Gaming laptop longevity

[bajasadrveta]

I'm about to spend 2500$ on a gaming laptop
Is it really true that after year or two the laptop won't be able to run properly, that the performances is decaying over years even with reasonable temperatures

 

[geofelt]

Fake news.
Your laptop may become outdated by faster/cheaper replacements, or you may want to play more demanding games. Laptops do not have upgrade options.
But, in no way should performance deteriorate.
One possible exception is that the cpu cooler may accumulate dust and need a cleaning.

And... how much do you need portability?
Your budget can buy a very good desktop system that has upgrade potential.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

The biggest problem with gaming laptops is that the technology moves so fast and there is no upgrade path. Just a few years ago the 700 series of cards came out and now they are dinosaurs. The other issue is that the laptops use power save parts so they can run on battery which hurts performance. Nvidia did well with Pascal for efficiency so that helps a lot.

If you take care of it, it will not decay in a year, but games will become more graphically intensive and new tech will come out to address it and you will be stuck with whatever you have.

 

[androbourne]

Most newer laptops now come with proper cooling, which was an issue in the past with older equipment. Extra heat = reduced component life span.

However, that really isn't an issue anymore. It's always good practice to monitor your system temps randomly throughout the year to ensure nothing has gone wrong like a fan dying that you didn't know about causing extra heat.

I have an MSI GE17 gaming laptop and it has a fan boost option. I manually turn it on at all times when I game for that reason, even if it isn't needed. (the fan has an automatic option as well)

 

[bajasadrveta]

Fake news.
Your laptop may become outdated by faster/cheaper replacements, or you may want to play more demanding games.
But, in no way should performance deteriorate.
One possible exception is that the cpu cooler may accumulate dust and need a cleaning.

I know but if i buy a notebook with gtx 1080 i think that it will last for few years.

 

[bajasadrveta]

The biggest problem with gaming laptops is that the technology moves so fast and there is no upgrade path. Just a few years ago the 700 series of cards came out and now they are dinosaurs. The other issue is that the laptops use power save parts so they can run on battery which hurts performance. Nvidia did well with Pascal for efficiency so that helps a lot.

If you take care of it, it will not decay in a year, but games will become more graphically intensive and new tech will come out to address it and you will be stuck with whatever you have.

So is it better to buy a mediocre laptop (gtx1050ti/1060) and a gaming pc with gtx 1080 or something else
And even if i do wanna buy a pc u all know the current state of gpu prices

 

[SoggyTissue]

remember that laptops rarely get a 'dust clean' and so heat throttling may start to occur after a few years (depending on environment).

clean regularly and you wont see throttling.

 

[Solandri]

Ever since Intel and AMD introduced thermal throttling in the early 2000s, I haven't seen a CPU die early from overclocking or being run at 100% for extended periods of time. In theory operating at higher temperatures reduces the lifespan of the silicon. But with thermal throttling keeping temps below 100 C, I suspect we're talking about a reduction in lifespan from 50 years to 30 years. The computer is going to be obsolete long, long before the extra damage from a hot gaming laptop makes any real difference in longevity.

So is it better to buy a mediocre laptop (gtx1050ti/1060) and a gaming pc with gtx 1080 or something else

That's what I'm going to do next time. My current laptop has a 970m, which was the second-fastest laptop GPU you could get at the time. But it gets so hot while gaming that I can't really use it as a laptop. It has to sit on a desk, making it not very different from a desktop.

My next laptop will have a mid-range GPU which can handle gaming at moderate quality the few times out of the year when I'm traveling. It'll probably even be dual core for longer battery life and lower temps (so I can actually use it on my lap) I'm going to couple it with a gaming desktop for use at home. If I don't want to sit at the desk when gaming, I'm going to use Steam In-Home Streaming to play the game on the desktop, but display it on the laptop. That way I get the best of both worlds - portability and cool laptop to use around the house, but wicked fast gaming.

 

[bajasadrveta]

remember that laptops rarely get a 'dust clean' and so heat throttling may start to occur after a few years (depending on environment).

clean regularly and you wont see throttling.

