Should I get the Octane III?

[mikesaa309]

Hi all,

Last year I purchased an Octane II laptop with a i5 6600k cpu and gtx 970m gpu. Obviously since then the Octane III has been released with a GTX 1080 gpu in it though for the configuration I'm after I'm looking at nearly 3 grand. I know I haven't had the Octane II for long but do you guys think I should save up for the Octane III?

I recently brought watchdogs 2 never played the original but liked the look of the 2nd one so brought it and on ultra settings at 1080p my laptop struggles to get above 35 fps which is far to low. It's annoying though because GTA 5 runs at a mixture of very high - ultra settings at 1080p at 60 fps lowest it gets is 50 fps yet gta 5 has a lot more going on defiantly more pedestrians and traffic for example in GTA 5 and still really good graphics wise too. So why can I get 60 fps on gta 5 but struggle on watchdogs 2? is it just bad optimisation which could be sorted in a future update or is my graphics card becoming more obsolete sooner than I expected?

 

[Scott]

You really need to ask yourself if it's £1500 of number chasing that you are after to be honest. I'm currently rocking a similar spec to what you are after, although £900 cheaper, it has the core features of the 6700k and the GTX1080 with a fairly fast M2 SM951.

I have no idea what watchdogs 2 runs on the rig at maximum settings as I don't have the game but configuration comes into it massively. I've seen FSX run 20FPS with COD infinite warfare seeing an easy 120fps. It's all relative.

Have you seen any benchmarks for the game on the rig you are running vs the Octane III? Would you first hand notice the difference? IMO it's probably a bit of what's greener but that's the way of the computing world unfortunately

 

[Oussebon]

The GTX 970M is roughly equivalent (somewhat weaker iirc) than a desktop GTX 960. A GTX 960 was never a card you'd expect to run all the new AAA games on ultra settings even when it launched.

There are some performance reviews for Watch Dogs 2:
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/watch_dog_2_pc_graphics_performance_benchmark_review,6.html
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Performance_Analysis/Watch_Dogs_2/4.html
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Watch-Dogs-2-Spiel-55550/Specials/Test-Review-Benchmark-1214553/
On ultra even a GTX 1060 (which runs pretty much most things on ultra and is vastly more powerful than a 970M/GTX 960) won't hit 60 fps average.

It's not just Watch Dogs 2, there are games like Deus Ex MD where the "ultra" preset is actually a joke and the only card to break 60fps (barely) is a desktop GTX 1080:
http://www.techspot.com/review/1235-deus-ex-mankind-divided-benchmarks/page4.html

It may be that Watch Dogs 2 is poorly optimised (if it is, don't expect that to fundamentally change with patches), or it may just be that with new and very powerful hardware being out there are some settings that are designed to really press the limits of what the hardware can offer - increasing visual fidelity to a varying degree but at a tremendous performance cost. With Deus Ex MD you're not really 'supposed' to run it on ultra, you run it on High or Very High with some settings manually adjusted for vastly better performance and a relatively small hit to fidelity.

So it's possible that in WD2 there are some settings that are particularly 'expensive' in terms of performance that you can turn down, and suddenly you find yourself playing it on pretty high settings with just a few things nerfed. Check out some guides. Perhaps try what's suggested here for the R9 380: http://www.pcgamesn.com/watch-dogs-2/watch-dogs-2-pc-port-performance-review and see how far that gets you. The 380's a fair deal more powerful than the 970M but it's a start and I think the article is aiming for maximum performance gains with minimal visual fidelity loss.

If you are going to buy another PC I'd suggest a desktop rather than an Octane so that you can upgrade it when it starts to struggle. You could get a PC with a GTX 1060 and an i5 6600 which would run laps around your Octane 2 for gaming for about £1000 including a monitor and keyboard. Or an overclocked system with a similar spec for ~£1200 maybe.

Also, for added irony, you get a free copy of Watch Dogs 2 with a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080. https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/desktop-pcs/nvidia-watchdogs-2/

 

[mikesaa309]

Kinda wish I had spent an extra 200 quid on the GTX 980m. I would go for a desktop pc but would still be looking at near 2-3k for the specs I'm after plus on top of that I'd have to get a 1080p monitor, speakers, keyboard, already have gaming mouse for use with laptop but would need everything else so even if I get a decent pc for 1500 quid or less would still be closer to 2k with everything else on top.

Also while laptops aren't as good as desktops except the octane III as it is practically a desktop pc though would imagine cooling to be an issue at times but I like the fact I can easily take my laptop anywhere and use it in any room in the house or if I want to go to a friends house I can easily take it with me. Obviously not as light and as portable as a notebook kinda laptop but still more portable than a desktop. Would also hope the Octane III is easier to upgrade hardware as the gpu isn't soldered in so should be same thing as a desktop I would have thought?

I have managed to figure out how to get it to run at around 45 - 50 fps on a mixture of ultra and very high and high settings, seems shadows are one of the biggest performance hits though jagged edges are fairly noticeable at times despite using FXAA which I know isn't as good as other types of AA but I'm using the same FXAA in GTA 5 and jagged edges aren't as noticeable unless I'm really looking for them.

 

[Oussebon]

It's good that you've managed to get the settings tweaked a bit more and at least have more playable FPS there.

With regards to mobility, you could have a desktop PC in one room and when you move around the house you could just stream the game to your laptop: e.g. http://store.steampowered.com/streaming/
I doubt that would work round a friend's house, but at least for your home it would get you something more powerful and upgradable that you could use anywhere you take your laptop. And you still have the 970M for popping round a mate's.

Would also hope the Octane III is easier to upgrade hardware as the gpu isn't soldered in so should be same thing as a desktop I would have thought?

Never, ever buy a laptop with the assumption you can upgrade the GPU/CPU. People who got GTX 970s and 980s in MXM format (wouldn't your Octane II have that?) in last gen laptops have found that they can't upgrade to the new pascal GPUs. I believe the new ones aren't regular MXM and/or have custom PCBs. There is a forum of a major gaming hardware manufacturer which has a number of unhappy people who feel they were led to believe upgrades of X model to Pascal GPUs would be possible and are disappointed to find out that it's not.

 

[mikesaa309]

My wifi is appalling for game streaming lol surprised I can play BF1 online to be honest. I used an app on my android phone to stream gta 5 to it using nvidia sheild sharing but it just lagged like crazy over my internet sadly fibre optics aren't available where I live either. I did look at a gaming pc with a gtx 1080 graphics card though it still came to over 1k and that was without the monitor, keyboard and speakers. My Octane II is the only gaming pc/laptop I've owned all past computers have been crap and used the old VGA monitors so while I still have a monitor in my room it uses VGA connection though I guess I can get an adapter but pretty sure that monitor isn't 1080p so wouldn't be great for gaming.

Would have thought with the Octane III they would use the same connection as a desktop pc? Unless they also make another kinda connection?

 

[mikesaa309]

So watchdogs 2 has received a patch and now I'm getting much better FPS. I can now bump shadows up from high to very high and still get around 45-50 fps most of the time though reckon it'll struggle when explosions etc start going on but on high shadow settings it went up to 75 fps which is pointless as my laptops screen is only 60hz. But good that I have a fair bit of FPS in reserve for when things get heavy on the hardware.