe they were somewhere on the DVD but definitely not in the folder Drivers or Option (?) I got them from the official website. Not a big problem at all.
Next was 3d mark 11. I was getting the errors all the time like something in the background was running. When I disabled the Wi-Fi and was taching the touchpad every now and then during the benchmark (not clicking just moving) it wen't through scoring more than I expected. Although - 6k would be nice one day!

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3682914

I played the D3 on max for a while. Something was not right. I do not want to say anything but I got a feeling I don't have constant 50+/60fps. I will go deeper into that tomorrow.

Okey I wrote quite few words today. I will continue this thread. I have to compare the temperatures which I couldn't do so far as HW info and HW Monitor doesn't see HD 7970M yet.

Noise on Clevo? I was looking an Acer. - What noise??

Diablo 3:

• CPU Load: up to 20%
• CPU Temp: up to 80"
• GPU Load: up to 60%
• GPU Temp: HWInfo/ HWMonitor doesn't show HD 7970M
• FPS: all in on ultra without vertical sync. up to 120fps
• FPS: with vertical sync. 60.1fps with drops to 45-50 every now and then.

Looking at the drops in fps FPS I think it's weird as gpu load is only 60%. I recon it's because of the drivers that oficial are not released yet.

Changed the drivers for these: http://benchmark3d.com/amd-catalyst-...ne-12-7900-mod

Works great

I use imageshack and choose "from url" to upload pictures.

hey! I just got my vortex III and I have pretty much exactly the same spec as you Luxas except for the HDD (i have the 750gb scorpio black) but my 3dMARK11 score was only about 5100!? any ideas why?

AJ_ said:

hey! I just got my vortex III and I have pretty much exactly the same spec as you Luxas except for the HDD (i have the 750gb scorpio black) but my 3dMARK11 score was only about 5100!? any ideas why?

Click to expand...

Later on during the evening I'll finish my review I will describe what I did and in what order. Maybe that will help you.

New pics and review for you ;-)
cheers!

thanks! would appreciate the help! Will hopefully have time to do a review in the next few days

AJ_ said:

thanks! would appreciate the help! Will hopefully have time to do a review in the next few days

Click to expand...

Cannot wait to see yours!
Which drivers did you use?
Did you have any applications open in the background during the 3dmark11 benchmark?
Is your card getting hot during benchmark?
Have you done clean install or was the windows installed by PCS? What is the Windows you have?

AJ_ said:

hey! I just got my vortex III and I have pretty much exactly the same spec as you Luxas except for the HDD (i have the 750gb scorpio black) but my 3dMARK11 score was only about 5100!? any ideas why?

Click to expand...

P5100 is worrying. P5800 is the norm. Use PCS's supplied driver, restart windows then do the 3DMark11 Performance test again.

Noise on Clevo? I was looking an Acer. - What noise??

Diablo 3:

CPU Load: up to 20%
CPU Temp: up to 80"

GPU Load: up to 60%
GPU Temp: HWInfo/ HWMonitor doesn't show HD 7970M

FPS: all in on ultra without vertical sync. up to 120fps
FPS: with vertical sync. 60.1fps with drops to 45-50 every now and then.

Looking at the drops in fps FPS I think it's weird as gpu load is only 60%

Changed the drivers for these: http://benchmark3d.com/amd-catalyst-12-6-9-00-beta-june-12-7900-mod

Works great

Hi Luxas can you tell me whether your speakers produce any bass? I can't feel any bass in my speaker nor in earphones! :shaun:

Edit: I have stock drivers installed and THX activated but it just wont work

Rudlin said:

Hi Luxas can you tell me whether your speakers produce any bass? I can't feel any bass in my speaker nor in earphones! :shaun:

Edit: I have stock drivers installed and THX activated but it just wont work

Click to expand...

Unfortunately I didn't check the speakers yet. I'll check that for you when I be home. However - I deinstalled THX as it didn't found any hardware - I suppose that driver is used when you have a Soundblaster Sound Card.

Unfortunatelly there is no bass from mine as well. My guess goes for drivers. As normally it's not possible to have no bass in over-the-ear headphones. I am wondering if with Vortex 2 it was the same.

ps. http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?14177-Vortex-II-Audio-Guide

Leaving the sound topic behind I got a replay from Jack Turner (I bought my laptop after chat with him! He's the best.)

I am sorry to hear about your problem with the key.

It looks like it has not aligned itself properly, I am surprised to see this many people with the issue on the forums too as I had not heard of any other issues.

The keys can be unclipped and reattached, but require a little force to unclip them, if you want to give a go reseating we are happy for you to do this, if it does not work we will replace the keyboard for you if you wish.

If we can assist you any further, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Click to expand...

So there is nothing to worry about. As we can see PCS is still giving us the best service possible ;-)

hey guys! so I ran 3dmark again (twice) and got this http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3705531

thats still quite low I have installed the drivers from the disc provided and downloaded all windows updates etc. Any ideas why its so low? Luxas, I also noticed in your 3Dmark results sheet your core clock and memory clock are waaaay different to mine - is that an issue?

sorry - kinda new to this whole thing!

AJ_ said:

hey guys! so I ran 3dmark again (twice) and got this http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3705531

thats still quite low I have installed the drivers from the disc provided and downloaded all windows updates etc. Any ideas why its so low? Luxas, I also noticed in your 3Dmark results sheet your core clock and memory clock are waaaay different to mine - is that an issue?

sorry - kinda new to this whole thing!

Click to expand...

The default 7970m clocks are 850/1200. What is yours?

those are the clocks i had but i noticed luxas' were different.. do i need an eye test?
any ideas on what i can do to boost performance? I can't think why my 3dmark11 score would be a good 300 points lower than most - any help would be greatly appreciated!

AJ_ said:

those are the clocks i had but i noticed luxas' were different.. do i need an eye test?
any ideas on what i can do to boost performance? I can't think why my 3dmark11 score would be a good 300 points lower than most - any help would be greatly appreciated!

Click to expand...

Go and experiment with a few beta 7970m drivers. http://benchmark3d.com/drivers
And follow these posts on NBR http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/ and learn how other Clevo P170EM owners optimized their 7970m.

p.s icehot on NBR got 5840 on his P170EM(VortexIII 17") with 3720QM, 7970m, 16gb Ram & an SSD. http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3666696

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/670996-got-my-p170em-7970m.html

Luxas said:

I pressed every key before starting the notebook. It failed again "C" button was somehow different. The button isn't as tight as the other ones. Nothing serious. But that is not what I was expecting. You can see it in the photos. Does the warrany cover it? What would you recommend? After all I do not want to be with a missing "c" button on the keyboard

Click to expand...

I have a noticed a similar problem with my laptop except it concerns the 'raised' left most keys (tab, caps lock and shift) on the keyboard only function intermittently...

Been reading around and it seems the keyboard on the laptop do seem to have issues for several people, any help on this matter from PCS would be most welcome as it's a real pain in use as you never know if the key press is being recognised or not.

Ocean-Ripple said:

I have a noticed a similar problem with my laptop except it concerns the 'raised' left most keys (tab, caps lock and shift) on the keyboard only function intermittently...

Been reading around and it seems the keyboard on the laptop do seem to have issues for several people, any help on this matter from PCS would be most welcome as it's a real pain in use as you never know if the key press is being recognised or not.

Click to expand...

Drop them msg. on the official website. They will be more than happy to help/assist you.

cheers
L.

You have exactly the same Pc than i want! but i have some doubts.

Would you mind to try with this benchmark? Is the game than i will play and i need to see how is working on this PC.

Thank you very much!

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl/download/benchmark01.html