Vortex owners - Laptop advice fan noise

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seafoodmix

Member
Hi,

After some searching I have nearly settled on PCS for the purchase of a gaming laptop. My last sticking point at the moment is the noise of the machine. The vortex 15” seems to be a suitable machine likely with an I7 cpu and a 560m GPU coming in a little over a £1000.

I have searched the forums for threads on fan noise and cannot find a clear answer or any comparisons to other brands/manufacturers.

So I ask the support or owners to comment.

1. Sat on the desk doing a bit of emailing and web surfing is a vortex likely to be making a noticeable noise, and would the Optimus case make the same amount of noise? Is a 17” laptop likely to be quieter/cooler due to its size?
2. I am moving on from an Acer laptop that I play bf2 on and the issue of fan noise is new to me as it seems silent, is it typical of all gaming type brands to rev up, I just want the ability to upgrade to bf3 ?
3. Would an optimus case with a 555m gpu and a I7cpu be too much of compromise in power towards quietness to play bf3 in medium at least.

thanks in advance any comments helpful
 
W

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
whats your spec? copy and paste it by proceeding and saving the quote, and whats your max budget? i may be able to find something thats better value for money
 
PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
Welcome to our forums :)

1. The bigger the laptop and lower power the less noice there will be. That said the 15.6" Vortex is not a noisy machine and I wouldn't let the risk of noisy hold you back from this model as opposed to the Optimus.

2. If you're pushing a gaming laptop more heat will be produced and therefore the fans might kick in at times. But you get a great gaming experience.

3. The GT 555M is a great GPU and certainly a popular chassis. I can't comment on the game performance but here are some videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWMl76mx4bI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sFucog-w1k
 
S

seafoodmix

Member
thanks for comments so far . music guy i looked a skyfire so two specs, either the 17" with the 570m or the 15" with the 560m the money is the same, i am not worried about weight or size as just need portability around the house but will the 17" be the quieter and is the 570m a good step up from the 560m without the £300 jump for the 580m

Chassis & Display
Vortex II: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2670QM (2.20GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
1.5GB nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M - DirectX® 11 (15.6" Vortex II)
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
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) (£5)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£12)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,088.00 including VAT and delivery.



Chassis & Display
SkyFire:17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2670QM (2.20GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
3.0GB nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 570M - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 4 in 1 Card Reader (SDXC/MMC/MS/XD)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & INTEL WIRELESS 802.11N CARD INC. BLUETOOTH 3.0
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 3 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery
SkyFire Series 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 180W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 0.72 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£12)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,079.00 including VAT and delivery.
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
The 570 will be better than the 560 for gaming. The bigger screen size will probably offer better cooling as there is more space. Therefore is likely to be whiter but during gaming, the fan does have to work hard as it is a laptop what ever the chassis. I would recommend a cooling stand to make sure you keep it cool.
 
A

AndyL

Well-known member
Yes the SkyFire is definitely the more powerfull system. I did not realise the SkyFire was such good value! However do not know what the build quality is like on the MSI machine (SkyFire) whereas I know for sure that the Clevo machine (Vortex) is built incredibly well.
 
W

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
MSI shouldnt give you any problems, i know a few people with MSi products including graphics cards and laptops and never had a problem with them
 
S

seafoodmix

Member
Thanks for advice so far. Looking at pictures for both machines it seems the skyfire does the cooling work with 1 large fan whilst vortex takes 2. PCS must be able to comment on which machine side by side would be quieter. Also the skyfire webcam is 0.7 and the vortex is 2 megapixels will it matter for skype.
 
PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
Both chassis are what I would consider relatively quiet. The SkyFire has a hotkey to turn up the fans manually if/when required whereas the Vortex does this automatically.
 
W

Wazza

Bronze Level Poster
I bought the 6990 on a 17" specifically because I wanted to make sure there was enough heat dissapation. I barely notice the thing is on.
 
Music Guy123

Music Guy123

Prolific Poster
When the gpu or cpu gets too hot. Basically when you are gaming would be a good idea or when you are doing cpu intensive stuff like vid editing/converting
 
S

seafoodmix

Member
I am ready to push the button on this order, but the noise issue that I have read in some reviews still worries me.

There are some threads on other sites that discuss the pulsing of the fans in idol/surfing as very annoying and then there seems to be a bios update for the Clevo Horize P15 machines and everybody then seems very pleased with the more reasonable fan activity. The threads are upto 1 year old. Can someone/pcs confirm that the vortex ii comes with a recent bios that sorts this.
 
PCS

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
We've not had any complaints about a pulsing noise on our Vortex II chassis, and the bios is up to date. If you can let me know the BIOS version that had issues I will check the model for you to confirm that you will not be affected by this.
 
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AndyC_772

Member
I have a Vortex II 15" a couple of weeks old. I think it's probably true to say I've noticed the fan noise a bit more than I did on my previous laptop, a Clevo W860CU - not because they're louder, but because they start and stop more often while surfing.

Judging from the temperature monitoring software that came installed on the machine (Real Temp 3.40), it looks as though the GPU fan comes on at about 40 degrees, and the CPU fan at about 55 degrees. The CPU fan stays on until the CPU has cooled by about 10 degrees, while the GPU fan only cools by a couple of degrees before going off again.

Keeping the GPU temperature more constant is good for its long-term health, but it does mean the fan starts and stops every 30 seconds or so on average. It's not that regular, though, and I can see why some people might be bothered by it.

As issues go I'd regard it as an extremely minor one to have. I've had laptops before which are much, much worse in terms of fan noise, and whilst any high performance machine is bound to need more active cooling than an 'ordinary' model, I certainly couldn't describe the Vortex II as excessively noisy for what it is.
 
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