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Gaming Laptop Discussion Thread

Confusatron

Confusatron

Member
Oct 27, 2017
307
Seattle, WA
Pancakes R Us said:
What do you think of the new G14, the 2022 version? It's a lot more expensive. I'm just not keen. On getting anything larger than 14". I might even consider one of the 13" Razer laptops.
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I don't have the 2022, but I do have the 2021 G14 and I love it. Mine is a 5900hs, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060, 1TB HD, 120hz QHD screen with FreeSync. The laptop performs phenomenally. I haven't thrown anything at it yet that it can't handle. The screen looks really good, to. There are two screens to choose from, my QHD 120 and FHD that I think is 144hz. The reviews I read called out the color replication quality on the QHD and I have to say I agree. I also haven't noticed any ghosting. I think the response time is 9ms.

You might be able to find deals on the 2021 G14 now, as stores are making room for the 2022.
 
gabyb

gabyb

Member
Jun 23, 2021
190
Random recommendation: I have had a Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 2021 for a few months now, after 2 years of using an Asus ROG Strix (I think it was the 2019 model). It's incredible how much better the Lenovo laptop is, for starters the cooling actually works.

I had to change the asus laptop because it reached temperatures high enough to cause long-term damage on the regular. The jack charging port ended up desoldering by itself and causing a shortage on the motherboard, and it cost me around $150 dollars to fix in my non-american country where everything is pretty inexpensive relative to USA prices. This was all even after I had started using external cooling to try to mitigate the high temperatures.

In comparison, the Lenovo laptop is as cool as a cucumber when gaming and doing heavy duty programming. I love it! The software is actually pretty good too (I have some horror stories with Asus firmware updates bricking the keyboard).

I heard that the strix latest models ended up being better designed, but from personal experience I will stay clear of them from now on.
 
Sergio

Sergio

Member
Nov 13, 2018
75
Hi guys!

I will change my current laptop for a new one, and I'm looking for a laptop with a maximum budget of 1000-1200€ .

I have located those two. The main problem is that I can't really find any difference between the two of them... They have the same components, so I don't know if maybe one has a better screen, or better sound... So I would appreciate some help.

The models I found are:
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R95V
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 15ACH6

Both of them have:
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H , 16GB DDR4, 1TB SSD and RTX 3060. 15,6" screen.

Acer is 1049€ and Lenovo 1069€

Which one would you recommend? Do you have other sugestion?

Thank you and hope to hear from you soon!
 
Kelryin

Kelryin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
22
My 2019 Razer Blade 15" recently died due to some pretty bad battery swelling (damaged the trackpad buttons and warped some of the keyboard and frame). Because of that, I definitely won't be considering a Razer for my next laptop.

Looking for some recommendations for my next laptop. Here's what I'm looking for:
  • Intel CPU
  • 32 GB or 64 GB
  • RTX 3070 or 3070 Ti
  • QHD display
  • Good thermals and build quality
  • Good device support & warranty
  • Budget: $3500
I have been looking into the Alienware x17 R2, Asus Scar 17, and the Lenovo 5 pro & 7. The Legion 7i Gen 7 looks like it would tick all the boxes, but there's still no release date. I was curious if there are any other laptops that I should look into.
 
Reynolds Woodcock

Reynolds Woodcock

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,004
I'm thinking of getting a gaming laptop and am wondering if there are any models that are well positioned to play current gen games (i.e. games who for console are solely developed for PS5 and XSX). Are there any good models now or should I wait?
 
Reynolds Woodcock

Reynolds Woodcock

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,004
I am also interested in knowing what powerful gaming laptops are reliable and can last for years. I'm seeing stuff about battery bloat and other issues. I don't want to spend thousands on a laptop only for it to brick in a few years.
 
Mr Paptimus

Mr Paptimus

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,231
Wow wish I'd known this thread existed earlier.

I've been looking for a replacement for my aging desktop and have mostly decided just to see about replacing it with a new laptop for convenience.

I've mostly settled on a new ge76 raider (specifically this one https://www.costco.com/.product.1642117.html)

Most of the system reviews ive looked upare really good but I'm always suspicious of online and youtube reviews so i thought I'd get a second opinion before spending nearly 2k.

I'm not looking for the best of the best, ultra settings at 4k. Just something that can comfortably play new games at at least high settings with good performance, and still be able to play future games at decent if maybe lower settings. It'll mostly be a desktop replacement so I'll spend it's life mostly plugged in battery life isn't a huge concern.