How much do u think that gtx 1080 will last with cleaning and everything

 

[SoggyTissue]

if dust is allowed to accumulate, the fan wont cool the gpu, gpu will go into heat throttle (poor performance). so a nice clean fan = no air cooling impedence.

the gpu will last a long time, probably a good number of years.

as Solandri maybe able to testify, having a top end gpu will mean that 'mundane' games will take so little power, that you wont notice much heat. If you get a poor gpu, it has to work harder for all the small stuff, so will heat up more often. decent client games will always use as much as the gpu is capable of (default defined detail settings) and its upto you to turn it down.

This issue of hot gpus from the top end is because the gpus are not 'full fat' they are semi-skimmed versions of the real deal. so they end up having to work a little harder than the desktop equiv. (generally denoted by an 'M' after the model number).

IMO, as you cannot upgrade a laptop, you should get the most powerful system you can afford. you dont want to use it for a year and then think: i cant play overwatch 2/DooM 2/BF 10 (as an example of future games - fictional).
but if you intend to only keep the laptop for 2-3 years go cheap, its going to be thrown away and replaced.

 

[Solandri]

Laptop GPUs are exactly the same as desktop GPUs. Every GPU (the chip, not the card) is tested after manufacture. If it's found to operate error-free at lower voltages, it gets binned as a laptop GPU. Typically the laptop version was clocked lower or had more parts of the core disabled, but with the nVidia 10x0 series they're actually using the same GPU config in laptops and desktop cards (there is no M version anymore).

So laptop GPUs actually run cooler than desktop GPUs for the same framerate. The problem with laptops running hotter is entirely due to inferior cooling compared to a desktop. The heatsink is smaller, usually connected by a heat pipe, the fan is smaller, and has to suck in room air through very small or constricted air vents on the bottom of the laptop (vs on the side for a desktop). The small clearance between the bottom vents and the table the laptop is sitting on creates backpressure, making the fan even less effective.

There are a few laptops with upgradeable GPUs. They put the GPU on something called an MXM module. I wouldn't recommend them because they tend to be ridiculously expensive and are more like a luggable desktop replacement than a portable laptop. But if that's the direction you want to go with this, then MXM is the magic word you want to search for.

For non-upgradeable GPUs, I would avoid the high end simply because they get damn noisy compared to a desktop. That little fan in the laptop has to spin at a higher RPM to generate the same amount of airflow as a larger fan in a desktop.

 

[jaguarskx]

Laptop GPUs are exactly the same as desktop GPUs.

That is false. While mobile GPUs share the same architecture design of their desktop counterparts of the same generation, they are not exactly the same GPU chip. Mobile GPUs are specifically designed for laptops.

The exception is nVidia's current GeForce GT / GTX 10xx series GPUs. It is the 1st generation of GPUs where the same chip is used in both desktop and laptops because nVidia has managed to considerably lower power consumption and as a result reduce heat. However, the chips installed in laptops have lower clockspeeds to reduce power consumption.

 

[Solandri]

Laptop GPUs are exactly the same as desktop GPUs.

That is false. While mobile GPUs share the same architecture design of their desktop counterparts of the same generation, they are not exactly the same GPU chip. Mobile GPUs are specifically designed for laptops.

The exception is nVidia's current GeForce GT / GTX 10xx series GPUs. It is the 1st generation of GPUs where the same chip is used in both desktop and laptops because nVidia has managed to considerably lower power consumption and as a result reduce heat.

The 965m, 970m, 980m, GTX 960, GTX 970, and GTX 980 were all GM204 chips. Only difference between the different models are voltages, clock speed, and how much of the circuitry (cores, memory lanes, etc) was disabled (due either to manufacturing flaws or to deliberately create lower-end GPUs)

The same gen includes multiple chip designs. The 900 series had the GK107. GM108, GM204, GM206, and GK208. (M in GM = Maxwell, K in GK = Kepler). Not necessarily released in that order.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units#GeForce_900_series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units#GeForce_900M_.289xxM.29_series

If you scroll through the older GPUs, you'll see a bunch of the laptop and desktop GPUs were also based on the same chip.