Defiance II 17" - i7-6700HQ or i7-6820HK?

Y

Yohannas

Member
Hi all,

I've configured a high-spec Defiance II laptop, and I'm wondering which of the new CPU choices would be the best option. I'm looking for high-end performance, but price/performance ratio is important.

The price difference is £87 at the moment, so my question is: what difference in performance is there, and does it justify the price tag?

Here is my spec below (with the 6700HQ):


Chassis & Display Defiance Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD IPS LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

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

Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 12

Memory - Hard Disk 500GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD SLIM BLUE WD10SPCX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (5400 rpm)

Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND

Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-7265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH

Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence


Thanks a lot!
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
It depends on usage, if it is for gaming the i5 will be fine but for video editing/rendering and any more CPU intensive tasks the i7 is better. Do you need a 1TB second drive or could you use external storage as well, the reason is that the 7200rpm drive is much better but, unfortunately, only is 500GB.
 
Y

Yohannas

Member
Hi, thanks a lot for answering. I think these chips might be too new at this point to get any decent comparative information. The only difference I can see are the frequencies, but that doesn't mean much really. This might be a 'wait and see' situation!
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
Good spot, I am too used to people asking about i5 and i7. Same as my first response except for do you want to overclock, if no don't waste the money.
 
Y

Yohannas

Member
Thanks a lot - I don't think I'd be overclocking it, given that I've never overclocked my desktop i7-4770K. I'll wait until more information becomes available on real-world performance of the two chips, but in the meantime it looks like it won't be worth spending the extra money here.
 
G

Genesy

Member
If you looking at price/performance, why did you take GeForce® GTX 980M instead of GeForce® GTX 970M? GeForce® GTX 980M is the best in the market at the moment and of course well overpriced while GeForce® GTX 970M is more than £300 cheaper but still second best in the market not miles away in performance. At the moment using GeForce® GTX 970M you only maybe couldn't play Witcher III out of all games at 30+ FPS on Ultra High settings at 1920x1080. Maybe better choice is to take i7-6820HK, 16GB of RAM and 512GB or 240GB SAMSUNG SM951 M.2 SSD for that money and watch games loading much faster at cost of 5-10 FPS. BTW, why did you take Intel Wireless card? People post not the best review about them.
 
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Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
It depends on what it will be used for but at the moment 8GB RAM is easily enough for gaming and it is an easy upgrade at a later date.
 
Y

Yohannas

Member
Thanks for your replies. I chose the GTX 980M over the 970M as I felt the future-proofing justified the extra cost, but I might be very wrong about that and welcome other opinions. The price difference is indeed significant.

For the RAM, I have to agree with Stephen M. This article really helped to convince me that 8GB is sufficient, as I'll only be using this laptop for gaming, and not for any 3D design or anything like that. The article gives solid evidence in the form of benchmarks that, at the moment, 16GB makes no real difference, and the cost difference between 8GB and 16GB is around £60 on this laptop. I wish I'd seen that article before I went with 16GB for my desktop!

As for the 512GB or 240GB SAMSUNG SM951 M.2 SSD, I really hadn't considered that, as I'm unfamiliar with mSATA SSDs. That actually looks like a very good option, thanks for suggesting it - but can it be my boot drive on which Windows is installed?

About the Intel wireless card, I chose that one because it seemed like a good middle ground, but it wasn't based on any real evidence and I couldn't find any specific reviews for it. Was I looking in the wrong places or something? I'd love to read some reviews if they're available.

Thanks!
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Yohannas said:
Thanks for your replies. I chose the GTX 980M over the 970M as I felt the future-proofing justified the extra cost, but I might be very wrong about that and welcome other opinions. The price difference is indeed significant.

For the RAM, I have to agree with Stephen M. This article really helped to convince me that 8GB is sufficient, as I'll only be using this laptop for gaming, and not for any 3D design or anything like that. The article gives solid evidence in the form of benchmarks that, at the moment, 16GB makes no real difference, and the cost difference between 8GB and 16GB is around £60 on this laptop. I wish I'd seen that article before I went with 16GB for my desktop!

As for the 512GB or 240GB SAMSUNG SM951 M.2 SSD, I really hadn't considered that, as I'm unfamiliar with mSATA SSDs. That actually looks like a very good option, thanks for suggesting it - but can it be my boot drive on which Windows is installed?

About the Intel wireless card, I chose that one because it seemed like a good middle ground, but it wasn't based on any real evidence and I couldn't find any specific reviews for it. Was I looking in the wrong places or something? I'd love to read some reviews if they're available.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

MSata is really just a normal SSD in a card format rather than boxed up like a normal SSD, the internals are very much the same though as is performance.

You can select it as your boot drive, once selected say with another HDD in the primary drive slot, once you proceed it will ask you weather you want to put the OS on the MSata.

