Wanted to share new AW15 + GA

Hello all,

First time posting here. I have been watching this forum like a hawk the past month or so and decided to purchase an AW15 with a GA.

I never saw a lot of people doing it yet (mainly all I see are AW13 + GA) and just wanted to share my experiences so far for anyone looking at a AW15 setup like mine. I got my laptop in just 2 days ago.




Here are the specs for the laptop and GA:

Core I-7 4710HQ - slightly OC'd for 3.7ghz turbo
16GB RAM
Bought my own 1TB SSD (Evo Pro ) for Data
512gb M.2 card for OS/improtant apps.
980m
4k screen

GA with 780 TI (from my older desktop)

When I first got the laptop i was very disappointed since 3 chat representatives confirmed to me that I'd be getting shipped the 240w PSU - yet, I am currently running on the 180w. I sent an email to where you all suggested and they are shipping me the new one and I have to ship the 180w back.

But really, that is the only issue - this laptop ROCKS.

Let me first explain my situation - I am a traveling architect for work. I travel 2 weeks out of the month at the very minimum and have been juggling a macbook pro retina and a desktop for gaming. This whole GA docking thing has been a dream come true and so happy companies are moving towards it - you have no idea how happy it makes me. I can have a nice beefy laptop for work (which will run 3 work VM's on the SSD) and when I am home, dock it up and I have a desktop experience - can't get over that!

The laptop has not had an issue that I have seen scouring the internet - the GA not being recognized/etc. I shut down the laptop, plug in the GA and it all works flawlessly. I am running nvidia's latest driver btw.

I had one issue being a total noob - I accidentally unplugged the GA while the laptop was shutting down since it sat at the black screen for about 20 seconds. I unplugged it and the laptop did not want to boot - it was giving me 4 beeps. If anyone runs into this, let it sit there for about 5-10minutes beeping at you and it will reboot and fix itself. basically DO NOT UPLUG THE GA WITH THE LAPTOP ON.

I have the laptop sitting on a Notepal X3 laptop cooler - keeps it nice and cool.

As a note, yes, I understand that the 780ti is not much better than the 980m. I'll get a different video card when the 980 GTX is superseded - felt like its not worth the $500 for the 780ti to 980gtx jump.

Please let me know if you guys have any questions - I know *I* had a ton and no one with this setup was around to answer them. So feel free to ask.

Thanks for reading!

 

I see you have a 980M. How are the cooling and temperatures when you're gaming (without the GA)?

Not sure if I should buy the 970M or the 980M. A little worried about the temperatures with a 980M in a 15,6" chassis.

Edit: And how is the noise?

 

Drizzt!

 

i love the setup

btw when idle or gaming do you see the difference on the CPU/GPU temp using the cooling pad?

 

Hey there

Very much so. (depending on what you call "a lot") - For me, it is worth it.

During idle/browsing/working on VM's my CPU temp WITH the cooling pad sits on average about 43C. Without the pad it sits at about 49C.

Gaming seems to be a little better with a 8C difference between the 2 averages.

 

ah ok so the cooling pad does help a little

 

I havent run tests yet on both since ive been home.

I will report once i do.

 

I too was using the 780ti on my setup, switched to a Titan X. Won't need to upgrade for a while I think

 

Were there any pitfalls to installing the Titan X in the GA? There's one in stock at my local Microcenter and I've been thinking about replacing my 970.

 

When I first put it in, it seems like the previous drive install became corrupted and my computer became extremely sluggish, everything would take 5 minutes to open. I ran DDU, cleaned off all traces of the drivers and re-installed the latest drivers from nvidias website. After that it was smooth sailing. Pretty much a plug and play experience.

 

I hope you at least have the 4710HQ. That's such a waste of a Titan X. Them bragging rights, though...

 

Why is it a waste?

A non overclocked titan x in a desktop gets the following scores in 3dmark firestrike:

Score: 14286-15700 depending on what review site you read)
Graphics score: 17284-19000 (depending on what review site you read)

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-x-review,22.html
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphi...GM200-Review/3DMark-Fire-Strike-and-Unigine-H
http://cdn.eteknix.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Firestrike1-800x598.png
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7032/nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-12gb-video-card-review/index6.html

Splintah tested his titan x + 17 R2:

Score: 14184
Graphics score: 18743

Would be interesting to see how firestrike extreme compares to those scores.

I'd say that's pretty close and its $600+ less than a 980M SLI setup.

 

4980HQ

 

It's pretty beast, I'm really happy with it.

 

I was implying it would be a complete waste if he didn't have a quad core cpu. Considering he has the 4980HQ, I don't think it's that much of a waste now, but I still don't think it's worth the cost for a 60Hz 1080p screen...lol.

Cookies need to chill. Just got out of the oven.

 

I'm a simple man

 

I would be all for it if the 3D 120Hz package was still available. That's something I'd love to have - a consistent 120 FPS. May be the only time I'd buy one (if they still had Extreme Edition CPU's).

Nostalgia...

 

I'd just take a GSYNC monitor, much simpler.

I wonder if its possible to get a 120hz monitor without 3D...it just seems like such a waste making a 3D screen when nobody really cares for that technology.

 

I'm sure it is. It is 2015, right? These companies are just cheap now.

@Splintah, you should get one of those new Asus 144hz 1440p g-sync monitors.

 

believe me, that's exactly my next purchase

 

or the Acer predator as its actually IPS