Considering Buying Octane 3 17.3" is this spec good

[JDA1982]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum, sorry if this in the wrong place, I figured it should go here or in the general suggestions.

I'm very interested in buying an Octane 3 17.3" gaming laptop. I have plenty to spend but don't want to be stupid and spend for the sake of it.

Would anyone be able to confirm if this spec is good or are there any changes anyone would recommend?

Matte 4k IPS LED Widescreen
Intel Core i7-6700K (4.0ghz) 8MB Cache processor
24GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 RAM
GeForce GTX 1080 GPU
2TB SERIAL ATA 2.5" HDD with 32MB Cache (5,400rpm)
256GB Samsung PM961 M.2 PCIe NVMe (2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
Arctic MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio

Everything else is standard or no alternative options available.

I'm going for the 2TB HDD as space is a want and also I'm not too bothered by loading times but if anyone thinks I should avoid this HDD for any reason please let me know.

It's going to be primarily for gaming but I don't want to have to upgrade it in the near future.

Thanks

 

[Oussebon]

Looks nice.

24GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 RAM

You could go with 16gb RAM, since you're not even going to need more than that with gaming anyway. It might technically perform better as well, with the motherboard being dual channel.

 

[JDA1982]

Looks nice.

You could go with 16gb RAM, since you're not even going to need more than that with gaming anyway. It might technically perform better as well, with the motherboard being dual channel.

Thanks for the advice, that makes sense and saves a few quid up front.

If I do that and then games become more RAM intensive in the future, is it easy to upgrade the RAM in this laptop or is it soldered in?

 

[Oussebon]

You should be able to upgrade it, by adding more into the other DIMMs or replacing what you already have, whichever makes more sense at the time.

 

[ficus14]

Everyone who owns a Clevo P775DM3-G with i7-6700k + GTX 1080 seems to have heat issues. You can find reviews through google, youtube, and on this forum. The cooling system for that chassis just doesn't seem capable of dealing with such high-end components. I'd recommend downgrading the CPU to a non-K version and/or downgrading the GPU to the 1070.

 

[Oussebon]

Everyone who owns a Clevo P775DM3-G with i7-6700k + GTX 1080 seems to have heat issues.

That's not accurate:

These are the most recent reviews of GTX 1080 octanes on PCS in the 'show off your new PC' section, at least according to my search for 'octane' in that forum.
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?51558-17-3-quot-Octane-III-yummy-DR (no heat issues reported)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?51470-New-Laptop-) (no heat issues reported)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...-GTX1080-6700k&p=373194&viewfull=1#post373194 (initial heat issues, fan profiles adjusted and now no issues)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?51400-17-3-quot-Octane-III-Clevo-P775DM3-G (no heat issues reported)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?51069-Octane-III-gtx-1080 (non-k + 1080, no heat issues reported)

If you're going for gaming at 4k, you will want the GTX 1080 rather than the 1070. You could make a case for the non-k CPU though since the system is so expensive and you're basically stuck with what you order (don't assume that upgrades of the CPU and GPU will be possible in future even though they're not soldered) it probably makes sense to get the -k for the 200MHz higher boost clocks.

Furthermore, a number of users have suggested that the -k is actually beneficial in terms of managing temps since it can often be significantly undervolted while retaining the higher performance.

It's certainly good to point out potential issues with heat for the OP to make an informed decision, but to state that everyone has the issue and that the chassis "just doesn't seem capable" might be overstating the point somewhat.

 

[Scott]

Everyone who owns a Clevo P775DM3-G with i7-6700k + GTX 1080 seems to have heat issues. You can find reviews through google, youtube, and on this forum. The cooling system for that chassis just doesn't seem capable of dealing with such high-end components. I'd recommend downgrading the CPU to a non-K version and/or downgrading the GPU to the 1070.

Load of rubbish. I'm running the 6700k @ 4.2Ghz with a -150mv undervolt and it rarely goes over 80. The most I've had out of it is 90, but that was severely stressing it in a completely unrealistic scenario. The GTX1080 really is something to behold though. Most games barely make it sweat and it'll cruise along at 75fps while barely reaching 65. So far only Project Cars has managed to get it over 70, it reached 75°C. That was completely maxed out to do that though. I've now set it to the recommended settings via GForce and it doesn't go over 58 now with no noteable visual difference.