Reynolds Woodcock said:
I am also interested in knowing what powerful gaming laptops are reliable and can last for years. I'm seeing stuff about battery bloat and other issues. I don't want to spend thousands on a laptop only for it to brick in a few years.
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This would also be important for me too. My old pc held up for ten years with only the replacement of a graphics card. If this could
 
neoak

neoak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,257
Reynolds Woodcock said:
I am also interested in knowing what powerful gaming laptops are reliable and can last for years. I'm seeing stuff about battery bloat and other issues. I don't want to spend thousands on a laptop only for it to brick in a few years.
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Batteries eventually die. What can be done to prolong their live is limit their charge to 60-70%. Some laptops include this option.
 

Atom

Member
Jul 25, 2021
11,408
Reynolds Woodcock said:
I'm thinking of getting a gaming laptop and am wondering if there are any models that are well positioned to play current gen games (i.e. games who for console are solely developed for PS5 and XSX). Are there any good models now or should I wait?
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I mean this is very hard to tell because there aren't a ton of massive next gen exclusive games out for PC right now. That said, between dlss, xess, fsr etc. hardware is probably gonna get more longevity than ever before.

With a legion 5 5800h/3070 I've had basically no trouble with games like Deathloop. Ghostwire Tokyo is a bit worse off (common issue of UE4 stutter and asset streaming) but still very playable, 60fps with RT. More taxing last gen games like God of War at 120+ fps. Death Stranding at similar framerates (though some other maybe config specific framerate issues). HZD at 80-90fps.

The big thing is if you're gonna buy something that you intend to use for a while, get at least 8gb of VRAM. If you don't see stuff you immediately want to play though it definitely can't hurt to wait. Though with how stock is going by the time the model you want is available new hardware might be close to being announced. Always a struggle with PC hardware.

The legion laptops also let you cap battery charge.

Mr Paptimus said:
Wow wish I'd known this thread existed earlier.

I've been looking for a replacement for my aging desktop and have mostly decided just to see about replacing it with a new laptop for convenience.

I've mostly settled on a new ge76 raider (specifically this one https://www.costco.com/.product.1642117.html)

Most of the system reviews ive looked upare really good but I'm always suspicious of online and youtube reviews so i thought I'd get a second opinion before spending nearly 2k.

I'm not looking for the best of the best, ultra settings at 4k. Just something that can comfortably play new games at at least high settings with good performance, and still be able to play future games at decent if maybe lower settings. It'll mostly be a desktop replacement so I'll spend it's life mostly plugged in battery life isn't a huge concern.



This would also be important for me too. My old pc held up for ten years with only the replacement of a graphics card. If this could
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I don't have experience with that laptop but I would suggest checking whether:

Laptop has a mux switch or advanced optimus -- being able to use the full nvidia control panel is a lifesaver for games that don't have vsync, or other smaller compatibility things that you lose some control over if you're stuck with hybrid switchable graphics. It matters a lot for older games that use directx 8 or earlier, which don't support switchable graphics and will default you to integrated, and there can be some driver issues there as well.

See if the display panel allows you to disable overdrive. High refresh rate panels on laptops often use some sort of overdrive that increases response time. The flipside of this is that for games that expect a 60hz refresh rate -- which you'll want to add to your laptop with Custom Resolution Utility -- overdrive can add a lot of inverse ghosting artifacts to the point of being unplayable.

The latter point is something which is almost always glossed over in reviews nowadays. More generally you'll want to know that you can under lock your display to 60hz or higher without instability issues as a lot of games will present incorrectly on 144hz displays etc.
 
Poodlestrike

Poodlestrike

Smooth vs. Crunchy
Administrator
Oct 25, 2017
13,489
Not my Lenovo. Y740, about 2-3 years old, and the battery life is down to about 5 minutes.
 
Ra

Ra

Rap Genius
Moderator
Oct 27, 2017
12,198
Dark Space
Sergio said:
Hi guys!

I will change my current laptop for a new one, and I'm looking for a laptop with a maximum budget of 1000-1200€ .

I have located those two. The main problem is that I can't really find any difference between the two of them... They have the same components, so I don't know if maybe one has a better screen, or better sound... So I would appreciate some help.

The models I found are:
Acer Nitro 5 AN515-45-R95V
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3 15ACH6

Both of them have:
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H , 16GB DDR4, 1TB SSD and RTX 3060. 15,6" screen.

Acer is 1049€ and Lenovo 1069€

Which one would you recommend? Do you have other sugestion?

