Anyone playing with Radeon HD 8970M?

Hello

I am looking to buy a new laptop that could play COH 2 well on high details (probably with little AA). At the moment I am looking at i7-4800MQ + Radeon HD 8970M. I saw some tests on notebookcheck.com but before I spend the money I wanted to check if there is someone here who actually plays COH 2 with that card. If so, at what details do you play it with and do you get any issues like low fps/etc.?

I would probably want 40 fps minimum (i.e. not average).

Thanks

Just don't buy a laptop for gaming..

If you want a gaming laptop because you want a laptop then build a desktop system instead, it will blow a laptop out of the water and won't cost you as much money. Only get a gaming laptop if you need one (active duty military, tiny college dorm, do a lot of travel for work, etc)

Hello

I am looking to buy a new laptop that could play COH 2 well on high details (probably with little AA). At the moment I am looking at i7-4800MQ + Radeon HD 8970M. I saw some tests on notebookcheck.com but before I spend the money I wanted to check if there is someone here who actually plays COH 2 with that card. If so, at what details do you play it with and do you get any issues like low fps/etc.?

I would probably want 40 fps minimum (i.e. not average).

Thanks

My 780 card gets 43 FPS minimum, do you think a little humble laptop can do that?

ya I Agree laptop for gaming isnt the best ... I dont know much about laptop cards.

Thanks for the replies. I have seen in searches that when buying laptop on which I can game (amongst other things) means I will pay more money for less performance, but for my primary needs I do need a laptop, essentially because I don't travel that much from day to day but there is quite a high risk I will need to move over a large distance (i.e. from the UK to the US), but that will be say in one year's time.

My current laptop is 6 years old but still does pretty well especially on Linux, but the time has come where it's clear I need a new one. So basically:

1) I will be buying a laptop for sure
2) Either I add a graphics card to that laptop to allow me to play COH 2 or I buy a separate desktop just to play games on. If I do that, here in the UK I am looking

All this bearing in mind I try not to play more than like 7 hours a week on average, i.e. not that much really.

If I buy a dedicated desktop, then it will have to fit into tight budget, so looks like I would get to i5-4670K + R9 270X + 8gb RAM + tiny SSD at the current prices. I could throw out the SSD and upgrade the CPU but thats about it. Would that be enough to run COH2 at high detail? The graphics card looks ok but the CPU I am not so sure...

Laptops may not be for gaming but still they can run even newest games in OK fps...
I am also looking for a new laptop to buy this year.

jk451 , what models with 8970M did you found? At the beginning I wanted a laptop with the same video card, but now I am looking only for laptops with nvidia 780M. Performance difference is like 7% according this site http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-8970M.90656.0.html ... so I maybe will look for a laptop with 8970M again

About the 8790M performance for COH2 , according the link I posted above - you can play the game even on high and will get around 30fps.

Hey there,

you can certainly game on a laptop and even play coh2 with acceptable performance. While it might not be an optimal solution, it's not as bad as the hivemind makes it sound - many people telling you to buy a desktop don't even have hands-on experience of high performance laptops.

I haven't been following the new notebook tech for some time now, so can't help regarding exact components. Still, the first thing you should keep in mind is to get a model with an adequate cooling system; 1 fan and a heatsink connecting both the gpu and the cpu won't cut it, especially if you're going to have a 75W+ discreep gpu chip. You'll cpu will get throttled and the game will look like a slideshow every 30 seconds. Optimally go for a model with 2 separate fan/heatsink units.

I'm curious of what models you've been considering?

The clevo lineup used to be the best regarding price-performance ratio some years back, so i'd definitely check if that's still the case. Clevo manufactures barebones only (and operates business to business only), so look for resellers around your area - you'll most likely be able to fully customize your build. Sager is probably the most well known of these boutique brands, but there used to be a lot of cheaper and equally good alternatives all around the world. The good thing about the barebones approach is that it's possible to even upgrade your components later, even though it's a bit more difficult and costly than upgrading a desktop build.

The forums at notebookreview are a great resource even though a large part of the posts are people who have trouble with their laptops. You've clearly done your research but hope some of this can be of use to you!

