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2016+ Gaming Laptop Thread: Embracing Pascal's Wafer (Please Read OP)

GeNoMe

Member
Quick question guys. I'm currently sporting a rebranded Clevo laptop with the following specs:

i7-6700 HQ
Nvidia Geforce GTX 970M (6GB)
16 GB DDR4 RAM

I'm really looking into overclocking the gpu. But i'm not too sure where to start.
Any pointers for a N00b concerning these type of things?
I'm looking to get maximum results for as little risk as possible.

Thanks to anyone trying to help out!
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
I'll need a new laptop by 12th of August at the latest (before I go to GamesCom). Hope that's enough time to order and get one of the new models by then.

Need a new laptop by about August 10th (a week before move-in, absolute latest) or so for school.

Are new models definitely looking to be out by then? Cause it'd feel really crappy to buy one with a 970m or worse and have it be blown out of the water by huge performance gains had I been able to wait a little longer.

Budget would be roughly $1500 give or take $100-$200. (US)

Best pray to Nvidiesus. Word is Nvidia is making the announcement and releasing the floodgates on August 1st.

All you guys can do is wait until the last moment, then make a decision at that breaking point.

So, uh, while I was still waffling between the Dell and Sager, it looks like Sager quietly both updated the model and dropped the price for a summer sale:

http://www.sagernotebook.com/Notebook-NP7256.html

Looks like the main things they changed were upgrading the RAM quality (8GB DDR3L at 1600MHz to 8GB DDR4 at 2133MHz; what difference does that make?) and swapped out one of the normal USB ports for a type-C port.

Also, what's the practical difference between a 7200RPM HDD and a 5400RPM HDD w/8GB SSD cache?

Still wish the video card in this was 4GB instead of 2GB, but if it really doesn't matter unless I want to run things on ultra settings...
Wow, nice update and great price.

Hybrid HDDs are a waste of money. Instead of spending +$50 for that, stick with the 7200RPM and spend +$75 for the 128GB M.2 SATA SSD.

Okay, so...assuming I couldn't wait for new models with the 1070/1080Ms...

Right now I'm looking at this MSI GS60 Ghost Pro.

For $1500 on Amazon it seems pretty hard to beat. Need a 15" laptop that's fairly lightweight as I'll be taking it to classes and the like (this one is 4.2 lbs I believe).

Probably won't be buying until the start of August, so I've got some time. Any thoughts on this model? Or is there something similar/better out there?

There's nothing bad to say about the MSI GS60. Great laptop.

My current laptop from 2010 is a Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820TG with an i5-450M processor and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 GPU.
it's now overheating and shutting itself of. Temperatures reach over 80C with a cooling fan pad under the computer.

I'm thinking of replacing it with this computer: Lenovo Y700 80NV00JXMX
It's currently on sale this weekend.
I might use that to replace also my stationary computer which was bought in 2009 and have a Core2duo processor and a 460GTX GPU.

How well will that computer work with todays games such as Civ 6 and Xcom 2 and Elite Dangerous? as well as similar games released this year?

US link from Lenovo about the Y700 series.
Is it better to get a stationary and a lighter laptop as a compliment instead?
Will also use the laptop for GIS, photo editing and my wifes studies.

The Y700 has:
Intel Core i5-6300HQ CPU
Nvidia GTX 960M, 2 GB (might be 4gb. the store page mentions both 2 gb and 4 gb at the same page.
15.6" Full HD IPS
256GB SSD

The GTX 960M is literally a GTX 750 Ti, so it should handle the games you listed easily.

The Y700 is a nice laptop.

Quick question guys. I'm currently sporting a rebranded Clevo laptop with the following specs:

i7-6700 HQ
Nvidia Geforce GTX 970M (6GB)
16 GB DDR4 RAM

I'm really looking into overclocking the gpu. But i'm not too sure where to start.
Any pointers for a N00b concerning these type of things?
I'm looking to get maximum results for as little risk as possible.

Thanks to anyone trying to help out!

You'll need to flash a custom VBIOS with increased voltage. Read though this carefully as a start.
 

Articalys

Member
Wow, nice update and great price.

Hybrid HDDs are a waste of money. Instead of spending +$50 for that, stick with the 7200RPM and spend +$75 for the 128GB M.2 SATA SSD.
Hmm, I know you recommend it but I'm not totally sold on the SSD-as-primary option. Reading up on it there's a couple concerns when it comes to programs split between drives, or programs that expect to be on C.

With that said, specced out it comes to:
- 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ Processor ( 6MB Smart Cache, 2.60GHz)
- 15.6" Full HD IPS Matte Display (1920 x 1080)
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M GPU with 2GB GDDR5 Video Memory / Optimus Technology
- Stock Standard Thermal Compound
- Windows® 7 Professional 64-Bit Edition Preinstalled, (with 64-Bit DVD Recovery Media)
- 8GB DDR4 SDRAM at 2133MHz - 1 X 8GB
- 1TB 7200rpm SATA2 Hard Drive
- 8X DVD±R/RW/4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
- Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 AC Wireless LAN + Bluetooth Module

$949.00 ($1,024.00 with the SSD)

That should be able to handle most pre-2015 games at 1080/60 on Medium, plus recent stuff at 720/60 on Low/Med, right? Plus stand a better chance of handling emulation well, and of course play movies/music and run other everyday tasks just fine.
 

