Gaming laptop

[Dutchos]

Hi all,

Hope you can help.

I am thinking of buying a new laptop for around the £1,000 - £1,500 mark. I am really confused about three areas:

1. What type of hard drives to go for and in what configuration (just games and a few photos but no videos/music really). Are you meant to put your operating system on the HDD and then have a SDD for games or other way round and how much capacity needed for the drive 1 which i assume is a HDD and how much for the second drive which I assume is a SDD?
2. 
   
3. What graphics card to go for standard, super or max-q? And 1070 variants or do i go better?

And Ryzen or Intel processor...lots of stuff I've read seems to say AMD is better but can only see one laptop with AMD being the NOVA.

Really only want a 15" laptop by the way.

Many thanks for your help.

Dutchos

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi all,

Hope you can help.

I am thinking of buying a new laptop for around the £1,000 - £1,500 mark. I am really confused about three areas:

1. What type of hard drives to go for and in what configuration (just games and a few photos but no videos/music really). Are you meant to put your operating system on the HDD and then have a SDD for games or other way round and how much capacity needed for the drive 1 which i assume is a HDD and how much for the second drive which I assume is a SDD?
2. 
   
3. What graphics card to go for standard, super or max-q? And 1070 variants or do i go better?

And Ryzen or Intel processor...lots of stuff I've read seems to say AMD is better but can only see one laptop with AMD being the NOVA.

Really only want a 15" laptop by the way.

Many thanks for your help.

Dutchos

Oh, YES, they've got AMD laptops!!!!

The idea with SSD/HDD is you have the SSD as the primary drive (that's the M2 drive in this) for your OS and games, then you have an HDD as your secondary drive for storage for photos etc.

Ok, so the Nova actually has desktop CPU's in it, so they're quite a lot more powerful than a normal laptop configuration. AMD CPUs are extremely good on power requirements so this should be a lovely build:

Chassis & Display
Nova Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 - 8.0GB 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 PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
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 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Bluetooth & Wireless
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
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® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
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 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
Clevo NH55AFW (8GB RTX-2070, 144Hz N7, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,420.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/nova-15/weTWYVZ8vm/

 

[Dutchos]

Oh, YES, they've got AMD laptops!!!!

The idea with SSD/HDD is you have the SSD as the primary drive (that's the M2 drive in this) for your OS and games, then you have an HDD as your secondary drive for storage for photos etc.

Ok, so the Nova actually has desktop CPU's in it, so they're quite a lot more powerful than a normal laptop configuration. AMD CPUs are extremely good on power requirements so this should be a lovely build:

Chassis & Display
Nova Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD 144Hz 72% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2666MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 - 8.0GB 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 PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
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 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema
Bluetooth & Wireless
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
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® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
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 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
Clevo NH55AFW (8GB RTX-2070, 144Hz N7, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,420.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/nova-15/weTWYVZ8vm/

thanks Spyder that's really helpful. I also quite like the Vyper III due to the thinness and also the fact that it has the 2070 Super. Is it worth spending a bit mroe to get this card?

 

[SpyderTracks]

thanks Spyder that's really helpful. I also quite like the Vyper III due to the thinness and also the fact that it has the 2070 Super. Is it worth spending a bit mroe to get this card?

I haven't actually seen the performance increase on the new Super cards, I mean it's likely worth it, in a laptop you want the most powerful GPU you can afford as that will be the first bottleneck with age.

 

[Lemon_Haze]

I personally thinks rtx 2070 super is an overkill on 1080p just now but if u planning to connect it to monitor or be future proof then no doubt, also ive heard prices should be same as rtx 2070, dont know if this is only regarding a deskto version. what a shame there is no amd yet with a g sync that would be best thing ever

 

[Scott]

Serious value for money in these builds. May be worth pocketing the change and going for the 3600 over the X but other than that I think that build is perfect.

It would absolutely wee all over my 2.5k Octane!

 

[Lemon_Haze]

imagine this with rtx 2080 or at least 2070 super lol im sure clevo got some serious cooling solution done again this is some serious pressure on intel now haha

 

[Scott]

imagine this with rtx 2080 or at least 2070 super lol im sure clevo got some serious cooling solution done again this is some serious pressure on intel now haha

IMO, as a laptop, the 2070 is about right. It's powerful enough that it'll hold cop for years to come at a serious level of 1080, but it's not OVERLY wasteful...... like I think a 2080 would be.

Used as a docking solution the 2080(s) would make more sense..... but by then a PC with a secondary laptop would make more sense.

I would take a desktop AMD over an Intel any day right now so the war is won IMO. Very few occasions I'll recommend Intel when there's an AMD option.

