Custom Build PC

[BGM17]

what do you guys think of these specs? Looking at being able to play em4 all mods, plus Skyrim with ENB's same with GTA IV.

Chassis & Display

Cosmos Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

Processor (CPU)

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4810MQ (2.80GHz) 6MB

Memory (RAM)

16GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)

Graphics Card

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 950M - 2.0GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 12

Memory - Hard Disk

1TB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive

8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader

Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Thermal Paste

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

Sound Card

Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack

Bluetooth & Wireless

GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-7260 HMC (300Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH

USB Options

3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD

Battery

Cosmos Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)

Power Lead & Adaptor

1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor

[randomperson139]

Looks like a PC Specialist build to me...

 

Any reason for a laptop? You'd be able to get much better specs for similar prices with a desktop build.

[BGM17]

Good spot there mate

[randomperson139]

How much are you looking to spend? I mean that graphics card isn't bad, you can probably get a better one if you're willing to spend slightly more. But then I'm by no means an expert when it comes to building a laptop!

 

I would suggest looking for reviews of the various parts, particularly graphics cards, to see how they actually perform. You will probably be able to find benchmarks from playing various games, comparing various cards somewhere.

[BGM17]

How much are you looking to spend? I mean that graphics card isn't bad, you can probably get a better one if you're willing to spend slightly more. But then I'm by no means an expert when it comes to building a laptop!

 

I would suggest looking for reviews of the various parts, particularly graphics cards, to see how they actually perform. You will probably be able to find benchmarks from playing various games, comparing various cards somewhere.

This is about my limit (£1000) the graphics card has pretty good reviews as does the rest of the components!

That is also the highest graphics card they offer for this computer, pretty much all the options are maxed out so hopefully it should be pretty high quality.

My current laptops nvidia card has died, so I can't even play my own mod on the intergrated intel card so it's a much needed update.

[randomperson139]

It seems to be a good enough configuration for GTA etc. It would probably be able to compete with my desktop PC, and I have no problem whatsoever running mods for EM4 or GTA IV (don't use ENB, so can't comment on that).

 

The weird thing about that graphics card is they seem to be offering the lower spec DDR3 version, there is another GDDR5 version of the 950M which would perform better. Seems odd that they'd include the DDR3 one, not the GDDR5 one!

[BGM17]

It seems to be a good enough configuration for GTA etc. It would probably be able to compete with my desktop PC, and I have no problem whatsoever running mods for EM4 or GTA IV (don't use ENB, so can't comment on that).

 

The weird thing about that graphics card is they seem to be offering the lower spec DDR3 version, there is another GDDR5 version of the 950M which would perform better. Seems odd that they'd include the DDR3 one, not the GDDR5 one!

 

I'd like to be able to play Gta V on atleast high or medium.. so we'll see how that works...

I noticed that..

would this be better; 

 

 

 

 

Processor (CPU)

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4810MQ (2.80GHz) 6MB

Memory (RAM)

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

Graphics Card

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 850M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

Memory - Hard Disk

1TB WD SCORPIO BLUE WD10JPVX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400 rpm)

 

[MikeyPI]

All of this really doesnt mean much on laptops tbh.  The vulnerability in ALL laptops, especially gaming ones is that most of them do not sufficiently cool themselves when doing extremely demanding things.  I have an extremely powerful laptop and the thing runs extremely hot on things like GTA5.  The last thing in the world you need is to put out alotta cash for a massive powerplant just to have inadequate cooling systems.  Verify that this computer's chassis has excellent cooling capacities otherwise you're just spinning your wheels if it just overheats and shuts down all the time.  Just a word to the wise, don't rely on cooling pads to supplement an already weak cooling system, they won't work if the computer it's self does not vent well enough on it's own.  Make sure the chassis is designed in a fashion to support all these over the top elements before you start thinking about them, preferably check real-world reviews of the same chassis to see if people complain of "randomly shutting down" or overheating with it.

 

Mine does not overheat as long as it is on a tabletop when playing GTA5 but if I put it on my lap it will cook fairly fast, resulting in a shutdown.. Pity but most companies (even going back for years) have yet to figure out that they need to cool down the gaming rigs much better if they want them to actually have uses in that area.  Outside of extremely demanding things like GTA the overheating issue isnt a problem, but remember that on most laptops the cooling system isnt "dedicated" like it is on a desktop, the same cooling system in most laptops is responsible for the CPU and GPU units, meaning twice the heat on much less fan power.

[BGM17]

All of this really doesnt mean much on laptops tbh. The vulnerability in ALL laptops, especially gaming ones is that most of them do not sufficiently cool themselves when doing extremely demanding things. I have an extremely powerful laptop and the thing runs extremely hot on things like GTA5. The last thing in the world you need is to put out alotta cash for a massive powerplant just to have inadequate cooling systems. Verify that this computer's chassis has excellent cooling capacities otherwise you're just spinning your wheels if it just overheats and shuts down all the time. Just a word to the wise, don't rely on cooling pads to supplement an already weak cooling system, they won't work if the computer it's self does not vent well enough on it's own. Make sure the chassis is designed in a fashion to support all these over the top elements before you start thinking about them, preferably check real-world reviews of the same chassis to see if people complain of "randomly shutting down" or overheating with it.

