Opinions wanted: ASUS ROG Series laptop vs. Desktop Gaming build?

[JC038]

I'm currently running an AMD FX-8120 and GTX 560ti desktop with 8gb of RAM. The games I play most right now are World of Warcraft and Battlefield 3/4. It handles WoW decently on Ultra settings though I have to back them off a bit during raiding. Battlefield 3 is playable for the most part, but it has serious issues with Battlefield 4 on anything above low settings.

I've been doing an insane amount of research over the last 2 weeks trying to come up with an upgrade solution, with the goal of being able to play other current/future games like Crysis 3, TitanFall, etc. and not having to worry about upgrading for at least another 3-4 years. Also, I'd be passing the current system to my wife, so I'd like to avoid re-using parts.

I've done all the usual comparisons (AMD Vs. Intel, AMD Vs. Nvidia, etc.) and have come up with 2 solutions that I feel are adequate, working within with a ~$1500 budget.

Option 1: ASUS ROG series laptop
http/tinyurl.com/lmlvzjo
-Intel Core i7-4700HQ 2.4GHz
-17.3" Full HD Display
-16GB DDR3
-750GB HDD
-3GB Nvidia GTX770M
- Blu-Ray
120gb SSD: http/tinyurl.com/kpqr9kt ($89.99)
Total: $1489.98

Option 2: Desktop build
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X60 98.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V PRO ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($143.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data XPG SX900 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: NZXT Air Flow Series 83.6 CFM 140mm Fan ($13.01 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: NZXT Air Flow Series 83.6 CFM 140mm Fan ($13.01 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: NZXT Air Flow Series 83.6 CFM 140mm Fan ($13.01 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: NZXT FZ-200mm LED 103.0 CFM 200mm Fan ($17.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: NZXT HALE82 V2 700W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Keyboard: Cooler Master Storm QuickFire Ultimate Wired Gaming Keyboard ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Mouse: Logitech G600 MMO Gaming Mouse Wired Laser Mouse ($62.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1488.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-06 14:43 EST-0500)

I realize I could (slightly) improve the desktop build by going with a core i5 4670k and an appropriate motherboard, but if I go this route, I'm going to be OCD about aesthetics. I'm choosing to go with a white/black/blue component theme, enhanced by replacing the stock case fans with blue LED ones.

Pros and Cons

I understand that "gaming" laptops generally aren't as good as a desktop. But on the other hand, I'm taking a few things into consideration:

-Cost: Both options are within my budget and the difference between the two is negligible. (A paltry $1.09!)
-Portability: A laptop has obvious advantages here. I don't travel a lot but when I do it would be nice to have the option of taking my computer with me. I could also use it in my recliner, on the couch, at the kitchen table, or even in bed if I wanted to.
-Cable management: No wires hanging everywhere with a laptop.
-Desktop Replacement: I can easily put this laptop on one of the shelves above my desk and connect my monitor, keyboard and mouse to it, hiding the wires behind a vertical support.
-Performance: The laptop is worlds better than what I'm using right now, but the desktop allows me to get my feet wet in overclocking, which I would be new to.
-Warranty: The laptop comes with a 1 year parts and labor warranty. If I build my own computer and mess something up, that's coming out of my pocket. (I've built many but let's face it, sometimes "stuff" happens!)
-Upgrading: Laptops don't have much in the way of upgrade paths, save for adding memory and an SSD. However, the LGA 1155 socket is a dead path so it's somewhat of a tie here.

I guess it all comes down to deciding whether or not I want to sacrifice a portion of performance for the option of portability. Watching this video http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw2WutUyvs0 and http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygrwlf6pMwo&list=PLFA3F5FE83F9D791B&index=31 make me want to believe I won't really be missing much in the way of performance either way.

What are your opinions? Should I just enjoy the simplicity of ordering the laptop and being able to play with it right out of the box without spending 2 hours putting it together, or is the performance loss going to be much more than I realize?

 

[Sharphawk1234]

The processor may have some impact for the starting taking so long but the majority of it goes on the hard drive, I don't know if its fair to compare one processors start up time compared to another when there's different hard drives being used and different data to load. 4 minutes is really long tho, but my laptop that im currently using is a gaming laptop with a 2 year old i7 and my load up time is about 3 minutes or so depending on the day. Im not saying that the intel wouldnt be faster for the day to day processes, I just dont know if looking at the boot time is the best way because that's mostly the hard drive that's being worked to access the data. Since youre no longer getting the laptop tho I think you can be a little more justified putting the extra 100 into this build since it wouldn't be taking away from the laptop now that your not getting one. Since your now set on Intel I would say go ahead and shoot if youre ready to buy, I would rather have a little less money than be saying to myself i wish I gotten the better cpu down the road. Since youre going to run ssd tho, I dont think youll notice your computer being "slow" even if you had a fx 6300 haha. p.s. If you get the fx 8320/8350 you can get a 500 gb ssd with the 100 you saved if you need more storage than 256.