Vuze

Member
Not exactly looking for a gaming laptop but this is the most fitting thread I found. Maybe sb can help.
Dad asked me to look for a new business laptop for him and while I'm pretty up to speed with desktop components, I'm not even sure where to look for trustworthy laptop reviews to begin with and I only use a fanless cloudbook for uni notes myself so I'm not sure which CPU to pick as I'm sure they are vastly different to desktop SKUs etc.

Country: Germany/Austria
Maximum budget: 500~600€
Max size: Nothing in particular, enough real screen estate to comfortably edit a PP + word or two word documents would be nice
Planned usage: Mostly Powerpoint + Word, light Excel, Skype
Screen: 1080p IPS, I don't think anything higher will fit the budget anyway
Other stuff: Should be pre-setup with Win10, have a spare 128GB SSD if it helps with the budget, HDMI or other common video out for beamer/presentation purposes
Bonus: As little bloatware as possible

His current one is a bloated 4:3 WinXP one that finally give in so anything will probably be a huge upgrade lol

E: Thinking about getting this one. https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/8140X+10K4S.pdf
13" 1080p matt IPS, Skylake i3, HDMI out, 4GB RAM, 720p webcam with Win10 pre-installed
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Much obliged sir! Sadly the site won't let me d/l the files necessary for me to flash the BIOS. Not even after registering.

I think you have to post 5 times (quality posts, not spam) within a week, then you're a member.

You could also go to the Clevo/Sager forum on Notebook Review, and find the Owner's Lounge for your particular laptop.

Hmm, I know you recommend it but I'm not totally sold on the SSD-as-primary option. Reading up on it there's a couple concerns when it comes to programs split between drives, or programs that expect to be on C.

With that said, specced out it comes to:


That should be able to handle most pre-2015 games at 1080/60 on Medium, plus recent stuff at 720/60 on Low/Med, right? Plus stand a better chance of handling emulation well, and of course play movies/music and run other everyday tasks just fine.

I'd love to see your sources that say an SSD + HDD combo causes issues, because frankly that's a load of bullshit.

Like I said, as far as gaming performance, you can look up 750 Ti benchmarks.

Not exactly looking for a gaming laptop but this is the most fitting thread I found. Maybe sb can help.
Dad asked me to look for a new business laptop for him and while I'm pretty up to speed with desktop components, I'm not even sure where to look for trustworthy laptop reviews to begin with and I only use a fanless cloudbook for uni notes myself so I'm not sure which CPU to pick as I'm sure they are vastly different to desktop SKUs etc.

Country: Germany/Austria
Maximum budget: 500~600€
Max size: Nothing in particular, enough real screen estate to comfortably edit a PP + word or two word documents would be nice
Planned usage: Mostly Powerpoint + Word, light Excel, Skype
Screen: 1080p IPS, I don't think anything higher will fit the budget anyway
Other stuff: Should be pre-setup with Win10, have a spare 128GB SSD if it helps with the budget, HDMI or other common video out for beamer/presentation purposes
Bonus: As little bloatware as possible

His current one is a bloated 4:3 WinXP one that finally give in so anything will probably be a huge upgrade lol

E: Thinking about getting this one. https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/8140X+10K4S.pdf
13" 1080p matt IPS, Skylake i3, HDMI out, 4GB RAM, 720p webcam with Win10 pre-installed

That laptop looks fine to me.

Might wait a bit longer and see if Nvidia unveils the new 1050 and 1060 cards in the beginning of August. And at what pricepoint they will be at.

I'm also hearing that the first week of August is when the reveal happens.
 
Help me out guys - totally new to Gaming on a laptop, I've never bothered before because games have never worked properly or at all due to low specs. I'm currently looking for a new device and currently have my eye on this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FE6HST0/

Any immediate cons jump out? Would I be able to play games like Fallout 4 on this to a high quality and if so how long will it be able to play new releases?
 

Articalys

Member
I'd love to see your sources that say an SSD + HDD combo causes issues, because frankly that's a load of bullshit.
Well, I don't mean specifically SSD + HDD, just using dual drives in general. It's something I've never done before so I'm not really used to it, or what kinds of things I should avoid doing on such a setup.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Help me out guys - totally new to Gaming on a laptop, I've never bothered before because games have never worked properly or at all due to low specs. I'm currently looking for a new device and currently have my eye on this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FE6HST0/

Any immediate cons jump out? Would I be able to play games like Fallout 4 on this to a high quality and if so how long will it be able to play new releases?

What's your max budget for this endeavor?

Well, I don't mean specifically SSD + HDD, just using dual drives in general. It's something I've never done before so I'm not really used to it, or what kinds of things I should avoid doing on such a setup.

Okay I get you're new to it.

Trust me on this, it's really a fool proof thing, running dual drives. The OS is on the SSD by default, and you can install your important programs and any games you're currently playing on it to speed up load times. Things like music, pics, movies/videos, and all other programs go on the bulk HDD. Windows always asks where you want things installed, anyway.

