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FTW PC or Laptop?

Sammytop123

Junior Member
Sep 16, 2014
5
0
0
Hi there,My name is Sammy and I'm doubting if to invest my money in new pc that I'm going to build myself or to invest it in a good and powerful laptop. Here are the facts though, I can't do both... and I'm in my senior year and next year I will be studying abroad..., on the other hand I have always wanted to build a FTW gaming pc and have (for my last year) an awesome running PC. So maybe you guys had some suggestions?


For the PC: these are the components:


Computer Build 2014 FTW :


CPU
Intel Core i7 4770K (Overclocked 4.4GHz) Quad Core – HASSWELL


CPU Cooler
Corsair H80


Graphics Card:
Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti (3 GB)


RAM:
DDR3 2133 MHZ, CL 9, 2 x 4GB Sticks




Hard Disk(HDD/SSD):
Samsung 840 EVO 500GB (SSD)
2TB Seagate 7200 RPM


Motherboard:
Maximus V2 Formula


Power Supply(around 850 watt):
RM Series™ RM850 — 850 Watt 80 PLUS® Gold Certified Fully Modular PSU




Now, for the laptop I was thinking about an Asus N76VB




Hope you guys have some time to share what would you do in my place?

:D
 

John Connor

Lifer
Nov 30, 2012
22,757
619
121
You should post in the general hardware sub forum.

---

Good idea. Done. :)

Harvey
Senior AT Mod/Admin
 
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Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,379
126
That mobo is a massive waste of money for most people. It's also really late in the game to buy a 780ti. For that matter a 850w psu is huge overkill for a single gpu even with the cpu at 4.4. A solid 650 would be more than plenty (disregard if you want dual gpu later). But with dual gpu you would be wanting to run 2560 or 4k right? Or 3x 1080? In that case 3gb is probably not the best plan either. Dual 290x or maybe wait and look at 980 oc editions?

PC desktop will be ridiculously more powerful than laptops for gaming.

Good luck.
 

Sammytop123

Junior Member
Sep 16, 2014
5
0
0
Hi and thanks for your answer.
I think I wasn't clear enough in the question itself. Thanks for the suggestion for the psu but I actually need to know in what to invest my money. This is the situation: I have money but I can only invest it in the gaming computer or in the laptop. Now if I'm going to invest it in the pc I will only be using it for this year because next year i will be studying abroad... But if I invest it in a laptop then it could be more useful so I could bring it with me at all time.... So what would you do? The laptop or the computer?
 

maxi007

Banned
Sep 8, 2014
190
0
41
you can have all the thing ,you have to sacrifice one.
either buy a gaming pc and transport in during going abroad (not a better idea)
or buy a high end laptop (but rem with gaming purpose . its better to have PC)
in my suggetion buy lappy and reduce your game interest.
 

Sammytop123

Junior Member
Sep 16, 2014
5
0
0
Alright thanks for the answer. And no I won't transport it with me next year haha. But it's quite a difficult choice to make. Just like you said I have to make sacrifices because on one hand I really like building pc's and I could have an awesome gaming experience this year with my build but on the other hand... going abroad without a pc or so isn't always a fun thought so a high-end laptop(not meant for gaming btw, just business,movies etc) would be better... but anyways thanks for your opnion
 

RelaxTheMind

Platinum Member
Oct 15, 2002
2,245
0
76
if your ambient temps are good you can get similar if not the same performance from a coolermaster 212 evo hsf all in one water coolers dont fare too well when they have to work too hard 24/7 imo. my friends that have corsair hxx coolers have nothing but issues. if i was buying now i would get a mid range mobo until decent revision next gen stuff came out for the ddr4 phase in.

have that corsair HX850 power supply and it runs pretty cool running a 4770k and 280x.

then just get a cheapo laptop for "study".
 

Sammytop123

Junior Member
Sep 16, 2014
5
0
0
Thanks very much. Well, I have to see the price and hopefully If I can see what the price is and maybe calculate how much will be left for a cheap study laptop....that could be a suggestion
 

holden j caufield

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 1999
6,324
10
81
laptops are so powerful now I have almost no need for a desktop, I built a very power one and it mostly sits there. With the options on some docking stations a powerful laptop to me really is like a desktop. You can get laptops that have 32gb of ram 4k displays etc.
 
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Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,379
126
Okay, I'm going to start crunching some numbers for you to see how this all works out with your budget. I fully believe you can do both if you're smart about where you spend your money.

First off, the difference between the performance of a 4770K @ 4.4 vs. 4.2 is nearly nonexistent. I understand the fun factor, but OC is not guaranteed, and the way the things run, WC is usually not worth the price and hassle on chips that have less than optimal IHS/TIM situations like Ivy and Haswell (eg; the actual heat problems can't be solved no matter how good the cooling is on the surface of the IHS, because the chip is having trouble conducting heat from the die through the poor quality TIM into the IHS for dissipation). There's some absolutely stellar work done by Idontcare (a legendary member here) that shows the potential for huge HUGE improvements by delidding examples with bad IHS (concave/convex IHS are also an issue even on older procs with soldered IHS).

