My Octane Series Beast!

Decided to get myself a new gaming rig but im away from home a lot due to my job, so needed something portable. so decided to go for a 17.3" octane series, and requested the following spec:

Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
2nd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - Hard Disk 750GB WD BLACK 2.5" WD7500BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
2nd Hard Disk NONE
mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive 500GB Crucial MX200 M.2 2280 SSD (upto 555MB/sR | 500MB/sW)
2nd mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive NONE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
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
Sound Card Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-7265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
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 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Windows 10 Upgrade FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
DVD Recovery Media Windows 10 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve

The laptop took a little bit longer to build and arrive than i was told and expecting. got to me in around 2 weeks and was told to expect around 9 days but it was well worth the wait.

The graphics card is epic, and has more vram than the same card in other laptops....not really needed but nice to have i suppose. managing to play Witcher 3 with very high settings at 60fps. diablo 3 at max settings 120fps. metal gear solid (which i got free with the lappy) at 60fps......basically it can handle any game out there at the moment.

The speakers on the laptop are by far the best ive heard on a laptop, and my old laptop has Bang & Olufsen speakers.

the case is nice and thin but is fairly heavy but most gaming laptops are. the downside of this is that the fans are loud to try and keep it cool! which it doesnt do great either. graphics card under load gets to about 75c which isnt terrible but the CPU can get to 85-95c under load. these temps are not over the limits of what the components can handle but a little hotter than i'd like.
oh, and as you can see from the pics, the matte finish on the case is a fingerprint magnet and near impossible to keep clean.

overall im very impressed with the laptop, does everything ive asked it to which it should for the price of it, and i would certainly buy another laptop/pc from these guys!

thanks for reading!

Now I know where you live I'm going to pop round and steal your new laptop and wallet

Nice laptop, similar spec to mine apart from the cpu, I went for the 4690k. Your temp is on the high side, I'd use XTU to make sure your not throttling at that temp, if you are, try a little under volt.

Best thing I've found for the finger prints is a clean cloth and isopropyl alcohol.

Mick

Thanks for the review! How long from pre-production to delivery? I was told my 15.6 Octane with similar spec was due to be built yesterday, 13th working day, but I am still showing as pre-production.

it was only a couple of days after pre production that the laptop was delivered.
Didn't even realise you could see my address. Lol. Oh well.

And I didn't know about the xtu setting you can download. Have done but haven't managed to test yet. Might under volt like you say to keep the temps down a touch.

micgup said:

Now I know where you live I'm going to pop round and steal your new laptop and wallet

Nice laptop, similar spec to mine apart from the cpu, I went for the 4690k. Your temp is on the high side, I'd use XTU to make sure your not throttling at that temp, if you are, try a little under volt.

Best thing I've found for the finger prints is a clean cloth and isopropyl alcohol.

Mick

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no way ! i'm on 10th working day and on pre-production Probably should have got a fast track lol

I was in pre-production after 11 days and then it went quite quickly, despatched on day 13. Hope you have similar luck. The Octane is superb.

Stephen M said:

I was in pre-production after 11 days and then it went quite quickly, despatched on day 13. Hope you have similar luck. The Octane is superb.

Click to expand...

testing and on day 12

What's the material of the casing? It looks like a composite plastic, possibly alloy. How well does it conduct heat and how effective and/or loud is its cooling system? On a scale of 1-10, how durable do you think your Octane is? Thanks in advance.

That is a nice looking laptop,and a real beast
Do yourself a favour and stop drinking that orange and mango, just drink Rubicon mango juice

Cannot wait for mine to arrive and it is very close in spec to yours. I plan to use mine on a Zalman Cooler as even with the laptop cooler fans not on it raises the laptop and gives the fans less work to do when say on your lap or on the bed. Post back with anymore thoughts you have about it soon please.

I have a similar spec to the OP, although the standard, not K, CPU. The cooling stand is a good idea, overheating has not been a problem but the fans do kick in quite a lot, certainly on a bed you would want it to give as much room as possible for ventilation. I do not game but usually have several browser tabs and other windows open at once, along with some doing video work and GIMP, plus a few video streams and an audio player going. It handles all of this well. I am sure you will enjoy your laptop.

i have had to get myself a coole, went for TeckNet one from amazon and its dropped my temps down about 10c. which is quite substantial