Octane V 17.3" Laptop Config

Hi All,

Still waiting for my Laptop to be tested and configured so thought id post what I am waiting for to see some feedback / views of my choice. ( First time buyer )

I will be using it for Casual gaming

-PUBG
-League
-Dota
-Arma 3



Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080) + G-Sync

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700 (3.2GHz) 12MB Cache

Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 OC 1480 MHz - 6.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1

1st Hard Disk
NOT REQUIRED

1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 2500MB/W)

Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-9260 M.2 (1.73Gbps, 802.11AC) +BT 5.0

Price £1,878.00 including VAT and delivery


This will be the first " laptop " I've gotten for gaming so id appreciate any feedback anyone has regarding the cooling of the laptop, I was looking at possibly getting a laptop cooler pad again... any recommendations are appreciated.

If it's for casual gaming, or even fairly active gaming, it's major overkill and not at all best value.

The Octane is massively expensive as it offers desktop CPUs - and in the 17" chassis the choice of a GTX 1080. For gaming though, any 8th Gen i5 or better mobile CPU would be more than fine and much better bang for buck. E.g. the Optimus or Recoil chassis.

The Octane is also pretty big so as to fit the cooling system.

It would make way more sense in my opinion to go with a mobile CPU based chassis and a GTX 1070.

Do you need the system for anything other than gaming? Video editing for example?

Hi Oussebon,

Thanks for the reply.

I just preferred the look of the Octane compared to the other chassis if i am being completely honest, and opted in for the higher CPU just as future proof as somewhere down the line i may get around to editing some gameplays or even video footage of the kids.

I wanted a case that was quite thick and durable for local friend Lan's and other events that i might now be interested in attending not having to lug around my desktop setup.

I was also debating starting some courses on unity etc so hoping the specs will possibly help towards that ?

Those uses will also benefit from a more powerful GPU. I'd suggest upping the GPU to a 1070/1080. Kind of weird to get an Octane with a 1060 - the 17" Octane's raison d'etre is pretty much to sport a 1080.

If budget is an issue you could get a smaller SSD, since games don't need to be on an SSD and swapping games between drives is quite easy.

Yeah I totally agree that i should have gone with higher than 1060 but it was my budget, plus i currently use a 1060 6gb in my desktop setup and i am happy with it's performance. I was going to hold off until the newer cards are released which will hopefully allow me to pick up a 1070 or 1080 cheaper to install into the laptop at a later date

I will be in the future adding an additional SSD due to the sheer amount of photo's and videos of the kids we will undoubtedly be needing to store somewhere.

But when I am playing games such as Arma 3 which will all it's addons can reach over 100GB, all of a sudden the 1TB becomes cramped.

which will hopefully allow me to pick up a 1070 or 1080 cheaper to install into the laptop at a later date

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This is not a good plan in my opinion. First off, the laptop GPUs are hugely expensive versus their desktop counterparts, and as they get older the price doesn't really seem to go down. So you're spending a vast sum on the 1060 already only to replace it later, with something even more hugely expensive.

You either buy from sellers on ebay where it costs a lot and there's basically no warranty, or from somewhere like Eurocom where a GTX 1080 is £943.

This is far more wasteful than, say, buying a 256gb 970 Evo now and then replacing it with a 1TB one later on and getting a better GPU. At least you could stuff the SSD into your desktop, in a PCIe expansion card if there were no M.2 slots. Or even if not, it's a much smaller sum to write off.

SSD due to the sheer amount of photo's and videos of the kids we will undoubtedly be needing to store somewhere.

Click to expand...

No real point storing these on an SSD.

I mean, it's your money, but this sounds like a bad plan from top to bottom.

Javenge said:

This will be the first " laptop " I've gotten for gaming so id appreciate any feedback anyone has regarding the cooling of the laptop, I was looking at possibly getting a laptop cooler pad again... any recommendations are appreciated.

Click to expand...

