Are desktop budget Nvidia GPU's still worth it?

[IAmAndre]

Hi,

 

I was looking for an upgrade for my GTX 750, and from what I can see the Pascal desktop and mobile GPU's are pretty close in terms of performance. I was considering getting a 1050 Ti but when I see the difference in terms of price and performance, I realize that getting a budget laptop with the same GPU might be a better option, especially considering Austin's review of a recent Dell laptop (link below). I'm even considering selling my desktop and get a similar laptop that I would use with my monitor. I've been looking for a budget laptop for quite some time and this could be the solution.

Would this be good option? What advantage to desktop GPU's offer over their mobile counterparts?

 

Thanks

 

 

[nobiggieBIG]

16 minutes ago, IAmAndre said:

Hi,

 

I was looking for an upgrade for my GTX 750, and from what I can see the Pascal desktop and mobile GPU's are pretty close in terms of performance. I was considering getting a 1050 Ti but when I see the difference in terms of price and performance, I realize that getting a budget laptop with the same GPU might be a better option, especially considering Austin's review of a recent Dell laptop (link below). I'm even considering selling my desktop and get a similar laptop that I would use with my monitor. I've been looking for a budget laptop for quite some time and this could be the solution.

Would this be good option? What advantage to desktop GPU's offer over their mobile counterparts?

 

Thanks

 

 

better cooling (less thermal throttle), better performance, overclockability to name a few.

[Wan70]

Me personally for my first budget build i used the GTX 1050 ti, but if you are wanting maybe even something slightly different i would consider maybe getting the Radeon RX 470 as it is the slightly better AMD equivalent to the 1050 ti. (Emphasis on slightly) Honestly you would be much better getting the 1050 ti over it because its only has about a 0.1%-0.3% difference between them. ME personally will always go for the Pc over Laptop but that laptop is extremely good if you want a mid-high range gaming laptop or a just reliable all around laptop I suppose that would probably be a very viable option for you. But before i go ahead and buy either of these i would consider how much you would use a laptop outside of your house, because if it turns out that you would mostly use it inside your house i would go ahead and get the GPU. But in the end it is your choice. I hope i helped in some way. Also an advantage over a desktop gpu over a mobile is upgradability.

[IAmAndre]

11 minutes ago, nobiggieBIG said:

better cooling (less thermal throttle), better performance, overclockability to name a few.

With such a low TPD, I doubt a 1050/105Ti would have thermal issues. I'm personally not interested in overclocking (I don't mind the extra 5 FPS boost  )

10 minutes ago, Wan70 said:

Me personally for my first budget build i used the GTX 1050 ti, but if you are wanting maybe even something slightly different i would consider maybe getting the Radeon RX 470 as it is the slightly better AMD equivalent to the 1050 ti. (Emphasis on slightly) Honestly you would be much better getting the 1050 ti over it because its only has about a 0.1%-0.3% difference between them. ME personally will always go for the Pc over Laptop but that laptop is extremely good if you want a mid-high range gaming laptop or a just reliable all around laptop I suppose that would probably be a very viable option for you. But before i go ahead and buy either of these i would consider how much you would use a laptop outside of your house, because if it turns out that you would mostly use it inside your house i would go ahead and get the GPU. But in the end it is your choice. I hope i helped in some way. Also an advantage over a desktop gpu over a mobile is upgradability.

I do get around a lot. At the moment I'm using a tablet for that but it would be cool to have regular laptop. That would even allow me to get more work done when I travel. The original plan was to get a chromebook or a cheap laptop, but this option seems to be the best of both worlds.

[Wan70]

Well if you travel a lot then i would get the laptop.

[IAmAndre]

1 minute ago, Wan70 said:

Well if you travel a lot then i would get the laptop.

I don't, but I want to have this option.

[Bansh33]

I just bought this laptop after watching Austin's review of it. I ended up getting the lower end model that's 800$ and threw a 850 evo in it. There are definitely aspects that dell cut corners on but all in all i thoroughly enjoyed my purchase. Granted you wont be able to play the most demanding titles at the settings you want but its imo a good standing laptop 

[Bansh33]

if you have any questions regarding the laptop feel free to ask 

[Wan70]

2 minutes ago, IAmAndre said:

I don't, but I want to have this option.

Ok but would it make work and or gaming/whatever easier for you?

[IAmAndre]

2 minutes ago, Wan70 said:

Ok but would it make work and or gaming/whatever easier for you?

Yes it would. But now that I think about it, as far as I can see, the only advantage of keeping the desktop is that I could probably get the 1050Ti at around €100 if I'm patient enough and wait for the good deal. Besides this, I could only recommend a good laptop for a newcomer.

[Wan70]

Idk just get what you think would be better for you in your daily use.

[mathijs727]

Why to buy a desktop:

• For me personally, a laptop with a 15" screen just cant match a 27" desktop monitor.
• And having a keyboard that is not attached to the screen is also more ergonomic (+ mechanical switches).
• Using a laptop docked all the time is not good for the battery life.
• A desktop has more upgrade paths (4 ram slots, gpu, hard drives)

 

The difference between mobile and desktop parts is really close right now.

For the GTX1050 the main differences are the amount of VRAM (2GB desktop, 4GB laptop) and the amount of ROPs (desktop has double the amount. ROPs are usefull for high resolution screens and MSAA).

[IAmAndre]

22 hours ago, mathijs727 said:

Why to buy a desktop:

• For me personally, a laptop with a 15" screen just cant match a 27" desktop monitor.
• And having a keyboard that is not attached to the screen is also more ergonomic (+ mechanical switches).

You can still use an external display and keyboard

22 hours ago, mathijs727 said:

Using a laptop docked all the time is not good for the battery life.

That's no longer true since laptop batteries have improved a lot. You can also replace the battery.

22 hours ago, mathijs727 said:

• A desktop has more upgrade paths (4 ram slots, gpu, hard drives)

You don't need to change your GPU that often. Upgrading your CPU+RAM+GPU is almost equivalent to getting a new laptop.

22 hours ago, mathijs727 said:

For the GTX1050 the main differences are the amount of VRAM (2GB desktop, 4GB laptop) and the amount of ROPs (desktop has double the amount. ROPs are usefull for high resolution screens and MSAA).

That's also not true. The 1050 and 1050Ti have the same amount of VRAM of desktops and laptops. Only the ROP and clocks are different.

[mathijs727]

1 hour ago, IAmAndre said:

You can still use an external display and keyboard

That's no longer true since laptop batteries have improved a lot. You can also replace the battery.

You don't need to change your GPU that often. Upgrading your CPU+RAM+GPU is almost equivalent to getting a new laptop.

That's also not true. The 1050 and 1050Ti have the same amount of VRAM of desktops and laptops. Only the ROP and clocks are different.

So how come I have a laptop with a GTX1050 4GB and a desktop with a GTX1050 2GB?

 

And my point is that on a desktop you can upgrade everything separately, instead of having to buy a new system (laptop).
For example: in the last 2 year I have added a 3.5" HDD, replaced my GPU, added a second GPU and added some more RAM to my PC (over time).

On a laptop you would only be able to upgrade RAM, but in most cases that means replacing your current RAM sticks and buying high capacity ones (which is more expensive).