Looking for Desktop Replacement Critique

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   Hey everyone, I'm new here but like what I see. The huge array of customization options while building a notebook was really new to me and pushed me to the edge of my hardware knowledge, requiring much reading and comparisons. The next best I found was xoticpc and they had a lot of limitations. After some attempts at self educating, I've come upon the Clevo as my desired desktop replacement. 

Do those with more knowledge than I have suggestions about this configuration? I tried to explain it as I went.

GAMING LAPTOP, Clevo P170EM 

CLEVO, P170EM Core™ i7 Notebook Barebone, Intel® HM77, 17.3" Full HD LED Glossy 90% NTSC Color Gamut,, FPR, PCIe x16 MXM-III Discrete Graphics

The better screen is a treat to myself. 

INTEL, Core™ i7-3720QM Quad-Core 2.6 - 3.6GHz TB, HD Graphics 4000, 6MB L3 Cache, 22nm, 45W, EM64T EIST HT VT-d VT-x XD, Retail

My work requires significant data processing (ex: parsing through the >20 GB Genbank database for protein matches on my 1.5GB genome file). I also want to be able to play the latest games. However, as I understand it pushing to the 8MB cache processors would not achieve a significant performance boost.

PROLIMATECH, PK1 Thermal Compound, Electrically Non-Conductive, 5g

Thermal compounds were difficult to choose from. I found a comparison that showed PROLIMATECH as top among the options, and decided the price difference was rather small compared to my desire for good thermals. Longevity of the notebook is important to me, so if anyone has better data on the best thermal compound please enlighten me :).

ATI, Radeon™ HD 7970M 2GB GDDR5 Mobile Graphics Card for P170EM

For gaming, and for 3d rendering of gene mapped mice brains, I need a good graphics card. Information I came across found this Radeon card better than the Nvidia 2GB equivalent... but this is not an easy choice. If other opinions are prominent, I'm open.

KINGSTON, 16GB (4 x 4GB) HyperX PnP PC3-14000 DDR3 1866MHz SDRAM SODIMM, CL11, 1.5V, Non-ECC

16GB should suit my work needs, and should adequately hold NCBI large NCBI database files. For gaming, this is more than enough from what I can see. The higher speed seems appealing as well.

MUSHKIN, 240GB Chronos™ Deluxe SSD, MLC SandForce SF-2281, 560/520 MB/s, 2.5-Inch, SATA 6 Gb/s, Retail

Everyone loves an SSD, both for gaming and files which need immediate access. I feel this is adequately sized for my needs. It was very difficult to choose among competitors in the SSD field, and I'm not 100% sold on MUSHKIN versus others.

SEAGATE, 750GB Momentus®, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache, 2.5-Inch, SATA 3 Gb/s, OEM

This drive should be more than enough to hold the many miscellaneous files I collect that are not as frequently accessed.

MY DIGITAL SSD, 64GB Bullet Proof 3 SSD, 500/110 MB/s, mini-SATA III mini-PCIe, OEM

I was hoping to run my OS (Windows pro 7 already owned) off of this mSATA. This should provide a bit of hardware isolation if there is ever failures, as well as serving as a good organizational system for me. 

RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives

Different drive types of different sizes from different manufacturers... no RAID 0 in my opinion. I was also looking into RAID 0 with 2 SSDs, but was not impressed finding out the protocols don't seem to support TRIM. Instead, I opted for the mSATA as OS and SSD as gaming/work, with misc on the second HDD.

CLEVO, Blu-Ray Reader and Super-Multi DVD±RW Optical Drive for Clevo P170EM

For me blu rays!

NETWORK, Built-in 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet LAN Card

INTEL, Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300 Wireless Card, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, 11/54/450 Mbps, Internal PCIe Half Mini Card

Right, this... awesome for maximizing network capabilities.

TRIPP-LITE, 375W PowerVerter® Car Adapter, 12V DC to 120V AC, 2 Outlets

For the long drives... also part of why I'm getting a more powerful notebook instead of a gaming desktop. I already have a chill mat that will plug into that second outlet.

NOTEBOOK ACCESSORY, Built-in Fingerprint Reader (Included)

TARGUS, 17" XL Black/Blue Notebook Backpack

My current backpack is falling apart - this seemed a good replacement.