 

[Dutchos]

Can i ask what the cooling is like on a Vyper given how thin it is? I read stuff about throttling of CPUs and GPUs but i'm not tech savvy enough to work out whether this would happen with a..say a 2070 and an i7 10875H? Also sorry one other question...how come there is only one choice of CPU on 15.6" laptops? Thanks for your help and advice.

 

[Lemon_Haze]

Can i ask what the cooling is like on a Vyper given how thin it is? I read stuff about throttling of CPUs and GPUs but i'm not tech savvy enough to work out whether this would happen with a..say a 2070 and an i7 10875H? Also sorry one other question...how come there is only one choice of CPU on 15.6" laptops? Thanks for your help and advice.

Hi, I think these are new cases please correct me someone if I am wrong, IMO it will throttle but we need to wait for benchmarks, as those chases has a i7 10th gen CPUs with only one option, you cannot change cpus as generally older generation are classified as " end of life " laptops at least in other retailers you can change cpu in 15" nova or octane laptop as it has a desktop cpu, only laptops with desktop cpu support can be changed for another cpu

 

[SpyderTracks]

Can i ask what the cooling is like on a Vyper given how thin it is? I read stuff about throttling of CPUs and GPUs but i'm not tech savvy enough to work out whether this would happen with a..say a 2070 and an i7 10875H? Also sorry one other question...how come there is only one choice of CPU on 15.6" laptops? Thanks for your help and advice.

The only real way to check thermals is by third party reviewers or people with one in their hands.

The Vyper was always one of the better chassis previously with regards to cooling though, and I'm sure that will still be the case.

Normally laptops would give the option to change CPU's but these are brand new chassis with brand new CPU's. My estimated guess is that there may be a delay with getting supplies due to Covid affecting shipping but we will see more options availabe as soon as stocks arrive:

"While the rollout for these new chips has been slowed slightly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Intel still anticipates systems being available for pre-order starting today, with those systems on store shelves by mid-April. Pricing of H-Series-equipped systems was not announced, but should be available shortly.


COVID-19 is having one impact on the Intel 10th Gen H-Series launch. Normally, Intel supplies early benchmarks with its processor announcements, but those are not available this time around since the chips have been delayed coming from China. We will update this story as those comparison numbers are announced."

Intel 10th Gen H Series for laptops: Specs and everything we know

Intel’s 10th Gen H-Series chips promise big power for gaming laptops and MacBook Pro rivals

www.tomsguide.com

 

[Dutchos]

Sorry forgot to say thanks for everyone's help on this thread. Want a thin PCS laptop but sounds like AMD are the way to go, with a 2070 super and some reviews out there first...hope this happens?

 

[Dutchos]

Can I ask, (and forgive the ignorance!), is it likely that any laptop in the PCS range other than the Nova will get the AMD Ryzen CPUs? Thanks

 

[SpyderTracks]

Can I ask, (and forgive the ignorance!), is it likely that any laptop in the PCS range other than the Nova will get the AMD Ryzen CPUs? Thanks

They’d be a new range of chassis, but yes, fairly certain PCS will be stocking some.

 

[Dutchos]

Thanks @SpyderTracks. Again may be a dumb question but is the reason the Nova is a bit thicker down to the AMD CPU or just something else in there that's making the chassis thicker compared to the say the other chassis that are c.20-27mm thick ? thanks again

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks @SpyderTracks. Again may be a dumb question but is the reason the Nova is a bit thicker down to the AMD CPU or just something else in there that's making the chassis thicker compared to the say the other chassis that are c.20-27mm thick ? thanks again

It’s not a laptop, it’s a desktop replacement which means it has desktop CPU’s in it so needs the extra space for bigger cooling solution.

 

[Dutchos]

Ok thank you

 

[Dutchos]

Can I check something on the Vyper GPU options. When it says 2070 Super - is that 2070 Super Max-Q or 2070 Super Mobile? Also any timing update on when chassis other than the Nova will be available with AMD CPUs? Appreciate this might be difficult to answer! Many thanks

 

[SpyderTracks]

Can I check something on the Vyper GPU options. When it says 2070 Super - is that 2070 Super Max-Q or 2070 Super Mobile? Also any timing update on when chassis other than the Nova will be available with AMD CPUs? Appreciate this might be difficult to answer! Many thanks

2070 Super mobile, it would state if it was max-q

 

[SpyderTracks]

Also any timing update on when chassis other than the Nova will be available with AMD CPUs?

You’d have to ask PCS, none of us work for them so can only guess.