Never a laptop for gaming unless you REALLY need it.

If you were to build a gaming PC within a budget then I would recomend the following:

http://www.pccomponentes.com/core/client/showList/id/384694/hash/GVMteDys

you COULD get a better CPU but if your not going to OC and you just want a pc to game on in 1080 then this is more than enough.

I have also chosen a mini itx board that has both wifi and that you can overclock with IF you would want to upgrade the CPU down the line.

The case and MINI ITX is for the looks and if you have to move around then you can easily take it with you.

You could go i5 and skipp the ssd, but with this GPU its a perfect match. Price - Performance and looks - its a great small pc.

The 650w PSU is good enough for a R9 270, but if you plan on maybe upgrading to a beefier card in the future then I would go ahead and get a 750-800w. It will cost you another $30-40, but a 650 is probably the bare minimum for a R9 270 so if you ever did get a nicer card you could avoid replacing your PSU too.

There are gaming laptops that work just as well as desktops. The trade off is about 45 minutes of battery life, a space heater, and a 10 pound laptop.

The 650w PSU is good enough for a R9 270, but if you plan on maybe upgrading to a beefier card in the future then I would go ahead and get a 750-800w. It will cost you another $30-40, but a 650 is probably the bare minimum for a R9 270 so if you ever did get a nicer card you could avoid replacing your PSU too.

True, did not think of the future ugrade, a 750w would be enough as your in a MINI-ITX case.

Thanks for the comments.

EFDreamerBG and jeesuspietariI am looking Clevo P177SM details e.g. at the top of this thread: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=24686483

Product page is similar to this (though obviously with diff graphics card):
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-023-OE&groupid=959&catid=1828

To be honest it looks like the only reasonable option, as Alienware is overpriced (I am buying this in the UK so some things distributed only in the US I don't really have access to). Nice thing is it is very easily maintable meaning you don't have to take apart the whole laptop just to clean off the dust/apply new paste which you will need to do periodically to avoid overheating).

It does have 2 separate fans and heatsinks too so heat shouldn't really be an issue.

The only thing I am worried about is regarding overheating issues... I see people write quite often ("I got a laptop and it started overheating the year after"). Is there any other standard cause for this other than accumulated dust/old heat paste which can be fixed? Like components degrading or something.


Budwise, the tradeoffs you have listed I am happy to make. I have had a 17 inch laptop for 6 years now as I have been flying back and forth in Europe and it's worked fine. I will always have a 17 inch laptop basically, whether or not I have a desktop for gaming.

Pedobear, the PC you have listed would handle CoH 2 on high details/physics/... (with vsync + AA off) OK? I see the card is tested as getting around 36 fps minimum on Tom's HW on a machine with i5-2550K @ 4.2 GHz. I would probably get rid off the spin HDD as 120 GB is enough for windows and 2 games hopefully, which is enough if I only use it for gaming. I don't care that it's not future-proof, I am playing CoH 1 now and it's still pretty good for someone who spent childhood playing Age of Empires 2.

I can get a bigger case too, because by "moving" I mean I will be flying somewhere far, not taking it in a car. So I would need to deconstruct the PC and ship at least the important components by the likes of UPS.

Thanks for the comments.

EFDreamerBG and jeesuspietariI am looking Clevo P177SM details e.g. at the top of this thread: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=24686483

Product page is similar to this (though obviously with diff graphics card):
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=LT-023-OE&groupid=959&catid=1828

To be honest it looks like the only reasonable option, as Alienware is overpriced (I am buying this in the UK so some things distributed only in the US I don't really have access to). Nice thing is it is very easily maintable meaning you don't have to take apart the whole laptop just to clean off the dust/apply new paste which you will need to do periodically to avoid overheating).

It does have 2 separate fans and heatsinks too so heat shouldn't really be an issue.

The only thing I am worried about is regarding overheating issues... I see people write quite often ("I got a laptop and it started overheating the year after"). Is there any other standard cause for this other than accumulated dust/old heat paste which can be fixed? Like components degrading or something.


