mikesaa309
Silver Level Poster
I brought the Octane III after around a year of buying the Octane II which had an i5 6600k cpu and a gtx 970m gpu in it. Realized that it was starting to struggle with newer games bad choice going for the 970m over the 980m so decided to get the Octane III with a i7 6700k cpu and a gtx 1080 gpu. It also has a 512 gb Samsung Evo SSD for primary drive and a 1Tb Samsung EVO SSD for secondary drive, 16 gb of RAM, killer wireless and I opted for the 1080p screen just because as far as I'm aware the 4k panel doesn't support G-sync though have gotten on great just using DSR in Nvidia control panel though 4k gaming while playable doesn't get 60 fps at ultra settings so I've settled for 1440p as better than 1080p but not as demanding at 4k and still looks amazing. Will be comparing with the Octane II hopefully will help people if they have an Octane II and are thinking of buying the III in the future or something.
Display:
Display is probably not much better than the Octane II though I do believe it's brighter and was nothing wrong with the Octane II's screen, great colours, great contrast and brightness. Viewing angles are excellent can near enough go side on (obviously can't see screen at all completely side on) without any colour distortion or image distortion maybe slightly but isn't really very noticeable and you'd never view at such extreme angles anyway. 4k screen must look pretty damn good. Will say I'm glad I got a 17 inch laptop rather than a 15 inch laptop using photoshop is much more pleasant as UI isn't so big so everything is scaled much better and doesn't feel so cramped.
Sound:
Bit iffy on sound still great no bad distortions just for a start didn't seem as loud as Octane II even with same profile set up in the X-Fi 5 control software. Dunno what I've done but seems better now though doesn't seem like sub-woofer is doing anything and I'm pretty sure I have drivers installed though maybe I haven't done something to make the sub-woofer work. First laptop with a built in Sub-woofer and bass doesn't seem any better than on Octane II and no sound seems to come from bottom of laptop anyone with info on this would much appreciate any advice. Otherwise sound is pretty good no worse than Octane II very good speakers for built in ones.
Build quality:
Something mac users drool over is build quality and materials. Obviously this is a plastic laptop though must admit despite it being plastic feels very well made, pretty durable and doesn't feel cheap like laptops you can buy from high street stores. Really nice looking metal texture finishes on the lid and around the power button makes it look really nice too. Would also say feels much better than Octane II. It wasn't bad feeling but was rubbery and was quite bad with finger prints sometimes the Octane III gets no marks or fingerprints on it whatsoever.
I/O:
Good array of IO on this laptop has two USB 3.0 and two USB 3.1 ports, two thunderbolt 3/usb C combo ports, HDMI, mini display, 6 in 1 card reader, ethernet port and several audio jacks for mics and speakers etc. Couldn't really ask for much more really. Keyboard is also great feels nice to type on no different from Octane II which again was already great, good key travel not overly noisy and generally have no complaints with the keyboard. Will say though that Octane II the ALT key came off and on the Octane III the X key is loose dunno how I keep breaking them or why it's random keys but probably just me otherwise no complaints with the keyboard. Track pad again is also fantastic might feel slightly smoother than on Octane II but can't remember for sure finger print scanner is way much better on Octane III though. Is a touch rather than swipe works quicker and near enough always recognizes my finger print. Only complaint I have with touch pad is that even though I have drivers all installed I have no options to get to the synaptics pointing device settings nor does it appear in the system tray gestures seem to work fine though but can't set up things like using the corners to trigger things had it set up on Octane II where I could tap top left corner for volume up and then bottom left corner for volume down. Not massive issue just wish I had that option to mess around with settings.
