New Vortex IV

[Lobizzle]

I've always wanted to get a proper gaming PC/Laptop and when I heard about they were remaking Rome 2 I couldn't help myself. I have a budget of around £1,500, but can go over slightly if necessary. The main questions I have about the below spec are:

1. Is 8GB of RAM enough?
2. Should I get a bigger SSD? They cost alot of money and I'm not sure if it is worth paying an extra £100 to get twice as much memory.
3. Do I need to upgrade my processor from the i7-4700MQ or is it good enough?
4. I'm most likely going to be using this on my lap when gaming and was wondering if it would be worthwhile to get a laptop cooling mat/stand, and if so which ones are best value for money.
5. Is it worth getting a better sound card or is the standard one good enough?

Any help would be much appreciated!!

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 15.6" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4700MQ (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780M - 4.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
2nd/3rd HDD HARD DRIVE OPTICAL BAY CADDY
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1202 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

 

[Yamikotai]

1. Yes
2. 120GB is fine since you have the hard drive as well.
3. 4700MQ is plenty good enough unless you're working with virtual machines.
4. Yeah, a cooling mat is a good idea (personally I use a tea tray).
5. Unless you're working with sound professional the in-built sound is good enough

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

Hello Lobizzle, welcome to the forums

1) 8GB will be more than enough for gaming at the moment, this can also be easly upgraded in the future so i think your foing fine there.

2) If you buy a bigger SSD you'll be able to install the operating system and more games on it but to be hones you have gone for the fast 7200RPM hard drive, this is the one i use and the loading times are great. You could always ditch the SSD for the moment and upgrade at a later date. I take it you are aware that on the 15" model you have to sacrifice your Optical Drive for a second Drive. You could go upto the 17" and it allows for 2 and an optical drive.

3) Unless your doing any video editing or rendering the 4700MQ will be fine for gaming.

4) A cooling stand is always a good investment, keeps your system running cool and may give it a longer life span, also if you get an adjustable one it can make gaming more comfortable when using the laptop keybord and mouse.

5) If you require 5.1 surround sound to a cinema system for 5.1 in games you would need a USB sound card, none of the laptops are capable of Dolby Live which is required for 5.1 gaming surround sound although it will work with DVD movies etc. I use USB speakers at home but im actually a fan of the Vortex Speakers however some hate them as there not very bassy. You could also consider investing in 5.1 Headphones with a inbuit sound card but someone else would need to recommend a pair for you sorry.

Other than that your specification looks good.

Hope this helps

 

[Lobizzle]

2. Yeah I only realised that yesterday after looking at the laptop for about a week haha. But it seemed everyone was so keen on the SSD as the primary drive that it was more important than having a disk drive. Might take your advice and just leave the SSD, I suppose if it feels a bit slow then I can just buy one.

4. Is there any particular cooling pad you would recommend/use because after spending a few hours looking at them I was none the wiser as to which one was good value for money.

 

[SmokeDarKnight]

Yeah, i've never entered the world the world of SSD yet so i cant really compare but i've never had a 7200 rpm until now and i was LIKE WOW O_O thats fast. Can't imagine how fast SSD much be but if i think that 7200 is fast i cant see the point in spending money on the SSD yet. Thats just my opinion though.

I never switch my laptop off so boot up time is never an issue but when i do its about 30 seconds if that. I do use windows 8 though and it has reduced boot up times.

Theres always the ones on the PCs website but i just use a Belkin when i am using the Cooler, rest of the time i just have it propped up at the back.

 

[llebri]

1. Is 8GB of RAM enough?
2. Should I get a bigger SSD?
3. Do I need to upgrade my processor from the i7-4700MQ or is it good enough?
4. I'm most likely going to be using this on my lap when gaming and was wondering if it would be worthwhile to get a laptop cooling mat/stand, and if so which ones are best value for money.
5. Is it worth getting a better sound card or is the standard one good enough?

1. Yes
2. As long as you have the HDD I would say you can skip the bigger SSD now, as long as you get an SSD. If you don't switch what game you are playing allot you can always move the steam install to the other drive. (I move the file contents and create a junction on the C: Drive)
But you want a SSD, when I first added one to my XPS 17 l702x performance increase blew my hair back!
3. Its fine
4. Yes you want something if you are planning to keep it on your lap, I think the ones with cooling fans included are a bit optional (and they might mess up airflow of the laptop) but at least a solid flat surface, seperated from your body more iwth a cushion underneath.
5. If MP3 or spotify is good enough for you, then standard sound is fine.



Get an SSD

 

[keynes]

4. Is there any particular cooling pad you would recommend/use because after spending a few hours looking at them I was none the wiser as to which one was good value for money.

I have the zalman (last one on the configurator) not very noisy and with USB ports at the back.

 

[Lobizzle]

Ok so an SSD looks like a good idea, I have the money so why not.

I have the zalman (last one on the configurator) not very noisy and with USB ports at the back.

Yeah I was looking at that one, it looks much nicer and more comfortable then the others, only thing putting me off was the price, but there's no point in skimping out because I'll just be ****ed off. I'll try and find it cheaper elsewhere though

Cheers guys!