Thought you guys would like to see my new setup. Blade w/ GTX1060, Core + GTX 1080, & BenQ GW2765HT

zamardii12

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http://imgur.com/a/7F1Xh
 
Looks good. Super clean. Was not cheap but if you really need mobile and only wants 1 system, it works. For me to rich
 
Curious about the same thing. How's the laptop perform without the Core as well?
 
How is the overall performance with the Razer Core?

Curious about the same thing. How's the laptop perform without the Core as well?

Without the Core the gaming performance is spectacular. This is my first gaming/high performance laptop, and honestly this experience is new to me because I have always built and gamed on desktops. I did some tests with a couple games when I first got the Blade and was still waiting on the Core to ship, and everything ran maxed out with absolutely no issue at the native 1080p resolution. I tried Doom, Crysis, Just Cause 3, and a couple others and I was able to max all of them out with no issue and everything ran super smooth. I remember back in the early days when there were "gaming" laptops that the GPUs always has a "m" at the end of the model number but this apparently is not the case anymore? Folks are saying that all the mobile GPUs are not a skimmed down desktop version but the actual desktop GPU. The performance was so fantastic that I would be willing to agree with that if I wasn't so blown away at how Razer could fix these specs into a chassis this thin and this premium-feeling at this price point. $2000 for a laptop with a desktop-grade GTX 1060 GPU, Quad-Core i7 processor, 16gm Ram, 512gb SSD, and an all-aluminum super premium build that rivals Macbooks is nothing short of astounding and quite baffling to me considering how it seems as though not so long ago gaming laptops were deemed as way more inferior than desktops, but I would say that through my experience that disparity is narrowing. Yes the Firestrike scores even with my GTX 1080 and Razer Core are about 7000 points less than my desktop build with the same GPU (Laptop is CPU limiting I believe), but it is still impressive none-the-less. I mean the laptop is powerful enough to run a HTC Vive perfectly which to me is very very impressive.

On the Core and external monitor @ 1440p it was the same story.Everything runs maxed out. I had to lower a couple settings on Fallout 4 at 1440p because maxed-out it was dipping into 40fps, but other than that everything runs great.

I will admit however that if you are doing some demanding gaming on the onboard GTX 1060 then the system does get quite loud when the fans are going, but when gaming on the Core the system is super quiet b/c the on-board GPU switches off.
 
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That's fantastic, very eager to try all this out. I admit, you have me looking around to try to play with one of these. I'd get rid of my MacBook and Desktop (only keep the monitor) and switch to something like this for sure. I'll let it ruminate for a few days before I probably end up pulling the trigger.

I remember reading something about the use of desktop-grade GPU's in laptops as well, and sure enough, I found the article from not too long ago: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/08/nvidia-pascal-laptop-specs-gtx-1080/

Apparently, they're utilizing the same amount of shaders but lower clock rates, that sort of thing. This is a great time to buy into mobile I'd say, and I thought back when I had the Alienware 15" with the 970m was a great time as well.
 
That's fantastic, very eager to try all this out. I admit, you have me looking around to try to play with one of these. I'd get rid of my MacBook and Desktop (only keep the monitor) and switch to something like this for sure. I'll let it ruminate for a few days before I probably end up pulling the trigger.

I remember reading something about the use of desktop-grade GPU's in laptops as well, and sure enough, I found the article from not too long ago: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/08/nvidia-pascal-laptop-specs-gtx-1080/

Apparently, they're utilizing the same amount of shaders but lower clock rates, that sort of thing. This is a great time to buy into mobile I'd say, and I thought back when I had the Alienware 15" with the 970m was a great time as well.

If you have a Microsoft Store near you, they are the only retailers in the States that actually sell the Razers in-store. You can check on availability on Microsoft's website. That's what I did. Trust me when I say you want to avoid buying from Razer directly because their customer service is terrible. Also, if you have a student discount you can get 10% in-store. So for me the $2000 Razer Blade was $1799 and then I bought Microsoft Complete which covers even accidental damage for two years which is usually $99 but $89 with the 10% student discount. So my total came to $2020 after taxes including the laptop and Microsoft Complete which is the way to go.

Also, MAKE SURE when you are looking at the Blades that you aren't getting/viewing the one with the 970m video card. They are selling both on Microsoft's store and there is virtually no distinction between them except the video cards and you'll see it listed under the correct one: "GTX 1060."