 

[ficus14]

OP make sure you get the opinion of people outside this site before you make your purchase, that's all I'll say. Google, YouTube & other notebook enthusiast forums are your friend. Drop me a PM if you want links to proper reviews for the chassis with that CPU + GPU combo.

 

[Oussebon]

Why the PM for the links out of interest? Reviews of competitor models etc?

People are perfectly prepared to post negative, even downright hostile, reviews on this site. If I'd paid £2k for a GTX 1080 laptop that turned out to melt itself, I'd jolly well post about it.

Certainly the OP should look into reviews elsewhere, there are a lot of good websites out there with hardware info like notebookcheck.net etc, they just need to avoid specious generalisations as well.

So far only Project Cars has managed to get it over 70, it reached 75°C. That was completely maxed out to do that though. I've now set it to the recommended settings via GeForce and it doesn't go over 58 now with no noteable visual difference.

I reckon it would probably run a bit more toward the upper end of that range at 4k rather than plodding along at under 60 degrees - I'm assuming if it caps out at 75 FPS at 1080p with the gsync screen it won't be at particularly high load, while at 4k it will be working more.

But if it's 75°C at 100% load (when you cranked those settings), that sounds rather good tbh. The GTX 1080 FE for desktops targets 82-83 degrees.

 

[Scott]

Why the PM for the links out of interest? Reviews of competitor models etc?

People are perfectly prepared to post negative, even downright hostile, reviews on this site. If I'd paid £2k for a GTX 1080 laptop that turned out to melt itself, I'd jolly well post about it.

Certainly the OP should look into reviews elsewhere, there are a lot of good websites out there with hardware info like notebookcheck.net etc, they just need to avoid specious generalisations as well.

I reckon it would probably run a bit more toward the upper end of that range at 4k rather than plodding along at under 60 degrees - I'm assuming if it caps out at 75 FPS at 1080p with the gsync screen it won't be at particularly high load, while at 4k it will be working more.

But if it's 75°C at 100% load (when you cranked those settings), that sounds rather good tbh. The GTX 1080 FE for desktops targets 82-83 degrees.

The only reason it holds at 75 FPS is due to me locking in the VSync. I'm not sure if there is any benefit going past what the screen can refresh at with GSync turned on so I just pinned it in. I think that's what's kept the load down more than anything at those settings.

At 4k it would definitely run harder but with the screen being 60FPS, if it was again locked, it should handle it with minimal fuss.

Everything I've read said around 85°C for the 1080 was the ideal limit. I've not even gotten close to it, even during benchmarks. I don't even think I hit 85 with the fans on normal and before my repaste

 

[ficus14]

Why the PM for the links out of interest? Reviews of competitor models etc?

Your second question/accusation answers your first. It's best to avoid the hostility that can come with giving people a public heads up. Forum admins can read PMs so if you have a real issue you can take it up with them. https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showgroups.php

 

[Scott]

OP make sure you get the opinion of people outside this site before you make your purchase, that's all I'll say. Google, YouTube & other notebook enthusiast forums are your friend. Drop me a PM if you want links to proper reviews for the chassis with that CPU + GPU combo.

If you read the link to my thread you will see that I had temperature issues when I received the laptop. This is not the sort of kit you buy without knowing your way around a BIOS, including over/under clocking etc. It would be crazy to think you can just slap a desktop CPU and GPU into a small form factor without some sort of tweaking required.

IF you buy the laptop and run it completely vanilla and max it out you will see 95 on the CPU and approx 80 on the GPU. This seems rather toasty and can even be pushed further if you know what you are doing. However, additionally if you know what you are doing you can lower the TDP of the CPU by undervolting it (limit varies by chip). My CPU happily ran at 4Ghz with a -200mv undervolt. I could probably have taken it further. I then decided to try going the other way and settled on a 4.2Ghz overclock with -150mv undervolt. This along with the Overclock fan profile saw it running within ideal limits (85-87 during the most taxing games, approaching 90 with unrealistic benchmarks).

This is all using very mediocre paste, I'm planning some better paste in the future to see how that affects the temps.

Out of the box..... it has temperature issues. I would bet the 6700 with the GTX 1070 would be similar though as it's THAT far out.

 

[ficus14]

If you read the link to my thread you will see that I had temperature issues when I received the laptop. This is not the sort of kit you buy without knowing your way around a BIOS, including over/under clocking etc. It would be crazy to think you can just slap a desktop CPU and GPU into a small form factor without some sort of tweaking required.

