Eurocom's Sky X9 Is More Desktop Than Laptop

[IInuyasha74]

Eurocom released a new laptop with a special twist. The Sky X9 gaming laptop takes advantage of high-end Intel and Nvidia desktop hardware to give performance-hungry enthusiasts the power of a much larger PC inside of a mobile package.

Eurocom's Sky X9 Is More Desktop Than Laptop : Read more

 

[flowingbass]

A GTX 980 is not a card for 4K gaming. If i were rich enough to buy this, id opt for the one with 1080p display. I prefer overkill rather than underpowered.

 

[Hando567]

A GTX 980 is not a card for 4K gaming. If i were rich enough to buy this, id opt for the one with 1080p display. I prefer overkill rather than underpowered.

OR, get the 4K display, enjoy the nice high res while in the desktop environment, for media, etc. Then when you want to game, just tell the game to play at 1080P. Since 4k is exactly 4x1080P, it actually works out nicely with a block of 4 pixels representing a single pixel. No real interpolation to speak of.

 

[dstarr3]

A GTX 980 is not a card for 4K gaming. If i were rich enough to buy this, id opt for the one with 1080p display. I prefer overkill rather than underpowered.

For that matter, there really aren't any cards for 4K gaming yet. Even the Titan X can't hold a steady 60fps in a lot of games. But, y'know, if you strap three or four Titan together, than you should be alright. And $4,000 poorer, if you factor in the cost of the PSU it takes to power all that.

Suffice it to say, 4K is still a bit out of our reach at the moment.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Sweet rig! Not something that you would take into your local coffee shop, but a excellent desktop replacement.

Why the 6700K? I would suggest putting the i7 mobile unlocked CPU in, it's still overclockable but with way less energy.

 

[IInuyasha74]

A GTX 980 is not a card for 4K gaming. If i were rich enough to buy this, id opt for the one with 1080p display. I prefer overkill rather than underpowered.

For that matter, there really aren't any cards for 4K gaming yet. Even the Titan X can't hold a steady 60fps in a lot of games. But, y'know, if you strap three or four Titan together, than you should be alright. And $4,000 poorer, if you factor in the cost of the PSU it takes to power all that.

Suffice it to say, 4K is still a bit out of our reach at the moment.

Right, maybe it can't do 4K maxed out settings, but if you notice in our reviews of the GTX 980, most games were tested with maxed out or close to maxed out settings. Modifying the settings a little makes 4K gaming a very real possibility with this card.

 

[Aspiring techie]

Is there some contest on "How much hardware can you fit into a laptop? How many hundred people actually need this?
Personally, I'll continue to use my laptop for when I'm on the move and my (much cheaper) desktop for gaming.

 

[braneman]

You see, I don't get this, 980m SLI will perform on par or better than a Titan x(depending on the game and its SLI profile). Why would you take the time and effort to put this system together when laptop hardware has reached the point where this is no longer necessary?
If you don't believe me on this look it up, Far Cry 4, Assasins Creed Unity, Shadow of Mordor, Rise Son of Rome. All of those games 980m SLI performs better than a desktop 980 and in some cases better than a Titan X. No I'm serious twenty seconds of googling will give you a youtube video with direct, side by side, card to card comparisons.

 

[SteelCity1981]

bet it gets like 20 minutes of battery life tops. lol

 

[USAFRet]

$2,500, 10 lbs. This is not a laptop. It is a small, expensive, non portable, crippled, desktop.

 

[sullivang]

Hooray - a 17" 4K laptop at long last. THANKYOU Eurocom, although could you now just make one with the same display, but more mundane processing & graphics performance?

 

[xenol]

A GTX 980 is not a card for 4K gaming. If i were rich enough to buy this, id opt for the one with 1080p display. I prefer overkill rather than underpowered.

4K @ 17" is 258 PPI. At the viewing distance you're seeing the monitor, you're effectively at "Retina Display" PPI. You're not going to really notice any scaling quality issues. I run games on my 27" 4K monitor at 2560x1440 and I don't really notice anything.

 

[dstarr3]

A GTX 980 is not a card for 4K gaming. If i were rich enough to buy this, id opt for the one with 1080p display. I prefer overkill rather than underpowered.

For that matter, there really aren't any cards for 4K gaming yet. Even the Titan X can't hold a steady 60fps in a lot of games. But, y'know, if you strap three or four Titan together, than you should be alright. And $4,000 poorer, if you factor in the cost of the PSU it takes to power all that.

Suffice it to say, 4K is still a bit out of our reach at the moment.

Right, maybe it can't do 4K maxed out settings, but if you notice in our reviews of the GTX 980, most games were tested with maxed out or close to maxed out settings. Modifying the settings a little makes 4K gaming a very real possibility with this card.

Why would I spent $1,000 for a card that can't play games at max? If I'm not going to play at max, I may as well just get a 970 and call it a day.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'm sorry, but I don't see a "desktop graphics card" inside that unit anywhere. There might be a desktop GPU in there, but there is no desktop "card" in there. They should get their statements straight and be accurate with their marketing. I know it's nit picky, but hey, say what you mean, not whatever comes off the top of your head Eurocom.

 

[cobra5000]

Funny, I just got a 4k monitor a few weeks ago and I was worried about frame-rates but my 980 handles it quite well. While not always as smooth as 1080, it's close enough for me to not want to go back to 1080, ever. The Witcher 3 is freaking gorgeous!

 

[scolaner]

I'm sorry, but I don't see a "desktop graphics card" inside that unit anywhere. There might be a desktop GPU in there, but there is no desktop "card" in there. They should get their statements straight and be accurate with their marketing. I know it's nit picky, but hey, say what you mean, not whatever comes off the top of your head Eurocom.

