Nova 15" - stable build advice

[Ania]

Hi All,

My computer knowledge is quite average and I would greatly appreciate some help with my new set up - also apologise for my rusty English.

My 4 year old DELL XPS 9560 (i7-7700HQ @ 2.80GHz, GTX 1050, 16GB RAM) just died and I am looking for a replacement with a little bit of an upgrade. With Dell I went for portability but I was greatly disappointed since it had constant temp/power throttle problems and I never fully utilized the hardware that was inside. Therefore I do not think the ultra-thin laptops are suitable for my needs.

I use laptop for 3D/2D AutoCAD work and occasional gaming but work is a priority. AutoCAD does not benefit much from more cores and single core performance is what is most important. I can go up to £1500 if it’s worth but would prefer a price around £1200.

This is the setup I am thinking about:

Chassis & Display
Nova Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 3 3100 Quad Core CPU (3.6GHz-3.9GHz/18MB CACHE/AM4)

Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz 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
512GB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 1500MB/sR | 1000MB/sW)

AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor

Battery
Nova Series Detachable 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

TOTAL: 1 219,00

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/nova-15/DKwYqQXA0Y/


I have maybe chosen the “weakest” CPU and GPU for this build but it is still an massive upgrade in comparison with my previous laptop:

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/...vs-GeForce-RTX-2060-(Mobile)/4088vs4091vs4085

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compar...en-5-3600-vs-Intel-i7-7700HQ/3715vs3481vs2906

Gaining around 5-10% with ryzen-7 (looking at a signle thread performance) and GTX 2060 does not really justify the price for me, but I have an open mind here so please tell If I am wrong. I am also worried that putting better hardware will again result in thermal/power problems so I prefer a bit weaker but stable performance.

Some Questions

1. I do not really know much about the hard drives so I have chosen almost randomly from what was available please let me know If there is a better configuration.
2. Some of you here mentioned that the fans in Nova can be really laud. I sometimes work from coworking places (I mean I’ve used to before covid) and I am worried it can disturb people around me. Is it really that noisy?
3. I also could not find the info about the weight of a Nova and how much the power adapter itself weight.
4. Some said that Nova is not a very portable laptop, is there anything else apart from the weight and short battery life that makes it so?
5. Would I for any reason need an 230W AC adapter? It is an option but when I choose it is says it might not be compatible with my build.

Would greatly appreciate any advice.

 

[leebee2110]

@fevieira this one maybe perfectly set up for you mate as you share the same CPU.

To answer your questions from my perspective;

1) I personally wouldn't use a HDD. I'd utilize the m.2 drives for 2 SSDs as they're much faster. Avoid Intel drives also, go for PCS or Samsung if budget allows.
2) They can get loud if the components are under heavy load. You won't receive thermal issues though. Just got to tweak the fan curves and possibly undervolt the CPU to manage temps. Basically it'll be a balancing act for you. I have a 3700x which I undervolt to 1.05v and under heavy load the temp. never exceeds 70 degrees with the fans on 60-70%.
3) I think the Nova is around 2.7kg. Not overly heavy given the size of it. The adapter I'm not sure, I have the 230w, it's maybe 0.6kg?
4) No not really, the weight, like I say, isn't an issue for me. Battery is poor given the components and this should be a factor if you plan to spend more than an hour without being able to plug in
5) No, I believe it's only the RTX graphics cards that require the 230w adapter.

In terms of single core CPU performance. Like you say, the 3600 is 5/6% faster and the 3700x around 10% faster. Only you know whether the price to performance is worth it.
Maybe 32gb RAM for CAD uses? I wouldn't be an expert but it may help.

 

[FerrariVie]

My answers:

1. I agree with @leebee2110 , would just say that I would go for one of the 3 options below:
   • one big Samsung 970 only (2Tb, since 1Tb is out of stock for a while). Best performance and endurance option by far, but very expensive
   • one smaller Samsung 970 (500Gb ideal) and one big 2.5" SATA (not HDD) of any brand (1Tb or more). Good mix between fast and slowish drives, but still more expensive than the option below.
   • 2 not-so-fast NVMEs from other brands (not samsung). Suggestion: PCS drive for windows and apps (minimum of 256Gb, ideal 512) and a bigger 1Tb intel 665p as a second storage drive. I believe that this is the combination that will give you best price-performance ratio, but I would be a bit concerned about the durability of those drives. Even though the 665p is faster and has better endurance than the 660p, from what I know it is still 1/4 of the durability of Samsung's 970 EVO and 1/2 of my Adata's. We also don't know about the endurance of the PCS drive. But if after 4 years you start making backups of important data to an external drive, it should be fine
2. It is really noisy. Even when both fans are at 65%, I can't say it's going to be useable on an office environment. However, there is a control center software that allows you to select 3 different profiles: Quiet, Entertainment and Performance. Quiet limits the power of the CPU, so it will stay very quiet when you select that, assuming you're not using the GPU for gaming or rendering. I'm saying that because nothing in the GPU is changed under those power profiles and its fan is also the louder one. So in general, if you're not using too much of the GPU, the CPU fan alone will get as loud as any other PC (at least my Ryzen 3). It's when gaming / rendering with GPU that it gets really loud.
3. I confirm what @leebee2110 said.
4. Yeah, the drawbacks are basically 60-90 min battery (when not gaming, or else it would be a lot less), thickness and noise. I don't consider it heavy, as it weighs the same as my old Dell 7559.
5. Yeah, it is required for the RTX GPUs, that draw a bit more power than the 1660Ti.