IF you buy the laptop and run it completely vanilla and max it out you will see 95 on the CPU and approx 80 on the GPU. This seems rather toasty and can even be pushed further if you know what you are doing. However, additionally if you know what you are doing you can lower the TDP of the CPU by undervolting it (limit varies by chip). My CPU happily ran at 4Ghz with a -200mv undervolt. I could probably have taken it further. I then decided to try going the other way and settled on a 4.2Ghz overclock with -150mv undervolt. This along with the Overclock fan profile saw it running within ideal limits (85-87 during the most taxing games, approaching 90 with unrealistic benchmarks).

This is all using very mediocre paste, I'm planning some better paste in the future to see how that affects the temps.

Out of the box..... it has temperature issues. I would bet the 6700 with the GTX 1070 would be similar though as it's THAT far out.

I've actually got your thread bookmarked mate since I've been considering this model myself. It's very informative

 

[Oussebon]

Your second question/accusation answers your first. It's best to avoid the hostility that can come with giving people a public heads up. Forum admins can read PMs so if you have a real issue you can take it up with them. https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showgroups.php

Dude, that wasn't hostility, it was a sincere question.

I believe it's not permitted to post links to competitor products on the forums (and I think I've read that also includes PMs). I was asking those questions because if the info you're talking about is not for competitor models (and doesn't breach any other of the terms etc) then I don't see why you shouldn't post the links up for all to read. I'd be interested in them.

Please don't mistake my posts for a fanboi defence of PCS / white-knighting. I'm certainly not a raging fan, and have posted of my sometimes mixed experience with them before. I'm not a fan of incorrect info either, however, hence me calling you out on your blanket and apparently incorrect statement. Though granted I'm making the assumption that people buying £2k plus laptop and then bothering to post a review would indeed mention temps if they had noticed them to be a problem. Other than Scotster, who managed a self-fix, nobody seemed to on that forum. And if a self-fix is possible then it's not the chassis that's inadequate, it's things like pasting jobs and fan profiles.

 

[ficus14]

I'm not a fan of incorrect info either, however, hence me calling you out on your blanket and apparently incorrect statement.

"Everyone" obviously wasn't literal mate. How could I possibly know every person who owns this chassis? I'm just trying to get OP's attention to the fact that he may have issues with his chosen hardware if he isn't savvy, as The_Scotster pointed out.

Maybe I should have worded it differently but I'd definitely want someone to warn me before I shelled out 2k on this. If OP messaged me I was just gonna share some off-site reviews from people who have bought that specific spec from PCS. Helps to get as much perspective as possible. Only reason I don't post them publicly is because I've seen people finding themselves on the wrong end of an odd level of hostility on this forum after saying anything negative about chassis models or PCS customer service. I'm not gonna speculate as to why, it just is what it is and I don't wanna be part of it.

I'm trying to decide on Octane III specs myself, which is why I chimed in.

 

[Oussebon]

Fair enough. I'd understood you were suggesting the chassis was basically unfit for purpose (which, if that were the case, saying that pretty much everyone who got it experienced X problem would be quite legit imo).

While I agree that I've seen discussions of criticism of PCS include comments that I'd consider overly charitable towards them, and on occasions the placing of a greater onus on the client than I would assign to them, that's people's opinions and is itself open to challenge. I don't think those users have anything to hide or else they wouldn't have put it on the internet, and I think people here are sensible enough to keep any discussion of their reviews civilised. As long as it doesn't break the terms I think you should post them, it sounds like interesting info.

Saying that there are lots of reviews indicating major problems and then not posting that openly when there's no real reason not to is a bit close to innuendo for my tastes.

 

[JDA1982]

Thanks for all your help guys, and The_Scotster I've read your thread in detail, a lot of good info there.

It seems that if temperatre is an issue, undervolting the CPU and overclocking the fans is the way forward.

The thing I'm looking into at the moment is the screen, apparently the 4K screen on this laptop doesn't have G-Synch, so I'm looking into how much better it would be than the HD screen with G-Synch. I'll probably still go for 4K though, it's likely G-Synch will be supported at some point I guess.

 

[davful]

I'd imagine most people though who have a bad experience either send them back to be fixed or returned, rather than posting a review. I've returned mine (don't - you'll regret it!), although that was mainly over a slightly different issue. I did have major heat issues though, which was the initial reason for my problems.