Thank you and hope to hear from you soon!
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Go with the Lenovo.

Kelryin said:
My 2019 Razer Blade 15" recently died due to some pretty bad battery swelling (damaged the trackpad buttons and warped some of the keyboard and frame). Because of that, I definitely won't be considering a Razer for my next laptop.

Looking for some recommendations for my next laptop. Here's what I'm looking for:
  • Intel CPU
  • 32 GB or 64 GB
  • RTX 3070 or 3070 Ti
  • QHD display
  • Good thermals and build quality
  • Good device support & warranty
  • Budget: $3500
I have been looking into the Alienware x17 R2, Asus Scar 17, and the Lenovo 5 pro & 7. The Legion 7i Gen 7 looks like it would tick all the boxes, but there's still no release date. I was curious if there are any other laptops that I should look into.
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The X17 would be perfect if it had a 1440p option, I'm not sure if I would go for a 4K machine with an x070 leveel GPU until the next generation of RTX.

The Legion laptops really are great but not having even tentative release dates is weird.

The Scar 17 is probably the best option if it's in stock.
 
Sergio

Sergio

Member
Nov 13, 2018
75
Ra said:
Go with the Lenovo.
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Hi here!

Would you mind if I make you a question related to my choice? It changed a bite.

Is too notorious the difference between RAM GDDR5/SSD PCI 4.0 and RAM GDDR4/SSD PCI 3.0?

It seems I will be able to sell my laptop for 500€, so I can buy a laptop until 1500€ . Those are the options I have:

Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH6H AMD Ryzen 7 5800H/16 GB/1TB SSD/RTX 3060/15.6" . It's the model from 2021.
Asus Rog Strix G15 G513QR-HF012 AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX/16GB/1TB SSD/RTX3070/15.6" Model from 2021. It has GDDR4, 2x8 GB. PCI SSD 3.0 .
Asus ROG Strix G15 G513RM-HQ012 AMD Ryzen 7 6800H/16GB/1TB SSD/RTX3060/15.6" . Model from 2022. Only thing that worries me is that the RAM is single-channel, just 1 module of 16 GB (but it's GDRR5)

So I'm not really sure if I should go for the 3070 laptop (It would be a laptop with a 3070 for only 999€ ) , the Lenovo you suggested me or go for the Lenovo Legion 5. I'm just a little worried if buying a 2021 model will limit myself for future games, but I only want to play in 1080p, not interested in 2K or 4K.

Thanks in advance!
 
luca

luca

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,500
I hate my Legion 5 Pro. It never goes to sleep when it's supposed to and instead restarts completely. I've heard it could be a drive issue but I got too many things installed on it to take it in for repair. Really frustrating.
 
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neoak

neoak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,257
Sergio said:
Hi here!

Would you mind if I make you a question related to my choice? It changed a bite.

Is too notorious the difference between RAM GDDR5/SSD PCI 4.0 and RAM GDDR4/SSD PCI 3.0?

It seems I will be able to sell my laptop for 500€, so I can buy a laptop until 1500€ . Those are the options I have:

Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH6H AMD Ryzen 7 5800H/16 GB/1TB SSD/RTX 3060/15.6" . It's the model from 2021.
Asus Rog Strix G15 G513QR-HF012 AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX/16GB/1TB SSD/RTX3070/15.6" Model from 2021. It has GDDR4, 2x8 GB. PCI SSD 3.0 .
Asus ROG Strix G15 G513RM-HQ012 AMD Ryzen 7 6800H/16GB/1TB SSD/RTX3060/15.6" . Model from 2022. Only thing that worries me is that the RAM is single-channel, just 1 module of 16 GB (but it's GDRR5)

So I'm not really sure if I should go for the 3070 laptop (It would be a laptop with a 3070 for only 999€ ) , the Lenovo you suggested me or go for the Lenovo Legion 5. I'm just a little worried if buying a 2021 model will limit myself for future games, but I only want to play in 1080p, not interested in 2K or 4K.

Thanks in advance!
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5900HX/3070 is the choice.

No, pcie only matters if you're doing heavy transfers and got SSDs that can take advantage. There are other outlier scenarios but none apply to your case.

And it's DDR. GDDR is different and not used for main RAM in PCs.
 
inner-G

inner-G

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
14,473
PNW
Pachimari said:
I hate my Legion 5 Pro. It never goes to sleep when it's supposed to and instead restarts completely. I've heard it could be a drive issue but I got too many things installed on it to take it in for repair. Really frustrating.
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If it's just a drive issue, you could try cloning to a new SSD and then swapping it with the old one. I'd recommend macrium reflect for cloning the SSD (it's free).
 
luca

luca

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,500
Oh, I'm gonna bring it to a repair shop affiliated with the electronics store I bought it at. If they can't fix it I'm thinking of a refund.

