Buyers remorse/Anxiety after Open Box Purchase

Hey, first post here.

I am switching from a desktop with an i7 6700K and a 1080 to a laptop. Not sure if that's a great idea, but I'm trying to get more portable and more flexible. The majority of my gaming happens on PS4 ATM, mostly because I have a large group of folks I play with there. I do game on PC, but not as much as I hoped.

So I was ready to buy a new Alienware 17 R4 with the 1080p monitor and the 7700HQ. I tried to get it on the Best Buy website, but for some reason it wouldn't go through so I went to the store. I found they had an open box with nothing but the laptop and power supply running a 6700hq. It was marked down to $1160. I grabbed it and was out the door for just a little over $1200. I saved about $700 including tax.

I'm really liking the machine. I also do design, video and audio and it seems like this machine is perfect. My only concern is, my budget was around $2000 and I basically spent about half that. Now I'm wondering if I missed something and there's a better machine out there for the full amount.

Thoughts? What should I do? Keep the deal or shop further?

 

You have a GTX 1060, 1070 or 1080 in the laptop?

If you got a 1070 you got a good deal, if the 1080 then you got an amazing deal. Just the 1060, you paid what its worth.

Overall its up to you and how you like it. Play your most demanding game and see how it fares; judge how long you will keep it and predict best you can what future games will pull from the system.

Best Advice I can give is there is absolutely no reason to spend more money just because you could (unless its not your money, in which case go all out)

 

It has a 1070. Forgot to mention that. Wish it had a 1080.

I was thinking about the Qhd model, which will put me right at my limit, but I'm not sure I want a TN panel. As a creative I have never found a TN panel that I've liked. The higher refresh and all that would be nice, but not at the expense of the IPS. I've OCd the 1080 to 100hz, so that's something.

I've edited a couple youtube videos and the performance is on par with my desktop. Haven't really been able to put it through the gaming paces yet though.

 

Even considering that you had to pay sales tax, you still got a good deal. You could probably resell it for a bit of profit if it isn't exactly what you want. I believe that there are a few folks who have oc'ed the 17" display up to 120hz? Might look a bit nicer at that point. If you enjoy the display and find that you want to keep it, consider ditching the factory storage with a sata ssd and better NVMe m.2 drive(s), and max out the system memory. You'd end up way below your initial budget, and have a smokin' rig.

 

theJTL you got a terrible deal. Like seriously, you should do the following

Step 1) you take the $700-800 and add in $200
Step 2) go back to see if the have a opened Alienware Graphics Amplifier opened box or on sale.
Step 3) Buy a Asus ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 TI OR MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X OR EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 OR EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti SC2 OR MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Sea Hawk X
Step 4) Mod the Alienware Graphics Amplifier into a open case.
Step 5) drink till you are wasted.
Step 6) wake up and be like Wha wha how did i get this amazing GPU. DAM.

 

Not sure if serious....

At this point I'm liking the laptop a lot but I'm nervous about going that direction in lieu of a desktop.

Basically still buyer's remorse.

 

The reason I bought mine was because it can work as a portable workstation. Once I get home the idea is that I could connect it to the amplifier and get a way better performance.

That being said the GTX 1070 is a amazing card, its laptop variant is better than the desktop one, The reason I stated that is that when the 1070 becomes obsolete (it will happen, this isn't wine) you have a way to upgrade the laptop instead of being forced to shell out another $2,000.

you got a really good deal so you shouldn't have buyers remorse >.< i should because I payed full price for a GTX 1080 only to find that core 2 overheats and then i see this lol.

lets me give you something to compare your purchase to.

Razer Blade pro 17 inch
MSI
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...re-17r4-vs-msi-gt73vr-unrated-version.801192/


As for the amplifier (if you chose to buy it you don't have to) its competitor is the

Thunderbolt

Razer Core $500
https://www.razerzone.com/store/razer-core
Asus ROG XG STATION 2
part 1

part 2


Alienware External GPU


You made a great purchase, you have a 7700hq

 

The laptop 1070 has a couple of shaders more but hardly clocks near any good desktop 1070.

 

I replaced my i7-4790k/1070 desktop with a 15R3/1060 and bought the Graphics Amplifier and a 1080Ti. The GTX 1060 in the laptop is more than enough to play the games I want on the go. At home, I have a 144Hz 1440p monitor and the 7700HQ/1080Ti does beautifully. Sure, I'm not getting as many frames as I would have with a desktop build (mainly because of the 7700HQ) but unless it's a really CPU intensive game, it's generally within 5% of what a similar desktop build would be.

The best part? I can bring my laptop to work, a friend's house, etc. and not have to worry about what games I have installed, whether a save game or some other file is on my laptop or desktop and when I get home, I just plug my laptop into the AGA.

