Laptop power efficiency

[Doubledteam1]

I'm looking for a new laptop for college that can last through multiple classes but I would also love for it to be able to game. I'm being quite picky about this, but I want one that has an i7 6700HQ or i5 6500U, GTX 1060, preferably 14" (but that's flexible), SSD boot plus SATA III port (whether it is being used or not doesn't matter), and to some how last many hours of lightish work. I have the MSI GS43VR Phantom Pro with the 256GB m.2 SSD in mind, but the battery doesn't seem spectacular for it. I was thinking there might be a portable charger that has the ability to charge a laptop at a reasonable price but I haven't seem to have found one yet. I am basically asking if my thoughts are possible or are they just hopes and dreams?

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, Doubledteam1 said:

I'm looking for a new laptop for college that can last through multiple classes but I would also love for it to be able to game. I'm being quite picky about this, but I want one that has an i7 6700HQ or i5 6500U, GTX 1060, preferably 14" (but that's flexible), SSD boot plus SATA III port (whether it is being used or not doesn't matter), and to some how last many hours of lightish work. I have the MSI GS43VR Phantom Pro with the 256GB m.2 SSD in mind, but the battery doesn't seem spectacular for it. I was thinking there might be a portable charger that has the ability to charge a laptop at a reasonable price but I haven't seem to have found one yet. I am basically asking if my thoughts are possible or are they just hopes and dreams?

Such a laptop does not exist. They will usually overheat as the 1060 is an extremely hot chip and most 14' laptops can't cool it. The GS43 has the heatpipes over the chipset which is likely to cause the GPU's heat to transfer to the chipset and fry it after a few months of intense work. It's a very poor design. You have to either

A - tone down your requirements to a 970M or lower
B - get a thicker 15.6' device
C - continue dreaming about non-existent devices

[CatFishery]

xidax offers custom laptops for more custizatoim and great user surrport

 

http://www.xidax.com/laptops

 

[MaxBunny]

7 minutes ago, Doubledteam1 said:

I am basically asking if my thoughts are possible or are they just hopes and dreams?

If your budget can afford one then sure. They run fine. Get yourself a good power bank with it.

[don_svetlio]

4 minutes ago, MaxBunny said:

If your budget can afford one then sure. They run fine. Get yourself a good power bank with it.

GS43 is to be avoided. Look at the heatpipes over the chipset. Poor design in every way

https://asset.msi.com/global/picture/image/feature/nb/N17/coolerboost_GS43.png

[MaxBunny]

8 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

GS43 is to be avoided. Look at the heatpipes over the chipset. Poor design in every way

https://asset.msi.com/global/picture/image/feature/nb/N17/coolerboost_GS43.png

He said he already had that one, so I was assuming he was planning on buying a different one from a better company. I wasn't endorsing MSI quality products.

[don_svetlio]

Just now, MaxBunny said:

He said he already had that one, so I was assuming he was planning on buying a different one from a better company. I wasn't endorsing MSI quality products.

He said he was looking into getting it

[MaxBunny]

23 minutes ago, Doubledteam1 said:

I have the MSI GS43VR Phantom Pro with the 256GB m.2 SSD in mind

^At that, NO. I missed that last part. Don't get an MSI laptop.

 

But when other nice 14" ones come out then definitely.

[thermophobe]

Right now you have pretty much no options. Might be better off stepping down a bit on graphics to get better portability or battery life. Considering you can shell out some money, consider XPS 15 or Blade Blade (or Stealth with external GPU). All are expensive but it's the closest you can get rn.

[don_svetlio]

42 minutes ago, thermophobe said:

Right now you have pretty much no options. Might be better off stepping down a bit on graphics to get better portability or battery life. Considering you can shell out some money, consider XPS 15 or Blade Blade (or Stealth with external GPU). All are expensive but it's the closest you can get rn.

Blade 14 overheats
Blade 14 bottlenecks any GPU above a 950

[Ynglaur]

@don_svetlioThe GS43VR seems to use the same cooling as the GS40.  Why would the former have failure issues in a few months due to heat, but the latter would not?  Does the additional 10W from the 1060 compared to the 970M make that much of a difference?