NONE, No Operating System (Choose OS or subject to Limited Support)

Already own Win pro 7 

WARRANTY, Standard 1 Year Warranty for Clevo Notebooks

Edited by Zippity - 05 Jun 2012 at 12:27am

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Zippity Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AVADirect Noob Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Posts: 3	Quote Reply Topic: Looking for Desktop Replacement Critique Posted: 04 Jun 2012 at 7:51pm
	Hey everyone, I'm new here but like what I see. The huge array of customization options while building a notebook was really new to me and pushed me to the edge of my hardware knowledge, requiring much reading and comparisons. The next best I found was xoticpc and they had a lot of limitations. After some attempts at self educating, I've come upon the Clevo as my desired desktop replacement. Do those with more knowledge than I have suggestions about this configuration? I tried to explain it as I went. GAMING LAPTOP, Clevo P170EM CLEVO, P170EM Core™ i7 Notebook Barebone, Intel® HM77, 17.3" Full HD LED Glossy 90% NTSC Color Gamut,, FPR, PCIe x16 MXM-III Discrete Graphics The better screen is a treat to myself. INTEL, Core™ i7-3720QM Quad-Core 2.6 - 3.6GHz TB, HD Graphics 4000, 6MB L3 Cache, 22nm, 45W, EM64T EIST HT VT-d VT-x XD, Retail My work requires significant data processing (ex: parsing through the >20 GB Genbank database for protein matches on my 1.5GB genome file). I also want to be able to play the latest games. However, as I understand it pushing to the 8MB cache processors would not achieve a significant performance boost. PROLIMATECH, PK1 Thermal Compound, Electrically Non-Conductive, 5g Thermal compounds were difficult to choose from. I found a comparison that showed PROLIMATECH as top among the options, and decided the price difference was rather small compared to my desire for good thermals. Longevity of the notebook is important to me, so if anyone has better data on the best thermal compound please enlighten me :). ATI, Radeon™ HD 7970M 2GB GDDR5 Mobile Graphics Card for P170EM For gaming, and for 3d rendering of gene mapped mice brains, I need a good graphics card. Information I came across found this Radeon card better than the Nvidia 2GB equivalent... but this is not an easy choice. If other opinions are prominent, I'm open. KINGSTON, 16GB (4 x 4GB) HyperX PnP PC3-14000 DDR3 1866MHz SDRAM SODIMM, CL11, 1.5V, Non-ECC 16GB should suit my work needs, and should adequately hold NCBI large NCBI database files. For gaming, this is more than enough from what I can see. The higher speed seems appealing as well. MUSHKIN, 240GB Chronos™ Deluxe SSD, MLC SandForce SF-2281, 560/520 MB/s, 2.5-Inch, SATA 6 Gb/s, Retail Everyone loves an SSD, both for gaming and files which need immediate access. I feel this is adequately sized for my needs. It was very difficult to choose among competitors in the SSD field, and I'm not 100% sold on MUSHKIN versus others. SEAGATE, 750GB Momentus®, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache, 2.5-Inch, SATA 3 Gb/s, OEM This drive should be more than enough to hold the many miscellaneous files I collect that are not as frequently accessed. MY DIGITAL SSD, 64GB Bullet Proof 3 SSD, 500/110 MB/s, mini-SATA III mini-PCIe, OEM I was hoping to run my OS (Windows pro 7 already owned) off of this mSATA. This should provide a bit of hardware isolation if there is ever failures, as well as serving as a good organizational system for me. RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives Different drive types of different sizes from different manufacturers... no RAID 0 in my opinion. I was also looking into RAID 0 with 2 SSDs, but was not impressed finding out the protocols don't seem to support TRIM. Instead, I opted for the mSATA as OS and SSD as gaming/work, with misc on the second HDD. CLEVO, Blu-Ray Reader and Super-Multi DVD±RW Optical Drive for Clevo P170EM For me blu rays! NETWORK, Built-in 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet LAN Card INTEL, Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300 Wireless Card, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, 11/54/450 Mbps, Internal PCIe Half Mini Card Right, this... awesome for maximizing network capabilities. TRIPP-LITE, 375W PowerVerter® Car Adapter, 12V DC to 120V AC, 2 Outlets For the long drives... also part of why I'm getting a more powerful notebook instead of a gaming desktop. I already have a chill mat that will plug into that second outlet. NOTEBOOK ACCESSORY, Built-in Fingerprint Reader (Included) TARGUS, 17" XL Black/Blue Notebook Backpack My current backpack is falling apart - this seemed a good replacement. NONE, No Operating System (Choose OS or subject to Limited Support) Already own Win pro 7 WARRANTY, Standard 1 Year Warranty for Clevo Notebooks Edited by Zippity - 05 Jun 2012 at 12:27am

