Deciding between blade models

Hello all,

I have been digging through the internets lately looking for an upgrading to my 10 year old desktop. The purchase will be a replacement for the desktop and at this point I am comparing between The Blade 15 Base Model and the Blade 15 Advanced model with the 1070 max q. Usage of the system would be almost exclusively for gaming. I am interested in starting a YouTube channel with the system as well. The big question for me is am I better off with the increased storage of the base model, with option to purchase eGPU in the future; or does the advanced model with the 1070 and usage of external drives give better longevity to the system? How well can I expect games to run with an external HDD/SSD?

Either way I will purchase the Razer laptop stand (just because I like it). I already have an external keyboard so the "?" key location won't be as much an issue to me.

 

For my money I'd prefer the 1070 max q chip for that extra power when travelling. That should run games nicely for the next 2 years easy. If you're never moving from that desk, then get the base model. the extra storage helps you with all that YouTube footage (trust me I now have a 3tb backup of my channel), and you won't care the battery is smaller. Plus you get an ethernet socket for reliable streaming!

Just my thoughts anyway!

 

I'm in the same boat as you, trying to decide between desktop / laptop / laptop + egpu.

I'd say if the machine is aimed at gaming go for the 1070 max-q version. egpu's are cool but the cost is high for very marginal gains IMO.

https://egpu.io/forums/builds/2018-...tb3-asus-xg-station-pro-win10-1803-theitsage/

Blade 15" 1070 max-q VS. Blade 15 + 1080TI / RTX 2070 egpu and there is a 15-25fps gain from the egpu box. Considering the price of a 1080TI + egpu enclosure those are some top dollar frames.

But as always resolution matters, what monitor are you hooking it on, what games are you playing etc.

 

It’s huge if you care about Blade temperature, sharing temperatures with an egpu help me reduce cpu temperatures up to 20 degrees. Play mostly at 70ish without repasting, some games like SoTR or AC Odyssey may bump to 80ish but on dgpu it could easily spike to 90ish if you let Turbo Boost on.

 

But if you're all about that egpu world, why not do what Linus does and get the stealth? Smallerachone vastly more portable, better battery. Just make sure you use an external monitor with the egpu so you're limiting the bottle necking!

 

I’ve also stealth 2016, but on some games ultrabook cpu is also bottlenecking the performance. With cpu on Blade 15 and 1080ti or betteri cards I can rock in most latest titles on 4K. Only AC Odyssey I’ve to lower it to 1440p to get playable FPS. Linus play only crysis max 1440p since recently he said 4K game is meaningless. So stealth cpu for him is fine.

 

The lower the resolution, the more a cpu bottleneck is the issue. But for a cpu heavy game such as assassins creed yoi are stuck with a cpu bottleneck either way. The biggest annoyance is that TB3 is connected to the pch instead of cpu.

 

Yes it’s. But There’s some advantages on that architecture that I found, it delivered better cpu temperature than direct on, I’m not quite sure about this but I saw MacBook Pro 15 that has seemly direct cpu TB3 line performs worse on physical which means thermal throttling happen.
Both AC Franchises and Tomb Raider with right setting and resolution, I don’t feel any cpu bottleneck. It’s when gpu couldn’t reach above 90% right? Sorry it may be too tiny but on both AC Odyssey and SoTR I always have 90%~GPU usage with RTX 2070 in 5120x1440p.