 

Considering the electrical components are rated to around 100C, is running at 80-90C over several hours really that bad?

 

TIA for any insight.

[Doubledteam1]

16 hours ago, MaxBunny said:

If your budget can afford one then sure. They run fine. Get yourself a good power bank with it.

but where can i find some good ones, ive searched briefly on amazon but they are kind of ridiculous prices for a little battery. is that all that exists at the moment

[don_svetlio]

Just now, Ynglaur said:

@don_svetlioThe GS43VR seems to use the same cooling as the GS40.  Why would the former have failure issues in a few months due to heat, but the latter would not?  Does the additional 10W from the 1060 compared to the 970M make that much of a difference?

 

Considering the electrical components are rated to around 100C, is running at 80-90C over several hours really that bad?

 

TIA for any insight.

1 - 970M's actual draw is around 82W compared to the 106W or so of the 1060
2 - the extra heat gets dumped on top of the chipset causing it's temps to spike and thus severely reducing its lifespan.
3 - chipsets are actually rated at 80-90*C max and should NEVER be kept above those temps for prolonged periods.

[Ynglaur]

Thanks for the detailed reply.

[D2ultima]

17 hours ago, don_svetlio said:

They will usually overheat as the 1060 is an extremely hot chip and most no 14" laptops can't cool it. The GS43 has the heatpipes over the chipset which is likely to cause the GPU's heat to transfer to the chipset and fry it after a few months of intense work. It's a very poor design. 

Here, I fixed your statement for you.

 

Don't forget that the GS43VR has the GPU heatpipes also nearly touching the wifi card & its socket, and physically touching the only HDMI port on the system. It's beyond poor design.

 

16 hours ago, MaxBunny said:

But when other nice 14" ones come out then definitely.

No 14" will house a 1060 and keep it under control unless it's pretty bloody thick with the fans sitting on top of the heatsinks. Might as well get existing ones with 970Ms.

 

15 minutes ago, Ynglaur said:

 Does the additional 10W from the 1060 compared to the 970M make that much of a difference?

14 minutes ago, don_svetlio said:

1 - 970M's actual draw is around 82W compared to the 106W or so of the 1060
3 - chipsets are actually rated at 80-90*C max and should NEVER be kept above those temps for prolonged periods.

The GTX 1060 actual power draw is lower than the 970M's. 1070 is also lower than 980M's and 1080 is scale-able (125W+) so hard to pin down against the also-scale-able 980. The 980 came in 130W (GT80), 150W (GT72), 180W (P775DM1) and 200W (P870DM) formats, and so far the 1080 I know is 150W (Alienware 17 R4) and 190W (P870DMx, P775DM3) both SLI and single GPU models.

 

The PCH is rated at 105c or so, however having extremely hot heatpipes/etc next to it while it's passively cooled and can arrive well over 80c on its own does not bode well.

22 minutes ago, Ynglaur said:

@don_svetlioThe GS43VR seems to use the same cooling as the GS40.  Why would the former have failure issues in a few months due to heat, but the latter would not?

The 970M doesn't sit at 86-92c constant in all games all day. The 1060 will. However, the basic design in itself is exceedingly bad, and if the GS40 had that to begin with I don't know why people didn't rip it apart long ago.

 

11 hours ago, thermophobe said:

Blade Blade (or Stealth with external GPU).

Every Razer "laptop" is both overpriced and should be completely ignored by all users who don't explicitly insist on buying overpriced trash. I do not give a damn how many websites like them. They do not review laptops properly.

 

17 hours ago, Doubledteam1 said:

I'm looking for a new laptop for college that can last through multiple classes but I would also love for it to be able to game. I'm being quite picky about this, but I want one that has an i7 6700HQ or i5 6500U, GTX 1060, preferably 14" (but that's flexible), SSD boot plus SATA III port (whether it is being used or not doesn't matter), and to some how last many hours of lightish work. I have the MSI GS43VR Phantom Pro with the 256GB m.2 SSD in mind, but the battery doesn't seem spectacular for it. I was thinking there might be a portable charger that has the ability to charge a laptop at a reasonable price but I haven't seem to have found one yet. I am basically asking if my thoughts are possible or are they just hopes and dreams?