I've been running the dual drive setup for almost a decade, any questions you have, feel free to ask here or pm me.
 
What's your max budget for this endeavor?

I'm looking to spend around £500, no more than £600. I already own a PS4 I will do most gaming on - I just want to have the option to play some PC exclusives, and since I need a new laptop I don't mind spending a little more than I would usually getting something to play games
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
I'm looking to spend around £500, no more than £600. I already own a PS4 I will do most gaming on - I just want to have the option to play some PC exclusives, and since I need a new laptop I don't mind spending a little more than I would usually getting something to play games

Well there is quite a bit of media on YouTube concerning the gaming prowess of the GT 840M/940M. Check that out before you make a decision.

I'd like to recommend this GTX 950M laptop, but that'll run about £636 shipped. That'd be with a 1080p IPS, i5-6300HQ quad, 8GB RAM, GTX 950M, 500GB HDD.
 

masterkajo

Member
What games should I look forward to running on an HP Envy 4-1181eg with and i5-3317u with Intel HD graphics 4000 and 4GB of RAM? Anything recent or only old games? Overwatch would be cool but I guess I am technically under min settings.

I have a Lenovo Ideapad 100s with an Intel Celeron N3050 and 2GB RAM (non upgradeable I think) for work. It only weighs 1.5kg and has a very long battery life as well as no fan so it runs completely silent. It also comes with 32GB SSD. But I can't do anything more than use it for internet surfing, office and maybe non HD videos. The HP Envy 4-1181eg is a bit more powerful but weighs more, has less battery life and a fan which is audible. Also it has 320GB storage but only with a hybrid disk (8GB SSD). I could trade my Lenovo for the HP Envy with my sister (for a small favour) but I am not sure if it is worth it in upgrading the performance if it is still below min requirements for most games.

Any ideas and thoughts? What would you do?
 

Yousefb

Member
Hey everyone. I recently purchased a steam controller and crap ton of games on steam that my current laptop can only barely run. The laptop was already due for replacement because it's had a few years on it and it's breaking down in more ways that one.

I'm looking to buy a new one that would also be a decent gaming laptop. It doesn't need to be the top of the line. Just something thats at least capable of handling the minimum of everything out there today. Ideally something less than 600 or 500 bucks. I found a bunch of options on Amazon that look good to me but really I'm not well versed in this sort of thing. Figured I'd ask here and see if there are any agreed upon choices or even any good deals I may have missed. Cheers!
 
Well there is quite a bit of media on YouTube concerning the gaming prowess of the GT 840M/940M. Check that out before you make a decision.

I'd like to recommend this GTX 950M laptop, but that'll run about £636 shipped. That'd be with a 1080p IPS, i5-6300HQ quad, 8GB RAM, GTX 950M, 500GB HDD.

Which laptop are you recomending? What makes it worth paying the extra £100? I'm trying to balance it in my head with having the PS4 as my main games unit and just having the laptop to play a few exclusives and older games which makes me lean towards the inferior one I picked, if that is capeable of playing modern games. Any advice to the contrary would be appreciated though.
 

Kilrogg

paid requisite penance
German-GAF, is this normal? https://www.amazon.de/dp/B015OYV7T4/

The cheapest version of the Asus UX303UB in Europe is around 900€. At that price, it usually comes with a 1TB HDD or a 256GB SSD at best. This one supposedly costs 450€ new, with a 512GB SSD. Is there a catch? Is this somehow a poor version of this model?

If not, er... Well, let me just ask you to please please please kindly refrain from buying all of them, cause I'm buying one very soon, but I can't just yet.

Generally speaking, would you recommend this particular ultrabook? I know I can't do any heavy gaming with it, but still.

Also, fuck ASUS and other manufacturers for making so many different versions of the same computer, but keeping the best version for the US :(

[EDIT] It seems Amazon doesn't sell it directly. Are the vendors shady from what you can tell? Do they ship outside Germany?
 
I need some advise GAF. I've been looking at PCSpecialist's Octane II Pro as an investment for day to day use, gaming and occasional work use with 3D and Design Software. I've gone through the options and selected the following setup.

Intel Core i7 Quad Core Processor i-6700k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
32GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 DESKTOP - 8.0GB DDR5, GSYNC

Is this excessive and over the top? My current Laptop (a Samsung R580) has done me 5 and half years, so I'm looking for something to last me a similar time frame, but with a bit more grunt to it.

Are there any alternatives I could look at and consider?

Thanks
 

grumble

Member
Okay, so...assuming I couldn't wait for new models with the 1070/1080Ms...

Right now I'm looking at this MSI GS60 Ghost Pro.

For $1500 on Amazon it seems pretty hard to beat. Need a 15" laptop that's fairly lightweight as I'll be taking it to classes and the like (this one is 4.2 lbs I believe).

Probably won't be buying until the start of August, so I've got some time. Any thoughts on this model? Or is there something similar/better out there?

