Genesis IV - 2 issues with GPU choice

[Yamikotai]

I'm looking at getting a Genesis IV, with the CPU choice as i7-3720qm, and the GPU as HD4000. However, with this I get two issues:

1. Unfortunately the Intel® HD 3000 graphics chip does not function with the full HD matte screen you have selected. Please either select a different screen or change your graphics card.

How come this is an issue?

Unfortunately, i7-quad core processors are not compatible with Intel HD integrated graphics. Either change your choice of processor to a dual core version of upgrade to the nVidia Geforce Discrete GPU.

I don't get this either. As far as I know, all the Ivy Bridge quads have HD4000, and the particular one I'm after definitely does, as evidenced here http://ark.intel.com/products/64891. Is there some other reason for this not being an option?

I'd really rather not have to get the GT630. It's GPU performance that I have no use for, at most I play Minecraft and the HD4000 is plenty good enough for that, and more importantly it's not money I want to spend unless I have to.

Edit: Oh, and as a side issue, I'm unable to login when using Chrome. I get a 404 as soon as I press enter/click login after entering my details - this happens on my laptop and desktop. Works fine in Firefox.

 

[Jaydea]

Drop down to the 3610qm and get the 630m. VERY minimal difference between the two, except the price. If you do ever decide to play something more than Minecraft, then you'll have yourself a decent card for it, anyway.

 

[brukin]

What screen have you selected? The 95% gamut one? I don't see how the intel IG would not be compatible. Other models with IG and graphics switching and 95% gamut matt screens take advantage of the IG so can't see how it would be incompatible. Worth chatting to PCS about this. I also think earlier generation quad i7s didn't have the IG, so perhaps it's something left over from previous generation configurator tool.

 

[Lavaridge]

I had the exact same problem as you before I ordered mine a few days ago, thinking it was a website error or something as the HD4000 can operate at 1920x1080. I sent them an E-mail and the response was:

Sadly the chassis that has the Intel HD graphics does not come with a full HD screen, the ones with the card (please remember although they look the same, the two options are 2 different chassis) come with the HD screen, sadly these are not interchangeable.

I ended up ordering it with the 630M and getting the screen I wanted, because apparently it's REALLY good (the 95% gamut one).

 

[PCS]

Each graphics card option on our configurator links to a chassis. Unfortunately the chassis with HD4000 graphics does not support full HD screens.

The Quad Core i7 processors do not come with integrated graphics and therefore cannot be ordered in the chassis that does not have the GT 630M or GT 640M.

 

[Yamikotai]

Drop down to the 3610qm and get the 630m. VERY minimal difference between the two, except the price. If you do ever decide to play something more than Minecraft, then you'll have yourself a decent card for it, anyway.

I'm not actually wanting this for gaming - this will be, for the most part, a uni laptop. My course is Ethical Hacking and Network Security which involves running multiple VMs and other heavy stuff. Because of this, I want to get the best performance available to me which comes in the form of VT-d (a virtualisation feature which allows VMs direct access to your hardware rather than translating through the host OS), which makes more efficient use of the CPU, giving either better performance or battery life. The 3610qm doesn't support this, the 3720qm does and has the bonus of an extra 300MHz on each core.

I'm not actually as bothered by having to include the GT630m as my opening post might've indicated, more just curious. I've now realised I can make use of the GPU performance so it's very little loss to me.

The Quad Core i7 processors do not come with integrated graphics and therefore cannot be ordered in the chassis that does not have the GT 630M or GT 640M.

Sorry, but they do. At least, both the 3610qm and 3720qm do, as evidenced by Intel's own pages and proved by the GPUs having different quoted clock speeds respectively (meaning it's unlikely to be a copy+paste error, not that it was anyway). Now, there's possibly other reasons based on the architecture of your laptops, but it's completely incorrect to say they don't come with an integrated GPU.
http://ark.intel.com/products/64899#infosectiongraphicsspecifications
http://ark.intel.com/products/64891#infosectiongraphicsspecifications

Each graphics card option on our configurator links to a chassis. Unfortunately the chassis with HD4000 graphics does not support full HD screens.

Ah, that explains that. Thanks!

I ended up ordering it with the 630M and getting the screen I wanted, because apparently it's REALLY good (the 95% gamut one).

