Optimus Pro vs Nova

[MisterCrow]

Advice on a suitable laptop please, purely for gaming. Budget around £1,100.

I'm torn between the Optimus Pro and Nova. I understand the Nova is a DTR, which doesn't bother me too much, but the Optimus seems better value - the i7 10875H seems to outperform the Ryzen 5 3600 for gaming and the 1TB SSD in the build below is better in the Optimus than the one in the Nova due to it being NVMe. The Nova has a better screen but I'm currently on old Full HD 60hz screens, so either will be an upgrade for me. Weirdly the Optimus is a touch cheaper than the Nova build.

I'm concerned about heat - how hot will the Optimus build below get under load compared to the Nova? I'd expect the Nova to run cooler. I want my laptop to last, so don't want heat to be a real issue.

Here are the builds. Any advice welcome

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® RTX 2060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA 120 2.5" SSD, (up to 560MB/sR | 540MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated Micro-SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 230W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
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
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
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
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Promotional Item
Get Death Stranding on PC with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: £1,118.00 including VAT and Delivery

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 120Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor 10875H (2.3GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2060 - 6.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 3 in 1 Card Reader (Full Size SD / SDHC / SDXC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 180W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
Optimus Series Integrated 46WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 2 x USB 3.1 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS PRO SERIES RGB BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
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
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: £1,105 including VAT and Delivery

 

[SpyderTracks]

If the DTR compromise doesn’t bother you, personally I’d always go for the Nova, it’s just a much stronger chassis all round.

There’s no reason you can’t spec an M2 drive in the nova, it won’t be much more expensive. You’ve selected a SATA SSD which wouldn’t be recommended.

Gaming wise there’s not going to be much in it, both CPU’s will be around the same.

Cooling wise, the Nova will be far better. It can adequately cool a 12 core 24 thread 3900 so the 3600 is a walk in the park.

If you’re looking at comparison sites like CPUBENCHMARK or userbenchmark, they’re garbage results that’s have zero relevance to actual performance. To be quite frank they’re Intel shills and it’s pure disinformation.

 

[MisterCrow]

Thanks.

Have swapped the SATA SSD out for the cheapest (PCS) M2 and it's actually reduced the price slightly in the Nova! What are the PCS M2's like compared to the branded models? Am i purely paying for a name? I know the Samsungs are faster, but 2000mb/r 1000mb/w should be more than fast enough for me, surely? Quite a big price difference between the Samsungs and PCS models. Would I really notice the speed difference for gaming?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks.

Have swapped the SATA SSD out for the cheapest (PCS) M2 and it's actually reduced the price slightly in the Nova! What are the PCS M2's like compared to the branded models? Am i purely paying for a name? I know the Samsungs are faster, but 2000mb/r 1000mb/w should be more than fast enough for me, surely? Quite a big price difference between the Samsungs and PCS models. Would I really notice the speed difference for gaming?

The Samsung is both faster and more reliable but at quite a heavy premium.

The Intel should be avoided as has low write endurance.

The PCS is a good budget option, obviously sacrificing a bit of speed. In general terms though the speed for gaming isn't going to make any difference. Even for windows you won't really notice it, it's more for very large file transfers that the speed would make a difference.

 

[MisterCrow]

Great, thanks