 

Exaqctly my use case as well. But then with a 980M (OC with 200+ on core). Its just so highly convenient even though an ultrabook + a good desktop would be cheaper.

 

Yep. I had a thin 960M notebook while I had my desktop. It did most of the gaming I needed it to and it was surely more portable than my 15R3 but I hated having two machines. I was keeping everything on flash drives or on cloud storage and I got sick of it so I spent the extra money and I haven't looked back.

Also, I meant to mention it in my last post but I bought the Graphics Amplifier off of Amazon for ~$170 which is a steal. It's still that price if anyone is interested.

 

External graphics + GTX 1080Ti or Titain X will never be a good deal (or a good idea). Its overkill and overpriced, and they need full desktop CPU to reach potential. The GTX 1070 should be enough to push QHD at max settings in most games. The moment that is not enough in the next GEN, the next gen GTX 1170 will be a third of the price and you put that in the Alienware amp. Overclock it if needed.

TDLR Ti and Titain X graphics cards are a rip off, and no benefit in the Alienware AMP

 

Not true at all. It all depends on application/game that you're trying to run. Is it possible for a mobile CPU to bottleneck the card? Of course but on most games, it won't.

A typical Firestrike Ultra score with an i7-4790+1080Ti is about 7200. The average Firestrike Ultra score for a 7700HQ+1080Ti is about 7000-7100.

Firestrike Extreme, you're looking at an average of 12,300 for a 4790+1080Ti and about 11,700 for a 7700HQ+1080Ti.

Now if you're going for 1080p (which if you are, you're wasting a 1080Ti), your average for Firestrike will be about 20,000 for a 4790+1080Ti and about 18,500 for a 7700HQ+1080Ti.

If you spent the extra money for a HK processor, you have even less to worry about. Mobile CPU's aren't too far off of their desktop counterparts, they just have a lower base clock. My 7700HQ generally turbo's to 3.5GHz and has no problem holding it or going higher with sub 75C temps. And 3.5GHz is more than enough to handle a 1080Ti.

Again, if you're running CPU intensive games like Cities: Skylines, you'll notice a difference because of the lower powered CPU. Some games like GTA V that have pretty good optimization you'll also experience a small FPS drop. But most games? You'll be well within 5% of similarly spec'd desktop builds. Which, in my opinion, is a small price to pay for the convenience of having one machine.

 

Couldn't have said it better. I'm very content with my current set up of a 6700HQ 17R3 and the amp with a GTX1080 FE.

 

you have a good deal. you could install a gtx1080ti with the amplifier and to avoid fps loss you can use an external monitor

 

T_T no one reads my post. I would agree with you IF the Alienware used a thunderbolt solution. BUT they don't. Infect $170 vs $500 seems like a steal.

I did the calculation I think once in here where I calculate the cost of a Alienware 17 R4 vs a sli gtx 1080 laptop.

The prices are competive (at least in the US it is) + just like how you stated it all depends on the game. It really does. Some games don't support sli.

 

What does TB3 matter compared to Alienware's proprietary connection? In fact, in every single benchmark, the Graphics Amplifier beats the Razer Core. You can't use the Core's USB and Ethernet ports without stealing data meant for the GPU while the Graphics Amplifier uses separate data lanes for the USB hub. Also, Alienware's connection is PCI-based so there's less of an overall performance hit with the Graphics Amplifier.

For a GTX 1080 SLI laptop that will perform how it should (no overheating), you're easily looking at $3000. In what world does that compare to the ~$1700 17R4? Hell, you can get a 17R4 for $1700, get the Graphics Amplifier for $170, and a GTX 1080Ti for $700, and you'll have more stable performance than a 1080 SLI laptop for a few hundred (US) less.

 

one big downgrade from desktop is the fan noise, at full power, the AW17R4 fan can be really loud without a headset, it is actually one of the louder gaming laptops, the MSI GT73VR is much better and u get better fan control

 

From a performance perspective 6700HQ or 7700HQ + 1070 @ 1080p 60hz shouldn't cause any remorse. 120hz and higher resoutions, sure, but if you're playing at 1080p there isn't much left to be desired with games out there.

If you jammed a 1080 Ti in there somehow @ 1080p 60 hz the thing would be left with a whole lot of nothing to do. You'd be in a situation where you have more horsepower than there exists good games to play lol. Forumla 1 racecar on a surface street in a traffic jam.

Plug a 4k monitor or a 1440p 120hz monitor in and you'll hate yourself, sure. But 1080p, nahhhh.

 

Also watch out for Crysis 9. When that comes out we'll all be selling our firstborns.