Defiance IV 17.3" - Upgradeability

[makmcn]

Just wondering if anyone knows if the CPU (7700HQ) is soldered to the mobo and GPU (GTX1070) is an MXM type slot or is that soldered?
I was lucky with my last laptop in that i managed to upgrade almost everything inside after a few years - CPU, RAM, GPU (with a dremmel mod on heatsink) and also hard drives - that was an MSI Whitebook based on GT683DXR
I've now taken that as far as it will go as far as upgrades so i got a quote for the 17.3" Defiance IV - really nice setup and shames the other laptops i have looked at online

Any advice on this? Is the CPU and GPU good for future upgrades?
Also just want to make sure the GTX1070 isnt a MaxQ - i dont want a down clocked GPU

I have attached the quoteView attachment 1295102_7mfEvrjg.pdf

Thanks

 

[SpyderTracks]

I believe the GPU and CPU are both soldered on the defiance.

 

[Oussebon]

+1 to the above

You should never count on being able to upgrade laptop parts like the GPU even where these are removable. There's a thread on a particular laptop manufacturer's forum where people with GTX 980m MXM laptops were pretty miffed to find out that the new Pascal GPUs wouldn't be compatible.

 

[makmcn]

Thanks

How about this - I need to be able to convince the wife that £2000+ on a laptop - I should be able to upgrade it at some point

Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 120Hz 90% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache ()
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 OC 1518 MHz - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1

Thanks

 

[Oussebon]

Spec looks good though it's arguably a shame to get an Octane without a 1080.

I'd say again that you should assume that you will not be able to upgrade it. It's impossible to guarantee future gens of mobile GPU will be supported.

 

[makmcn]

I spoke to Tech Support, they confirmed the CPU and GPU are socketed and not Soldered
Yeah - really nice specs, i tried every config to keep price down - might still add the 1080 yet if i can bend the boss (wife) a little - that was my selling point to get one that i can maybe upgrade later

i am impressed with the prices here - the usual 'Branded' ones would be almost double these prices

 

[Oussebon]

Dude, you're not hearing me.

Just because the GPU can be removed, doesn't mean future GPUs will be compatible. Many people found that their MXM Maxwell laptops couldn't take Pascal cards.

The laptop does have Thunderbolt 3 apparently so an eGPU would probably be a more realistic option.

In terms of upgrading within the same generation, buying a GTX 1070 to upgrade later to a GTX 1080 is bad value. A GTX 1080 for a laptop costs about £1000. As opposed to the £200 difference in just getting one now.

As for the CPUs, I think even the Coffee Lake 8 cores are supposed to be needing new motherboards, so the hope of future gens being compatible with the socket seem pretty slim.

I'm not saying that you definitely won't be able to upgrade. I just wouldn't want you to buy it thinking you definitely will.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Dude, you're not hearing me.

Just because the GPU can be removed, doesn't mean future GPUs will be compatible. Many people found that their MXM Maxwell laptops couldn't take Pascal cards.

The laptop does have Thunderbolt 3 apparently so an eGPU would probably be a more realistic option.

In terms of upgrading within the same generation, buying a GTX 1070 to upgrade later to a GTX 1080 is bad value. A GTX 1080 for a laptop costs about £1000. As opposed to the £200 difference in just getting one now.

As for the CPUs, I think even the Coffee Lake 8 cores are supposed to be needing new motherboards, so the hope of future gens being compatible with the socket seem pretty slim.

I'm not saying that you definitely won't be able to upgrade. I just wouldn't want you to buy it thinking you definitely will.

It's also that aside from the card, you'd need a compatible BIOS which clevo doesn't do, so you'd have to invalidate the warranty and risk bricking the laptop to install a custom one.

 

[makmcn]

Thanks for the advice guys, it looks like im gonna go for the Octane IV with 1080 and 8700K so i probably wont upgrade but its nice to have that option if in a few years i wanna see what the options are and the warranty is out

I'd be doing alot of reading beforehand to make sure, thats what i did with the last laptop, and it panned out ok (with modded mobo and vBios) - i changed everything except the MS-16F2 board - taking power draw etc into consideration and i managed to go from i7 2670 to i7 2860 (X version wasnt much faster) and GTX 570 to 970 6gb (which actually pulled less power) - maybe it was just luck but it still plays all the latest games on medium settings

I heave read that the new pascals dont work in the same slot as previous generations since there was something to do with screen connectivity or type of signal and card shape or something along that lines.

I just didnt want to lock the option out completely without being able to try - i do like a challenge, but if i cant upgrade then ill move on and probably come back for another configuration.


Again, Thanks for the advice

 

[Oussebon]

Sounds good. Even if you don't get to upgrade down the line, the Octane with an 8700k and a GTX 1080 is a beast of a machine. Way more powerful than most gaming desktops.

Compared to what an i7 2670 + GTX 570m was like on contemporary titles, the performance will be insane.

Keep us posted with how it goes

 

[makmcn]

I had switched out the 2670 for 2860 - got a little bit of a boost, modded bios to allow for 1600mhz RAM instead of 1333MHz - but pulling the 570 for a 970 with Modded bios - yeah that was a jump in performance - still plays latest games on Medium, but i had issues with Frames dropping on GTA5 and the new Destiny 2 games - bottlenecking @ CPU - but most games, it plays not bad

But this new Octane IV is gonna make that look like a potato laptop, speed wise - it probably should come with an epilepsy warning - just gotta get home in 11 days a juggle some banking around before i order

My only worry is - this 8700K - from what im reading, runs very hot and im actually wondering if 8600K or either Non-K versions would be better setup - not like im gonna overclock them with a GTX1080 running - probably melt the laptop haha!

i havent found any reviews of the combination in a laptop yet - i've actually emailed Tech support to find out if they are 'delidded' just in case cos i know Intel use rubbish thermal paste