You need to make some compromises.

 

6700HQ and above will eat into battery life. Quite a bit, honestly. You can get 6 hours out of some of the machines and whatnot, certainly, however they both have to have a big battery AND need to be using Optimus (iGPU runs display, dGPU is number cruncher). Optimus means you don't get almost all nVidia tech (custom resolutions, screen overclocking, shadowplay desktop & window mode recording, DSR, Gsync, etc) and some games will inevitably have problems with it.

 

Next, the ULV CPUs like the i5-6500U. These are battery life incarnate, but they are also not designed to draw much power. There's a reason that ULV exists and people don't just use the dual-core i5s that mobile has had since forever. You're not going to get CPU power out of this. Battlefield 1 at 60fps? Forget it. Dying Light 60fps? Forget it. GTA V 60fps most of the time? Forget it. Most any 2015 or later AAA title? Forget playing it well. I don't care if you shove a nVIdia Titan X (Pascal) on it via eGPU and experience no bandwidth bottlenecks or anything whatsoever. It ain't gaming on anything that requires a lot of CPU prowess.

 

Now, what I need to ask you is, how much time on battery do you want? And how important are each of your desires?

 

If you want to game in downtime more than you want battery life, then go for a gaming machine. Maybe one that has the choice of Optimus will bring a decent balance to you.

If you want battery life more than gaming and cannot find outlets in your classroom (when I was in university I used to just sit next to an outlet, or I got by on the couple of hours battery life I could get until the next class), then you should just basically disregard gaming (at least heavy gaming) as something you want to do for the machine.

 

This is all up to you entirely. But sort out your stuff and we'll pick something better for you.

[MaxBunny]

1 hour ago, Doubledteam1 said:

but where can i find some good ones, ive searched briefly on amazon but they are kind of ridiculous prices for a little battery. is that all that exists at the moment

You'll be paying a lot for good ones. But since you're paying a lot for an overbranded laptop anyway then you can afford it.

[jaberrio]

Just trying to add my two sense here. But if we look at the Aero 14 while it is within the 14 inch laptop category packing a 970M with the 6700HQ, it is a noticeably bigger than the Blades. I would stand to reason it's cooling would be better equipped. Also claims to have 94Wh. 

*Note:   I have heard that a refresh to the Aero 14 called the Aero A14 will be coming in September.

*Note 2: I can't seem to find pictures of the Aero 14 heatsink layout.

 

*EDIT Just saw Linus had a review of the Aero 14 with a view of the heat sink, I would still consider its heat dissipation decent if not adequate.

[Doubledteam1]

21 hours ago, D2ultima said:

Here, I fixed your statement for you.

 

Don't forget that the GS43VR has the GPU heatpipes also nearly touching the wifi card & its socket, and physically touching the only HDMI port on the system. It's beyond poor design.

 

No 14" will house a 1060 and keep it under control unless it's pretty bloody thick with the fans sitting on top of the heatsinks. Might as well get existing ones with 970Ms.

 

The GTX 1060 actual power draw is lower than the 970M's. 1070 is also lower than 980M's and 1080 is scale-able (125W+) so hard to pin down against the also-scale-able 980. The 980 came in 130W (GT80), 150W (GT72), 180W (P775DM1) and 200W (P870DM) formats, and so far the 1080 I know is 150W (Alienware 17 R4) and 190W (P870DMx, P775DM3) both SLI and single GPU models.

 

The PCH is rated at 105c or so, however having extremely hot heatpipes/etc next to it while it's passively cooled and can arrive well over 80c on its own does not bode well.

The 970M doesn't sit at 86-92c constant in all games all day. The 1060 will. However, the basic design in itself is exceedingly bad, and if the GS40 had that to begin with I don't know why people didn't rip it apart long ago.

 

Every Razer "laptop" is both overpriced and should be completely ignored by all users who don't explicitly insist on buying overpriced trash. I do not give a damn how many websites like them. They do not review laptops properly.

