It will likely still be a bit before I take the plunge with PC hardware(I do like things to be "just so",) buuuuuuuut, I did just get a: https://store.google.com/product/pixel_phone Bam! Arrival in 2 - 3 weeks. I acquired the "unlocked" $649 version because I intensely dislike American cellphone carriers and only pay for the cheapest tmobile plan I can get -years ago I was a cell phone salesman and I know all the inside %&$#, and what I learned horrified me. Although I do like the iphone, I have been a Nexus owner for years and I am curious to see how this new "google" phone works. Depending on the integration of google's automated services I may hate it and change it in a year, or it might allow me some independence and I will fall in love with it... we shall see.
And I horribly lied; I just canceled my order and got the larger 5.5 inch pixel XL. I know there is next to no 4k video stuff out there that I want to take advantage of, but in the event that it does show up or I find something I want to view(or I shoot some of my own,) the bigger phone with the SUPER QUAD HD display will be better. Granted I will have to adapt to the larger size - my hands are plenty large enough, but managing the phone in every day life will be tricky. I am curious to see how it integrates.
Looks good. Does the CPU cooler not come with quality TIM? You might not need the Arctic Silver if it does. Also, lots of fans, I suspect quite noisy at full chat as they're air flow fans. I generally just go for two intake, one exhaust on my air-cooled systems. My current 2600k rig - which runs quite hot, being and older & overclocked system - has two static pressure fans in the front running at 7v. Front air-flow is slightly restricted on this case, a Fractal Core 2300, due to the two vertical vents and solid front. I have another fan of the same type on exhaust, going through the single 120mm rad of my ancient Antec Kuhler 620 AIO. Rig stays very very quiet - I'm used to bespoke water cooling remember - and the CPU tops out at around 45c over ambient, so typically no more than 70c under heavy load. The AIO, while good, is a little weak when on an overclocked CPU I feel, but it will do fine for now. Note my GPU, a 1070, is an AIB design so vents into the case, yet the air flow provided by those three fans keeps it very cool. It's never gone over 69c (about 35 over ambient) despite being stressed. So, the GPU's cooler does its job, and the case fans get rid of that hot air effectively - even with it being sucked out via a rad. Not the best solution, but this was a cheap build. Just a few random thoughts there Scoob.
I like your thoughts. I really like lots of airflow and do not mind noise. I usually put fans at every position I can, whether it be specific mounting points designed for fans, or ripping out 3.5 and 5 inch bays so I can add more. I also greatly prefer cases with filters covering all potential intakes. My case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA85V4F63703 My current build has 10 fans.... that are apparently no longer listed on newegg, so we will just ignore them. With this last assembly, I over-rode my instincts to pay attention to static pressure and went with fans that have high potential CFM and paid for it. The fans do move a LOT of air, but instead of directing it, they just kind of swirl it about. The saving grace being that all combined, there is extraordinary airflow through the case(it is startling how chilly it gets inside,) so there must be a cumulative relationship across multiple fans with respect to static pressure. That being said, I think what I am really looking for are fans that have very high cfm and static pressure. Suggestions and links are welcome. And you are right, it does not come with Thermal goo. And even if it did, I would still buy some even just for back-up purposes.
Most Intel CPUs do not come with coolers in my experience. Most AMD CPUs do come with a cooler. So nice motherboard cpu, RAM and video card, Empyrion will run great on that system, champ. So will pretty much most games.
So about a week ago I had both my beautiful Desktop AND my beautiful macbook pro both bite the dust within 5 mins of each other. It was a spectacular morning that saw me utterly astonished and inventing new swear words. This freak coincidence essentially rendered my other considerations moot, at least for the time being, and I decided to go with: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834154302. And then I will Repair/Upgrade my desktop in December or late next spring(like say, in May.) Gotta say though, this laptop SCREAMS. I have no slowdown or stuttering or... really anything in Empyrion. It is startling how fast it is. If any of you are considering the 10 series from Nvidia, they are HIGHLY recommended - even the 1060.
