Any advice for this rig, considering my aims?

[Dr_Jameo]

Hi guys, here's the spec:

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2 x AMD® Radeon® HD 7970M - 2GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB 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 INTEL® ULTIMATE-N 6300 (450Mbps)
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 & 300W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Laptop Cooling Stands
Zalman ZM-NC3 Ultra-Quiet Laptop Cooler, upto 17.3 inch (£15)
Carry Case
Tech Air 17.3" Classic Backpack (£23)
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
CM Storm Xornet Gaming Mouse (£19)
Gaming Mouse Pad
ROCCAT™ Taito Mini Gaming Mouse Mat (£9)
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Headsets
MadCatz TRITTON 720+ 7.1 Surround Headset (£105)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Intel Anti-Theft Technology
FREE 90 Day Intel Anti-Theft Trial - Prevent Data Access upon Theft
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,847.00 including VAT and delivery.


My aims for this rig

I would like to play most current games at max settings, standard 1080p at 60fps. I'll probably play Battlefield 3, possibly some CoD, L4D, TF2 and Skyrim. It just needs to have pretty visuals and be lightning quick!

Headphones were a recommendation from this site - any other suggestions for a glasses-wearer?

Other peripherals such as the bag, mouse and pad I have no experience with, so I chose the ones I thought looked good. Any thoughts?

I'm borderline on a 120GB or 180GB SSD. Opinions would be much appreciated.

Other thought I had was the size of RAM. 8GB should be fine, but would it ever be likely to be the limiting factor in future gaming? In fact, what in this rig is likely to be the limiting factor for future games?

Thanks guys for your help, you've been insightful.

 

[Toxophilix]

Well, if your goal is to play at max settings, 1080p and 60 FPS then I think the graphics cards will be the first limiting factor, as I don't think they will deliver that in Crysis 3 which is already with us (and looking at notebookcheck there are a few other games where a single 7970M is giving only 20ish FPS in ultra, so you wouldn't get 60 FPS from two of them). So I would expect that by 2014 you would not be getting 60 FPS in most new FPS releases. However, if you are prepared to turn down settings a little and play at <60 FPS then those cards should last you a good while.

Regarding the RAM, I would just get 8GB now. You can very easily add more later.

 

[Dr_Jameo]

Thanks for the reply. Would 2x 680m hit 60fps or thereabouts?

 

[kruppsy]

2 x 7970m's

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7970M-Crossfire.74305.0.html

2 x GTX 680m's

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-680M-SLI.76545.0.html

Not a great deal in it. Both get ~60fps+ in most games (including BF3 and Skyrim which you play) with some big gains in the 680m SLI in certain games and vice versa. The new Hitman and AC games don't manage 50fps (ultra) on the 680m which is a fair indication of how the slow slide has begun. But I also think it depends which GPU manufacturer the game has sided with. Bang for buck i'd go with the 7970's but it depends which games you play most i guess.