Actually, I completely agree with you that nitpicking that language is important. Fuzzy nomenclature does not help anyone. The rep should have said, "desktop-class graphics."

 

[spies_sparks]

The text definetely ( and clearly aswell ) states the following:

" In addition to the desktop CPU, Eurocom also installed a desktop Nvidia GeForce GTX 980. Eurocom didn't deviate from the specs Nvidia sets either, giving the system a full GM204 Maxwell chip with 2048 CUDA cores. Eurocom improved on one aspect of the desktop GTX 980's reference specs, though, in that it includes 8 GB of GDDR5 clocked at 7 GHz. To date, all desktop GTX 980 graphics cards have only contained 4 GB of vRAM. This extra RAM will help the system perform better when gaming at ultra high resolutions. "

"...desktop Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 ..." and NOT a desktop like performance GTX 980 card.

The fact that it does not look like the desktop graphics card you all know, it does not change the fact that it is the same graphics ( performance wise ) card you can install in a full-blown desktop computer.

 

[hst101rox]

I wonder if it has dual 330w AC adapters

 

[Darkbreeze]

The text definetely ( and clearly aswell ) states the following:

" In addition to the desktop CPU, Eurocom also installed a desktop Nvidia GeForce GTX 980. Eurocom didn't deviate from the specs Nvidia sets either, giving the system a full GM204 Maxwell chip with 2048 CUDA cores. Eurocom improved on one aspect of the desktop GTX 980's reference specs, though, in that it includes 8 GB of GDDR5 clocked at 7 GHz. To date, all desktop GTX 980 graphics cards have only contained 4 GB of vRAM. This extra RAM will help the system perform better when gaming at ultra high resolutions. "

"...desktop Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 ..." and NOT a desktop like performance GTX 980 card.

The fact that it does not look like the desktop graphics card you all know, it does not change the fact that it is the same graphics ( performance wise ) card you can install in a full-blown desktop computer.

Yes, it does change the fact. To say otherwise is ridiculous. There is no desktop card installed in that unit, in cognito or otherwise. It has a desktop GPU on some kind of PCB material, but they did not rip the I/O bracket off a desktop card and stuff the card inside a laptop. Don't be foolish. Additionally, they make it sound as though it actually has the same cooling and overclocking capabilities as a desktop card would have, which we KNOW it does not, and cannot, since the level of cooling that would be used on desktop cards is not present in any form, air or liquid. Say "desktop class" or "desktop GPU", don't say "desktop card inside".

Plus, you're quoting MJ's text from the article, while I am re-quoting Eurocom. There is nothing wrong with the information MJ used in the article, he's just repeating the information provided by Eurocom, which is misleading and apocryphal. Is it a giant issue to the majority of enthusiasts, no. Is it entirely accurate, no. End of story.

 

[IInuyasha74]

Well, it is technically a little wrong of Eurocom and us to say that there is a graphics card inside as opposed to saying it has a graphics chip. Saying it is a graphics card implies that it is possible to remove the component like an MXM card used in some mobile systems.

Other than that, however, there is no real practical difference from a hardware standpoint. The GPU core is identical in every detail to one you would find on a desktop GTX 980 card. Although the voltage may vary a bit (as essentially all GPUs do), it will use approximately the same amount of power and achieve the same amount of performance when thermal throttling is not an issue. I tried to mention that cooling would be an issue and this would likely occur, but without testing I can't be sure how much, and the majority of gaming laptops experience this so it is sort of old news.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I know, and my comments were not meant to reflect anything YOU said in the article, so don't think I was badgering you on that. I just think they need to clarify their nomenclature and be more specific as other vendors generally do. I know it's not JUST them, there are others who use this loose marketing as well, but it's misleading for the masses. All of us here KNOW WTF they mean, but others may not. So to say it has a desktop card inside DOES seem to indicate something different, and probably would be taken to mean it's a removable discreet card that could be used in a desktop just as easily as in this unit, which ain't the case.

 

[IInuyasha74]

I know, and my comments were not meant to reflect anything YOU said in the article, so don't think I was badgering you on that. I just think they need to clarify their nomenclature and be more specific as other vendors generally do. I know it's not JUST them, there are others who use this loose marketing as well, but it's misleading for the masses. All of us here KNOW WTF they mean, but others may not. So to say it has a desktop card inside DOES seem to indicate something different, and probably would be taken to mean it's a removable discreet card that could be used in a desktop just as easily as in this unit, which ain't the case.

Oh no, I wasn't bothered by your comments. I was more mildly agreeing with you that we shouldn't call it a card. We get far too many people inquire about the ability to change the GPU inside of laptops as it is without insinuating it is possible. I'll probably make note to just call it a desktop chip in future instead, works just as well.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, desktop chip, or desktop class as Scolaner said. I think just the "card" statement is attributive, and does lend itself to the misbelief that it's a component that can actually be classified as a card or removeable/swappable component.

 

[Max_x2]

$2,500, 10 lbs. This is not a laptop. It is a small, expensive, non portable, crippled, desktop.

This. I honestly don't know who buys this. The battery life must be piss-poor, it's too heavy, so basically, not very portable. Maybe for someone who goes to lan parties? (if that's still a thing?)

 

[Darkbreeze]

Not to mention that even with notebook class discreet graphics and two fans, most gaming laptops tend to have heat issues in almost all cases, regardless of brand or configuration, so with a desktop class GPU even considering the addition of a third fan, I foresee there being thermal issues. If two large, well designed fans and custom cooling are required for high end desktop discreet graphics, I can't imagine those tiny notebook fans in fall smaller enclosure and no possibility of the additional case fans used on those desktop systems to bring in cool air, are going to provide sufficient cooling during any lengthy gaming sessions. And of course the system will need to be connected to AC power or the battery is going to be dead within minutes considering the GPU and fan power draw.