Damn, that's some harsh luck there...still, bad luck = excuse to buy new toys lol. I'm actually currently eyeing up the 7700K and new Z270 motherboards for my next build, but want to see if they actually deliver. Coming from Sandy Bridge (2600k) I'm hoping for a decent jump, so maybe 5 generations worth of tiny, incremental IPC improvements will actually add up. I already have a 1070 of course, which has proven great considering it was the cheapest model available at the time, yet has an EPIC cooler. My plan, as much as I plan anything, is likely to keep my 2600k + 1070 system intact - it's a great little system with the twin Samsung 850 EVO SSD's in RAID0 - and have it as my mobile gaming rig once again. I'd then do a scratch build for the new system, with all new bits. However, despite my new hardware aspirations, if the current system continues to perform then I'll just save my money. Nothing I play currently particularly taxes the CPU (OC'd to a modest 4.4ghz), I have ample ram (32gb) the GTX 1070 of course and that pair of SSD's would only be beaten by an M.2. Hope you continue to enjoy your new laptop, looks like it's off to a good start! Scoob.
Scoob, help me not spend an extra 300 dollars. I think my reasoning is pretty sound for acquiring this notebook. I have had no trouble at all running any game(granted I have only tried 3) and I do not foresee any trouble in the near future. Since I rarely plug in monitors to my laptops(preferring to use the laptop screen) the 1060 6GB seemed to be perfect for a 1080 15.6 60HZ laptop screen - and will likely be all I need for years to come. Whats more, I noticed that the card has a significantly lower power draw, and, correspondingly, I have been impressed with how cool the laptop stays. That would be different for a desktop, where, even if I started with a 1080p monitor, I could switch it out for a 2k, 4k, 8k, etc. Also the power draw and heat generation, while by no means monstrous, but is far greater. Thus, the 1070 makes a lot more sense for desktops. When I was looking at the MSI laptops with the 1060's and 1070's it struck me that while yes, the 1070 is that much better, would I actually see the difference on a small 1080p laptop screen. From what I read, the answer is no, the only difference would be bragging rights - higher potential frame rates. I think you see what I am debating here; I am still comfortably within the 1 month RMA period for Newegg, and I do not really think I need to spend for the 1070. Am I missing anything?
I think if you're happy with your purchase then that's your answer really, just enjoy it. I've no personal experience with a 1060, just the 1070 from the Pascal range, and I've been very happy with it. I currently just run at a 1920x1200 resolution, but do hope to jump to 2560x1440 or possibly 4k at some point, so the 1070 should remain current for some time, though I'm in no hurry. Obviously more powerful hardware will provide acceptable performance for longer, but if you chase that logic too far you'll end up with a substantially lighter wallet. If your laptop is meeting both your needs and gaming expectations while not being pushed overly hard, then it sounds like a keeper to me. Additionally, and rather obvious really, when you find that particular title the laptop does struggle with there will doubtless be options to turn a few settings down My personal stance on hardware has generally been going one step below high-end. So, reviewing my older hardware purchases over the years. Q6600 vs Q6700, 8800GT vs. 8800GTS, GTX 275 vs GTX 285, 2500k vs. 2600k, GTX 570 vs. GTX 580. I did by a pair of GTX 680's when they were the current high-end, but they were on special offer. The 780 was announced a week later... lol. My current 2600k was second hand from a mate who'd upgraded to a 4670k, so fairly cheap. My going for generally higher-end kit has seen my upgrade cycles few and far between. I mean, I'm still on Sandy B, which is Gen2 IIRC and we have Gen 7 (7700k etc.) due out soon. My GPU upgrades have been more frequent over that time - which is relevant for your dilemma - but the 2500k/2600k have remained strong performers. Basically, you're saying that the jump to a 1070 equipped version of your laptop is $300 right? That does seem Ok, maybe a little steep for a ~30-40% bump in GPU performance, especially as your current 1060 is performing well based on the titles you've tested. Does the +$300 laptop offer any other interesting additions, or is it literally just a GPU upgrade? Sorry, I can't really give a definitive Yes/No as to whether the 1070 is really worth it over a 1060. All I can suggest is that you continue to test titles to ensure you're happy with the performance. At 1080p I'd not imagine the 1060 would disappoint. If it were me, buying today and considering how long CPU's remain relevant vs. GPU's, I'd likely go for the 1070 option. However, I buy hardware so infrequently that I can justify a slightly higher spend. Scoob.
So far this laptop is astonishing. I have never had a laptop keyboard that I wanted to type on, just keyboards that I find adequate(namely macbook pro keyboards), and it even has a DVD super drive while being reasonably thin!(I like super versatile laptops) I also know that as the 1060 inevitably fades, the i7 will let this laptop remain relevant for all sorts of other uses for a really long time. I just had/have the niggling little tick in the back of my brain/emotions that says that I might want to shift to the 1070. That would sacrifice the DVD super drive, add 4 gigs ram, add 2 gigs vram, and make the laptop .51 inches thicker.... and cost 300 more(likely also adding quite a bit of heat and lower battery life.) No, no, this is the better laptop. If I want the better graphics chip I should just wait till next spring/summer and get the next gen Nvidia cards for a desktop. right?
