CPU or Graphics card?

J

Judopig

Member
Hi All,

Am looking to buy a new gaming laptop. Primarily use will be games with some photo editing.

My budget is around £2000, am I best getting a better processor or graphics card? Below is what I've come up with so far, but any advice would be great.

Was also looking at the Elimina Pro 17.3" chassis, but this one allows better components. If anyone has any advice between the 2 chassis that are a deal breaker would also be interested to hear.

Thanks in advance 😁

Chassis & Display
Recoil Series: 17" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 13900HX (5.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO SODIMM DDR5 4800MHz (1 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4070 - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 280W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Recoil Series Integrated 99WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
LIQUID METAL PERFORMANCE COOLING
Sound Card
Nahimic by SteelSeries 2 Channel HD Audio
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
RECOIL 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
TongFang GM7PX7N (8GB RTX-4070, i9-13900HX, 240Hz QHD)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: £2,005.00 including VAT and Delivery
 
J

Judopig

Member
Perfect thank you. I'll change it for 2x16gb ram and have added the liquid cooler (it confused me originally, when I clicked it, it said not required at the top so thought maybe I didn't need it)

Will also take your advice and add the warranty's, thanks
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
CountingDown said:
Generally, the GPU would be the priority if gaming is the main use. From what I recall, photo editing doesn't use a huge amount of CPU resources, though I guess it depends what programs you use and how involved it is. Also depends to an extent what games you plan to play as some may need better CPU power.

A few other points:

RAM: Is better to get a pair so 2x16GB rather than 1x32GB. RAM is designed to work in pairs...whilst a singular stick will still work, it does lose some performance.
Warranty: Silver is only £5 and gives an extra 11 months of C&R
Dead Pixel Guarantee: Personally, I think this is a must....only £18 for that peace of mind.

@SpyderTracks I still don't really know the 2 chassis..is one particularly better than the other? I know the Recoil, in it's various iterations, has been around for years so would it be better to go with a chassis with a longer record? And, of course, there is the question of the GPU cooler
Click to expand...
The Recoil is the big daddy, it's more of a desktop replacement, although it's not a full desktop processor, but unquestionably go for the bigger GPU as that will be the first bottleneck which you can't replace, plus the 13900HX can't be cooled anyway and will thermal throttle no matter what you do, so you'll never reach optimal speeds.
 
J

Judopig

Member
Oh so getting the liquid cooling is pointless? If I go for the 4080, would a lesser processor be ok? Sticking with my£2000ish budget?
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Judopig said:
Oh so getting the liquid cooling is pointless? If I go for the 4080, would a lesser processor be ok? Sticking with my£2000ish budget?
Click to expand...
You need the liquid cooling, and apologies, they don't do anything other than the 13900HX in that chassis, I thought they might do the 13900H

You could drop the primary NVME to 980 Pro without sacrificing much performance
 
J

Judopig

Member
Hi Guys,

I've just received this laptop, love it! Is it a wise idea to reinstall fresh, as I can see PCS have installed their stuff on it first, and wondering if this bloats it down at all?

Thanks in advance
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Judopig said:
Hi Guys,

I've just received this laptop, love it! Is it a wise idea to reinstall fresh, as I can see PCS have installed their stuff on it first, and wondering if this bloats it down at all?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
If you order without windows, they just install a test windows, but it’s not configured so won’t work for general use. You’d need to clean install.
 
J

Judopig

Member
SpyderTracks said:
If you order without windows, they just install a test windows, but it’s not configured so won’t work for general use. You’d need to clean install.
Click to expand...
Hi Spyder,

Thanks for the reply. It looks and feels like a normal windows and says Windows 11 Home, but will do a clean install shortly.
Thanks for your help
 
J

Judopig

Member
Will a windows reset be sufficient or do I need to clean install? I have just done a reset, but noticed the PCS logo still comes up at the start, so unsure how 'clean' it resets it?

Thanks again, sorry if you answer these questions most days.
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Judopig said:
Will a windows reset be sufficient or do I need to clean install? I have just done a reset, but noticed the PCS logo still comes up at the start, so unsure how 'clean' it resets it?

Thanks again, sorry if you answer these questions most days.
Click to expand...
No, you will need to use a USB stick with the Windows installer on it (download the tool directly from Microsoft).

The PCS logo is in the BIOS, so that will remain unless you update to a manufacturer-supplier BIOS at some point (once authorised by PCS of course).

Clean install instructions (courtesy of Martinr36)
  1. Download a new copy of Windows using the Media Creation Tool (Second option on linked page) to an 8GB (min) USB.
  2. Boot that USB and choose a Custom Install.
  3. Delete all UEFI partitions on the system drive (EFI System, Recovery, MSR Reserved, Primary).
  4. Select the unallocated space that results and click the Next button. The installer will create the correct partitions and install Windows.
  5. Run Windows Update repeatedly, even across reboots, until no more updates are found.
  6. You may need/want to download and install the latest graphics driver from the Nvidia/AMD website (they change so regularly the latest version isn't always in the Windows libraries).
 
S

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Judopig said:
Will a windows reset be sufficient or do I need to clean install? I have just done a reset, but noticed the PCS logo still comes up at the start, so unsure how 'clean' it resets it?

Thanks again, sorry if you answer these questions most days.
Click to expand...
Yeah the reset is close to useless you'd have to do a clean install
 
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