vikonic Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AVADirect Admins Joined: 11 Nov 2011 Posts: 364	Quote Reply Posted: 05 Jun 2012 at 11:18am
	Hello Zippity The P170EM is in the top tier of the Clevo products and as such can be considered as a good desktop replacement, although I'm sure many desktop pc users will disagree with me. i7-3720qm is a great because it's one of the CPU's providing best bang for the buck. It manages to put out close to the performance of the 38xx CPU but also maintains healthy battery life of your notebook. It has a wide operating range so it will be very efficient based on the workload you put it through. Prolimatech thermal compound is pretty good, although I must say that the true differences are somewhat minimal when it comes to thermal compounds and notebooks. Usually they tend to make bigger difference in desktop pcs where overclocking is present. Other recommendations include Arctic Silver, MX-4, etc. 7970m is a very powerful card and will get your the graphical performance you need. The only possible issue is how well this card is compatible with your 3d rendering software. This is something you might want to do additional research on and see if you might run into any possible problems with AMD based cards. Everything else seems spot on, but I also want to point out that the bluetooth module is located on the wireless card typically included with the P170EM. If you upgrade to a different card you may lose the bluetooth functionality. IF this is something you don't really care about then thats fine. If I missed anything I'm sure someone else could chime in. Great configuration!
	Vedran Ikonic Technical Support Manager 216-503-6374 Option 4 support@avadirect.com How To Guides - FREE Troubleshooting Help from AVADirect Problems with your Computer? - Post HERE

Zippity Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AVADirect Noob Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Posts: 3	Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jun 2012 at 5:24pm
	Thanks for the help :). I'm sure the desktop users will all argue that a "gaming laptop" is similar in concept to a "gaming tablet" haha, and they do have a point. Unfortunately I do not have that desktop option! I'll definitely look into the 3d rendering to check for compatibility. Bluetooth won't really be a problem, but thank you for noticing the lack of that capacity. The only thing now is to figure out if I can somehow get this system a little less expensively... though I'll be buying this config from somewhere. Does AVA Direct do any sort of price matching, student discounts, or other promotions I could get involved in?

Jmundy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List AVADirect Staff AVADirect Sales Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Location: AVADirect HQ Posts: 1357	Quote Reply Posted: 07 Jun 2012 at 9:21am
	Hello Zippity, At the moment, we don't have any discounts or promotions. 100% of the time, we offer our best pricing upfront to remain competitive, unlike our competitors who will increase prices just to offer additional discounts. It's a marketing technique that has been used for many, many years; we steer clear from it, and take a more honest approach with our potential customers. :-) If we do have any promotions or discounts, you will know about it by signing up for our news letter. A custom gaming notebook will always have the most aggressively low price, over a custom gaming desktop. I see two ways you can lower the price of this notebook. 1. Swap the MUSHKIN, 240GB Chronos™ Deluxe SSD to a Crucial M4 256GB SSD (more reliable in our experience, and a bit cheaper) 2. Drop the MY DIGITAL SSD, 64GB Bullet Proof 3 SSD and change it to a MY DIGITAL SSD, 32GB Bullet Proof 3 SSD. (Assuming you will be using it for Intel Smart Cache Technology) - An increase in capacity can only do so much, so lowering it to 32GB will not decrease performance substantially. You should still see that 30-40% increase performance. Also, you can try lowering the processor a little bit. a 100-300Mhz difference is not enough to pay a large price difference for, so keep that in mind.
	Joseph Mundy Assistant Sales Manager 1-216-503-6361 joseph.mundy@avadirect.com

Zippity Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List AVADirect Noob Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Posts: 3	Quote Reply Posted: 08 Jun 2012 at 1:41am
	Jmundy, Thank you for your assistance, especially on the specifics. I will consider both of those strategies to remove a few dollars from the price. After attempting to compare component prices I can see that there is little margin extracted from the upgrades, and I appreciate the honesty. I'll try to mention you somewhere during the purchasing process to give credit where it is due.

Jmundy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List AVADirect Staff AVADirect Sales Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Location: AVADirect HQ Posts: 1357	Quote Reply Posted: 11 Jun 2012 at 9:03pm
	Hello Zippity, I certainly appreciate your willingness to make sure I receive credit, but that is not necessary. :-) All I care about is that you receive a machine, that you can use to the fullest, and ensure that it is fast, reliable, and long-lasting throughout the target lifetime. Perhaps one of the most difficult decisions to make is the SSD brand. Many companies claim to have the most reliable, or fastest SSD in existence. I can't confirm nor deny any of their claims, but what I can confirm is that our experience with Crucial M4 SSDs has been significant enough to recommend them over any SSD we carry. Intel SSDs are good, but tend to be pricey. Yes, you could choose one of the more expensive, faster SSDs out there (OCZ Vertex 4, Corsair Force Series, Mushkin Chronos, etc...) but there's no point in a fast SSD if it fails to run consistently, or has a higher failure rate than most. It's the single most important decision, when considering a fast custom computer PC, and definitely something you want to sit on and consider until you're comfortable with the decision.
	Joseph Mundy Assistant Sales Manager 1-216-503-6361 joseph.mundy@avadirect.com