Yeah, a friend of mine got an Optimus III with it. It's glorious! Vertical viewing angles aren't as good as I expected, but still much better than your usual panel. I'm more than happy to get the GT630m if it means I can have that screen.


Anyway, I'll be ordering tonight! As soon as my faster payments transfer goes through
95% Adobe 1080p screen
i7-3720qm
2GB DDR3 (I'll be getting 2x8GB 1600MHz separately)
GT630m
1TB Scorpio Blue
Hard drive bay caddy (I'll be moving the HDD to this and having my SSD as the primary drive)
2 of the high-capacity batteries
No OS (I have more than a few keys for Win7 - probably the main reason I'm getting this here)
30-day dead pixel guarantee

 

[Yamikotai]

Each graphics card option on our configurator links to a chassis. Unfortunately the chassis with HD4000 graphics does not support full HD screens.

Actually, can you elaborate more on this?

 

[PCS]

We have since tested the processors on the most recent batch of Genesis IV chassis and I can now confirm that the i7 Quad Core processors now work with integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics. The exception has been removed.

 

[Yamikotai]

We have since tested the processors on the most recent batch of Genesis IV chassis and I can now confirm that the i7 Quad Core processors now work with integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics. The exception has been removed.

Does that mean they didn't have integrated in the past?

 

[PCS]

Some Intel CPUs didn't have integrated graphics in the past and/or they didn't work for one reason or another, but now I can confirm that they do.

 

[brobr]

Each graphics card option on our configurator links to a chassis. Unfortunately the chassis with HD4000 graphics does not support full HD screens.

Hi,

I am also very interested in a HD4000 graphics + Full HD (1920x1080) screen without using the Nvidia GPUs. I want to run linux on this notebook, no gaming and would like to save money and energy plus the fact that I promised myself never to buy a Nvidia graphics card anymore after a previous laptop was blown up by such an item. Anyway. Optimus and thus the provided GPUs are not supported under linux by the Nvidia driver and actually not-used for graphics display at all: link for:

Installing the NVIDIA Driver on an Optimus Laptop:... the NVIDIA X driver and the NVIDIA OpenGL driver may not be able to display to the laptop's internal display panel ;... the internal display is driven by the integrated GPU. On these systems, it's important that the X server not be configured to use the NVIDIA X driver after the driver is installed. Instead, the correct driver for the integrated GPU should be used....

.

Now, I saw on a notebookreview of a model similar to the GenesisIV that someone replaced the screen for a Full HD one; his model had the GT 630M gpu. Further, a linux-friendly computer-seller in America, System 76, provides a GenesisIV-like model with full HD screens in which the gpu has been physically removed from the board. Thus the HD4000 can drive the screen. But would this indicate that the chassis with only the HD4000 cannot be fitted with such a Full HD screen? In other words, a replacement as sketched in that notebookreview post should not be attempted on this nvidia-gpu-less chassis? But why is that? Different connectors?? Please could this be explained a bit more. The possibility of ordering a Full HD screen without the Nvidia GPU would make this computer so much more attractive for linux-users. (And a larger 17" is not an option as I am carrying the laptop daily to and from work).

Thanks for any more insight provided.

 

[Yamikotai]

I've found that running anything Linux virtualised has been a more-than-acceptable solution. And it's easy to disable the GT630m (or 635m as it is now) but either just not installing the Nvidia drivers, or adding 'Only use integrated' as a global variable in the Nvidia drivers. It is handy to have it for playing occasional games.

 

[brobr]

I've found that running anything Linux virtualised has been a more-than-acceptable solution. And it's easy to disable the GT630m (or 635m as it is now) but either just not installing the Nvidia drivers, or adding 'Only use integrated' as a global variable in the Nvidia drivers. It is handy to have it for playing occasional games.

Sure, that is if Windows is running as the host-OS; which will be a no go on any of my computers. I have been there and am so relieved to have gone for linux (in 2000) and leaving Windows for what it is. Apparently, to switch off Nvidia optimus cards (to save battery and prevent the machine heating up) one could use on linux the Bumblebee software, ( [url]http://www.bumblebee-project.org/ [/URL]), but if I could do without that would be a good thing.