The first thing to check is the paste; that is one common thing I've seen (not just with PCS, btw) - many paste jobs look like the've been put on by builders applying concrete! Also, check the heatsink. When I got mine, I was hitting temps of 50c just idling (not good) and couldn't even open Excel without the fans going on full blast. First thing I did was check the paste job - in my case, it looked like the heatsink had been slightly bent and only half the paste was touching both the heatsink and CPU. One quick clean and application of Grizzly later, and the heat was down to a more manageble 35-40c idling, and I could at least open non-intensive applications without the fans blasting out!

Undervolting to -150 brought it down further to 30-35 idle, although any time anything slightly processor intensive happened, the fans came on at full blast and the chip would go to around 90. This is really at the top end of what's healthy, and I wasn't too comfortable with it. This doesn't mean others wouldn't be though! UVing any more brought in instabilities and random crashes.

My conclusion towards the end was simply that I'd been unlucky in the silicon lottery...and there isn't a lot that you can do about that, unfortunately. I'd have been interested in what PCS would have done, but one thing lead to another and I sent it back, never to be seen again (or any refund yet, but that's another story!!!)

I had no issues with the GPU. It never hit above 80.

I think the bottom line, from looking here and elsewhere, is that if you have any real heat problems, they'll be big ones - but they're the exception, rather than the rule, and in the vast majority of cases, they're solvable. I said it before, and I'll say it again - it's a damn fine machine.

 

[Scott]

I'd imagine most people though who have a bad experience either send them back to be fixed or returned, rather than posting a review. I've returned mine (don't - you'll regret it!), although that was mainly over a slightly different issue. I did have major heat issues though, which was the initial reason for my problems.

The first thing to check is the paste; that is one common thing I've seen (not just with PCS, btw) - many paste jobs look like the've been put on by builders applying concrete! Also, check the heatsink. When I got mine, I was hitting temps of 50c just idling (not good) and couldn't even open Excel without the fans going on full blast. First thing I did was check the paste job - in my case, it looked like the heatsink had been slightly bent and only half the paste was touching both the heatsink and CPU. One quick clean and application of Grizzly later, and the heat was down to a more manageble 35-40c idling, and I could at least open non-intensive applications without the fans blasting out!

Undervolting to -150 brought it down further to 30-35 idle, although any time anything slightly processor intensive happened, the fans came on at full blast and the chip would go to around 90. This is really at the top end of what's healthy, and I wasn't too comfortable with it. This doesn't mean others wouldn't be though! UVing any more brought in instabilities and random crashes.

My conclusion towards the end was simply that I'd been unlucky in the silicon lottery...and there isn't a lot that you can do about that, unfortunately. I'd have been interested in what PCS would have done, but one thing lead to another and I sent it back, never to be seen again (or any refund yet, but that's another story!!!)

I had no issues with the GPU. It never hit above 80.

I think the bottom line, from looking here and elsewhere, is that if you have any real heat problems, they'll be big ones - but they're the exception, rather than the rule, and in the vast majority of cases, they're solvable. I said it before, and I'll say it again - it's a damn fine machine.

That's definitely not just unlucky with the silicone lottery. That looks a lot like the bent heatsink causing the issues you were seeing. -150mv with the CPU @4ghz should be nice and cool regardless of what you are doing. I would expect up to and including 80 with that setup. 90°C with a bit of CPU activity isn't acceptable.

I've put my laptop through some serious testing. I've still not finished though as I constantly run HWmonitor to keep an eye on things and I'm constantly tweaking. Over the next couple of weeks I'm hoping to have completely settled on everything (paste, settings, tweaks, etc) to the point where I can just switch it on and enjoy it without any monitoring.

This is exactly what I expected to be doing so it's in no way a slight at the chassis or the setup, it's just what I do with any high end hardware. I max it as much as I can so that I can see what its limits are and get to the best possible settings within limits. That way, if something isn't right with it I can get it fixed while under warranty.

 

[JDA1982]

I'm beginning to lean away from the 4k screen due to the lack of G-Sync and it only being 60hz (so I'm led to believe). I've also read another thread on the subject and the general consensus in there was to either wait for better 4k screens or go for the 1080 screen.

I'm hoping to put my order in next week, I'm just waiting for my next pay day before I hit the button.