Also, a word to the wise; The 1080p panel on the Blade is really really good. The colors and everything is super accurate and looks phenomenal. The QHD+ display with touch they offer from what i've researched is nice too but reduces battery life by a couple hours. And originally I was going to pair the Blade Stealth with the Core b/c I really like the battery life for school but the benches that people have been posting with the Stealth + Core with a 1070 was around 9700 in FireStrike so that dual-core processor in the Stealth is a large bottleneck. You can still play games great when plugged into the Core but it's more limited than what I am willing to do. With the Blade I have with the 1080p panel on battery and at about 50% brightness on battery saver and "quiet" mode I get about 5 hours of battery. Probably longer if I had an opportunity to test longer. But, despite the power inside this Quad Core laptop that is an impressive amount of battery imo.

The only thing I HAD to order from Razer was the Core b/c no retail outlet sells it.

Also, this wasn't a huge selling point for me AT ALL but that Chroma keyboard is so fucking cool when you start messing with it (each key can display over 16 million colors) All the different lighting modes were so cool I had to record this video and send it to some friends. Will post it here in case you're interested. Also, you can download Chroma apps which are neat too which respond to what's happening in game. One person posted a video of them playing Grand Theft Auto 5 and when you are wanted for instance all the Function keys blink Red and Blue. And the games that include Chroma features like that are added all the time. I added a App which makes the keys react to sound/music. I added the video at the bottom.



 
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I did see that the only way to get the Core is from Razer, so I may have to suck it up there. I'll head into the local Microsoft Store asap and play with one. Getting amped now, which is bad news for my wallet.

The RGB keyboard from Corsair (K70) is very similar, and allows for complete customization via scripts. Love stuff like that!
 
That's fantastic, very eager to try all this out. I admit, you have me looking around to try to play with one of these. I'd get rid of my MacBook and Desktop (only keep the monitor) and switch to something like this for sure. I'll let it ruminate for a few days before I probably end up pulling the trigger.

I remember reading something about the use of desktop-grade GPU's in laptops as well, and sure enough, I found the article from not too long ago: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/08/nvidia-pascal-laptop-specs-gtx-1080/

Apparently, they're utilizing the same amount of shaders but lower clock rates, that sort of thing. This is a great time to buy into mobile I'd say, and I thought back when I had the Alienware 15" with the 970m was a great time as well.

Those specs for the laptop GPUs are really impressive. I created this little thing below from Nvidia's official website after seeing that link you posted and the desktop and mobile GPU are exactly the same except the clock speeds which are very negligible.

Differences between 1060 Desktop and Laptop GPUs (in MHz):
  • Core Base Clock = 102 MHz
  • Core Boost Clock = 38 MHz
In fact, I have been reading on the Razer Forums that people are getting very stable overclocks on the card as well that bring it up to stock 1060 desktop speeds (which isn't far off anyway).

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Yeah those differences in the clocks are so negligible. What a time to be alive, where we have desktop GPU's inside of a 0.5" height chassis. Great stuff.
 
Yeah those differences in the clocks are so negligible. What a time to be alive, where we have desktop GPU's inside of a 0.5" height chassis. Great stuff.

I know. I honestly couldn't believe it myself. I remember loading up Crysis (first one) on this thing as the first game I tried I believe and was absolutely floored that I was getting 60fps with graphics maxed out to the max. I am still astounded. I remember after trying it maxed out with Just Cause 3, Fallout 4, and the new Doom and seeing how well it performed I almost said "fuck it" when thinking about buying the Core b/c it performed perfectly well. But, since I wanted to use a external monitor @ 1440p I figured it was worth the extra cost of the Core and it definitely was.

Granted, when you tally up the cost for this it is quite expensive but the advantages of having a setup like this are bar-none worth the premium you pay. Innovation and performance with this build quality don't come cheap and this is the first laptop I can say that i've ever bought where I can say that it was worth every cent and after this and seeing how well this new eGPU solution works with the latest Thunderbolt3 technology I will never build a full size PC again. I get the performance, portability, and advantage of having a laptop to take to school and then when I get home I simply use a single cable to plug the Core into the Razer and I am doing some serious gaming on my external monitor, keyboard, and full-size mouse.

Note: If you do consider getting a Core, the TB3 cable they include with it is very very short. It's 0.5m which is only 1.6 ft. I ended up having to order a seperate cable from Amazon. Inititally the speculation and the word from Razer support has been that the cable is not capable of the full 40 GB/s throughput unless it is that short. Well, after ordering the Cable Matters cable from Amazon I can vouch that that is bullshit and my Core and Blade have been working just fine with their cable which starts at 3.3ft. So, here is the link in case you need it. It's pricey @ $55, but it is what it is unfortunately...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H5QF1GO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
 
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I remember feeling the same about performance when playing Witcher 3 on the Alienware 15, was floored beyond belief that a laptop was playing it as well as it was.