Heh, it's a tricky one isn't it? I'm not even sure what a "DVD Super Drive" is, personally I have near-zero use for optical media these days. I have a couple of laptops with them, and my main Workhorse/Server PC has one if I need it, but that's it. I agree that the i7 CPU will remain relevant far longer than the GPU. I mean, the PC I'm on now, which is a Q6600 and was once my main gamer, is still going strong for Internet stuff, Word, Excel and Server roles. The 8800GT I bought with it back in the day died a while ago, the GTX 275 I upgraded too is still in use in another system, so it has a GTX 570 currently. I'm guessing the laptop is thicker with the 1070 option because they've designed in better cooling to compensate? It'd be good if you could find an exploded view of them both to compare. I know my 1070 runs cool, but it has a huge heatsink on it and two fans - it is very very quiet tho, but it's in a Medium Tower case, not a laptop. How much is portability important to you? Does a smaller lighter laptop appeal more, or does sit just live on a desk all day? From what you're saying, I think your current Laptop is all you need for now. If you're thinking possibly going desktop next year for a higher-end gaming build, then the current laptop can be used for other things. Money on the laptop isn't wasted. I still use a four year old VAIO laptop for LAN gaming, myself and a group of friends are into Forged Alliance. I put some more Ram and an SSD in it, and it's a great little machine. I also pulled it apart down to just the Motherboard and gave it a good clean, so it runs as well as it can. Scoob.
I thought traditionally Alienware kit was good, but carried a hefty price premium? Must admit, I've not even looked at laptops from a high-end / gaming perspective for myself - all my laptops are second-hand salvaged ones I repaired lol. Scoob.
This weekend, I ordered some new components to upgrade my PC as well as my roommates PC. We both ordered the same thing, as it should be a great, future-proof option, and provide quite a boost to our current rigs. CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3M 3.7 GHz LGA 1151 MoBo: ASRock H170 Performance LGA 1151 Intel H170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX RAM: 8gb DDR4 (G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400) We are both upgrading from AMD (myself, a FX-4350, and my roommate, an A10-5800K) and are both excited to be on the new 1151 Intel socket, as well as taking advantage of the new DDR4 memory. I will technically be downgrading on RAM amount for now (from 12gb of DDR3 to 8bg of DDR4) but I expect that the extra power from the CPU will make it well worthwhile. Next step (likely well into next year): new GPUs
Cool Those i3's are surprisingly potent. I built - using mostly second-hand parts - an i3 2120, which is a dual-core hyperthreaded part at 3.3ghz for a friend a couple of months back. Paired with a GTX 950 (good deal at the time) a decent mid-range motherboard (I forget the model, sorry) and twin 120gb SSD's in RAID0, this little system absolutely flies. It's also near-silent and copes with certain CPU-limted games surprisingly well. He still has an upgrade path with this machine, in the form of a Quad Core CPU, higher-end GPU and newer, larger SSD's if he so wishes. A very nice little machine. So, your much newer hardware should be even better! I'd certainly recommend picking up a cheap SSD to compliment that lot. Even a basic 120gb (of which I've bought several of the Kingston SSD-Now V300's) is great for OS + some games. Personally, I've popped two in RAID0 on a couple of builds now, I partition the resulting ~220gb as 75gb OS and the reset for games. I only pop games on the SSD "fast" partition that really benefit from it, others I left on an older 1tb spinner. Worked out really well. Scoob.
OOooooohhh you will love that i3, those are zippy little F*ckers. Almost got one myself... I am a little bit worried from the reviews of the asrock that the motherboard might cause some difficulties - so not sure if you have ordered yet, but maybe http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132571 ? Has a similar price range and might be more trustworthy? I dunno... I will hunt for others and see if there are other choices. Also, 8 gigs of ram should be all you need for the moment - unless you are trying for a ram disk kind o thing. _____ After some more searching, here is a decent gigabyte: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128863 An MSI: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130892 I found other MSI's, but here is another gigabyte: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128841 It should be said that I had an asrock in the Desktop that just went kaput, and it was awesome - "rock" solid as they say. So this is me just being obnoxious.
