New to Laptop Building - Nova 15 AMD Ryz 5 Build

dtlucario

Member
{EDIT}

Chassis & Display

Nova Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 Ti - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
2nd 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 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Nova Series Detachable 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 M.2 GAMING + BLUETOOTH 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.2 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.2 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
15" NOVA SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
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™
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Mouse Pad
PCS Mouse Mat
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 5 WORKING DAY DISPATCH

Cost
£1,248.00

This is going to be a gaming pc mostly. This is right within my budget of £1250, so I just want to make sure I hadn't made any big mistakes in this build. I heard somewhere that you'd want HDD for your first drive to put your OS and just general stuff on, with the M.2 drives being SSDs? Hopefully this is all up to snuff. Thanks for any possible feedback.
 
Last edited:

dtlucario

Member
Hmm if I knock the graphics down to GTX 1660 ti then I get it down into budget. As a scrub, am I really going to notice any real difference?
 

dtlucario

Member
GPU: It depends on the type of games you play...if running flight sims then the 2060 would be better; normal AAA games the 1660Ti would be fine. However, you also need to consider, potentially, 5-7 years down the line. GPUs can't be upgraded so you spec the highest you can afford to cover yourself. Personally, I would be getting the 2060.

Does your laptop need to run on battery much? I ask as most don't realise that the Nova has a pretty poor battery life (90 minutes) due to it's desktop CPU

Oh, and you want the fastest RAM you can get so, in this case, 2666MHz...2 sticks of it as RAM works better in pairs

I'm thankful for your advice, but it will never be on battery unless the charger breaks. I could wait until march and I'd be able to afford a Ryzen 7, 2060 laptop, but my old laptop is dying, and I'm not sure if I can afford to wait
 

dtlucario

Member
That's fine....was just checking, as I said, most people don't realise it's a power hungry laptop that really requires mains power.

For gaming, unless you have some particularly CPU heavy games, a 3600 will be fine....I have a 3600 in my desktop and it's fine for gaming

Right you are! So for RAM, I'd want; 16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB) instead, yes?
 

dtlucario

Member
Updated Specs;


Chassis & Display
Nova Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 Ti - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
2nd 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 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Nova Series Detachable 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 M.2 GAMING + BLUETOOTH 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.2 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.2 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
15" NOVA SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
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™
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Mouse Pad
PCS Mouse Mat
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 5 WORKING DAY DISPATCH

COST:
£1,266.00


More or less on budget. Hopefully everything will be in stock 30th Jan / 1st Feb so I can grabb me this.
 

Bhuna50

Author Level
If your current laptop is on its way out does that mean you can use your Win 10 licence on this laptop? Saving you £s

Consider losing an M2 at the moment in favour of upping to 2060 GPU.

You can always add the second M2 later then but you can’t change the GPU.

I would always recommend gold warranty and Add 1 year dead pixel gtee but that depends on your own appetite for risk.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

dtlucario

Member
If your current laptop is on its way out does that mean you can use your Win 10 licence on this laptop? Saving you £s

Consider losing an M2 at the moment in favour of upping to 2060 GPU.

You can always add the second M2 later then but you can’t change the GPU.

I would always recommend gold warranty and Add 1 year dead pixel gtee but that depends on your own appetite for risk.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That sounds incredible, but having been born in the north; I'm a moron. I wouldn't have a singular clue on how to transfer that over, and the guys at PCspecialist would probably just charge me the same for installing it themselves - something I wouldn't blame them for.

Losing the second M2 to get up to 2060 is pretty solid advice, I'm just loathe to open up my laptops myself. I'm pretty inept. Would the guys down at the store be able to install that for me if I sent the laptop back in? For a price, of course.
 

Bhuna50

Author Level
Yes, when you have ordered and received your laptop, you will have a My Accounts page on the PCS website. Within that you can access the order and click on Upgrade and look at what you can upgrade / order spares of (eg battery/power adapter). You can select then if you want to upgrade it yourself or send in your laptop (obviously a charge will apply, but this will be detailed in your upgrade information).
 
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