€1500 or as close as possible budget! What you guys (and gals) think?

[Retro]

Hey all,

Title says it all.

I am not an "extreme gamer" that has the latest titles as soon as they come out but i like things to run nice and smooth. I actually mostly play World of Warcraft but occasionally i will splash out on something a bit harder on the graphics. I previously owned an Alienware m17x r3 which lasted about 6 years @ €2,500 (graphics card died a few weeks ago...) but i don't have that kind of money to spend this time (Damn you kids!).

So what do you guys think? I want a machine as capable as possible all round and within my budget with a particular emphasis on games. I know the GTX 1060 isn't the top graphics card available but within my budget if i stretch to the 1070 i have to cut even more out (as it is i have requested no OS with the below to keep cost down)!

Let me know and thanks for looking unk:

Chassis & Display
Defiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 7700HQ (2.8GHz, 3.8GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 - 6.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1, G-SYNC
1st Hard Disk
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 2.5" SSHD - UP TO 5X FASTER THAN HDD!
M.2 SSD Drive
120GB KINGSTON SSDNow M.2 2280 G2, SATA 6Gb/s (550MB/R, 200MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 200W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre European Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + MIC/Headphone + SoundBlaster X-Fi MB3
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ WIRELESS-AC 1535 M.2 GAMING 802.11AC + BLUETOOTH 4.1
USB Options
3 x USB 3.1 Type A, 2 x USB 3.1 Type C AS STANDARD
Battery
Defiance Series 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (60WH)
Keyboard Language
DEFIANCE SERIES RGB BACKLIT USA KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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)
Delivery
2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Quantity
1

Price €1,559.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/defianceIII-17/!UYY2cYsJJ/

 

[Retro]

Sorry for the second post but i just noticed that i can lower the processor and get a better graphics card without too much change to the cash moneys! Changes below and again any advice is welcome on which would be best

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor 6700HQ (2.6GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1, G-SYNC

New cost €1,544.00 VAT and delivery

Thaaaaaaaaanks!

 

[Stephen M]

The Kingston is about the slowest of the m2 drives, you would be better going for the Samsung SM or PM, it will cost more but you can save money by dropping the hybrid drive and going with a standard SATA 7200rpm drive, that will just as good probably better. The hybrids only have a small SSD cache so once you have another SSD it is wasted. I am not a gamer so will leave the rest to those more knowledgeable.

 

[Retro]

The Kingston is about the slowest of the m2 drives, you would be better going for the Samsung SM or PM, it will cost more but you can save money by dropping the hybrid drive and going with a standard SATA 7200rpm drive, that will just as good probably better. The hybrids only have a small SSD cache so once you have another SSD it is wasted. I am not a gamer so will leave the rest to those more knowledgeable.

Duly noted, thanks Stephen

1st Hard Disk1TB WD BLACK 2.5" WD10JPLX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

M.2 SSD Drive128GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 700MB/W)

€1,542.00 by dropping down to the 1TB 7200rpm HDD. I actually have a 5400rpm 1TB in my old alienware i can put in to this to make up the difference anyway.

Will that work much better?

 

[Oussebon]

Seems good. I'd agree with the changes you made above.

 

[Retro]

Was speaking to the IT guy in work and he made 2 points that have me a bit worried about what I am getting...

1. He thinks the GTX 1070 GPU is too much squeezed into a laptop being an 8gb card and that I will have overheating problems.

2. He thinks I'm stupid going for an older i7-6700HQ instead of the i7-7700HQ.

Can someone tell me if he is right and I should be rethinking this? Or if he is talking out of his a##.

 

[Oussebon]

I think he hasn't got a clue what he's talking about tbh, if that's what he said.

If he's worried about thermals, he should know that Kaby Lake (7700HQ) runs hotter than Skylake (6700HQ). Moreover the difference in performance between them is very slim in the great majority of gaming contexts. Furthermore, the 6700HQ was entirely sufficient for the 1070 before the 7700HQ came along - you don't need the 7700HQ to game on just because it exists.

The 1070 does run hotter than the 1060 - however this has next to nothing to do with the fact that it has 8gb VRAM. The 1060 is a smaller chip based on GP106 vs the 1070 that's GP104. Regardless of the reason, the Defiance chassis is capable of cooling it.

 

[Retro]

I think he hasn't got a clue what he's talking about tbh, if that's what he said.

If he's worried about thermals, he should know that Kaby Lake (7700HQ) runs hotter than Skylake (6700HQ). Moreover the difference in performance between them is very slim in the great majority of gaming contexts. Furthermore, the 6700HQ was entirely sufficient for the 1070 before the 7700HQ came along - you don't need the 7700HQ to game on just because it exists.

The 1070 does run hotter than the 1060 - however this has next to nothing to do with the fact that it has 8gb VRAM. The 1060 is a smaller chip based on GP106 vs the 1070 that's GP104. Regardless of the reason, the Defiance chassis is capable of cooling it.

Thanks for that Oussebon.

I know a little about specs and things but would not consider myself really knowledgeable at all. Hence asking here and the IT guy in work.

Great to have the info and feedback from some pros :clap:

 

[Retro]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The bloody CPU special offer is over and the price is now bumped up to €1734 because i have to go with minimum i7-7700HQ.

Only a few days before i was set to order the thing and now im back to square one.

So depressed right now :'(

 

[Oussebon]

That sucks :/

The 6700HQ was an older generation, so I guess the offer was to clear out their stocks.. and now they must have done so.

I have seen older models and components keep popping up, disappearing, and then popping back up again but obviously there;s no guarantee the 6700HQ + 1070 combo will pop up again

 

[Retro]

No I could wait and wait and not see one. I got on to the live chat but all they said was sorry there's nothing we can do. I had the thing exactly as I wanted it too. Argh!! Back to the Internet for a better deal I go. Thanks for the help you gave guys