Decent gaming laptop

[Cocox]

Hi guys!

About 6 years ago, I bought a gaming desktop and a gaming laptop. The whole endeavour ended up costing me roughly 5000 euros. It was a bit stupid, as I wanted to have a laptop to mirror my desktop's performance when I was away.

Two years ago, my son was born and I no longer had time for gaming. I gave the desktop to a kid from a struggling family as he needed it more than I did. My laptop spent months on my desk not being turned on.

I kinda lost touch with computers and gaming. It's time to buy a new rig and this time I'll go only for a laptop.

I mostly play Kerbal Space Program, heavily modded. I know my next laptop will run it smoothly.

But I am also waiting for the release of Mount and Blade Bannerlord, and Star Citizen. The new laptop will be way above the minimum requirements.

I was thinking of the configuration below. Any thoughts? Also, the selected display is IPS?

Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080) + G-Sync
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-8600K (3.6 GHz) 9 MB Cache
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 OC 1518 MHz - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Hard Disk
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3000MB/R, 1700MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 330W AC Adaptor
Battery
Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)
Power Cable
2 x 1 Metre European Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ WIRELESS-AC 1550 M.2 GAMING 802.11AC + BLUETOOTH 5.0
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 Ports + 2 x USB 3.1 Type C Ports
Keyboard Language
OCTANE SERIES BACKLIT USA KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System
Genuine 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
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery
4 - 6 DAY DELIVERY TO ROMANIA
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price 2.640,00 € including TVA and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/octanev-17/ykxXYjNJhs/

 

[Oussebon]

Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)

There's no need for more than 16gb RAM. There's little difference between 8gb and 16gb, so 16gb will be more than futureproof.

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-8600K (3.6 GHz) 9 MB Cache

There's not much point to getting the Octane with an i5 CPU. You either need all the CPU performance you can get, in which case go for the i7.

Or if you don't need every last drop of performance from the CPU, get one of the Defiance laptops with a mobile i7 CPU like the i7 8750H which is already plenty powerful.

I was thinking of the configuration below. Any thoughts? Also, the selected display is IPS?

I believe it is but you may want to check with PCS.

 

[Cocox]

Kerbal Space Program is not properly optimized. There are a lot of memory leaks in it. I play it heavily modded. I use the 32 GB of RAM in order to maximize the time between game restarts. I am expecting some future optimizations but I might end up expanding to 64 Gb of RAM. Only Octane and Vortex support 64 Gb of RAM.

The CPU, I saw in benchmarks that the difference between the i5 8600k and i7 8700k is not substantial and I was hoping that the i5 is more thermal friendly. Is there any difference between them in thermal generation, because if there is none I will clearly follow your advice and go for the i7.

 

[Oussebon]

I don't play it, but from a quick google there seem to be a lot of solutions to various causes with that game other than buying large amounts of redundant RAM.

An i5 will generally produce less heat than an i7. However, everything I said stands - buying an Octane without an i7 is a bit ridiculous - if one only needs the performance of an i5 one should be looking at the Defiance series with the mobile i7s. Also note that mobile CPUs are lower wattage than desktop parts.

 

[Cocox]

Ok. I gave it a good thought. Since technology and along it the chassis will change a lot within the next year, there is no point in spending 2500 to 3000 Euros. So I am looking at a placeholder till things will settle a little.

I was thinking of a Defiance V as listed at the bottom of this page. GTX 1060 is more than enough for Kerbal. 16 gb of RAM for starters, might expand to 32 a bit later..

My only concern is the complaints on this forum regarding overheating and poor keyboard quality..

Chassis & Display
Defiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080) + G-Sync
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor 8750H (2.2GHz, 4.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 - 6.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st Hard Disk
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SAMSUNG 970 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 2300MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 200W AC Adaptor
Battery
Defiance Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (66WH)
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre European Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + Sound BlasterX® Pro-Gaming 720˚
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-9260 M.2 (1.73Gbps, 802.11AC) +BT 5.0
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 Ports + 1 x USB 3.1 Type C Ports
Keyboard Language
RGB BACKLIT USA KEYBOARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
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® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Google Chrome™
Notebook 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)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery
4 - 6 DAY DELIVERY TO ROMANIA
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price 1.789,00 € including TVA and delivery

 

[Oussebon]

Are you bothered about the fast refresh rate / gsync? If not, there is the Recoil which is probably cheaper still and seems quite effective at cooling.

 

[Cocox]

Yeah.. Been playing with the Recoil II configurator for the last couple of days. There are a lot of reviews on the internet and are not at all discouraging.

I might end up with a Recoil after all. At the beginning of July I'll have a new toy.

Thank you for your support.

 

[Oussebon]

No worries, do keep us posted