Battery life, portability, noise and temps:
Battery life is crap to be blunt about it. But then what do you expect with a gtx 1080 and a i7 6700k on a 17 inch 1080p laptop? No more than 2 hours battery life and that's on power saving mode with cpu limited and brightness turned down. Don't expect to game without it being on charge either FPS drops right down to 30 fps at best so don't expect to sit in a park with this thing and game lol. Portability wise wouldn't say it's too bad. Wouldn't wanna use it if I was still at college for college use but going from A to B it's acceptable is obviously big, bulky and heavy and power brick is massive though no bigger than Octane II power brick. I mainly got laptop over desktop because of the portability can take it to friends house for example can't do that so easy with a desktop. Temps seem okay ish but not the best. Out of box I was seeing CPU temps hitting 99 degrees Celsius and I'm using cooling pad. I under clocked cpu to -100mv under clock and now max temps get to 85 degrees which I can live with i guess but sadly any lower under clock and I had it black screen and freeze up for some reason but only when gaming. Though might just be bad luck other people have gotten -200mv under clocks with no issue so might just be bad luck with CPU maybe? Noise isn't the best obviously is practically silent at idle or general use, never really goes to max fan speed though which is noisy but could easily drown out most of the noise with game volume especially with headphones.
Performance:
What's to say about performance? This thing is a beast will easily run any game out there at 60 fps or more at 1080p res on ultra settings. Will obviously still struggle if things like MSAA are turned up though bet you can still ge 60 fps or more I generally now game at 1440p with FXAA turned on MSAA off and everything else at max. Only games I've seen it struggle with is WatchDogs 2 (no surprise...) and Hitman though this is AMD optimized and I still get around 50 fps in hitman. GTA 5 doesn't always stay at 60 fps at 1440p with everything maxed except grass and MSAA I have grass on high and MSAA off but lowest I get is 45 fps and highest will go into 70s could probably get 60 fps or more quite easily by turning down a few other settings especially the extended distance scaling thing saw a big increase in FPS with that turned down or off completely though I like me graphics lol.
Conclusion:
Fantastic laptop, great desktop replacement practically is a desktop. Can't recommend 4k screen though even if it did support G-sync still struggles with 4k gaming even the gtx titan XP just about copes at 4k go with 1080p panel with g-sync and just down sample 1440p or 4k in some cases games like spintires can run at 4k, 60 fps with settings maxed but games like gta 5 struggles. Though up to you if you want 4k panel or not but personally think best to opt for cheaper 1080p and just buy external 4k monitor in future if DSR doesn't cut it for you anymore. Performance is fantastic no complaints except for temps on CPU get quite high though if you have better luck than me undervolting then not much issue gpu temps seem fine obviously fans get noisy if on max rpm but not overly bad imo.
Display:
Display is probably not much better than the Octane II though I do believe it's brighter and was nothing wrong with the Octane II's screen, great colours, great contrast and brightness. Viewing angles are excellent can near enough go side on (obviously can't see screen at all completely side on) without any colour distortion or image distortion maybe slightly but isn't really very noticeable and you'd never view at such extreme angles anyway. 4k screen must look pretty damn good. Will say I'm glad I got a 17 inch laptop rather than a 15 inch laptop using photoshop is much more pleasant as UI isn't so big so everything is scaled much better and doesn't feel so cramped.
Sound:
Bit iffy on sound still great no bad distortions just for a start didn't seem as loud as Octane II even with same profile set up in the X-Fi 5 control software. Dunno what I've done but seems better now though doesn't seem like sub-woofer is doing anything and I'm pretty sure I have drivers installed though maybe I haven't done something to make the sub-woofer work. First laptop with a built in Sub-woofer and bass doesn't seem any better than on Octane II and no sound seems to come from bottom of laptop anyone with info on this would much appreciate any advice. Otherwise sound is pretty good no worse than Octane II very good speakers for built in ones.
Build quality:
Something mac users drool over is build quality and materials. Obviously this is a plastic laptop though must admit despite it being plastic feels very well made, pretty durable and doesn't feel cheap like laptops you can buy from high street stores. Really nice looking metal texture finishes on the lid and around the power button makes it look really nice too. Would also say feels much better than Octane II. It wasn't bad feeling but was rubbery and was quite bad with finger prints sometimes the Octane III gets no marks or fingerprints on it whatsoever.
