Last minute questions regarding the NP9150.

Hey guys,

I've decided to go with an NP9150. I've a large budget but obviously I would prefer not to spend a full £1800. I'm looking for 'Bang for buck'.

First thing I can't really decide on is the CPU. 3630QM or the 3740QM. This laptop will have to get me through the next 2-3 generations of Video cards. For example, I want to keep this laptop and upgrade the GPUs at least until 9000 series AMD / 800 series nVidia. Can that justify paying the extra £80~? Will it last longer from a gaming perspective? All I want my CPU to be responsible for is not bottlenecking my GPU. Whenever I do use CPU intensive applications, its light work. Might use CS6 one a week etc.

GPU. This has been bugging me for weeks. Was really considering both the 7970m and the 680m. Only recently I discovered that PCSpecialists are out of 7970ms. Big disappointment from a money saving stand point but now it has pretty much made up my mind for me .
Chances are I wont change retailer and I will end up with a 680m.

RAM and SSD will both be Hyper-X. Won't be going with any mechanical drives. Last 3 laptops I've owned all had very annoying Hard Drives.

The Colour Gamut screen doesn't really appeal to me either as I'm not big into Photo/Video editing.

I'll be going with Windows 8 this time around. Want to give it a go and see if I like it.

I'll be buying a CM U3 and some RAM Heatsinks as well as cutting vents. Already have some Noctua TIM as well. I'm hoping to overclock the 680m as much as it can handle lol.

Haven't decided on a Backpack yet. Anyone have any good recommendations?

*Deep breath* Thanks in advance.

 

Congrats and good choice we both have good taste! Just for some perspective I purchased this desktop I am using now back in 2008 with an Intel C2D E6850 (3Ghz) and 8800GT in it, I upgraded about two years later to the 275GTX which is in it right now. It wasn't until BF3 was released that I finally saw my CPU becoming the bottleneck. I went with the 3630 in mine with the same thought as yourself upgrading the GPU as needed. I also ended up going with the 680M over the 7970M as in the end I just wanted a stable running config, even though my last box was AMD. Enduro being enabled on these machines I decided against the 7970M and went for the 680M. I don't know if your retailer has it but Xoticpc (for a reference) has a Sager NP9150 Special Edition that comes pretty loaded (680M, 16GB Ram, BluRay, Upgraded Nic, Thermal Past Upgrade etc), minus the OS. I think other vendors offer the same thing, just not sure if yours does.

I went with the standard screen as I have a 24" 1080P i'll be connected to at home.

 

Definatley go with the 37xxQM, because you can NOT overclock the 36xxQM. If you want to upgrade GPUs in the future, the 36xxM will become a bottleneck, while with the 37xxQM you can overclock it by 400Mhz when necessary.

As for the GPU, if you can afford it, by all means go with the 680M. Of course it is way more expensive, but it will be more fun in the mid and long term as way better drivers ensure the least annoyances while playing. Also, while both the 7970M and 680M are about equal at stock clocks, the 680M overclocks better (to about 140%).

 

i7-3610/30QM CPU really isn't a bottleneck with an overclocked 680m, at least not by any significant amount. You can always buy another CPU in the future if it doesn't quite fit your budget now. Plus your power supply will be more of a limiting factor than the CPU with overclocking unless you mod your own 220W+ PSU to work with your NP9150. I wouldn't recommend any crazy overclocks anyhow as the temps will be outrageous. Running at ~ 1000MHz is a significant bump and easy to do without an overvolt. Overvolt doesn't add a lot more performance at least not if you want a decently cool system while gaming. The i7-3610/30QM can run at ~ 3.1-3.2GHz with all four cores using Throttlestop. You're lucky to exceed 3.5-3.6GHz with 3740QM at least not without cooking your PC.

All that said, if it's in your budget, then get the 3740QM. But for gaming purposes I don't see the i7-3630QM as being any significant disadvantage.

 

You can overclock CPUs in Sagers now?

 

I was looking at the 3740QM from a future proofing perspective for when I upgrade cards. In that sense is it worth buying?

 

It's a better option than the 3630qm if you plan on upgrading your gpu in the future, but it'll still end up being a bottleneck at some point. I recommend getting the NP9170, as you get a beefier psu that will allow you to overclock the cpu and gpu at the same time. You can also overclock ram via Intel XTU if you have the NP9170, and temps should be marginally better as well.

 

His point was to buy a CPU to serve him long enough to power a next-next gen GPU, at which point the lowest-end i7 without an overclocking ability is simply not beefy enough.