Interesting about the cable, was not expecting that sort of response from Razer...there must be some sort of reason (even if silly) that they were told to relay that information to their customers.
 
Curious why you didn't just get the Pro that has the 1080 in it and hook that up to the BenQ instead of paying $500 for a device that holds a 1080?

I don't see devices like the Core lasting much longer now that they're able to extract desktop performance out of laptop gpu's.

But I could be wrong?
 
Curious why you didn't just get the Pro that has the 1080 in it and hook that up to the BenQ instead of paying $500 for a device that holds a 1080?

I don't see devices like the Core lasting much longer now that they're able to extract desktop performance out of laptop gpu's.

But I could be wrong?

There are two reasons why you'd want to go this route. The first is sheer portability: the moment you unplug the Blade, you have a reasonably thin and light 14-inch laptop on your hands. The Blade Pro at 17 inches is always going to be unwieldy unless you're looking for a full-time desktop replacement.

The other bit: the GTX 1080 in the Blade Pro will be fast, but still not quite as fast as a desktop 1080 card. You could argue that this combo is actually more cost-efficient since you're ultimately getting a faster system.
 
There are two reasons why you'd want to go this route. The first is sheer portability: the moment you unplug the Blade, you have a reasonably thin and light 14-inch laptop on your hands. The Blade Pro at 17 inches is always going to be unwieldy unless you're looking for a full-time desktop replacement.

The other bit: the GTX 1080 in the Blade Pro will be fast, but still not quite as fast as a desktop 1080 card. You could argue that this combo is actually more cost-efficient since you're ultimately getting a faster system.

Curious why you didn't just get the Pro that has the 1080 in it and hook that up to the BenQ instead of paying $500 for a device that holds a 1080?

I don't see devices like the Core lasting much longer now that they're able to extract desktop performance out of laptop gpu's.

But I could be wrong?

Aurelius is correct, but in my specific instance I already had the 1080 from a previous desktop build that I am now parting out and selling so I didn't buy the 1080 when buying the Core. But yes, the main idea behind this setup is the option of portability and decent battery life. As it stands, the battery lasts about 5 hours on the Blade when traveling, and the build is spectacular. Meaning that it's super thin for what's inside of it. When I get home, I have the added ability of having that 1080 to power more demanding games. It really is the best scenario. If I wanted a desktop replacement then I would have gotten a Pro, but I don't want that at all and the Pro to me makes no sense from a practicality and useful sense.

Also, this configuration is actually cheaper. The Pro STARTS at $3700. In my setup it's:

Razer Blade: $2000
Razer Core: $500
GTX 1080: $550
Monitor: $300

Total: $3350

For that money I get the same power as the Pro plus I get the portability of the laptop (and an already great GPU) when I am on the go. It's a win-win for me.

Also, I believe that the Core is the future and more and more companies are coming out with eGPU solutions for a number of reasons. The main people that benefit from the Core (and what I was actually originally going to do) are the people who for-instance bought a Razer Blade Stealth ultrabook which has nothing but Intel HD graphics in it. With that setup, you only need the Thunderbolt 3 cable connected to the Core to power the Stealth and run the graphics which is amazing imo. You're right, notebook GPUs are pretty damn near close if not the same as desktop GPUs in every conceivable way other than clock speeds (which is marginal). The Core itself is always marketed with the Stealth plugged into it because it benefits the most from the Core. Also, since TB3 is a open standard and Razer didn't lock the Core to their systems there are people using the Core with Dell XPS 13s, 15s, and I even heard of people with the HP Spectre line working flawlessly with the Core.

So, there is definitely a market for eGPU solutions and there are other companies coming out with cheaper solutions than the Core as we speak. The market is there, and the people that will get the most out of the Core are Ultrabook users since they don't have quality built-in GPUs and are more under-powered. Their CPUs will bottleneck the performance of the eGPU, but it's still very respectable gaming performance with the UItrabook + Core setup.
 
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Very informative replies. I see the reasoning behind the Pro being so expensive is the 4k screen. There's definitely cheaper alternatives out there for a 1080 equipped laptop if you're gonna hook it up to an external monitor, anyway. But you're looking at a little thicker and heavier notebook as mentioned.

Cool setup!
 
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