When does the Legion 5i Pro come out?
 
TerryLee81

TerryLee81

Member
Oct 26, 2017
787
This may be a silly question, but how does for example a ASUS G14 with 6800HS CPU and a RX6700S GPU compare to PS5/Series X? For example, if I would connect it to a TV, could I expect around the same performance in 4k gaming?
 
neoak

neoak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,257
TerryLee81 said:
This may be a silly question, but how does for example a ASUS G14 with 6800HS CPU and a RX6700S GPU compare to PS5/Series X? For example, if I would connect it to a TV, could I expect around the same performance in 4k gaming?
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Not really, no. The S is also more limited.

Has to be a full RX6800M to surpass them.

1080p will be fine tho.
 
HiLife

HiLife

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
39,610
I check the Lenovo website everyday to see if the (Gen 7) Legion 7 is available to buy. And I leave disappointed everytime.
 

vicarino

Member
Aug 31, 2019
180
TerryLee81 said:
Thanks, I guessed we are already at the point where laptops outperform consoles like PS5/Series X, but I guess the low power GPUs are not there yet…
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My g14 with a 5900 and a 3060 sometimes outperformed my series x visually and frame-rate wise thanks to being able to use 1440p instead of stupid useless 4k and/or using dlss.
Games shouldn't in theory runn better or look better on the laptop but the reality is that some do thanks to the flexibility pc gives you.
 
Helix

Helix

Mayor of Clown Town
Member
Jun 8, 2019
23,729
I'm looking to get a laptop and while I have all the gaming systems, I do have a yearning to play some JRPGs and XIV on my laptop as well. I'm wondering if you have any recommendations in the 650 - 700 dollars range.

I saw an ASUS TUF in that bracket but I am not hearing good things about their quality.
 
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Artorias

Artorias

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,087
Debating between a Legion 7 of this year with a 3080 w 32gb of ram and a 2tb SSD.

Or the new 2022 Legion 5/5i Pro, with either intel or AMD (preferably amd)+a 3070ti.

Which would be better?
 
The Riot Inside

The Riot Inside

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,387
Anyone with a Legion 5 Pro getting weird object trailing when turning in games? Like it looks like a thick shadow trail following objects. Started noticing this in Elden Ring and Cyberpunk and it is super distracting. I've tried disabling boost, limiting to 60 fps, turning off hybrid mode and all sorts of things but issue still persists. When I hook the laptop up to my old TV, the issue disappears or at least isn't noticeable.
 
Zafir

Zafir

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,999
ProtoSound said:
Anyone with a Legion 5 Pro getting weird object trailing when turning in games? Like it looks like a thick shadow trail following objects. Started noticing this in Elden Ring and Cyberpunk and it is super distracting. I've tried disabling boost, limiting to 60 fps, turning off hybrid mode and all sorts of things but issue still persists. When I hook the laptop up to my old TV, the issue disappears or at least isn't noticeable.
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Are you sure that's just not overshoot from the overdrive function in the panel? At lower framerates with VRR enabled you do get some overshoot which can look a bit like trailing. To turn the overdrive off you can go into that Lenovo app with all the settings/perf info in, forget it's name. It's on the front page on the right side along with a bunch of on/off switches for features.

Edit: Remembered the name, Lenovo Vantage.
 
The Riot Inside

The Riot Inside

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,387
Zafir said:
Are you sure that's just not overshoot from the overdrive function in the panel? At lower framerates with VRR enabled you do get some overshoot which can look a bit like trailing. To turn the overdrive off you can go into that Lenovo app with all the settings/perf info in, forget it's name. It's on the front page on the right side along with a bunch of on/off switches for features.

Edit: Remembered the name, Lenovo Vantage.
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You are talking about the boost mode which I did disable.
 
Zafir

Zafir

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,999
ProtoSound said:
You are talking about the boost mode which I did disable.
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Boost mode?

It's specifically named "Overdrive" in the app on my Legion 5 Pro. Which enables/disables overdrive on the L5Pro panel, speeds up the response time of it which is good at the 165hz of the panel, but causes overshoot at lower hz.
 
The Riot Inside

The Riot Inside

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,387
Zafir said:
Boost mode?

