Considering Buying Octane 3 17.3" is this spec good

[wincha]

Instead of a 17.3" one, I just get a 15.6" Octane III w/ 6700k & GTX1070. I overclocked both the CPU and GPU. The CPU is running at 4.4GHz with the stock voltage now. It never hit 90C under heavy load, only stay between 75~83C something like that, but the idle temp is always around 40~50C. I don't know it that good enough as I never overclocked on a laptop before. And maybe I can low down the idle temp a little bit after I replace the thermal compound. I'm still using the standard compound from PCS and haven't remove the heatsink to check the paste yet.

 

[JDA1982]

I did look at the 15.6" model but I'm swayed by the GTX1080, if I'm spending a couple of grand it might as well have one of those.

 

[wincha]

I did look at the 15.6" model but I'm swayed by the GTX1080, if I'm spending a couple of grand it might as well have one of those.

Well, the only reason for me to get the 15.6" one but not the 17.3" is I have to bring it with me from home to the lab quite often. A 15.6" one is much easier to fit in a backpack. And as I often fly between HK & UK, I don't want my luggage be too heavy (I'm not carrying one laptop only but the 15" MBPR as well).

I'm hoping there will be some 3rd party external display device like the Razer Core in the coming future. The 6700k can definitely last a few years but the graphic chip can't, even the 1080 won't be able to last more than 2yrs imo. That will be great if anything like Razer Core is compatible with those Clevo laptops which comes with thunderbolt port.

 

[MikeC]

That's definitely not just unlucky with the silicone lottery. That looks a lot like the bent heatsink causing the issues you were seeing. -150mv with the CPU @4ghz should be nice and cool regardless of what you are doing. I would expect up to and including 80 with that setup. 90°C with a bit of CPU activity isn't acceptable.

I've put my laptop through some serious testing. I've still not finished though as I constantly run HWmonitor to keep an eye on things and I'm constantly tweaking. Over the next couple of weeks I'm hoping to have completely settled on everything (paste, settings, tweaks, etc) to the point where I can just switch it on and enjoy it without any monitoring.

This is exactly what I expected to be doing so it's in no way a slight at the chassis or the setup, it's just what I do with any high end hardware. I max it as much as I can so that I can see what its limits are and get to the best possible settings within limits. That way, if something isn't right with it I can get it fixed while under warranty.

Please make a post about everything you changed when you're settled would really like to read as I am considering buying one of these with the 1080 i7 -k

 

[JDA1982]

I've updated my spec slightly, I've decided a 4k screen s probably not really worth it as I won't be able to run 4k games at max settings for very long and a lap top screen isn't that huge to get the most from the increased resolution. I've also added more HDD space as I am a memory hogger, I already have a nearly full 6gb NAS server full of movies, TV shows and music at home so the extra memory will probably be useful for me.

Other additions are the Gigabyte Lan & Killer wireless card, I don't want to find my laptop can't make use of my Wi-Fi speeds in the future even if it can now. Please let me know if this is a waste of money though. The other thing I did consider was adding WiDi but I don't think there's much point as that would be on the basis that my next TV would be WiDi enabled (my current TV isn't) and I think there are alternatives already built into Windows 10.

The full specs are:

Chassis & Display

Octane Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)


Processor (CPU)

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-6700k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache


Memory (RAM)

16GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)


Graphics Card

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 - 8.0GB GDDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1, G-SYNC


FREE GEARS OF WAR 4 with select GTX 10 Series GPUs!


Memory - Hard Disk

2TB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (5,400rpm)


2nd Hard Disk

2TB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (5,400rpm)


M.2 SSD Drive

256GB INTEL® 600p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (upto 1570MB/sR | 540MB/sW)


DVD/BLU-RAY Drive

NOT REQUIRED


Memory Card Reader

Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)


AC Adaptor

1 x 330W 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 Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack


Bluetooth & Wireless

GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ WIRELESS-AC 1535 M.2 GAMING 802.11AC + BLUETOOTH 4.1


USB Options

4 x USB 3.0 Ports + 2 x USB 3.1 Type C Ports


Battery

Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)


Keyboard Language

OCTANE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD


Operating System

Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence


Operating System Language

United Kingdom - English Language


Office Software

NO OFFICE SOFTWARE


Anti-Virus

NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE


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)


Delivery

DPD PICKUP - COLLECT FROM YOUR LOCAL SHOP FROM 12 NOON (UK MAINLAND)


Build Time

FAST TRACK 5 WORKING DAY DISPATCH

Cost

£2,015.83 ex VAT

£2,419.00 inc VAT and Delivery

 

[Scott]

I would opt for the Samsung NVMe SM961 drive rather than the Intel, I would also consider increasing it's size to at least 512GB as you will likely want your games etc on that drive, they're starting to take up a LOT of room nowadays.

Looks like a great spec though. Out of curiosity, is the wifi card tri-band? If not, I would just stick with the cheapest with an aim to change the card out when required. If it is, then it'll likely be good for a while.

 

[JDA1982]

I might swap a Samsung Drive in there, they're out of stock at the moment though so it depends if they're going to be in soon, might give it a week or so and then place my order.

The Wi-Fi card is dual band from what I can find out about it, probably worth going for a cheaper one then and putting the savings towards a larger M.2 SSD.

 

[JDA1982]

I've placed my order, same spec as above except I've gone for 16GB HyperX IMPACT 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB and a 512GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W) instead, they weren't an option a few days ago so they must be new.

Looking forward to getting my hands on it in about a weeks time all being well .

 

[JDA1982]

My laptop is now awaiting dispatch, hopefully I should get it this week barring any issues with DPD. Quick question, I am planning on reviewing it after a few days of use, am I ok to make a new thread for the review or would I need to update this one?

 

[Oussebon]

I think a new thread is quite normal for reviews, people often like to use this forum for it: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?15-Show-off-your-new-PC-Laptop!