was wondering about these high end gaming laptop specs

8

89James89

Member
High end gmaing laptop Final Build (small OS question)

Hi guys!

Was looking at these two high end laptops and was wondering which one was better and what the differences between them were (as far as I can see one is smaller with a much higher def screen and a faster processor and the other is bigger without all the other stuff).

Basically I'm upgrading form my current HP Pavilion dv7 which is beginning to struggle with modern games and am looking at around £1900 budget. I'd much prefer a laptop over a desktop due to the portability but know that I will have to pay a lot more to get a decent spec one hence the high budget (and mainly because I don't do anything other than spend time with wife, work and play on my laptop so am justifying it that way lol).

Anyway below are the two that I've built to around this budget and was wondering if you guys had any advice concerning them and the builds and any improvements or trimming of stuff I don't actually need (I'd like to not have to buy a new laptop for a few years, though am happy to have to upgrade the RAM further down the line).


The Octane 15.6.

Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 15.6" Glossy 4K PLS LED Widescreen (3840x2160) (£119)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790S (3.2GHz) 8MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Free Item
FREE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT Game with Select GTX 9 Series GPUs!
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-7265 M.2 (300Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS (1 x POWERED) + 1 e-SATA/USB 3.0 PORT COMBINED
Battery
Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 230W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
OCTANE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON (£9)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,914.00 including VAT and delivery.


The Vortex 17.3

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4910MQ (2.90GHz) 8MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Free Item
FREE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT Game with Select GTX 9 Series GPUs!
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
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 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex 17.3" Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 230W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,909.00 including VAT and delivery.


Also I'm currently happily using Windows 7 professional (at least I think it's the professional edition might just be home or something), what are the main advatages of upgrading to Windiows 8.1 and do I need too?


Thanks guys for any help you can offer!

James
​
 
Last edited:
Maksy13

Maksy13

Banned
Laptops aren't for gaming really what your getting there could only cost you up to like a grand if you bought it as a normal PC and built it yourself but if you really don't care about the money then that Laptop is quite good.
And also the top one is way better just for an extra 5 pound
 
Last edited:
Rakk

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
Maksy13 said:
Laptops aren't for gaming really what your getting there could only cost you up to like a grand if you bought it as a normal PC and built it yourself but if you really don't care about the money then that Laptop is quite good.
Click to expand...

Top end laptops are perfectly good for gaming nowadays - yes they do tend to more expensive than desktops, but they are perfectly capable of good gaming, many people also now require/want the mobility a laptop will provide.
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
If it is just for gaming both laptops will offer similar performance. I would choose either but go with the vortex 17" in the review section for £1350. No need to get the expensive CPU in the vortex just for gaming
 
8

89James89

Member
Will the cheaper CPU not bottleneck performance on games in the future though. Sorry I have some understanding of GPU's and RAM but zero when it comes to CPU's.

Cheers

James
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
89James89 said:
Will the cheaper CPU not bottleneck performance on games in the future though. Sorry I have some understanding of GPU's and RAM but zero when it comes to CPU's.

Cheers

James
Click to expand...

It won't. Any I7 mobile CPU in the configurator should not cause bottlenecks. I wouldn't personally spend £1900 on a laptop but a fraction and upgrade in 2/3 years rather than going for the most expensive components with the idea of futureproof for a long time which is not really possible in my opinion
 
8

89James89

Member
I assume unlike the RAM which I can always add to later on I can't change the CPU?

Sorry about all the questions, I just wan't to make sure that I'm not overspending or cutting back on the performance of the machine.

Cheers

James
 
C

Cadwah

Rising Star
No, the entry level quad core i7's are perfect for gaming, you won't see much difference in performance while gaming between them and the slightly faster versions. The 2.5GHz you get from the chip will increase to around 3.5GHz when needed anyway due to the turbo boost technology.

I would also be wary of the Octane build, you are putting a desktop processor in a laptop so I would question the cooling capabilities of the machine. Also the heat tolerances of desktop chips aren't as robust as the mobile CPU's which are designed to run hotter.

Even though you have a 4k screen in the Octane, will the 980m really be able to push that many pixels for gaming??? I'm guessing to achieve playable framerates you will be gaming at around 1080p anyway.

The £1350 Defiance that Keynes mentioned in the review section is a bargain.
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
89James89 said:
I assume unlike the RAM which I can always add to later on I can't change the CPU?

Sorry about all the questions, I just wan't to make sure that I'm not overspending or cutting back on the performance of the machine.

Cheers

James
Click to expand...

