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Quality powerful Laptop? (must have within a day or two)

NYCHitman1 said:
All I know is that beyond the specifications that it contains, it performs very well. I've been playing various F2P MMOs on it, Starcraft 2 (on high settings), some Counter Strike: Source (high settings), and Mass Effect 2 (high settings) and it plays them all without a hiccup. If that's not good enough mobile processing for you, I don't know what is.
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I'm glad that it works great for you; I really am. I hate to see when people buy a card expecting it to perform great and it sucks. But none of those games are really pushing the video card to the max(although Mass Effect 2 looks great for a console port). I think we have taken this topic far enough off course, so truce. :)
 
Actually, this topic is a lot more on topic than you think. Since the OP want(ed) a new laptop with performance in mind, this discussion about video cards and some of the sensationalism behind the advertising is quite appropriate.
 
drdoom said:
I'm glad that it works great for you; I really am. I hate to see when people buy a card expecting it to perform great and it sucks. But none of those games are really pushing the video card to the max(although Mass Effect 2 looks great for a console port). I think we have taken this topic far enough off course, so truce. :)
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I didn't even think we were arguing, honestly. I think it was just a misunderstanding. What games should I test on it to see if it can handle the upper echelon of things? Crysis 2?
 
NYCHitman1 said:
I didn't even think we were arguing, honestly. I think it was just a misunderstanding. What games should I test on it to see if it can handle the upper echelon of things? Crysis 2?
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As much as I hate that game and the company behind it, I think it would be a good enough test. Many people say 30fps is a fluid game, but I can't stand anything under 60, so my standards for what is playable framerates are going to be higher than average. :) Textures, shadows and AA are what will use the most VRAM; they will also stress the GPU the most.
 
I have Apple everything but just couldnt justify spending $2500 on a laptop I wasnt going to use all that often, so I picked up this HP $700. Its now $750. Its loaded up with specs and chews thru intensive things like rendering 1080p HD video files, burning thousands of huge photo files, burning DVDs, Photoshop 5, everything I have thrown at it. Does it fast too. Only downside is it doesnt have Blu Ray but that wasnt a big deal to me.

HP - Pavilion Laptop / Intel® Core™ i5 Processor / 17.3" Display / 8GB Memory / 750GB Hard Drive - Dark Umber - dv7-6135dx
 
NYCHitman1 said:
I didn't even think we were arguing, honestly. I think it was just a misunderstanding. What games should I test on it to see if it can handle the upper echelon of things? Crysis 2?
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I found Crysis 1 to stress my desktop rig more that C2

My desktop is:

2 (almost 3?) yr old custom built rig

- Core i7 920 2.6 Ghz OC'd to 3.6Ghz
- 6GB DDR3 RAM @ 1066 -- OC'd to I dunno what
- 2x Nvidia GTX 260 in SLI (896MB each 1792MB total)
- Win 7 x64
- Creative X-fi PCI-e
- 3TB (3x Samsung Spinpoint F1 @7200 RPMs) <- need to replace one with an SSD
- Coolermaster case and some high end air-colling fan for the cpu
- 1000W powersupply
- EVGA motherboard
- 24" dell ultrasharp (1920x1200)


When I got my rig Crysis had already been out a year or two. My system could not run it on max @ 1920x1200. Still cant.

However it really depends what your are testing. Games with beautiful graphics may not really need AA/AF. But Crysis had so many plants with leaves (and hence edges) AA would bring the fps to it's knees on even the best rigs. But something like TheWitcher 2 I never bothered even using AA or maybe only a bit.

I'm thinking the effects that make a rig work the hardest in games are SSAO, Soft shadows, HDR lighting, AA, and AF.




Speaking of which, can someone recommend a good "system info" type app?

I feel like I had a nice free one at some point but cant find it atm.
 
Your rig is not too far off from mine that I recently put together, scrapping old parts from the old build and mixing them with a new mobo, CPU, RAM and PSU:

System Manufacturer/Model Number
The Beast Model V
OS
Windows 7 Enterprise x64 SP1 | Windows 8 build 7989
CPU
Core i7 965 EE @3.6 GHz
Motherboard
eVGA x58 Classified3
Memory
3 * 4GB Mushkin Enhanced Redline CL7 DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
eVGA GTX 260 SLI'd w/ eVGA GTX260 SSC + GTS250 (PhysX)
Sound Card
Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
Monitor(s) Displays
2 * Acer X213Wbd
Screen Resolution
2 * 1680 x 1050
Hard Drives
1 * Intel X-25M G2 80 GB SSD Sata II |
2 * Seagate 1 TB 32MB Cache 7200.12 SATA II
PSU
ThermalTake BlackWidow TX TR2 850 W
Case
ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
Cooling
Corsair H60 CPU Liquid Cooler | 3 * ThermalTake 240 mm Fans
Keyboard
Logitech G15 Keyboard
Mouse
Logitech MX Revolution '06
Internet Speed
Cable - 12Mbit down / 1 Mbit up advertised (28+ / 3+ actual)
Other Info
Optimus STAV-3400 AV Receiver |
Bose 301 Series III Speakers (Main channel) |
Bose 161 Speakers (Surround) |
Optimus 3 way 100-W speaker (Center) |
Logitech Clearchat PC Wireless Headset
Microsoft LifeCam Studio
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I haven't tried either, the build is still quite new. I need to add my Antec TriCool 120mm LED fans to the case (backside blowing out and bottom blowing in) and then I think I'm going ot OC and then test.

As far as System Info, hae you tried Gabriel Ponti's System Info for Windows (aka SIW)? And since you're running Win7, there also the native apps, like System Info, Resource Monitor, etc.
 