Wait for the new cards if you can! They're looking to be hugely better.
 

grumble

Member
Country - Ireland (or UK, I don't mind shipping it)

Maximum budget - €800-1000

Max size - 14-15 inches

Planned usage - light gaming, daily productivity

Other info - 1080p screen, intel CPU i5 or better, must have a backlit keyboard, must have a proper ethernet port.

Help me GAF!! I've been back and forth on the idea of a dedicated GPU or intel graphics and have decided that longer battery life has to come first, so its a no to amd and nvidia.

I just want a good laptop, with a good cpu that can handle the lower end of steam gaming. And it needs a backlit keyboard, mostly because I just really want one and so far its been really hard to find a laptop that fits the bill.

So any help would be hugely appreciated. ;)

You know, the discrete graphics turn off when you don't need the horsepower. You can have an ok battery and a real graphics card too
 

Articalys

Member
Just placed the order for the NP7256 through Sager's own site, and then I made the mistake of continuing to research and learning that every single other person on the planet says to use a reseller instead. How badly did I fuck up?
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
What games should I look forward to running on an HP Envy 4-1181eg with and i5-3317u with Intel HD graphics 4000 and 4GB of RAM? Anything recent or only old games? Overwatch would be cool but I guess I am technically under min settings.

I have a Lenovo Ideapad 100s with an Intel Celeron N3050 and 2GB RAM (non upgradeable I think) for work. It only weighs 1.5kg and has a very long battery life as well as no fan so it runs completely silent. It also comes with 32GB SSD. But I can't do anything more than use it for internet surfing, office and maybe non HD videos. The HP Envy 4-1181eg is a bit more powerful but weighs more, has less battery life and a fan which is audible. Also it has 320GB storage but only with a hybrid disk (8GB SSD). I could trade my Lenovo for the HP Envy with my sister (for a small favour) but I am not sure if it is worth it in upgrading the performance if it is still below min requirements for most games.

Any ideas and thoughts? What would you do?
I'd make the trade, as the 4000 and faster CPU will at least let you watch HD videos. it'll play most indie and last-gen games okay.

You can always upgrade the HDD down the line.

Hey everyone. I recently purchased a steam controller and crap ton of games on steam that my current laptop can only barely run. The laptop was already due for replacement because it's had a few years on it and it's breaking down in more ways that one.

I'm looking to buy a new one that would also be a decent gaming laptop. It doesn't need to be the top of the line. Just something thats at least capable of handling the minimum of everything out there today. Ideally something less than 600 or 500 bucks. I found a bunch of options on Amazon that look good to me but really I'm not well versed in this sort of thing. Figured I'd ask here and see if there are any agreed upon choices or even any good deals I may have missed. Cheers!
Tbh you aren't going to do well with anything cheaper than this.


Which laptop are you recomending? What makes it worth paying the extra £100? I'm trying to balance it in my head with having the PS4 as my main games unit and just having the laptop to play a few exclusives and older games which makes me lean towards the inferior one I picked, if that is capeable of playing modern games. Any advice to the contrary would be appreciated though.

It's this one, configured as I laid out.

I definitely understand that you want this as a secondary machine, thus needing to keep the price down but the jump from 940M -> 950M takes you from 'barely playing anything well' to 'playing most thing pretty well'. The extra £100 nets you a quad core CPU and a 2x leap in GPU performance, making it well worth the investment.

My thought is always, why even spend £500 for something ,which will immediately be behind the curve? That's where the 940M + dual core combo lies, in my view. That's not to say that buying such a system is like lighting the ducats on fire, it's just a decision which lacks longevity. Right now, today, the 940M falls below minimum requirements of pretty much every game out.

GTX 950M will allow you to better enjoy those games you do pick up on PC.

German-GAF, is this normal? https://www.amazon.de/dp/B015OYV7T4/

The cheapest version of the Asus UX303UB in Europe is around 900€. At that price, it usually comes with a 1TB HDD or a 256GB SSD at best. This one supposedly costs 450€ new, with a 512GB SSD. Is there a catch? Is this somehow a poor version of this model?

If not, er... Well, let me just ask you to please please please kindly refrain from buying all of them, cause I'm buying one very soon, but I can't just yet.

Generally speaking, would you recommend this particular ultrabook? I know I can't do any heavy gaming with it, but still.

Also, fuck ASUS and other manufacturers for making so many different versions of the same computer, but keeping the best version for the US :(

[EDIT] It seems Amazon doesn't sell it directly. Are the vendors shady from what you can tell? Do they ship outside Germany?

Too good to be true = scam.

I need some advise GAF. I've been looking at PCSpecialist's Octane II Pro as an investment for day to day use, gaming and occasional work use with 3D and Design Software. I've gone through the options and selected the following setup.

Intel Core i7 Quad Core Processor i-6700k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
32GB HyperX IMPACT 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 DESKTOP - 8.0GB DDR5, GSYNC

Is this excessive and over the top? My current Laptop (a Samsung R580) has done me 5 and half years, so I'm looking for something to last me a similar time frame, but with a bit more grunt to it.

Are there any alternatives I could look at and consider?

