Octane 15.6 investment options

[VGAzee]

OK, so I've been using mainstream laptops but after dell I got sick and tired of poor customer support and being asked to fork over more money for "extra support" This time im buying a solid block of a laptop for 4-6+ years that I can ugrage if need be in the future so far this is what I got:

OCTANE 15.6


Chassis & Display
Octane Series: 15.6" Glossy 4K PLS LED Widescreen (3840x2160) (£119)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790S (3.2GHz) 8MB Cache

Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (2 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M - 8.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Free Item: FREE DYING LIGHT DIGITAL VOUCHER with GTX 965M / 970M / 980M GRAPHICS!

Memory - Hard Disk
1TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive
500GB Crucial MX200 M.2 2280 SSD (upto 555MB/sR | 500MB/sW)

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

Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)

Sound Card
ASUS™ XONAR-U7 Compact 7.1 USB soundcard and headphone amplifier(£72)

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

USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS (1 x POWERED) + 1 e-SATA/USB 3.0 PORT COMBINED

Battery
Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)

Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 230W AC Adaptor

Keyboard Language
OCTANE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD

Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL

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) (£5)

Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£19)

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




ANY THOUGHTS GUYS? Price is £2,287




Since I plan on keeper her for a while, I planned on paying a bit extra for a little future proofing. as for 4k, I wanted a screen to rival retina (cant go back to regular HD) for my desktop and general gaming (demanding games will have to be scaled back for now). Seeing as 4K or atleast anything higher than 1080p is where we're headed, I decided to get it.

The octane allows upgrades to RAM , processor and hard drive. Does anybody have any recommendations? This build is so far the cheapest I've found for the components listed above. Also I would have gone desktop but Im too mobile atm

 

[keynes]

It is a lot of money, Is the 1.5gb ssd essential? Same as the sound card? For £2000 you should be able to get 2 x gtx 980s, the gtx 980m will struggle with a 4k screen

 

[VGAzee]

It is a lot of money, Is the 1.5gb ssd essential? Same as the sound card? For £2000 you should be able to get 2 x gtx 980s, the gtx 980m will struggle with a 4k screen

where can I get 2x 980Ms? Ive been looking for one forever! I can scale back the M2 SSD from 500 to 250GB but I want a boot drive to speed up the system. I know 4k wont work at ultra settings, but for my general visual pleasure and usage. Ive gone retina and now 1080P just doesnt cut it... Sound card? I chose the standard one no? What effect do soundcards have btw?

 

[keynes]

You can get 2xgtx 980m with the vortex elite but you won't get a 4k screen. An ssd as a boot drive is great but having one for 1tb as storage or for games seems excessive. Same with the soundcard, it is an external soundcard.

 

[VGAzee]

You can get 2xgtx 980m with the vortex elite but you won't get a 4k screen. An ssd as a boot drive is great but having one for 1tb as storage or for games seems excessive. Same with the soundcard, it is an external soundcard.

I tried similar specs on a desktop . started cheap but with a decent case, motherboard, power supply, cooling and wifi comes close to £2,300 so back to square one. after buying my gaming laptop I want to upgrade rather than buy a new one so It can see heavy usage for 4-6+ years. Thats why Im trying to get all the doodads in to future proof the laptop (ive been saying since 2012 for dis). You always post the best advice man i just want to know if I can get the same amount of power cheaper

 

[keynes]

A desktop will be significantly better for your budget, 2 x gtx 980 will be miles better tha a single or 2 x gtx 980m
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 750D FULL TOWER CASE
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 3: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, XFIRE/SLI
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 980 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 980 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£109)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
IIYAMA B2888UHSU-B1 28" 4K TN LED 3840x2160 Widescreen (£318)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £2,249.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/ydd4Ognypb/

 

[VGAzee]

very interesting much wow, such magic. Very impressive build now I have options! thanks!! Ive been able to reduce the laptop to £2,215 from 2,287 but the double gtx is very very very nice! One question though. Is 2x gtx 980 4GB (desktop) better than ONE gtx 980M 8GB (laptop). apart from that, I gotta consider portability. I spend half my time travelling between jamaica and the UK

 

[VGAzee]

I also found I can reduce price of laptop to 1,975 if I use a 1TB SSHD and a 500GB SSD boot drive. I plan to install my simulators and their addons on the SSD and mainstream games on the SSHD. What do you think? Im below the 2,000 mark. AND the octane has upgradeable hard drives so I can switch things up later

 

[SpyderTracks]

You won't get any benefits of an sshd with an SSD as the main drive, only if the sshd is your primary drive will you benefit from it. A Scorpio black would be better performance wise (7200rpm vs the sshd's 5400rpm).

Laptop graphics are about 75% capability of desktop versions, and desktop sli performs about X2 over laptop sli.

 

[VGAzee]

You won't get any benefits of an sshd with an SSD as the main drive, only if the sshd is your primary drive will you benefit from it. A Scorpio black would be better performance wise (7200rpm vs the sshd's 5400rpm).