For system info, I would recommend two programs: GPU-Z and CPU-Z. Names should explain the programs fairly well. I don't use it, but I have heard that Everest has a good free version.

My poor old desktop is still chugging along:

Q6600 @ 3.15Ghz
EVGA 680i LT (damn thing has two dead RAM slots; I'd rather put money into guns than replacing it.)
4GB G.Skill Pi Black
3TB (WD Black, 2 Seagate Barracudas)
HAF-X with every fan mount filled
EVGA 560Ti (my old 8800GTS 512's worked great for everything but The Witcher 2)
Coolermaster 1200W Silent Pro Gold (free is good, right? :))
EVGA Superclock or Coolermaster V6 (both were free to me and are roughly equal).
 
drdoom said:
For system info, I would recommend two programs: GPU-Z and CPU-Z. Names should explain the programs fairly well. I don't use it, but I have heard that Everest has a good free version.

My poor old desktop is still chugging along:

Q6600 @ 3.15Ghz
EVGA 680i LT (damn thing has two dead RAM slots; I'd rather put money into guns than replacing it.)
4GB G.Skill Pi Black
3TB (WD Black, 2 Seagate Barracudas)
HAF-X with every fan mount filled
EVGA 560Ti (my old 8800GTS 512's worked great for everything but The Witcher 2)
Coolermaster 1200W Silent Pro Gold (free is good, right? :))
EVGA Superclock or Coolermaster V6 (both were free to me and are roughly equal).
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My last rig was a 780i running the Q2C6600 @ 3.15 also - I could easily get to 3.2 but it wasn't as stable as I wanted it to be.

Going to turn that board into a Server since it supports (albeit a bit flakily) on-board RAID
 
I'm prob going to upgrade a few pieces of my rig by Christmas. It will likely look like:

OS
Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1

CPU
i5 2500K @ 3.3 GHz (upgrade)

Motherboard
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P (upgrade)

Memory
2 * 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 (upgrade)

Graphics Card
eVGA GTX 460 (upgrade)

Display
42" Panasonic Viera

Screen Resolution
1080p via HDMI

Hard Drives
1* WD Velociraptor 320GB
1* Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 2TB (external)

PSU
Corsair TX750 v2

Case
Antec 900

I don't really feel the need to fully rebuild much of anything since everything is working good as it is. Just wanted to upgrade some outdated parts.
 
alostpacket said:
lol is raid worth it if it's flakey though? Or are your striping for performance?
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Good point - I think the RAID on this board is better than most of the other ones out there, and since I have 6 SATA ports to choose from I can do dual RAIDS, one for OS and one for DATA, 3 drives each, and since it is gonna be a WHS, I kinda need it....

I may look into a PCI RAID card to handle the data RAID....

alostpacket said:
Why the Velociraptor? Go SSD :)





That's not a resolution! ;) :)
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karandpr said:
1920
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Yer, I was just kidding around. But it's a bit annoying the way monitors shifted from 16:10 to 16:9 to accommodate 1080p/movie marketing.

Anyways a 42" monitor should be like 2560x1800ish(?) or some such? Though u might want 2 gfx cards for that.

Speaking of which, what's the max dual DVI can push? Does HDMI have the bandwith to push more?


OK sorry I'm getting side tracked and dreaming of my ultimate setup haha. Your's is a very nice rig NYCHitman, was just kidding with ya :)
 
Also for the mobo, worth looking at EVGA -- I have become such a fanboy since I bought my mobo+gfx cards from them. They really have nice stuff and have a rep for amazing customer support, though I never needed it.
 
alostpacket said:
Yer, I was just kidding around. But it's a bit annoying the way monitors shifted from 16:10 to 16:9 to accommodate 1080p/movie marketing.

Anyways a 42" monitor should be like 2560x1800ish(?) or some such? Though u might want 2 gfx cards for that.

Speaking of which, what's the max dual DVI can push? Does HDMI have the bandwith to push more?


OK sorry I'm getting side tracked and dreaming of my ultimate setup haha. Your's is a very nice rig NYCHitman, was just kidding with ya :)
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I use my Panasonic Viera TV as my monitor. I don't have an office set up, so when I need to do some power processing I jump on my PC. As for the rig, the parts that said (upgrade) are the parts that I will upgrade to.

alostpacket said:
Also for the mobo, worth looking at EVGA -- I have become such a fanboy since I bought my mobo+gfx cards from them. They really have nice stuff and have a rep for amazing customer support, though I never needed it.
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I love their gfx cards. Not once have I had a problem with any of their gfx cards either. Never owned any of their mobo's though. I've only had Gigabyte, ASUS, and MSi mobo's.
 
I never tried gigabyte but I hated ASUS support /driver downloads and whatnot. though it may have improved.

But i LOVE EVGA.....

<- fanboy
 
alostpacket said:
I never tried gigabyte but I hated ASUS support /driver downloads and whatnot. though it may have improved.

But i LOVE EVGA.....

<- fanboy
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I agree. ASUS sucks for support. Two of my RAM slots died and I contacted them to get a replacement, they basically told me to go eff myself. Never again will I purchase an ASUS product (except the Transformer tablet :p)
 
I'd personally go for ThinkPad, and in your case the X series. It has build quality, small, lightweight, rigid casing, one of the best keyboard & excellent warranty.
And the latest models now have sandy bridge processors. Also be sure to get it with an SSD drive, if not provided with, you can easily replace-add the SSD by yourself.
 
I probably shouldn't post this but I decided to stick with the MBP

I liked having a different OS around to test apps on. (meaning desktop components to apps). And to have something more Unix like for managing servers.

Lots of good recommendations guys and thanks :)
 
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