Thanks

It's a really bad time to spend that much money, considering the mobile Pascal chips are less than a month from reveal. The new "1080M" is as fast as the desktop 1070.

Wait this one out, it's worth it.

Just placed the order for the NP7256 through Sager's own site, and then I made the mistake of continuing to research and learning that every single other person on the planet says to use a reseller instead. How badly did I fuck up?

You're totally fine.The only advantage of the reseller is if you want to take advantage of the cash discount.
 

Articalys

Member
Alright, cool. Had read that Sager's own tech support was worse than Xotic, but I'll just cross my fingers and hope for the best.

I was a little weirded out that they called me today and said they had to cross-check my billing info with the bank issuing my credit card, but later I got an email that the order was fully processed, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Then again, maybe they just double-check for orders over a certain amount or something. This is my largest electronics purchase since... my last laptop back in 2010, I guess,
 
I've got the inspiron i7559 as recommended in this thread!

Overall I'm happy with it, but it's had an ugly quirk it just won't shake. Every use, usually sooner rather than later, it stalls while doing something on the internet, opening steam, using file explorer, and it sits, unresponsive for about 30 seconds or so before becoming responsive and catching up on any clicks made since it froze. I think it's separate, but there's also a version of this where hitting Ctrl alt delete will snap it out of the freeze state.

Thankfully, it doesn't happen in games or during video playback. Just while clicking around, and again, usually within the first minute or so of using the computer in that session, and then perhaps again later while clicking around.

There has also been a BSOD which reboots to OS not found and a memory scan, but this turns out fine, and it boots normally.. I blamed this on using CCleaner, as it never happened before using it, or after I restored the state.. But it happened twice recently after downloading and installed clip paint studio. I did a system restore and again, it's been okay.. But then I had some troubling booting since, and I decided I might want to update the BIOS.

On Dell's support site for i7559 it has several new versions of the BIOS available. I planned on updating the BIOS, but was worried about screwing it up.. So first I went to device manager and tried looking for drivers needing updated. Most were up to date, but a few did update.. I also updated the system firmware, which had the same version number as my BIOS.. Is the firmware the same as the BIOS? It updated to 1.1.5, from 1.1.3, although the support site has 1.1.8 available, though when updating through device manager, 1.1.5 is the most up to date. This makes me think maybe the 1.1.8 isn't for my system after all..(?)

Anyway, sorry for the rambling. Typing on an iphone is the worst. My computer hasn't BSOD or booted strangely since updating in device manger, but the stalling and hanging still exists. I wonder if I should download and attempt to install that 1.1.8 BIOS or just accept my situation.. What do you think?

Oh, while I'm in here, I tried the Doom demo on the laptop the other week.. Ran at about 5 frames per second after an incredible first launch of the game where the intro video took about 15 minutes to get through. Tried lowering graphics options to lowest resolution and lowest everything, and strangely it ran even slower. 1fps, no joke. My nvidia driver wasn't up to date, so that might have been it.. Anyone with an inspiron i7559 or 960m have any luck with Doom on the latest drivers?

Runs games fairly well, so was surprised to see how miserable it was with Doom.

Thanks fellas.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Alright, cool. Had read that Sager's own tech support was worse than Xotic, but I'll just cross my fingers and hope for the best.

I was a little weirded out that they called me today and said they had to cross-check my billing info with the bank issuing my credit card, but later I got an email that the order was fully processed, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Then again, maybe they just double-check for orders over a certain amount or something. This is my largest electronics purchase since... my last laptop back in 2010, I guess,

FWIW all of my dealings with Sager support have gone well, no hiccups.

As far as the billing info check, yeah they do that, as a means of protecting you from fraud. What they do is make sure the shipping address matches the address on the bank account. If it didn't you'd have to jump through an extra hoop. Sager started doing it on every purchase, a couple years ago, after a rash of fraudulent purchases.

I've got the inspiron i7559 as recommended in this thread!

Overall I'm happy with it, but it's had an ugly quirk it just won't shake. Every use, usually sooner rather than later, it stalls while doing something on the internet, opening steam, using file explorer, and it sits, unresponsive for about 30 seconds or so before becoming responsive and catching up on any clicks made since it froze. I think it's separate, but there's also a version of this where hitting Ctrl alt delete will snap it out of the freeze state.

Thankfully, it doesn't happen in games or during video playback. Just while clicking around, and again, usually within the first minute or so of using the computer in that session, and then perhaps again later while clicking around.

There has also been a BSOD which reboots to OS not found and a memory scan, but this turns out fine, and it boots normally.. I blamed this on using CCleaner, as it never happened before using it, or after I restored the state.. But it happened twice recently after downloading and installed clip paint studio. I did a system restore and again, it's been okay.. But then I had some troubling booting since, and I decided I might want to update the BIOS.

On Dell's support site for i7559 it has several new versions of the BIOS available. I planned on updating the BIOS, but was worried about screwing it up.. So first I went to device manager and tried looking for drivers needing updated. Most were up to date, but a few did update.. I also updated the system firmware, which had the same version number as my BIOS.. Is the firmware the same as the BIOS? It updated to 1.1.5, from 1.1.3, although the support site has 1.1.8 available, though when updating through device manager, 1.1.5 is the most up to date. This makes me think maybe the 1.1.8 isn't for my system after all..(?)