 

[JC038]

The processor may have some impact for the starting taking so long but the majority of it goes on the hard drive, I don't know if its fair to compare one processors start up time compared to another when there's different hard drives being used and different data to load. 4 minutes is really long tho, but my laptop that im currently using is a gaming laptop with a 2 year old i7 and my load up time is about 3 minutes or so depending on the day. Im not saying that the intel wouldnt be faster for the day to day processes, I just dont know if looking at the boot time is the best way because that's mostly the hard drive that's being worked to access the data. Since youre no longer getting the laptop tho I think you can be a little more justified putting the extra 100 into this build since it wouldn't be taking away from the laptop now that your not getting one. Since your now set on Intel I would say go ahead and shoot if youre ready to buy, I would rather have a little less money than be saying to myself i wish I gotten the better cpu down the road. Since youre going to run ssd tho, I dont think youll notice your computer being "slow" even if you had a fx 6300 haha. p.s. If you get the fx 8320/8350 you can get a 500 gb ssd with the 100 you saved if you need more storage than 256.

I agree, I know there's a lot of variables involved on a per-system basis. I'm just kind of awestruck at the difference between the two. I thought my desktop had the better setup (8 cores w/ higher clock speed, double the RAM, faster HDD) but her laptop runs circles around it on pretty much everything but games.

And actually on the SSD, I have mixed thoughts. Right now, I went the reverse and put a smaller, but much faster Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB on my parts list. Reason being, I really only plan to put Windows 8.1, Battlefield 4 and World of Warcraft on it. From what I've read, installing most games on an SSD versus HDD doesn't really have a huge impact other than shortening loading times. Those would be the only 2 games I'd be concerned about in that regard (for now.)

 

[Sharphawk1234]

The processor may have some impact for the starting taking so long but the majority of it goes on the hard drive, I don't know if its fair to compare one processors start up time compared to another when there's different hard drives being used and different data to load. 4 minutes is really long tho, but my laptop that im currently using is a gaming laptop with a 2 year old i7 and my load up time is about 3 minutes or so depending on the day. Im not saying that the intel wouldnt be faster for the day to day processes, I just dont know if looking at the boot time is the best way because that's mostly the hard drive that's being worked to access the data. Since youre no longer getting the laptop tho I think you can be a little more justified putting the extra 100 into this build since it wouldn't be taking away from the laptop now that your not getting one. Since your now set on Intel I would say go ahead and shoot if youre ready to buy, I would rather have a little less money than be saying to myself i wish I gotten the better cpu down the road. Since youre going to run ssd tho, I dont think youll notice your computer being "slow" even if you had a fx 6300 haha. p.s. If you get the fx 8320/8350 you can get a 500 gb ssd with the 100 you saved if you need more storage than 256.

I agree, I know there's a lot of variables involved on a per-system basis. I'm just kind of awestruck at the difference between the two. I thought my desktop had the better setup (8 cores w/ higher clock speed, double the RAM, faster HDD) but her laptop runs circles around it on pretty much everything but games.

And actually on the SSD, I have mixed thoughts. Right now, I went the reverse and put a smaller, but much faster Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB on my parts list. Reason being, I really only plan to put Windows 8.1, Battlefield 4 and World of Warcraft on it. From what I've read, installing most games on an SSD versus HDD doesn't really have a huge impact other than shortening loading times. Those would be the only 2 games I'd be concerned about in that regard (for now.)

Im not sure why her laptop is so much faster maybe it has a lot less data on the drive?
128 gb should be enough but just keep in mind although you're only putting 2 games on now you may want to put another on later and it would start to get filled, especially with new games taking up ridiculous sizes(titanfall is 48gb installed!) you would have to shuffle files around maybe more than you would like to. Also keep in mind that the more a ssd is filled, the slower it will perform. However, whichever you pick your build is going to be lightning fast and should destroy your wife's even boot time.

 

[JC038]

Im not sure why her laptop is so much faster maybe it has a lot less data on the drive? 128 gb should be enough but just keep in mind although you're only putting 2 games on now you may want to put another on later and it would start to get filled, especially with new games taking up ridiculous sizes(titanfall is 48gb installed!) you would have to shuffle files around maybe more than you would like to. Also keep in mind that the more a ssd is filled, the slower it will perform. However, whichever you pick your build is going to be lightning fast and should destroy your wife's even boot time.

That could be a good argument to buy a bigger SSD. I don't think I'd mind the shuffling around much, but if having more on the drive is going to impede its performance, I may have to consider a bigger one. For less than $20 more I can get the 250 GB Samsung EVO non-Pro series. Seems like a no brainer there.