I'd like to add some extra comments about the rest of what you said and your concerns about performance, noise and thermals.

• You are right about the GPU. If you don't game much, your games are not heavy (give us examples of a few games that you like) and you don't mind changing the settings to not the highest available, then the 1660Ti will indeed produce less heat and less noise. However, keep in mind that the Nova was designed to have up to a 2070, so it needs to handle the 2070 correctly (and it does). My GPU never goes above 80° with fans at 70% (never heard them at max speed), even when playing the heavier game that I have with ultra settings (around 60 FPS, so really heavy). You can also always underclock and undervolt the GPU, if you're up to doing that (no risks at all, just has a bit of a learning curve). In summary: I went for the best GPU available because I can always tune that to what I want and also because it is not possible of being upgraded. I kept the future-proofability of my machine in mind when making the choice of the best GPU, as the 2070 will perform better for longer. But if you want better thermals and lower noise straight out of the box, then the 1660Ti is indeed better;
• On the CPU side of things, the 3100 will definitely be A LOT cooler than all other CPU options. However, it also has lower performance, even the single core one. In this case it's not just about having less cores, it's also the clock speeds that are lower. But that is precisely the reason why it is cooler!?! In general, the single-core performance of the 3100 will be 10% better than your old 7700HQ, while the 3600 will be another 10% better than the 3100. So it's up to you to decide. I came from an i5 6300HQ that lasted me 4 years, so the performance improvement was really high, both on single and multi core. And you can always upgrade the CPU for a 3600, 3700X or 3900 (if you can find one) in the future, so I'm ok with my choice, even though I don't have any heavy CPU work, especially now that even photo processing is possible to do with the GPU. PS: It is possible to overclock the 3100, easily going to 4.1Ghz (4.3 is also possible, but wouldn't go that far), but that will also make it get warmer. So almost everything is possible with the right tools and willingness to learn

 

[ubuysa]

I agree with @leebee2110 , would just say that I would go for one of the 3 options below:

• one big Samsung 970 only (2Tb, since 1Tb is out of stock for a while). Best performance and endurance option by far, but very expensive
• one smaller Samsung 970 (500Gb ideal) and one big 2.5" SATA (not HDD) of any brand (1Tb or more). Good mix between fast and slowish drives, but still more expensive than the option below.
• 2 not-so-fast NVMEs from other brands (not samsung). Suggestion: PCS drive for windows and apps (minimum of 256Gb, ideal 512) and a bigger 1Tb intel 665p as a second storage drive. I believe that this is the combination that will give you best price-performance ratio, but I would be a bit concerned about the durability of those drives. Even though the 665p is faster and has better endurance than the 660p, from what I know it is still 1/4 of the durability of Samsung's 970 EVO and 1/2 of my Adata's. We also don't know about the endurance of the PCS drive. But if after 4 years you start making backups of important data to an external drive, it should be fine

Definitely opt for two drives, one for Windows and programs and the other for user data. Two drives offers much better performance than one big drive (because Windows can only have one read/write operation in progress per physical drive) and it makes reinstalling Windows easier (because you don't lose the user data on the data drive).

The Windows and programs drive wants to be the fastest you can afford to ensure the best Windows and application performance (something over 2000MB/s read), but it only needs to be big enough to comfortably hold Windows and all programs (256GB is plenty for most, I'm using 128GB).

The user data drive does not need to be so fast, a SATA SSD (550MB/s read) is perfectly fine for most data, an M.2 ACHI SSD (that's a non-NVMe one, around 1200MB/s read) is the fastest you're ever likely to need for user data.

Note that music and video files get zero benefit from being on a SSD (because of the way they're used). If you have a large music and video collection it's more cost effective to use a 7200rpm HDD for these files and reduce the size of your user data SSD.