Anyway, sorry for the rambling. Typing on an iphone is the worst. My computer hasn't BSOD or booted strangely since updating in device manger, but the stalling and hanging still exists. I wonder if I should download and attempt to install that 1.1.8 BIOS or just accept my situation.. What do you think?

Oh, while I'm in here, I tried the Doom demo on the laptop the other week.. Ran at about 5 frames per second after an incredible first launch of the game where the intro video took about 15 minutes to get through. Tried lowering graphics options to lowest resolution and lowest everything, and strangely it ran even slower. 1fps, no joke. My nvidia driver wasn't up to date, so that might have been it.. Anyone with an inspiron i7559 or 960m have any luck with Doom on the latest drivers?

Runs games fairly well, so was surprised to see how miserable it was with Doom.

Thanks fellas.

I've read that the latest BIOS update solves the hanging issue. Why "accept" what can be fixed? I am personally one to avoid BIOS updates that don't fix anything, because I always fear a bad flash. If you want to cover yourself in case something goes wrong, contact Dell and have them email you the file and instructions on how to update. That way they take the blame since you were given permission to proceed.

re: Doom - sounds like Doom isn't using the Nvidia GPU. Go Nvidia Control Panel -> Manage 3D Settings -> Program Settings tab -> Add -> find Doom.exe (or whatever it's called) -> select your GTX 960M

Hi to all and thanks in advance!
So, i need a new nb but i'm very confused. Wait or not the new gpu?

Country: Italy moving in Ireland
Budget: €1200/1400
Max size: 15.6"
Usage: gaming, 3ds max with corona and vray, photo editing, UE4


I'm watching this:
https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B01G4TJCEU/

Wait, definitely wait.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Oh I forgot... Specs and Fire Strike for the new "1060" mobile card have leaked:

NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-1060-Fire-Strike-Performance-900x635.png


For perspective on that 13k graphics score, the GTX 980M scores slightly below 10k. Even if it gets downclocked a little bit to fit laptop TDP, it's gonna be a BEAST.
 
Wish Nvidia would announce these things already but it's sounding more like a late July announcement at this rate.

I can wait. Pascal definitely sounds worth waiting for on the mobile space as well
 
Crosspost from PC gaming thread.

Do you guys have laptop suggestions? My Acer Aspire M5-481PT is starting to fall apart--literally. I occasionally open it to dust the components out and a lot of the plastic bits that the screws screw into have broken. The battery is about an hour and a half and I actually can't use it with the CD drive installed because of a power problem. I looked into getting a new battery because it's still a great laptop, nice and light, key spacing very good for my larger hands, and still plays a bunch of games well even if I have to turn down the settings to low.

I don't want to go full gaming laptop, because I'd rather use my laptop for work on the go and I don't want to break the bank on a new laptop. But I would also like to be able to enjoy games while I'm away from my primary computer. I'd make my upper limit $500 but I'd rather try and get something closer to $300. Any ideas?
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Crosspost from PC gaming thread.

Do you guys have laptop suggestions? My Acer Aspire M5-481PT is starting to fall apart--literally. I occasionally open it to dust the components out and a lot of the plastic bits that the screws screw into have broken. The battery is about an hour and a half and I actually can't use it with the CD drive installed because of a power problem. I looked into getting a new battery because it's still a great laptop, nice and light, key spacing very good for my larger hands, and still plays a bunch of games well even if I have to turn down the settings to low.

I don't want to go full gaming laptop, because I'd rather use my laptop for work on the go and I don't want to break the bank on a new laptop. But I would also like to be able to enjoy games while I'm away from my primary computer. I'd make my upper limit $500 but I'd rather try and get something closer to $300. Any ideas?

Cheapest laptop I can recommend, for travel and light gaming.

Sager better not drag their feet. I'll look elsewhere if it means not having to wait until Nov/Dec.
MSI and Sager (well, Clevo) are usually the first out of the gate. Usually.

Scary thought, Asus buys an exclusivity period.
 
1070 will probably replace 980m I'm assuming as the high high end for "sane" laptops. And the 1060 will be in the 970 spot, thermally? Both downclocked a bit from desktop obviously.


In any case, get hype. I hope Surface Book 2 and nuXPS15 are beasts. Would be amazing having dat design and build quality with legitimately good gaming innards.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
1070 will probably replace 980m I'm assuming as the high high end for "sane" laptops. And the 1060 will be in the 970 spot, thermally? Both downclocked a bit from desktop obviously.


In any case, get hype. I hope Surface Book 2 and nuXPS15 are beasts. Would be amazing having dat design and build quality with legitimately good gaming innards.

Well the mobile 1080 is ~120W, which matches the TDP of the 980M. The TDP for this 1070 has been reported as 85W, which is the same wattage as the 970M. The 1060 is less than 75W, which lines it up with the 960M.

This card being front and center first, makes me wonder if the card from all of these "1080M" leaks actually turned into the 'M-less' 1070. If that's the case, you're guess on positioning will be right on the money.
 