I have had a CoolerMaster Notepal U3 for several years. It is made of metal and has three movable fans with adjustable speed. It has been fine. But its design makes it not suitable for using on your lap. It tips the laptop up at an angle, and the metal edges cut into your legs. If you intend to use your laptop on your lap you would probably be better off with a flat design, which probably isn't as efficient at dissipating the heat.

I have found over the years that it is important to keep the laptop vents clear of dust using a can of compressed air. This makes a big difference.

Javenge said:

I just preferred the look of the Octane compared to the other chassis if i am being completely honest

Click to expand...

I sympathise with that a bit as I bought a Cosmos VII and the case is very plain and blocky. But if I wanted a more powerful computer I would probably buy a desktop myself.

Hi

I came across this thread as I'm making a purchase for the Octane V 17.3" and looking for info and reviews.

How are you getting on with your new laptop? I've choosen the i7 8700k with a OC 1070 and wonder what heat management will be like?

Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080) + G-Sync
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 OC 1518 MHz - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 330W AC Adaptor
Battery
Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND


Price £1,925.00 including VAT and delivery

I can't speak as an owner, but I'm curious what you'll be using the system for, and why no SSD?

Oussebon said:

I can't speak as an owner, but I'm curious what you'll be using the system for, and why no SSD?

Click to expand...

I'll be using purely for gaming. I want something with a pretty high Ghz cpu due to some of the games I play like cities skyline heavily modded, planet coaster, Kerbal space program heavily modded and X4 due out soon.

I was going to go for the Defiance V with the i7 8850h cpu but after reading about heat issues and under volting I decided against it. Also has no thunderbolt.

As for no ssd I have an Intel Optane 32gb sitting here at home and intend to use that.

On another issue, is there anyway to change my forum name? Pcs auto generated it and it's not something I would choose.

For the user name, I think you need an admin to do it for you: [email protected]

If you're willing to invest a lot of extra money in that frequency for those games then fair enough - note that the Octane is huge and heavy as well as expensive. If spending that much on it I'd suggest going for the 1080 as being able to field a 1080 is one of the main points of the 17.3" Octane. And you can't count on future gens being compatible.

I wouldn't reply on Thunderbolt as an eGPU futureproofing solution, but if you need it for other reasons then cool.

You won't find the Optane a satisfactory alternative to a proper SSD, but if budget is really stretched then at least it can tide you over until the next SSD sales.

The size and weight is not a problem as I game on my dinning room table only. If I'd had the room I'd of gone for a desktop setup, guess having 3 children does that to you.

The problem I do have is that £1950 is my absolute max budget hence the choice of 1070 and no ssd. I did think about dropping the cpu to a i5 and have a 1080 but that still takes me over £2100.

I know it's a lot of money but I cannot find a configuration anywhere the same as I have chosen for the same or cheaper price. As for ssd I've never had the luxury of using it only hybrid hdd so hopefully the Optane is a even more improvement until I can afford a decent size ssd.

In your option what life expectancy would I see out of this before I'd have to reinvest in new product? 4 years a good shout?

In your option what life expectancy would I see out of this before I'd have to reinvest in new product? 4 years a good shout?

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That is a little bit crystal-bally ofc since we can't predict future games' and mods' demands, but as far as my opinion goes I think 4-5 years is a reasonable expectation. You will end up needing to compromise on graphics settings especially with the GPU as the years go on, though gsync will help a bit with this as it will smooth out framerate drops, meaning you wouldn't need to manage your settings quite as carefully.

As for the CPU, an i7 from 2012 or even 2011 is still enough to get people by very handily in gaming today at 1080p, so the 8700k should hopefully last well.

Just to ask, have you considered in-home streaming? With your budget you could easily get a more powerful desktop, and a separate laptop to stream the gameplay to.

Steam lets you stream games across your home, with one PC doing the work of running the game, broadcasting it to another system where you see the image and control it.

This is free, so if you already have a computer that runs your games and another PC/laptop, you can always experiment with that before making any purchase.

Thanks for your feedback and I'll have to ponder my next move. I have a few days to decide anyway.