Laptop for Games Development

UnovX

New member
Hi,

So I've been thinking of upgrading for a while now, but was never sure how to go about it. My sister recommended this website to me as she got her PC from here, and advised me to post my specs here instead of buying, but before that, I'll just explain what I need a powerful laptop for. Long story short, I do games development. I am currently developing a game and realised that it had been a few years since I last upgraded and I wanted a more powerful device. Currently I do 2D Projects but I do plan to move to 3D Projects likely before my next upgrade. While I don't do videos often, having the ability to do nice content creation is also important.

In a nutshell, my budget is "Yes". I don't really have a spending limit. I would prefer to go all out rather then not and have to then spend money on another upgrade sooner, I want a device that can last me. While I don't have a limit per say, I'd like to stay within the £2000-4000 range if possible. I guess I can also give some sticking points.

It has to be a Laptop, I move between places frequently enough that I do not want a PC. In terms of Processor, I want a Eight Core at least and something as powerful as an i9. For storage, at minimum I want 1TB SSD, and honestly anything extra I could probably do without. I want this device to last me at least 5-7 years. I would rather not have to upgrade in the near future. The specs are below and I look forward to hearing any feedback.

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/recoil-V-17/SvNU!fyaqb/

Chassis & Display
Recoil Series: 17.3" Matte QHD 165Hz 100% sRGB LED Widescreen (2560x1440) + G-Sync
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 Eight-Core Processor i9-11900K (3.5GHz) 16MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2933MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 3080 - 16.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
2 x 280W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
2 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Recoil Series Detachable 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (97WH)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Atlas & Super X-Fi
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 x THUNDERBOLT 4 + 1 x USB 3.2 (TYPE C) + 3 x USB 3.2
Keyboard Language
PER-KEY RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
Microsoft® Office Professional 2019 (1 Digital License)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Carry Case
Tech Air 18.4" Premium Toploading Case (Clam-shell)
Laptop Cooling Stands
CoolerMaster NotePal L2 Laptop Cooler, up to 17.3 inch
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)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
Clevo X170KM-G (165Hz QHD, G-Sync, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 3 WORKING DAY DISPATCH
Price: £3,915.00 including VAT and Delivery
 
Last edited:

Tron1982

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Hellow !

If you want us to do some modification on your configuration, can you post the link that was given to you with the rest of your spec ?

As it pretty much the same configuration as i did for myself, i'm allowing myself to give you some advices ^^
(you can go take a look at my review if you want)

Honestly, i do think that the i7 is a better cpu than the i9 right now
You can upgrade for almost nothing the intel ax200 wificard to the intel ax210

You don't want bullguard, it's known here to cause problems with windows, and defender really do the job
I'd go for win10 instead of 11 as not everything work on 11 at the moment


For a carry case, if you want my opinion, go take a look to the everki titan, it's a wonderfull backpack that can fit the recoil, i own one and it's pretty nice ^^
If i'm not wrong, you can get some better cooling pad on other marketplace like Amazon

i hope i gave you some hints that can help you
 
Last edited:

UnovX

New member
My bad, I'll edit the opening post to also contain it, but here is the url https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/recoil-V-17/SvNU!fyaqb/

You are right that going for windows 10 is safer currently, and I could always just upgrade to windows 11 myself. Bullguard isn't a must have either so I can remove that. For the carry case and cooling pad, you are also right that I can just get them via somewhere else so I think I'll do some searching around. Also upgrading the wificard is a something I missed, thank you for that.

I am curious though, what makes the i7 better then the i9 currently?
 

Tron1982

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Basically It heat less, so it will perform better.
(you may want to do some undervolting to have better result with the intel cpu ...)
And if i'm not wrong, the i9 is really poorly optimized
(If i'm remembering what other forum members said/showed with youtube review, etc)

edit : the everki titan got a new name : the business 120

edit 2 : please forgive me if you find this question silly, but you do realize that you have to use both of the power supply unit (charger) to have a fully fonctionnal laptop ?

edit 3 : here is the spec i propose you :

Chassis & Display
Recoil Series: 17.3" Matte QHD 165Hz 100% sRGB LED Widescreen (2560x1440) + G-Sync
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-11700K (3.6GHz) 16MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2933MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 3080 - 16.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
2 x 280W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
2 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Recoil Series Detachable 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (97WH)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Atlas & Super X-Fi
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 x THUNDERBOLT 4 + 1 x USB 3.2 (TYPE C) + 3 x USB 3.2
Keyboard Language
PER-KEY 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 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
Microsoft® Office Professional 2019 (1 Digital License)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Chassis
Clevo X170KM-G (165Hz QHD, G-Sync, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 3 WORKING DAY DISPATCH
Price: £3,732.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/recoil-V-17/3XS4PPde3J/
 

UnovX

New member
Right, I knew the i9 got hot, but I didn't think it got that hot to actually compromise performance. In that case I guess I'll stick with the i7. I am wondering though, do you think the graphics card and memory is a bit overkill or do you think I could go a little lower?
 

Tron1982

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Honestly, I don't know

I don't know what game development imply ^^"

You may want to take a look at the other topic about recoil ("over the top" thread), I explained that, with laptop, it's better to take the best Gpu you can buy at the moment because it's the 1st bottleneck (but, as I said, the difference between the 3070 and the 3080 it 15/20 % performance wise, so it's up to you if you want to spare money ^^)
About the memory, you mean the ram or the ssd ?
For the ram, I don't know as it depend on what your software may need, but you can open the chassis to add more ram later without voiding the warranty, so it's up to you (but, I'd stay with this capacity, if you can afford and you think you'll need it with your software's)
For the ssd, this is the best choice you can go I think
 

UnovX

New member
Sorry for this late reply, dying to programming errors. Essentially I want a machine powerful enough to do high quality videos and renders for 3d models without taking the lifespan of a star to do so is what I want for games development. Knowing that I can add more ram later without voiding the warranty is great. I think I can probably finalise what I'll go for with all the advice so far.
 
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