 

You need to make some compromises.

 

6700HQ and above will eat into battery life. Quite a bit, honestly. You can get 6 hours out of some of the machines and whatnot, certainly, however they both have to have a big battery AND need to be using Optimus (iGPU runs display, dGPU is number cruncher). Optimus means you don't get almost all nVidia tech (custom resolutions, screen overclocking, shadowplay desktop & window mode recording, DSR, Gsync, etc) and some games will inevitably have problems with it.

 

Next, the ULV CPUs like the i5-6500U. These are battery life incarnate, but they are also not designed to draw much power. There's a reason that ULV exists and people don't just use the dual-core i5s that mobile has had since forever. You're not going to get CPU power out of this. Battlefield 1 at 60fps? Forget it. Dying Light 60fps? Forget it. GTA V 60fps most of the time? Forget it. Most any 2015 or later AAA title? Forget playing it well. I don't care if you shove a nVIdia Titan X (Pascal) on it via eGPU and experience no bandwidth bottlenecks or anything whatsoever. It ain't gaming on anything that requires a lot of CPU prowess.

 

Now, what I need to ask you is, how much time on battery do you want? And how important are each of your desires?

 

If you want to game in downtime more than you want battery life, then go for a gaming machine. Maybe one that has the choice of Optimus will bring a decent balance to you.

If you want battery life more than gaming and cannot find outlets in your classroom (when I was in university I used to just sit next to an outlet, or I got by on the couple of hours battery life I could get until the next class), then you should just basically disregard gaming (at least heavy gaming) as something you want to do for the machine.

 

This is all up to you entirely. But sort out your stuff and we'll pick something better for you.

laptop size I've accepted 15.6", gpu I dont want under 960 (below that seems rare and not worth it anyways), i want to stick to the i7 6700hq, battery isnt really a big necessity anymore as i went to all my classes today and the only one im not by an outlet is my first class so i just need to last past an hour and 15 minutes (which isnt hard). and i know its not necessary but id really like a 4k or 2k screen too. i like the ASUS Zen Book Pro UX501VW-DS71T but im not doing heavy research into the ones i find. I want a laptop that can game on the go vs just school work. my current laptop is well suited for just school.

[D2ultima]

3 hours ago, Doubledteam1 said:

laptop size I've accepted 15.6", gpu I dont want under 960 (below that seems rare and not worth it anyways), i want to stick to the i7 6700hq, battery isnt really a big necessity anymore as i went to all my classes today and the only one im not by an outlet is my first class so i just need to last past an hour and 15 minutes (which isnt hard). and i know its not necessary but id really like a 4k or 2k screen too. i like the ASUS Zen Book Pro UX501VW-DS71T but im not doing heavy research into the ones i find. I want a laptop that can game on the go vs just school work. my current laptop is well suited for just school.

If this is the case, then pick up this: http://www.hidevolution.com/evoc-p650rp6-15-6-custom-built-gaming-laptop-w-nvidia-gtx-1060-w-g-sync.html

 

Fill it out how you want. Make sure you follow up with them about the Prema mod every couple of weeks; they should send it to you when it's out. Also, I'd suggest asking for the 6820HK as a personal request and learning to give it a slight overclock (at least to around 3.6-3.8GHz on 4 cores).

[Doubledteam1]

im located in canada so the cheapest shipping it $80 aside from the fact that its veery expensive to start with (i assume the prices are in usd) plus id get fucked on the exchange rate

[don_svetlio]

4 hours ago, Doubledteam1 said:

im located in canada so the cheapest shipping it $80 aside from the fact that its veery expensive to start with (i assume the prices are in usd) plus id get fucked on the exchange rate

Go to Eurocom then. That's the Canadian Clevo reseller.

[Pendragon]

5 hours ago, don_svetlio said:

Go to Eurocom then. That's the Canadian Clevo reseller.

Eurocom is sitting on its fucking asshole and STILL hasn't released it's 10 series yet BGA laptops yet. FML. Only their P750DM2, P775DM2, and P870DM3.