I/O:
Good array of IO on this laptop has two USB 3.0 and two USB 3.1 ports, two thunderbolt 3/usb C combo ports, HDMI, mini display, 6 in 1 card reader, ethernet port and several audio jacks for mics and speakers etc. Couldn't really ask for much more really. Keyboard is also great feels nice to type on no different from Octane II which again was already great, good key travel not overly noisy and generally have no complaints with the keyboard. Will say though that Octane II the ALT key came off and on the Octane III the X key is loose dunno how I keep breaking them or why it's random keys but probably just me otherwise no complaints with the keyboard. Track pad again is also fantastic might feel slightly smoother than on Octane II but can't remember for sure finger print scanner is way much better on Octane III though. Is a touch rather than swipe works quicker and near enough always recognizes my finger print. Only complaint I have with touch pad is that even though I have drivers all installed I have no options to get to the synaptics pointing device settings nor does it appear in the system tray gestures seem to work fine though but can't set up things like using the corners to trigger things had it set up on Octane II where I could tap top left corner for volume up and then bottom left corner for volume down. Not massive issue just wish I had that option to mess around with settings.
Battery life, portability, noise and temps:
Battery life is crap to be blunt about it. But then what do you expect with a gtx 1080 and a i7 6700k on a 17 inch 1080p laptop? No more than 2 hours battery life and that's on power saving mode with cpu limited and brightness turned down. Don't expect to game without it being on charge either FPS drops right down to 30 fps at best so don't expect to sit in a park with this thing and game lol. Portability wise wouldn't say it's too bad. Wouldn't wanna use it if I was still at college for college use but going from A to B it's acceptable is obviously big, bulky and heavy and power brick is massive though no bigger than Octane II power brick. I mainly got laptop over desktop because of the portability can take it to friends house for example can't do that so easy with a desktop. Temps seem okay ish but not the best. Out of box I was seeing CPU temps hitting 99 degrees Celsius and I'm using cooling pad. I under clocked cpu to -100mv under clock and now max temps get to 85 degrees which I can live with i guess but sadly any lower under clock and I had it black screen and freeze up for some reason but only when gaming. Though might just be bad luck other people have gotten -200mv under clocks with no issue so might just be bad luck with CPU maybe? Noise isn't the best obviously is practically silent at idle or general use, never really goes to max fan speed though which is noisy but could easily drown out most of the noise with game volume especially with headphones.
Performance:
What's to say about performance? This thing is a beast will easily run any game out there at 60 fps or more at 1080p res on ultra settings. Will obviously still struggle if things like MSAA are turned up though bet you can still ge 60 fps or more I generally now game at 1440p with FXAA turned on MSAA off and everything else at max. Only games I've seen it struggle with is WatchDogs 2 (no surprise...) and Hitman though this is AMD optimized and I still get around 50 fps in hitman. GTA 5 doesn't always stay at 60 fps at 1440p with everything maxed except grass and MSAA I have grass on high and MSAA off but lowest I get is 45 fps and highest will go into 70s could probably get 60 fps or more quite easily by turning down a few other settings especially the extended distance scaling thing saw a big increase in FPS with that turned down or off completely though I like me graphics lol.
Conclusion:
Fantastic laptop, great desktop replacement practically is a desktop. Can't recommend 4k screen though even if it did support G-sync still struggles with 4k gaming even the gtx titan XP just about copes at 4k go with 1080p panel with g-sync and just down sample 1440p or 4k in some cases games like spintires can run at 4k, 60 fps with settings maxed but games like gta 5 struggles. Though up to you if you want 4k panel or not but personally think best to opt for cheaper 1080p and just buy external 4k monitor in future if DSR doesn't cut it for you anymore. Performance is fantastic no complaints except for temps on CPU get quite high though if you have better luck than me undervolting then not much issue gpu temps seem fine obviously fans get noisy if on max rpm but not overly bad imo.