Mine does not overheat as long as it is on a tabletop when playing GTA5 but if I put it on my lap it will cook fairly fast, resulting in a shutdown.. Pity but most companies (even going back for years) have yet to figure out that they need to cool down the gaming rigs much better if they want them to actually have uses in that area. Outside of extremely demanding things like GTA the overheating issue isnt a problem, but remember that on most laptops the cooling system isnt "dedicated" like it is on a desktop, the same cooling system in most laptops is responsible for the CPU and GPU units, meaning twice the heat on much less fan power.

I totally get what you're saying man, I have paid an extra £10 for heavy duty thermal paste, that and an external fan cooling system should more or less do the trick, what do you think?

Thanks for your in depth reponse also!

[MikeyPI]

The thermal paste may help some, the external fan cooling system not so much really.... The key thing to remember for laptops are the things have a single heat exchange that goes to all the vital components, which then transfers to the heatsink and fan unit on them, IF that fan does not have sufficient intake/exhaust ports and enough power for the fan it's self the laptop won't push the heat out effectively enough to make a difference, thus overheat.  The key is that the intake/exhaust ports on the chassis (case) are designed in such a way to force air through effectively, without that no amount of thermal paste and no "auxiliary" cooling through the use of a pad or "system" will make much of a difference.

 

Verify that this particular case does not have issues with excessive heat from users that have purchased it, some users may not "know" better and post problems with the computer "randomly shutting down on it's own".  We could sit here and tell you oh yes these components are the best and so on and so forth, but the key is real-world use.  The components on a laptop are one aspect of the device, but the chassis is what holds it together, in laptops everything is so crammed together heat is a serious issue if you intend to do serious gaming, so looking at what people who've used the chassis in a similar way as you is the vital part you'll have to research on.  The components themselves tbh there is nothing wrong with any of the ones you've looked into, the thing I'd hunt around for is reviews of the "base" core system and any major issues encountered with it.

 

To be totally honest on all the many laptops I've owned over the years on the really heavy gaming situations (think like GTA for over 1 hour) they all had to be put on a table/desk to not overheat, but not all laptops are created equal and some still have issues when placed on hard flat surfaces that don't insulate heat as well as say your lap and/or bed will.  Gotta kind of find that part out from other's misfortune out there in order to have a better idea for the particular chassis you've got in mind.  Sadly with these things you can't spring for a slightly "larger" case size to have more space for the equipment inside, so instead you have to accept the compromise of having everything crammed into the smallest "package" possible.

 

Most laptops except the most horrible designs won't overheat off of relatively light loads like word processing, web surfing, watching movies.  But when it comes to the more modern high sys requirement games they start to lose ground on cooling. If you intend to play games which are known to be pretty demanding you'll want to bear in mind the cooling capacity of the chassis when deciding if it's right for you, most systems are designed for portability not efficiency.

[BGM17]

The thermal paste may help some, the external fan cooling system not so much really.... The key thing to remember for laptops are the things have a single heat exchange that goes to all the vital components, which then transfers to the heatsink and fan unit on them, IF that fan does not have sufficient intake/exhaust ports and enough power for the fan it's self the laptop won't push the heat out effectively enough to make a difference, thus overheat.  The key is that the intake/exhaust ports on the chassis (case) are designed in such a way to force air through effectively, without that no amount of thermal paste and no "auxiliary" cooling through the use of a pad or "system" will make much of a difference.

 

Verify that this particular case does not have issues with excessive heat from users that have purchased it, some users may not "know" better and post problems with the computer "randomly shutting down on it's own".  We could sit here and tell you oh yes these components are the best and so on and so forth, but the key is real-world use.  The components on a laptop are one aspect of the device, but the chassis is what holds it together, in laptops everything is so crammed together heat is a serious issue if you intend to do serious gaming, so looking at what people who've used the chassis in a similar way as you is the vital part you'll have to research on.  The components themselves tbh there is nothing wrong with any of the ones you've looked into, the thing I'd hunt around for is reviews of the "base" core system and any major issues encountered with it.

 

To be totally honest on all the many laptops I've owned over the years on the really heavy gaming situations (think like GTA for over 1 hour) they all had to be put on a table/desk to not overheat, but not all laptops are created equal and some still have issues when placed on hard flat surfaces that don't insulate heat as well as say your lap and/or bed will.  Gotta kind of find that part out from other's misfortune out there in order to have a better idea for the particular chassis you've got in mind.  Sadly with these things you can't spring for a slightly "larger" case size to have more space for the equipment inside, so instead you have to accept the compromise of having everything crammed into the smallest "package" possible.

 

Most laptops except the most horrible designs won't overheat off of relatively light loads like word processing, web surfing, watching movies.  But when it comes to the more modern high sys requirement games they start to lose ground on cooling. If you intend to play games which are known to be pretty demanding you'll want to bear in mind the cooling capacity of the chassis when deciding if it's right for you, most systems are designed for portability not efficiency.

 

 

Apparently the cooling system is "aggressive" coming from the reviews i've read, no one citing heat as an issue, so I figure the additional thermal paste and fans should do the trick.

I'm going into the RAF fire service so it's important that it can use it on station and at home that's the reason against desktop, and I appreciate that it will never be as good as a desktop however I should hope that a computer of this spec should be able to do the majority of what I ask of it!