new Vortex III spec

[Blind]

Hello everyone

This is my first time on the forums so hey community!!
down to the good bit, been going through all the usual motions when looking at getting a new PC, im attending uni in september and needed something portable... hence a laptop. I also wanted something that could play games and make them look good, and since my course is in computer game design i felt justified
So i wanted more expert thoughts on the spec than my own.

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series:17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) (£79)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3720QM (2.60GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
AMD® Radeon® HD 7970M - 2GB DDR5 Video RAM - DX 11 (ETA 18th JULY)
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1102 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N NETWORK CARD
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,650.00 including VAT and delivery.


let me know what you think.

 

[Dekstar]

Apart from the Silver Warranty for an extra fiver (be silly not to, really), I can't see a problem with that build for gaming.
Have you got lots of external storage handy? Only I did notice no secondary HDD to go along with your SSD. I would have thought source code/extra files and whatnots for your course might take up a bit of room.

 

[Music Guy123]

Looks great. I'd agree with Dekstar, I'd strongly suggest a secondary hdd. I don't know whether you already have one or whatever but you shouldn't really store files on an SSD as it has a limited number of read write cycles. Anyway, looks like a very powerful spec, enjoy

 

[Blind]

Thanks for the feedback, i was planning on getting a second HDD at a later time as im pushing my budget to the limit, but for the first few months the SSD should be fine, agreed with the silver warrenty tho, does seem like a good deal.

 

[Music Guy123]

Id suggest dropping the ram speed one notch, there wont be a noticeable performance difference. I would also drop the SSD to 120GB, possibly even 90GB! Then, you should have enough funds for a secondary drive, i would suggest either a blue or blacl scorpio.

 

[Blind]

this is difficult now, i like the idea of having the 250GB size on solid state, so the only real important question is will i need the extra space immediately. I cant see how i will, since i have a desktop for media and the like. The funds for the extra HDD should be available within 2 months so wear should not really be an issue either. or at least i would hope not if im right in my research the HyperK3x line has approx 8 yrs of life in it??

 

[Blind]

Right upon a little reflection and a drive, i have decided that im being far too impatient and i need to wait a week or so then i will indeed get an additional 750GB WD Black drive (especially since the HD7970 is out of stock till the 18th anyway !!) , save myself later hassle and have a far more rounded machine. Again id like to thank Music Guy for your input. Cheers Dude.

 

[Music Guy123]

No problems, enjoy it, you won't be dissapointed I am sure!

 

[Blind]

Okay finally did it, and pressed the button before 12 so hopefully this will be the first day of processing!!!
Hmm may have made a little change too ..... Gtx 680m ........ really just wanted too

heres the final spec

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series:17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080) (£79)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3720QM (2.60GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680M - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1102 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N NETWORK CARD
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,877.00 including VAT and delivery.

part of me wishes id gone for a faster dispatch, but no. i will be strong.....

 

[Dekstar]

Nice one. I already ordered my VortexIII (See this thread for my build), but as the 7970M cards are ETA'd for the 18th I was considering switching out for a 680M.

What made you go for the Nvidia card instead of the AMD, especially at around £200 more?

 

[Blind]

haha well i convinced myself with things like better driver support as you already mentioned in your thread, and Optimus just appears to be much more fleshed out and have fewer bugs than Enduro, from what i can tell the 680 is also a little faster as should be expected from the later release. While none of these are suprising or a big nudge it all helps lend weight to it, i think the biggest considerations are really little things like....... dont have to wait so long now ive commited to buying (yes yes im very impatient) and it really is the new kid on the block. Cant get much newer than the 680 right now and i just dont think im going to regret the choice. Ive gone with AMD cards the last few ive bought, mainly due to price per performance but this time i have the cash available to go Nvidia, if i diddnt that would be the first compromise, but i guess with this system i wanted to compromise very little. Id heard it ran slightly cooler as well, meaning more scope for pushing the performance if i was so inclined or at least less strain on the system so hopefully a longer lasting one
I guess for me the real question was wether i was going to regret spending that money for a minimal performance gain. For me personally, since this is the first upgrade/new pc for a long time, id say no. For me with this purchase its worth it !!!

Nice looking one youve got yourself there, very similar specs i thought about an external sound card but it just would get on my nerves eventually i think, if there was a better internal one i probably would have bitten but im happy with what they have shoe-horned in as it is!!