In the vortex and octane you can upgrade the CPU and gpu. The issue is that with the CPU it has to be the same range of CPU so it wouldn't be compatible with future generations of CPUs only current ones. It would be pointless to upgrade from the i7-4710mq to the 4910mq in 2 years time or longer since what's will be holding back your laptop is the gpu not CPU for gaming. Also by the time you are looking at the upgrade sourcing the CPU would be difficult and expensive. For GPUs you require a bios upgrade from Clevo and it may or may not be available.
 
8

89James89

Member
Ah ok so would the this build will SLI 970m's be more powerful then?

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4710MQ (2.50GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2 x NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Free Item
FREE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT Game with Select GTX 9 Series GPUs!
Memory - Hard Disk
480GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
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 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD + BT 3.0 (RTL8723BE)
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Vortex Elite 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,800 mAh/89.21WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 330W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,820.00 including VAT and delivery.

Cheers


James
 
C

Cadwah

Rising Star
I would steer well clear of the V300 SSD's, they have performance issues and do not attain the stated read/write speeds. The HyperX or Samsung are much better.

Dual 970's should give you better performance than a single 980 in benchmarks, how this relates to games depends a lot on the drivers and game optimization for SLi

Get the Killer wireless card
 
8

89James89

Member
So after doing some more research and taking into account your guys suggestions I think I might go for this

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4710MQ (2.50GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Free Item
FREE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT Game with Select GTX 9 Series GPUs!
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
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 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex 17.3" Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 230W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,694.00 including VAT and delivery.

It cuts the cost a bit without having a overly expensive CPU that I've been told I won't use.

So what do you guys think of the final choice of build and thanks to you all for your help!

Cheers

James​
 
S

SlimCini

KC and the Sunshine BANNED
Have you looked at the review defiance? £350 less than yours and would game just as well. You'd just need to buy yourself windows. Maybe you like the Vortex chassis, but is it worth spending £350 just for a vortex chassis over a defiance chassis if both have near enough identical CPUs and exactly identical GPUs? Both would game EXACTLY the same.
 
8

89James89

Member
Would the 8gig GPU not be a better buy over the 4gig one that is the max in the Defiance?

EDIT: Plus I have twice the amount of SSD in the above build.

Cheers

James
 
Last edited:
S

SlimCini

KC and the Sunshine BANNED
At 1080p I doubt it will make any difference. A desktop 980 has no more than that and copes fine. I suppose it might future proof you slightly but by the time you literally can't game without >4Gb of VRAM than you'll need to update more than just the GPU.

EDIT. The SSD thing is true, but a 500Gbb Samsung 850 Evo SSD you can pick up for £160 so doesn't justify the £350 price increase to get the Vortex (in my opinion of course).

If it was me, I'd get the review defiance, buy a bigger SSD (£160), fit it myself, buy windows (£80) and save over £100.
 
Last edited:
GeorgeHillier

GeorgeHillier

Prolific Poster
I would downgrade the SSD to the 250GB version and upgrade the HDD to the 750GB version. No need for a 500GB SSD for gaming so may as well save the money :)

Also, if just for gaming you would be fine with 8GB of RAM
 
8

89James89

Member
Also I can't have a internal blu-ray drive with the defiance as it has no option for one so I would prefer the Vortex (plus its only a £40 price increase for the actual chassis the rest is parts). As for RAM I'd like the 16gb one as I like playing sim games that seem to be quite RAM intensive. It's also the reason why I want the large SSD as I want to be able to put the operating system and my games on them.

As for the 8gig 980, that's just me being greedy lol.

Cheers

James
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
89James89 said:
Also I can't have a internal blu-ray drive with the defiance as it has no option for one so I would prefer the Vortex (plus its only a £40 price increase for the actual chassis the rest is parts). As for RAM I'd like the 16gb one as I like playing sim games that seem to be quite RAM intensive. It's also the reason why I want the large SSD as I want to be able to put the operating system and my games on them.

As for the 8gig 980, that's just me being greedy lol.

Cheers

James
Click to expand...

Vortex chassis is epicly good, I can confirm. It's very expandable.
 
GeorgeHillier

GeorgeHillier

Prolific Poster
89James89 said:
Also I can't have a internal blu-ray drive with the defiance as it has no option for one so I would prefer the Vortex (plus its only a £40 price increase for the actual chassis the rest is parts). As for RAM I'd like the 16gb one as I like playing sim games that seem to be quite RAM intensive. It's also the reason why I want the large SSD as I want to be able to put the operating system and my games on them.

As for the 8gig 980, that's just me being greedy lol.

Cheers

James
Click to expand...

No point putting 95% of most games on an SSD, it won't make them run smoother, the only time it's worth it if is the game has very long loading screens
 
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