Regarding the graphics, I would certainly suggest the 980 for longevity if you can afford it. The graphics is the most important component for gaming once your into these kinds of specs, so you want the beafiest you can squeeze in.

With wireless, the top notch is generally considered as the Killer card as it tends to have much better latency and driver support than the Intel cards. I don't think there's too much wrong with the intel cards, but they do often have driver issues which are sometimes never sorted out properly. I'd say it's worth plumping for the Killer card.
 
Y

Yohannas

Member
SpyderTracks said:
MSata is really just a normal SSD in a card format rather than boxed up like a normal SSD, the internals are very much the same though as is performance.

You can select it as your boot drive, once selected say with another HDD in the primary drive slot, once you proceed it will ask you weather you want to put the OS on the MSata.

Regarding the graphics, I would certainly suggest the 980 for longevity if you can afford it. The graphics is the most important component for gaming once your into these kinds of specs, so you want the beafiest you can squeeze in.

With wireless, the top notch is generally considered as the Killer card as it tends to have much better latency and driver support than the Intel cards. I don't think there's too much wrong with the intel cards, but they do often have driver issues which are sometimes never sorted out properly. I'd say it's worth plumping for the Killer card.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for your answer! I'll take all of this into account. I might just opt for a regular SSD rather than an MSata as the latter seems to be more expensive for the same product (albeit saving a bit of space), correct me if I'm wrong.

For the wireless card, I'd love to read some reviews if they're available - I'll do a bit of research and see what I can dig up.

I think I've decided to go with the 980M, but then there's still one big question hanging over my head. I'm struggling to choose between 15.6" and 17.3". I looked at the dimensions, and measured two squares on my computer desk with a pencil, and the 17" laptop really is huge and would be a pain to lug around for any length of time. The 15" is more normal-sized and would likely be a whole lot more portable, which is important to me, but I've got to wonder how much the smaller screen size would detract from my gaming experience. I know I can always hook it up to an external monitor (I've got a great 24" Asus monitor) but it would negate the portability of the laptop a bit and gaming without it would become a second-rate experience.

What are your thoughts on this? I really need to hear some other opinions on this, although I know it's massively subjective.

Thanks!
 
Stephen M

Stephen M

Author Level
I quite often have many tabs and a few windows open when working, so a 17" is ideal, especially if I want to keep track of news and sports feeds while putting other documents together, plus my eyesight is not so good these days and the bigger screen makes a massive difference, especially tricky phot editing with GIMP. It also makes watching films much more enjoyable than on a smaller screen. The down side, as you have noted, is portability, they can be a pain on trains, planes etc.
I did not go for a desk top because i do work from different places but, generally, once I have moved the laptop stays in the same place for a week or two, I am not sure how I would feel about a 17" if I had to do site visits or carry it about on a daily basis, although there are some good laptop bags about, I have a Targus which easily fits a laptop, cooling tray, mouse and external drives plus a few files, books etc, so it may be heavy but it is portable.
When I had a 15" laptop I was happy with it but having gone to a larger size I do not think I would be happy going back, although I am about to do up my parents old Compaq 15" (they are getting my 17" Voyager in return) but that will just be for a bit of entertainment on long train journeys and I will take my working laptop along as well.
Ultimately it comes down to personal preference and what you are happy with.
 
Y

Yohannas

Member
Thanks for your replies! That comparison is excellent, but I have to say it's convinced me that the 6820HK isn't worth the extra money given that I don't overclock (especially not in a laptop), and without overclocking, there isn't a significant difference in performance - only 2-3% if I read it right.

Stephen - thanks for all of the information about your 17" laptop. It's a difficult one for me especially because I'm currently in a position when I'm not sure whether I'll be emigrating or not within the next 12 months. My brain is telling me to go with the 15", but I'm really finding it hard to accept the smaller screen. I guess I'll just have to keep weighing up my options until I can make a decision!
 
A

afia2k8

Member
Yohannas said:
Thanks for your replies! That comparison is excellent, but I have to say it's convinced me that the 6820HK isn't worth the extra money given that I don't overclock (especially not in a laptop), and without overclocking, there isn't a significant difference in performance - only 2-3% if I read it right.

Stephen - thanks for all of the information about your 17" laptop. It's a difficult one for me especially because I'm currently in a position when I'm not sure whether I'll be emigrating or not within the next 12 months. My brain is telling me to go with the 15", but I'm really finding it hard to accept the smaller screen. I guess I'll just have to keep weighing up my options until I can make a decision!
Click to expand...

Did you decide in the end between the 15.6 and 17.3 and your reasons? I'm having the same dilemma.
 
P

Parramatta

Silver Level Poster
I've been running an 18.4" inch for the last 6 years, so it's going to be step down to go 17.3" inch! They don't really make the big ones anymore unless it's with some ludicrous SLI option.

The only reason I would go 15" is to have the higher resolution e.g. 4K, because for some strange reason they never made 4K for the bigger screens.
 
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