Future-proof (relatively) gaming laptop - help/advice

D_Scim012

New member
Hi all,

I've had my current PC Specialist laptop for about 8 years now and it's been great but time is finally catching up with it and the list of games that have to be played on the lowest of settings is getting longer. So, it is with some sadness but equal amounts of excitement I'm getting a new one. With help from the online chat team (thank you!!), I've so far got the following (see below).

Would massively appreciate help as to whether you think this would be a good set up for the price, and whether it will be somewhat future-proof (at least for the next 5 - 6 years). Any options that you think are or are not worth having would be particularly appreciated.

Treat me as a complete dummy, so feel free to go all in with the strength of advice/opinions.

Thanks in advance everyone! :)

Chassis & Display
Vyper Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER Max-Q - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Vyper Series Integrated 91WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 3 PORT + 3 x USB 3.1 PORTS
Keyboard Language
VYPER 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
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 Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation
NONE
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GM7MQ8P (8GB RTX-2080 MAX Q, i7-10875H, 144Hz, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £2,288.00 including VAT and Delivery
 

GeorgeCA

Bronze Level Poster
I have a Vyper with 2070 (is better than the 2080) and 16 GB of ram (2x8) and i can run all new games on ultra. You only need more than 16 GB of RAM if you do video/audio editing... you will never use the RAM up to 32...

Is a very good laptop i am very happy.

So if you can change the video to 2070 or 2070 Super, that will be good.
 

FerrariVie

Super Star
Sorry, but I don't agree that the 2070 super is better than the 2080 max-q. They are very similar and it would be a better value because it's cheaper, but if you want the absolute best and have the budget for it, the 2080 super max-q will give you a bit better performance:

1600364067030.png1600364129852.png1600364179873.png

Source

This video does not directly compare thermals, as the 2080 super Max-q in this case has liquid metal while the 2070 super is using normal paste, but due to the lower TDP, I also expect the 2080 to run cooler (I might be wrong, though).
 

briggm

Bronze Level Poster
Sorry, but I don't agree that the 2070 super is better than the 2080 max-q. They are very similar and it would be a better value because it's cheaper, but if you want the absolute best and have the budget for it, the 2080 super max-q will give you a bit better performance:

View attachment 18481View attachment 18482View attachment 18483

Source

This video does not directly compare thermals, as the 2080 super Max-q in this case has liquid metal while the 2070 super is using normal paste, but due to the lower TDP, I also expect the 2080 to run cooler (I might be wrong, though).

According to this comparison https://www.notebookcheck.net/GeFor...X-2070-Super-Mobile_10305_10229.247598.0.html
the 2070 comes out slightly better on average across a range of games.

Either way, they're both pretty close regardless. In favour of the 2080 Super Max-q is that it's providing similar performance for less wattage and like you said it may run cooler, however personally I couldn't justify the the extra cost of the 2080 over the 2070 Super. If it was a small amount ok, but we're talking about hundreds of pounds here.
 

Grumpywurzel

Bright Spark
AMD would be a safer bet, plus it probably will work out a bit cheaper, or at least you will get a better CPU for your money.

32GB isnt needed for gaming and if it was then you would opt for the fastest RAM that you can afford.

GPU's in a laptop are a bit tricky, tend to be low power variants than a desktop plus as mentioned the super (mobile) vs the max-q can be confusing. Again a lot of this is down to budgets and I havent seen any mention of one.
 

barlew

Godlike
Hi all,

I've had my current PC Specialist laptop for about 8 years now and it's been great but time is finally catching up with it and the list of games that have to be played on the lowest of settings is getting longer. So, it is with some sadness but equal amounts of excitement I'm getting a new one. With help from the online chat team (thank you!!), I've so far got the following (see below).

Would massively appreciate help as to whether you think this would be a good set up for the price, and whether it will be somewhat future-proof (at least for the next 5 - 6 years). Any options that you think are or are not worth having would be particularly appreciated.

Treat me as a complete dummy, so feel free to go all in with the strength of advice/opinions.

Thanks in advance everyone! :)

Chassis & Display
Vyper Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER Max-Q - 8.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Vyper Series Integrated 91WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 3 PORT + 3 x USB 3.1 PORTS
Keyboard Language
VYPER 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
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 Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation
NONE
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
TongFang GM7MQ8P (8GB RTX-2080 MAX Q, i7-10875H, 144Hz, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £2,288.00 including VAT and Delivery

I would recommend changing the the RAM to 16GB and the changing both m.2 ssds to 1TB PCS drives.

Also if you are planning on using the laptop extensively on battery power take a look at this thread before ordering: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...le-performance-when-running-on-battery.72509/
 

barlew

Godlike
AMD would be a safer bet, plus it probably will work out a bit cheaper, or at least you will get a better CPU for your money.

32GB isnt needed for gaming and if it was then you would opt for the fastest RAM that you can afford.

GPU's in a laptop are a bit tricky, tend to be low power variants than a desktop plus as mentioned the super (mobile) vs the max-q can be confusing. Again a lot of this is down to budgets and I haven't seen any mention of one.

You cannot get AMD CPU's in this laptop.
They would have to switch to a different chassis for AMD and then they would also have to settle for a lower spec GPU.
 
Last edited:

barlew

Godlike
Not in this particular chassis, so swap to a better one and slam the AMD in the thing?

Yeh that is a fair point, although it appears the maximum performance GPU PCS pair with an AMD CPU in a laptop is the 2070 in a Nova Ultra 15. This however is an entirely different beast its about twice the thickness of the Vyper with a small screen.

Personally I would prefer the Vyper with the 2080 Super Max-Q.
 
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