Gaming Laptops are a Conundrum

I'm on my way back from a fair few months in the lovely third-world sandbox, and my laptop I use currently is showing its age unfortunately. So, I figured since I have a bit of money hanging out with no purpose, I'd grab myself something new for my return. Been looking around for a few months as to what I want and who is good nowadays, and I like the reputation I see at DS.

Current budget is mostly irrelevant, I'm trying to keep it around $3,000 if I can help it, but a max ceiling I'd be willing to go to would be 4k.

I move around a lot, but I game on the heavy end of things, and I demand a fair bit of performance out of my laptop. Problem side of things is it HAS to be able to fit in a small space in a pull-out dresser, which is why it has to be a laptop. I play mainly shooters, with some RT/TBS thrown in for fun. Bottom line requirement is BF3 1080p @ high settings sitting pretty at 60 frames. Current one runs about 40 on 1080p low, or 55 720p high minus the AO.

Anyway, on to the fun part, parts!

Chassis Model: Digital Storm x17 Laptop (Model: 9170)

Processor: Intel Core i7 3920XM Extreme Edition (2.9 GHz Turbo Mode to 3.8Ghz) (Quad Core) (8MB Cache) - I figure if I'm looking for performance, this is where to go. From reading around the web, should be able to grab a bit of OC'ing goodness too.


Thermal Compound: Premium IC Diamond CPU and GPU Thermal Compound (Reduces Thermal & Laptop Noise) - No brainer, I use diamond on my desktop in my less mobile residence.

Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz - Upgrade puts it at 16, which is more than enough for games, but fine in the event I use it for some production work.

Primary Hard Drive: Intel 120GB SSD (520 Series) (SATA 6Gb/s) - Never really tried these guys out before, should be interesting. Heard great things about using them as your boot drive, so I'll try 'em out.

Secondary Hard Drive: 750GB Hybrid 7200RPM with 8GB SSD (SATA 3Gb/s) - Wouldn't mind a full TB, but I don't really need that much unless I intend on putting my full games library on at the same time...I really do like the hybrid storage drives though.

Optical Drive: DVD/CD 8x Multi-Drive (Writes and Reads DVDs, CDs) - Nothing fancy here, I don't use bluray at all so no biggie.

Wireless Card: Bigfoot Networks Killer Wireless-N 1202 (Reduces Latency for Online Gaming) - Heard mixed tales of these bad boys. Figured I'd try it out for myself and be the judge of it.

Video Card(s): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M 4GB with NVIDIA Optimus Technology - I've stuck with nvidia for a long time, until recently, when I threw a 6970 in my desktop. I wasn't too happy with the driver support then, although the card does pretty well. I figure I'll stick to what I know this time, and go with my gut. Done some research on the 680; still kinda on the fence about it, but since my intention is power and SLi laptops are few and far between, not to mention dearly expensive, I'd go with it and see how it plays out.

Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition) - Nothing special here.

Warranty Plan: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty - DS seems to be the only company I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with to actually offer a wonderful backup on their product; certainly none of the 400$ nonsense some competitors like to shackle their consumers with...



So, now that that's out there, whaddya think? I took the RAM special, couldn't take advantage of the storage one because I like hybrid, and am throwing down a bit on the CPU and GPU...but the question is, will it do what I think it will?

Computer Build #398677
Current Price: $3,371

Tips are certainly appreciated and considered. -Jonathan

Edited by daishi2442 - 23 Aug 2012 at 4:54pm

@Orange7.....you always give great advice but I'm going to recommend he stay with the 680M GPU in spite of the premium price. I do agree with you that the price to performance is to high for the 680M but there are still issues with Enduro and the 7970M utilization in some games. If I were the OP, I'd get on the forums of his games and see if anyone is having utilization issues with the 7970M since it's been out long enough now.

@orange...I understand the 680m is overpriced compared to its radeon counterpart, but in all honesty I have a bad taste in my mouth from the last one I used, and would rather stick with the high end nvidia one just for my familiarity with the brand. Plus, the 7970s Enduro incompatibility with some of my games rules it out regardless of how good or bad their drivers usually are.

As far as the CPU goes, this is where I'll probably follow your direction...after taking a second and third look at it, .2 GHz probably isn't worth the extra 500 bucks.

As for the Pro instead of Home premium...I mis-clicked that, heh. I have no purpose for anything but the basic operating system.

As for framerate issues; what would you suggest then? Unless there's a desktop that can fit in a very confined space, I have to go with a laptop. Are you saying that single GPU laptops aren't far enough along yet to perform as I'd like them to? I'm not asking for ultra, just high...unfortunately there's not a whole lot of gaming performance laptop reviews around here so I'm kinda in the dark about the viability of them.

Much appreciated, gents...

Edited by daishi2442 - 24 Aug 2012 at 6:47am

Okay...changed the CPU out to a 3820, left the 680 as it is, selected the correct OS, and price is down to $2,759. Certainly a fair bit less money, and definitely a better value for performance.

Config #568685

Like this, its essentially an x17 L4 with a larger storage drive. Look good?

How many years you have in the usmc

Lol I don't think there is a pm I could be wrong though

Hi daishi2442,

@Asangard....that's a great review. If you look further down the page to the left you'll see where the author talks about the 7970M. Interesting read and another reason I think daishi2442 is making a great choice for hardware. I like techinferno and I'm glad you pointed that out for him.

Edited by Bobby - 24 Aug 2012 at 10:56am

Hi daishi2442,

Good deal man.

Semper Fidelis!

Hmm. I looked into the hybrid drives, and from what I understood, they have modified them so that they don't spool-down the HDD. However, I may've misunderstood. Perhaps someone with more hands-on experience with them could chime in and dispel the confusion?

I dunno. I consulted a bit further with some computer buds back home, and three of the four have good experiences with the hybrids...I guess we'll just see how it turns out. Worst comes to worst, I'll use my external to store stuff on until I can get a standard drive.