Laptop graphics are about 75% capability of desktop versions, and desktop sli performs about X2 over laptop sli.

true about the SLI but remember number one priority is portability. I travel alot. as for sshd, I heard that simply omparing rpm speeds is misleading because sshd combines the mechanical power of a hdd with ssd features that boost speed here and there. I was going to use the ssd for boot and simulator and sshd for music, other games and just stuff

 

[VGAzee]

You won't get any benefits of an sshd with an SSD as the main drive, only if the sshd is your primary drive will you benefit from it. A Scorpio black would be better performance wise (7200rpm vs the sshd's 5400rpm).

Laptop graphics are about 75% capability of desktop versions, and desktop sli performs about X2 over laptop sli.

sshd uses a lower rpm not because of slowness but because of energy efficiency. it needs fewer rpms to complete the same task. its actually faster. SSD have no moving parts so use the least energy. a 7200 rpm hard drive would eat alot of power in addition to 4k screen and 4.0 processor

http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/do-more/how-to-choose-between-hdd-storage-for-your-laptop-master-dm/

 

[keynes]

sshd uses a lower rpm not because of slowness but because of energy efficiency. it needs fewer rpms to complete the same task. its actually faster. SSD have no moving parts so use the least energy. a 7200 rpm hard drive would eat alot of power in addition to 4k screen and 4.0 processor

http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/do-more/how-to-choose-between-hdd-storage-for-your-laptop-master-dm/

The power consumption from a hard drive wouldn't be significant for the laptop you are looking for. The hybrid drive is a good idea if you don't have an SSD as the primary drive. If you do, a scorpio black will be faster, as far as I can tell from benchmarks.

 

[steaky360]

sshd uses a lower rpm not because of slowness but because of energy efficiency. it needs fewer rpms to complete the same task. its actually faster. SSD have no moving parts so use the least energy. a 7200 rpm hard drive would eat alot of power in addition to 4k screen and 4.0 processor

http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/do-more/how-to-choose-between-hdd-storage-for-your-laptop-master-dm/

You'll only benefit from the SSHD if you consistently load the same files (which are smaller than the 'SSD' part of the SSHD) - if not then you'll be loading files from the HDD part which WILL be slower than the Scorpio Black spyder tracks was mentioning. I don't think you (the user) can dictate what ends up going on the 'SSD' portion of the SSHD so you're always at the mercy of whatever program sorts this out for you.

The reason everyone's mentioning using it as the primary drive is that with the SSHD as the primary drive your laptop will boot just about as quickly as it would with a SSD as the primary drive. Which is the main performance boost. I don't know whether you'll actually see much of a performance boost with games.

 

[VGAzee]

You'll only benefit from the SSHD if you consistently load the same files (which are smaller than the 'SSD' part of the SSHD) - if not then you'll be loading files from the HDD part which WILL be slower than the Scorpio Black spyder tracks was mentioning. I don't think you (the user) can dictate what ends up going on the 'SSD' portion of the SSHD so you're always at the mercy of whatever program sorts this out for you.

The reason everyone's mentioning using it as the primary drive is that with the SSHD as the primary drive your laptop will boot just about as quickly as it would with a SSD as the primary drive. Which is the main performance boost. I don't know whether you'll actually see much of a performance boost with games.

The only boost with games would be from loading times thats it. Thanks for the advice dudes so suppose I want a 500gb SSD as a drive for my OS, would a secondary drive be? hdd?sshd? smaller ssd?

 

[VGAzee]

The only boost with games would be from loading times thats it. Thanks for the advice dudes so suppose I want a 500gb SSD as a drive for my OS, would a secondary drive be? hdd?sshd? smaller ssd?

Also I want to keep my OS and simulator (with all her addons) separate from the drive that will have the bulk of my data

 

[keynes]

would a secondary drive be? hdd?sshd? smaller ssd?

hard drive

 

[VGAzee]

hard drive

thanks alot! You saved me some quids! 7200rpm it is! its now 1,959 down 2,287! You geniuses! the only sad thing is that the scorpio 7200rpm only goes to 750gb not 1tb but heck its fast

 

[VGAzee]

hard drive

by the way the ssd will be installed in the Msata

 

[VGAzee]

A desktop will be significantly better for your budget, 2 x gtx 980 will be miles better tha a single or 2 x gtx 980m
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 750D FULL TOWER CASE
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 3: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, XFIRE/SLI
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 980 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 980 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£109)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor
IIYAMA B2888UHSU-B1 28" 4K TN LED 3840x2160 Widescreen (£318)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £2,249.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/ydd4Ognypb/

what do you think of an egpu (external card to laptop down the road. (2-3 yrs think alienware graphics amplifier)

 

[keynes]

what do you think of an egpu (external card to laptop down the road. (2-3 yrs think alienware graphics amplifier)

seems like a waste of money to me, a mini pc would be better. It also defeats the portability factor by having something else to be attached