 

Wow, I didn't know the 9170 gets an extra 40w! Was really trying to avoid 17"ers. After looking at the dimensions it is only 1.4 inches wider and half an inch deeper, which isn't much. I'll really have to consider it.

Thanks for bringing that up, really had no idea the 9170s PSU was 220w!

 

Technically, you can flash the NP9170 BIOS in the NP9150, as many users have done that.

And no, the i7-3610QM will not be too weak for the next gen GPU, if you're referring to 780m. That's like saying the i7-2630QM isn't enough for 680m or 7970m, yet many NP8150/8170 owners have done just that. All I'm saying is that you can spend your money better elsewhere (i.e. SSD) if cost is a concern. If not, then yes, bump up to the i7-3740QM.

Although, unless nVidia really pulls out some miracles, there will be no reason to upgrade to the 700m series of video cards from 680m. Maxwell is a different story in 2014 and there's no guarantee it will work with the MXM 3.0b form factor. And by that time, an i7-3940XM will cost only a couple hundred bucks.

There is realistically 300MHz or less than 10% speed improvement with 3740qm over 3630qm at peak loads. If you are going with an NP9170 then I'd say it'd be more worth it because you can get an extra 400MHz out of the CPU, if your cooling system is up to the task. From what I've seen things can get a bit toasty with an OC'd 3740QM.

 

That would mean I would need a 220w as well yeah?

Good point about the CPUs. I'll stick with the 3630qm.

I really hope the form factors don't change. Looking at to keep this laptop for at least 3 years.

Thanks for the help!

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...o-p150em-review-lots-680m-benchmarks.html#gpu

Looking at this thread, the 180w seems like enough for my overclock.

Oh look, its you!

 

I'm just trying to be realistic. For stock voltage overclocks, the 180W brick is plenty. If you want to overvolt then you'll likely need a bigger PSU, and unfortunately for NP9150 means you'll have to hack your own: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...w-220w-power-supply-p150em-8.html#post8928965

 

I assume you used the stock PSU for this yeah? 1035mhz is more than what I'm looking for. Even with the 220w PSU I doubt I'd be able to push it much higher.

 

Yes, that was with 180W PSU. I can now run at 1000 MHz stock voltage GPU, 2400MHz RAM. I think the drivers I used at the time were a bit unstable. But I still have a hard time exceeding 1100MHz with overvolt and RAM won't go much higher than 2450MHz, so I just figured I'd stick with stock voltage and run 900MHz/2200MHz regularly. Best compromise for performance/heat.

Meaker was able to reach desktop 670 performance with extreme O/V and larger PSU. But won't run that for daily use.

 

Am I the only one that actually read the OP? xD

 

WOW! 1000mhz on Stock is fantastic. Do you know what clocks meaker had when he reached 670 performance?

I'll try out the different vBIOS mods when I get the laptop. Cards vary too much to judge what I could get.

Thanks for the help! :thumbsup: I appreciate it. Should be able to stay away from the 9170 in that case.

 

I read the OP, but a few hundred MHz won't save you from bottlenecking with an 800m series video card, and it's not even likely the 800m or 9000m series will be compatible with MXM 3.0b or BIOS support. And NP9170 would really be required to get full benefit out of the overclock of the 3740QM too (or BIOS flash in NP9150, but that's risky). I am not saying NOT to get the 3740QM (as I said several times already) but if you're tight on your budget IMHO it's not worth the upgrade (as I said several times again already).

Now if it were whether it was between 9150 an 9170 that's a different story. The 9170 offers dual SATA III ports, Intel XTU support, larger screen (obviously), and larger power supply. If he goes with NP9170 then I'd say to consider the 3740QM but it sounds like OP is a bit concerned on spending extra money where not needed.

 

the 95% gamut monitor I upgraded to looks better than any monitor I have ever seen on any system. I will get it on any future purchases.
the CPU will not bottleneck your system for a long time , you can always get that unlocked cpu later when its cheaper
someone here overclocked an unlocked mobile I7 CPU with less than impressive results
its a lot of money for a 10% gain
Sapphire trix is great for GPU overclocking , afterburner for capping frame rates and monitoring data. speedfan for CPU temps
I have been tempted to cut vents , but I opted for adding heat sinks to the CPU/GPU and repasting the chips with Tuniq TX-2 this dropped my temps 6C, maxed out gaming GPU temp is 74C. Sager 8150,6990M,2630QM cpu
the video card MXM 3.0 standard will probably change and limit your GPU choices long before your CPU bottlenecks the graphics

 

People have got xtu working on the p150em

Also mxm has a good chance of remaining as it is for some time yet.