 

[Sharphawk1234]

Im not sure why her laptop is so much faster maybe it has a lot less data on the drive? 128 gb should be enough but just keep in mind although you're only putting 2 games on now you may want to put another on later and it would start to get filled, especially with new games taking up ridiculous sizes(titanfall is 48gb installed!) you would have to shuffle files around maybe more than you would like to. Also keep in mind that the more a ssd is filled, the slower it will perform. However, whichever you pick your build is going to be lightning fast and should destroy your wife's even boot time.

That could be a good argument to buy a bigger SSD. I don't think I'd mind the shuffling around much, but if having more on the drive is going to impede its performance, I may have to consider a bigger one. For less than $20 more I can get the 250 GB Samsung EVO non-Pro series. Seems like a no brainer there.

Exactly. Now you should have plenty of space have fun with you new beast! Let me know when you put it together I would like to hear the performance of your rig.

 

[JC038]

Wow, I was just looking over my PCPartpicker lists (I have 3 builds going there lol.. i5 3670k, 4570k and FX 8350 all with tweaks here and there,) and I paired the FX 8350 with an R9 280x GPU. When I added it to the list, it was going for less than the GTX 770 in the other builds but it has gone up by almost $150 since yesterday! What the what?!

 

[Sharphawk1234]

Wow, I was just looking over my PCPartpicker lists (I have 3 builds going there lol.. i5 3670k, 4570k and FX 8350 all with tweaks here and there,) and I paired the FX 8350 with an R9 280x GPU. When I added it to the list, it was going for less than the GTX 770 in the other builds but it has gone up by almost $150 since yesterday! What the what?!

Thats crazy! Prices of amd cards have been scattered recently to say the least, but maybe a big promotion ended??

 

[JC038]

Exactly. Now you should have plenty of space have fun with you new beast! Let me know when you put it together I would like to hear the performance of your rig.

Definitely! I will be taking pics during the build as well, I'll post them when it's all said and done. Won't be ordering the parts for a week and a half or so.

Thanks for all of your input, by the way. It really helps being able to bounce ideas back and forth with someone.

 

[Sharphawk1234]

Exactly. Now you should have plenty of space have fun with you new beast! Let me know when you put it together I would like to hear the performance of your rig.

Definitely! I will be taking pics during the build as well, I'll post them when it's all said and done. Won't be ordering the parts for a week and a half or so.

Thanks for all of your input, by the way. It really helps being able to bounce ideas back and forth with someone.

Yeah definitely, it seemed like we shared pretty similar views too so that was helpful as well haha. No problem and happy gaming in 2 weeks with titanfall!

 

[JC038]

So it took a little longer than planned thanks to spending a little time in the hospital with a kidney stone, but I finally got my rig built yesterday and man is it nice!

I went with the i5 4670K, Gigabye Z87X-UD3H, and Gigabyte GTX 770. Have spent most of the time configuring things the way I want them, so I haven't really tested her out in any games yet. Looking forward to doing that this weekend!

 

[Sharphawk1234]

So it took a little longer than planned thanks to spending a little time in the hospital with a kidney stone, but I finally got my rig built yesterday and man is it nice!

I went with the i5 4670K, Gigabye Z87X-UD3H, and Gigabyte GTX 770. Have spent most of the time configuring things the way I want them, so I haven't really tested her out in any games yet. Looking forward to doing that this weekend!

Sorry to hear about your hospital trip. That build should be a beast for several years! Im doing a build soon I hope ill have enough funds for an intel and a beast nvidia like that.

 

[JC038]

Sorry to hear about your hospital trip. That build should be a beast for several years! Im doing a build soon I hope ill have enough funds for an intel and a beast nvidia like that.

Yeah the hospital thing wasn't fun lol. Most painful thing I've ever been through.

So far I'm really enjoying the new rig. Getting an average of over 50 FPS in Battlefield 4 with most settings on ultra. It blows World of Warcraft right out of the water. I haven't picked up Titanfall yet but hopefully soon. Also hoping to get The Elder Scrolls online.

I'm going to try and get some benchmarks on it soon, I was going to do that last weekend and never got around to it.

I got ambitious and creative, so I took apart all my peripherals (Logitech G510 keyboard, Razer DeathAdder and Razer n52te) and spray painted the housings white to match the case They all have blue lighting in them already, so they look so cool now with my black/white/blue LED case!

I also spray painted my desktop black, and I built a really nice monitor shelf for about $7 using a white 24" premade shelf, 4 PVC pipe couplings and some blue painter's tape.

[strike]I'll be taking pics of the new setup later today. I'll put a link in here so you can see it all.[/strike]

EDIT: Here's a link to my Completed Build page on PCPartpicker. http/pcpartpicker.com/b/OME