So here is a rundown on the variables that can be at play overclocking an Ivy or Haswell that are difficult to really run down. Let's call this the 'lottery card', where you have to pull a good number in every category to hit your target OC :

--------------- SECTION ON VARIATIONS IN CPU QUALITY -----------------

(1)- Quality of the die (this goes for all chips of course)
(2)- Quality of the TIM (this varies pretty solidly from example to example)
(3)- Quality of the IHS (bad IHS that are not flat enough can be buffed flatter at the expense of warranty, this is known as lapping)

Now Sandy Bridge is too old to consider for a new build at this time, but they were the last mainstream CPU from Intel to use solder to attach and conduct heat from the bare die into the IHS. So basically you have a triple lottery with Ivy and Haswell, and only a double lottery from the older Core CPUs. It's frustrating because unless you got a really bum Sandy (super rare), even a bad IHS could be buffed out pretty quickly, and it responded REALLY well to extreme cooling. With Ivy/Haswell, you can get very frustrating examples that even with a perfectly lapped IHS, perfectly applied thermal compound, and ludicrous cooling will still OC poorly due to a bad TIM lottery draw.

--------------------------------------------

Okay, I said all of that to make the point that there are of course no guarantees that every 4770K will hit 4.4 regardless of anything you try (perhaps short of delidding). It's not a crazy target by any stretch, but certainly not one that requires a really expensive motherboard, nor the hassles of watercooling. Because Ivy and Haswell are so power efficient, and do SO much on the CPU instead of motherboard logic circuitry, the difference between an $80 and $400 motherboard really comes down to what actual FEATURES you need, rather than anything at all to do with performance beyond optimistically 1-2%. I've had 3770K and 4770K chips that would run happily at 4.6+ on cheap boards, and similarly some duds that wouldn't crack 4.2 on massively expensive boards.

---------------------------------------------

Your current build spec priced out at newegg (don't necessarily use a single vendor for everything, I just want to show how you can save a ton, and still get top tier performance, which will open the possibility further for you to get BOTH an awesome desktop AND a decent laptop)

4770K $335
Corsair H80 $90
Maximus Formula Z97 $370
3GB 780ti $560 AR
8GB 2133 Ram $80
840 Evo 500GB $250
2TB Seagate HDD $85
RM850 PSU $130AR

$1900

Now, drop the WC due to it being unneccesary, go to a sane mobo that can still perfectly run dual GPU should you later want to, improve the memory, and let's get a better deal on a PSU (if you aren't planning on dual GPU for a while yet).

4770K $335
CM 212 Evo $30AR
AsRock Z97 Extreme3 $120
4GB MSI Gaming R290X $520AR (or the 3GB 780ti as above for $560)
8GB Gskill Trident DDR3-2400 $90
840 Evo 500GB $250
2TB Seagate HDD $85
Antec TP650C 80 Gold PSU $65AR

$1495 - $1535, or a savings of about $400. I can guarantee based on my personal experience that that build will be quiet, will OC nearly identically, and the PSU is more than up to the task given to it there. $400 alone can buy a nice laptop for non gaming purposes. When traveling, I like to keep to devices that I'm not going to be heartbroken if they get dropped, lost, broken, or stolen. My only advice is to buy a cheapish SSD (250GB Evo maybe) and stick it in whatever you buy for an immense performance boost and you get a less fragile unit as a result. If you bang a laptop suddenly that has a mechanical drive, you are more prone to losing the drive or some data on it. With the SSD, it's unlikely that would be the case (though of course the laptop can become damaged in other ways from impacts).

I like expensive motherboards, I like overkill power supplies, all of that stuff is great. But if you want to get both a killer PC and a decent travel laptop (that can still even do light gaming and be speedy with an SSD), then it's worth dropping the stuff that doesn't really do you any good. An H80 isn't going to take a 4770 much if anything beyond what a properly installed 212 Evo can do. A nearly $400 maximus isn't going to overclock that any better either than a $120 AsRock. And why spend $120+ on a PSU for a single GPU system? Etc.

Just think about it.
 

Sammytop123

Junior Member
Sep 16, 2014
5
0
0
First of all, I am very thankful for your shared knowledge and I think your completely right.... I think you made a very good point and just for the record... I'm not an expert in PC building... I know here and there stuff.... but I'm definitely not an expert in all the components... Of course I'm just 18 and I have build a computer a year ago and here I am wanting to do the same but on a completely new level which is: me selecting the components for my build.
So about that list, I'm not an expert about GPU's but I do know for myself that Nvidia delivers far better quality than AMD in my opinion and that's why I want to stick to a GTX at least of the 700 series.... The CPU could stay the same...
As for the water cooling... this was supposed to be my first water cooling pc build so I thank you for your suggestion on the Evo and I will definitely check it out.
Now the motherboard, just like you said: it all comes eventually down to what you need and I guess I won't be needing the best motherboard in the world that will only affect my OC of 1 to 2 percent... I will check out your suggestion
I don't really know why you changed the RAM, I've heard the corsair vengeance always deliver good quality ram sticks... so yeah haha
As for the PSU... not an expert either... But yeah a 650 watt will do also haha


Thanks
 
Aug 11, 2008
10,451
642
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@Arkagn

Looks good, but why not try for a 4790k, which should be the same price as the 4770k and turbos to 4.2ghz stock. The 4790k usually will overclock a couple hundred mhz more but of course there is no guarantee. Personally I would just try to run the 4790k stock on the stock cooler, there is not that much overclocking headroom left anyway.

Another option would be to save a 100.00 on the cpu and get a 4690k instead of the 4770/4790k. The op could put the extra hundred dollars toward a nicer laptop.

To the op, you probably know this, but in case not, the 4770/90k cpu have hyperthreading which increases performance in some games, but not all. Crysis 3, which you are interested in apparently, is the best case game for hyperthreading, showing up to 20 to 30 percent increased framerate, while most other games show 0 to 10 percent. Many newer games *are* recommending hyperthreading for the intel quads, but it remains to be seen if it is really needed and how beneficial it will be.