It's specifically named "Overdrive" in the app on my Legion 5 Pro. Which enables/disables overdrive on the L5Pro panel, speeds up the response time of it which is good at the 165hz of the panel, but causes overshoot at lower hz.
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Sorry I keep thinking of it as boost mode. Yes overdrive is disabled.
 

Atom

Member
Jul 25, 2021
11,408
ProtoSound said:
Anyone with a Legion 5 Pro getting weird object trailing when turning in games? Like it looks like a thick shadow trail following objects. Started noticing this in Elden Ring and Cyberpunk and it is super distracting. I've tried disabling boost, limiting to 60 fps, turning off hybrid mode and all sorts of things but issue still persists. When I hook the laptop up to my old TV, the issue disappears or at least isn't noticeable.
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Hey what driver are you? Have you tried disabling gsync?

This is an issue at least with recent nvidia drivers on legion 5 laptops. There are a handful of reddit posts on it. Some have found turning on shadow play fixed it (I guess just keeping geforce overlay enabled)

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com

I don't really know if this will be fixed, its been several months at this point. It's kinda bullshit. Maybe worth emailing nvidia or lenovo. I'm still on 493.16 or whatever it is.
 
Zafir

Zafir

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,999
Atom said:
Hey what driver are you? Have you tried disabling gsync?

This is an issue at least with recent nvidia drivers on legion 5 laptops. There are a handful of reddit posts on it. Some have found turning on shadow play fixed it (I guess just keeping geforce overlay enabled)

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com

I don't really know if this will be fixed, its been several months at this point. It's kinda bullshit. Maybe worth emailing nvidia or lenovo. I'm still on 493.16 or whatever it is.
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Huh. I've not experienced that on 516.40. That said, been using hybrid mode a lot more recently for battery saving purposes(and it's annoying swapping between the two modes quickly) which in theory uses Freesync rather than g-sync.

Guess it might be worth trying that mode as a temporary fix. Offers slightly worse performance but probably better than odd trailing.
 
The Riot Inside

The Riot Inside

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,387
Atom said:
Hey what driver are you? Have you tried disabling gsync?

This is an issue at least with recent nvidia drivers on legion 5 laptops. There are a handful of reddit posts on it. Some have found turning on shadow play fixed it (I guess just keeping geforce overlay enabled)

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com

I don't really know if this will be fixed, its been several months at this point. It's kinda bullshit. Maybe worth emailing nvidia or lenovo. I'm still on 493.16 or whatever it is.
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Thank you. This was it. That sucks I can't use gsync.
 
The Riot Inside

The Riot Inside

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,387
Zafir said:
Huh. I've not experienced that on 516.40. That said, been using hybrid mode a lot more recently for battery saving purposes(and it's annoying swapping between the two modes quickly) which in theory uses Freesync rather than g-sync.

Guess it might be worth trying that mode as a temporary fix. Offers slightly worse performance but probably better than odd trailing.
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I'll mess around with that. Thank you both for the help.
 
Shane

Shane

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,013
Is there a consensus undervolting guide? I've looked at some and they all seem wildly different. Tired of my laptop getting so damn hot.
 
ilikesanta

ilikesanta

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,075
Looking for gaming laptop on Amazon there's this one

Deal of the day for Prime Members: MSI Creator M16 16" Content Creation Laptop: Intel Core i7-12650H RTX 3060 32GB 1TB NVMe SSD, QHD+ 16:10 60Hz 100% DCI-P3, 180-Degree Lay-Flat, Cooler Boost Trinity+, Win 11: Black A12UEV-468 https://a.co/d/hoN641E

Or go with Alien ware

Deal of the day for Prime Members: Alienware M15 R6 Gaming Laptop - 15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) 1ms 360Hz Display, Core i7-11800H, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, NVIDIA RTX 3070 8GB Graphics, Windows 11 Home - Black https://a.co/d/aHVaxNn

I'm looking for gaming, VR (I have an Quest 2 so I don't need all the graphics but want to expand VR library) and video editing. Sugestions?


EDIT: I looked at non-primeday sales and this dell with 64 gigs of RAM looks good
 
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Shane

Shane

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,013
Ra said:
They both produce the same results, I've never been able to like Throttlestop's UI myself; I figure it's for people more hardcore than me who want to play with more than the basic offsets.
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Phew. I guess I should do more reading. Thought I just bricked my laptop when I set the core voltage offset seemingly kinda high. It wouldn't restart, but was able to find out how to reset bios with the power button and we're back in business for now,
 
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