Hi there,
Long time lurker here, I've been dreaming of a quality laptop rig and well.. it's christmas
need i say more?
So I went over to notebook review to see if i could gleam any info on the build and more importantly the chasis and they said this rig was decent. The only thing i'm hesitant about is the GPU i'll stick into this portable monster.
the 7970m I've selected is imho a great card. AMD somehow managed to saw a PCB in half, stick a 7870 chip onto it and fit it into a laptop which is no small feat in my opinion. nVidia have done the same with the 680m, sticking a 670 into a laptop with ~5% performance gains over the GCN chip. As i understand, the 680m is by far the better chip for gaming with higher benchmark scores and cooler operation whereas the 7970m wins over in select titles as well as being an overall better chip for other "work" processes... i think.
Now given what i've just said it's evidently the 680m that steals first place in my mind, yet despite all this i can't justify the premium that i would have to spend to be a proud member of the green squad. Sure its fast but is 5% worth the 100 GBP or something one has to pay for it?
So naturally one would look to the 7970m the great card it is. But upon further research, one word screams and tears away at its value in my head. Enduro from what i gather, the enduro issues, although massively disappointing straight after launch have mostly been subdued as of december 2012 thanks to the Catalyst 12.11beta drivers. But i still see some people reporting new problems with games i'll be playing like BF3 or Guild Wars 2... AMD messed up big with this one. If one were to consider the massive power requirements a laptop this size requires, it'd be folly to look for anything like 4 hours of battery life.
Therefore I'd like to seek a professional opinion on this issue, Is the 680m's premium justifiable given the 7970m's enduro issues and the fact that the 680m is just that much faster than it's red cousin? Or have the enduro issues largely gone away and the overclocking headroom afforded by the 7970m's architecture allowed for similar performance to the base 680m.
TL;DNR: I'm leaning towards the 7970m but i'm afraid the enduro issues will drag me down too much. does the 680m deserve my cash or should i stick to team red?
I'm also thinking of using my brother's old P150HM as the chassis, upgrading the GPU to a 7970m as I'd heard the enduro issues only affected the P150EM
Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
AMD® Radeon® HD 7970M - 2GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
2nd/3rd HDD HARD DRIVE OPTICAL BAY CADDY
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
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 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 Language
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
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)
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: £1,096.00 including VAT and delivery.
Long time lurker here, I've been dreaming of a quality laptop rig and well.. it's christmas
need i say more?So I went over to notebook review to see if i could gleam any info on the build and more importantly the chasis and they said this rig was decent. The only thing i'm hesitant about is the GPU i'll stick into this portable monster.
the 7970m I've selected is imho a great card. AMD somehow managed to saw a PCB in half, stick a 7870 chip onto it and fit it into a laptop which is no small feat in my opinion. nVidia have done the same with the 680m, sticking a 670 into a laptop with ~5% performance gains over the GCN chip. As i understand, the 680m is by far the better chip for gaming with higher benchmark scores and cooler operation whereas the 7970m wins over in select titles as well as being an overall better chip for other "work" processes... i think.
Now given what i've just said it's evidently the 680m that steals first place in my mind, yet despite all this i can't justify the premium that i would have to spend to be a proud member of the green squad. Sure its fast but is 5% worth the 100 GBP or something one has to pay for it?
So naturally one would look to the 7970m the great card it is. But upon further research, one word screams and tears away at its value in my head. Enduro from what i gather, the enduro issues, although massively disappointing straight after launch have mostly been subdued as of december 2012 thanks to the Catalyst 12.11beta drivers. But i still see some people reporting new problems with games i'll be playing like BF3 or Guild Wars 2... AMD messed up big with this one. If one were to consider the massive power requirements a laptop this size requires, it'd be folly to look for anything like 4 hours of battery life.
Therefore I'd like to seek a professional opinion on this issue, Is the 680m's premium justifiable given the 7970m's enduro issues and the fact that the 680m is just that much faster than it's red cousin? Or have the enduro issues largely gone away and the overclocking headroom afforded by the 7970m's architecture allowed for similar performance to the base 680m.
TL;DNR: I'm leaning towards the 7970m but i'm afraid the enduro issues will drag me down too much. does the 680m deserve my cash or should i stick to team red?
I'm also thinking of using my brother's old P150HM as the chassis, upgrading the GPU to a 7970m as I'd heard the enduro issues only affected the P150EM
Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
AMD® Radeon® HD 7970M - 2GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
2nd/3rd HDD HARD DRIVE OPTICAL BAY CADDY
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
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 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 Language
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
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)
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: £1,096.00 including VAT and delivery.