L

Lord Virgin

Unconfirmed Member
Sooo...when will they announce all these new laptops with the new GPU's? My fingers are itching man.
 

jetsetrez

Member
Oh I forgot... Specs and Fire Strike for the new "1060" mobile card have leaked:

NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-1060-Fire-Strike-Performance-900x635.png


For perspective on that 13k graphics score, the GTX 980M scores slightly below 10k. Even if it gets downclocked a little bit to fit laptop TDP, it's gonna be a BEAST.
Daaaaaamn, I can't friggin wait. This sounds like the biggest change in mobile gaming since laptops started being used for games. I'll be so happy if it is truly this powerful and I can get it in a laptop soon for around $1k.
 

Yousefb

Member
Hey GAF. I'm looking at laptops in the 900-1000$ dollar range and was wondering what you guys thought about these.

MSI GE62 APACHE Pro-254
Processor: Intel Core i5-6300HQ Quad Core Processor (2.3-3.2GHz)
RAM: 8GB DDR4 2133MHz | Hard Drive: 256GB M.2 SATA
Graphics Card: NVIDIA Geforce GTX970M 3G GDDR5

VS.

ASUS ROG GL552VW-DH71
Powerful 6th-generation Intel Core i7-6700HQ 2.6GHz. 16GB RAM; 1TB 7200RPM Storage.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M gaming graphic card

VS.

Acer Predator
Intel Core i7 2.6 GHz 16GB Ram, 1 TB HD
GeForce GTX 970M


Thanks!
 

ss_lemonade

Member
Anyone know why on some games, my 970m laptop produces a really bad, fluctuating frame rate? I recently purchased doom 3 BFG edition and at the start of the game, without even moving, my steam frame rate counter would wildly fluctuate between 50 - 59fps (it won't even touch 60fps). Doesn't matter what settings I have and what resolution I'm using. Every power saving related option is disabled and I have cpu and gpu set to max performance but the frame rate still jumps up and down, resulting in bad frame pacing.

What's interesting is running the game with the onboard intel igpu stops the frame rate fluctuations and produces a better running, 60 fps game (as well as removing the crazy diagonal tearing). Another game I have with wildly fluctuating frame rates is the new Doom game.
 

grumble

Member
1070 will probably replace 980m I'm assuming as the high high end for "sane" laptops. And the 1060 will be in the 970 spot, thermally? Both downclocked a bit from desktop obviously.


In any case, get hype. I hope Surface Book 2 and nuXPS15 are beasts. Would be amazing having dat design and build quality with legitimately good gaming innards.

Hey so does this mean that having a decently powered laptop with a slim form factor and decent battery is now possible? Before if you wanted a fast laptop it was either the size of a house or it'd cook eggs on the keyboard.
 

Fusebox

Banned
Hey so does this mean that having a decently powered laptop with a slim form factor and decent battery is now possible? Before if you wanted a fast laptop it was either the size of a house or it'd cook eggs on the keyboard.

Lol, back in the 90s maybe. You'll be pleasantly surprised man, we even have colour screens now too.
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Hey GAF. I'm looking at laptops in the 900-1000$ dollar range and was wondering what you guys thought about these.

MSI GE62 APACHE Pro-254
Processor: Intel Core i5-6300HQ Quad Core Processor (2.3-3.2GHz)
RAM: 8GB DDR4 2133MHz | Hard Drive: 256GB M.2 SATA
Graphics Card: NVIDIA Geforce GTX970M 3G GDDR5

VS.

ASUS ROG GL552VW-DH71
Powerful 6th-generation Intel Core i7-6700HQ 2.6GHz. 16GB RAM; 1TB 7200RPM Storage.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M gaming graphic card

VS.

Acer Predator
Intel Core i7 2.6 GHz 16GB Ram, 1 TB HD
GeForce GTX 970M


Thanks!
Of those I'd take the MSI, you may want to wait for the new GPUs though.

Anyone know why on some games, my 970m laptop produces a really bad, fluctuating frame rate? I recently purchased doom 3 BFG edition and at the start of the game, without even moving, my steam frame rate counter would wildly fluctuate between 50 - 59fps (it won't even touch 60fps). Doesn't matter what settings I have and what resolution I'm using. Every power saving related option is disabled and I have cpu and gpu set to max performance but the frame rate still jumps up and down, resulting in bad frame pacing.

What's interesting is running the game with the onboard intel igpu stops the frame rate fluctuations and produces a better running, 60 fps game (as well as removing the crazy diagonal tearing). Another game I have with wildly fluctuating frame rates is the new Doom game.

Is it only those two games? I wonder if it's an OpenGL thing.

Hey so does this mean that having a decently powered laptop with a slim form factor and decent battery is now possible? Before if you wanted a fast laptop it was either the size of a house or it'd cook eggs on the keyboard.