Budwise, the tradeoffs you have listed I am happy to make. I have had a 17 inch laptop for 6 years now as I have been flying back and forth in Europe and it's worked fine. I will always have a 17 inch laptop basically, whether or not I have a desktop for gaming.

Pedobear, the PC you have listed would handle CoH 2 on high details/physics/... (with vsync + AA off) OK? I see the card is tested as getting around 36 fps minimum on Tom's HW on a machine with i5-2550K @ 4.2 GHz. I would probably get rid off the spin HDD as 120 GB is enough for windows and 2 games hopefully, which is enough if I only use it for gaming. I don't care that it's not future-proof, I am playing CoH 1 now and it's still pretty good for someone who spent childhood playing Age of Empires 2.

I can get a bigger case too, because by "moving" I mean I will be flying somewhere far, not taking it in a car. So I would need to deconstruct the PC and ship at least the important components by the likes of UPS.

If you come like me from a old pc ( I had a amd dual core 4200+ and 9500 GT) to a 270x then it will be a big improvement.

I felt that I went from a donkey pulled cart to a ferrari..

You could skipp the HD and maybe go later for a better cpu or just save the money. Even though the GTX 760 is SLIGHTLY better then cost wize then its not worth it vs the 270x. You can play coh2 well with this pc - just not on ALL MAX... not even a GTX Titan could do that as coh2 is poorly optimized.

Thanks for the comments.

The only thing I am worried about is regarding overheating issues... I see people write quite often ("I got a laptop and it started overheating the year after"). Is there any other standard cause for this other than accumulated dust/old heat paste which can be fixed? Like components degrading or something.

Sometimes overheating issues are caused by new (gpu) drivers - you can always roll back though. Also the fan bearings if you can call them that wear off after some time depending on how much and intensive you use the laptop. My old clevo W860CU which is still able to run witcher 2 and bf3 fine started making rattling fan noises after about 3 years of heavy use. At this time I also saw a noticeable increase in operating temperatures. I took the fan out, disassembled it and added some grease as a band aid while waiting for a replacement part to arrive from the mail. It turned out the newly greased fan worked just fine and in the end I didn't even bother to swap it for the new spare part.

If the gpu and cpu are assembled with the stock thermal pads that some components come with, instead of proper paste, it'll start overheating after some time of use - just make sure your assembler of choice uses a good quality paste.

A little bit of canned air through the vents every now and then and a more thorough dust-off with the back cover off every other month and you should be fine.

All these issues exist in the desktop realm as well.

This is not meant to sound like an advertisement but since a lot of people are saying laptops suck at everything I thought I'd provide an alternate viewpoint.

edit. take into account that as Budwise already stated no matter what it says on the product page your battery life is going to be terrible and you'll always have to have access to mains. It will last 300 minutes only with the screen off while idling in the bios setup.

Ok thanks Pedobear and jeesuspietari, will do some more thinking about whether either just once combined laptop or a normal laptop + a desktop just for gaming makes sense more. To be honest right now I am playing CoH 1 with Geforce 8600M GT and Core 2 Duo @ 2.1 Ghz so either of these will be a big step up, just want to be able to play CoH 2 with good settings and normal resolution, which is not something I can do now even for CoH 1...

I'm surprised no one suggested this one.
Asus RoG G750JH
But this is high-end Laptop for gaming, comes at a high price.

Or
Lenovo's take on a gaming laptop with dual GT 755 2GB Gfx.
Lenovo Y510p
For a more modest price

would never buy a gaming laptop..... I would not ever consider it... u less that is what you work with all the time and on the go AND you NEED to play games....

I'm surprised no one suggested this one.
Asus RoG G750JH
But this is high-end Laptop for gaming, comes at a high price.

Or
Lenovo's take on a gaming laptop with dual GT 755 2GB Gfx.
Lenovo Y510p
For a more modest price

I posted about ASUS-ROG-G750JZ with 880m that have a cheaper version Here we have a version of it that costs 1400euro

would never buy a gaming laptop..... I would not ever consider it... u less that is what you work with all the time and on the go AND you NEED to play games....

You just stated a good reason people might want to consider a "gaming laptop".