That's technically possible right now, with something like an MSI GS60.
 

ss_lemonade

Member
Is it only those two games? I wonder if it's an OpenGL thing.
The later wolfenstein games run pretty bad too so yeah, maybe it is an opengl thing. Another thing I noticed with the 970m on doom 3 bfg is if I enable the Green Shift mode on my MSI laptop (which down clocks the CPU to pedestrian levels), I actually end up hitting 60fps. Still not as good though as using the igpu since random drops still occur
 

CazTGG

Member
Quick question: I've noticed that some laptop manufacturers have desktop processors like the i7-6700/6700K and even desktop graphics cards such as the GTX 980 in them, if not, including them as an option, most notably with Sager/Clevo laptops. Is there a significant difference in performance between these components being used in a laptop as opposed to them being in a regular PC, (assuming this question makes any sense at all since they are the same components)? As a second question, is it even worth having that much power in a laptop instead of settling for one with an i7-6820HK/i7 6700HQ and 970m/980m?
 

grumble

Member
Lol, back in the 90s maybe. You'll be pleasantly surprised man, we even have colour screens now too.

I haven't really seen any that have solid (aka 970m) specs that either weren't big computers or ran way too hot. It's just a constraint of the thermal envelope. With the new process I'm hoping that we can finally get a slim computer that is powerful and runs cool.
 

Kieli

Member
Quick question: I've noticed that some laptop manufacturers have desktop processors like the i7-6700/6700K and even desktop graphics cards such as the GTX 980 in them, if not, including them as an option, most notably with Sager/Clevo laptops. Is there a significant difference in performance between these components being used in a laptop as opposed to them being in a regular PC, (assuming this question makes any sense at all since they are the same components)? As a second question, is it even worth having that much power in a laptop instead of settling for one with an i7-6820HK/i7 6700HQ and 970m/980m?

Not much difference CPU wise, but a desktop 980 is a fair bit faster than a 980. I think it was pegged at around 30 - 40% (because 980M is not quite as powerful as 970, which is 20% weaker than 980).

Between 980 on mobile and 980 on desktop, the former will be a bit weaker to on par, depending on how good cooling is.

Whether it's worth it depends on whether or not you're willing to shell out 2500 - $3000 or so for 1080p/60+fps vs. 1800 - $2000 for 1080p/50 - 60fps.

980M will be more than sufficient for most purposes, but it already cannot handle 60 fps in some games (e.g. Dark Souls 3).

At this point, 1070M and 1080M look really exciting because they'll knock the 900Ms out of their pedestal. And the 900Ms were already pretty impressive for mobile SKUs.

Edit: Personally though, what has me really eager for August is 1060M. It'll bring about a much-needed refresh of the xx60M tier, which is where most gamers will be spending their money.
 

KTT

Member
Country: US
Budget: none
Display: 1080p or higher. 15"? (Not sure, I'd have to check it out in person).
Planned usage: programming/web dev. Video calls. HD video playback. Possible AR/VR development which means 3D game engines.

I want it to be sexy and feel great. I'll be testing models out at retail stores if I can.

If I'm missing anything important let me know.

Thanks neogaf
 

Sini

Member
Is it only those two games? I wonder if it's an OpenGL thing.
The later wolfenstein games run pretty bad too so yeah, maybe it is an opengl thing
Same stuff here. New Wolfensteins and Doom have awful stuttering while fps shows to be pretty much locked 60. And that's completely independent from settings, it still stutters even if i play 50% of 800x600 resolution, everything low or off...
 

KTT

Member
Country: US
Budget: none
Display: 1080p or higher. 15"? (Not sure, I'd have to check it out in person).
Planned usage: programming/web dev. Video calls. HD video playback. Possible AR/VR development which means 3D game engines.

I want it to be sexy and feel great. I'll be testing models out at retail stores if I can.

If I'm missing anything important let me know.

Thanks neogaf
 

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Quick question: I've noticed that some laptop manufacturers have desktop processors like the i7-6700/6700K and even desktop graphics cards such as the GTX 980 in them, if not, including them as an option, most notably with Sager/Clevo laptops. Is there a significant difference in performance between these components being used in a laptop as opposed to them being in a regular PC, (assuming this question makes any sense at all since they are the same components)? As a second question, is it even worth having that much power in a laptop instead of settling for one with an i7-6820HK/i7 6700HQ and 970m/980m?

Spending $3k for a desktop GTX 980 is madness. The new Pascal mobile laptops will be faster at a fraction of the price.

Country: US
Budget: none
Display: 1080p or higher. 15"? (Not sure, I'd have to check it out in person).
Planned usage: programming/web dev. Video calls. HD video playback. Possible AR/VR development which means 3D game engines.

I want it to be sexy and feel great. I'll be testing models out at retail stores if I can.

If I'm missing anything important let me know.

Thanks neogaf

Dell XPS 15 seems to fit exactly.
 

Kieli

Member
Spending $3k for a desktop GTX 980 is madness. The new Pascal mobile laptops will be faster at a fraction of the price.



Dell XPS 15 seems to fit exactly.

I never quite understood how retailers function. Like, the RX480 has released and GTX 1060 has been announced, yet I still see the GTX 970 and 980 as more expensive.

Why? How could they ever expect to sell them out to the one of the rare demographic of consumers that would be on top of their shit.
 
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