Multiboxing on a Laptop

[mrdsp]

Hi All,

Been boxing for a while now, really enjoying playing 5 on my PC and works fine.

I've got a new role that will see me travel a lot, so I'm going to look at my options to keep boxing on the road!

Work device is a Surface Book Pro with dGPU... doesn't work well but can just about handle 5 (no wPvP as too laggy).

So, I'm tempted to buy myself a personal machine.

I'm really interested in getting a Razer Blade 14, but for the price want to just run it past anybody who has experience of playing on a laptop.

Spec would be;

• Intel® Core™ i7-7700HQ Quad-Core Processor with Hyper-Threading 2.8GHz / 3.8GHz (Base/Turbo)
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5 VRAM)
• 16GB (8GB x 2) dual-channel slotted memory (DDR4, 2400MHz),
• Full HD screen (not putting 4k on it with that card)

So my main questions are;

1. Will it handle boxing 10 accounts?
2. Has anybody experience of playing this number on a Laptop screen. Even if the device can play them is it practical?
3. And for the hardware nuts - would you wait for the i7 8th Gen at this time of year?
4. If you had this budget (must be mobile) - would you go for this as a halfway house between performance/portability? Any other suggestions (I also work freelance so would need something I can get out at a meeting that will not glow the room up or take up half the conference table!!).

Dan

[mbox_bob]

1. Possibly. Laptops are far more likely to thermal throttle though. Also the CPU is weaker than the desktop counterpart, so YMMV.
2. 10 on 1920x1080. I wouldn't be keen myself. You can always try it on a desktop first. things to remember is that a 17" screen is small these days, and boxing tends to require pixels and realestate (or you just need to really squint). I find 5 or 6 on a Full HD hard.
3. No. Maybe. Depends on whether you really want no interruption. You could end up waiting for the next GFX after that, and then the next CPU, and then the next GPU, and then the next SDD, and then the next memory gen.
4. I've ended up with multiple laptops. If your role supplying the Surface Book limits you so you can't use that during a meeting (presumably for notes or a demo/powerpoint), then I'd be inclined to go work laptop and separate play laptop. I have a reasonable, but not over the top Dell for work (actually using it now too. Actually I have two of them for work, one is the portable one and the other is my work desktop replacement. Then there is the gaming machine. Going through airports is not fun, but other than that it works out. The most annoying thing is keeping a few things in sync that I want to be.

[mrdsp]

1. Possibly. Laptops are far more likely to thermal throttle though. Also the CPU is weaker than the desktop counterpart, so YMMV.
2. 10 on 1920x1080. I wouldn't be keen myself. You can always try it on a desktop first. things to remember is that a 17" screen is small these days, and boxing tends to require pixels and realestate (or you just need to really squint). I find 5 or 6 on a Full HD hard.
3. No. Maybe. Depends on whether you really want no interruption. You could end up waiting for the next GFX after that, and then the next CPU, and then the next GPU, and then the next SDD, and then the next memory gen.
4. I've ended up with multiple laptops. If your role supplying the Surface Book limits you so you can't use that during a meeting (presumably for notes or a demo/powerpoint), then I'd be inclined to go work laptop and separate play laptop. I have a reasonable, but not over the top Dell for work (actually using it now too. Actually I have two of them for work, one is the portable one and the other is my work desktop replacement. Then there is the gaming machine. Going through airports is not fun, but other than that it works out. The most annoying thing is keeping a few things in sync that I want to be.

Thanks for the feedback, shares a lot of my thoughts.

I think the Razer Blade 14 or simalar (Alienware etc) should be OK with the stress, I don't really play with high settings so don't miss much if they are all on GFX quality 1. I have my main toon with max view distance and that's the only deviation from low gfx.

I think even the nVidia 1050 chip and i7 in there will out perform my current desktop by a large margin so even heat throttled should be ok.

So, I've taken your advice and run 10 accounts (not played) on a 13.5" Surface book Pro running - I'm pretty surprised and think it might be doable;

Capture.JPG

Might not be as comfortable as running dual screen but beggars can't be choosers if it works right?

Another option would be adding one of these to my purchase and using them for preview, although I'm now concerned about the GFX card!

Capture2.JPG

My only worry with the 8th Gen i7 is there is apparently a big performance increase on the mobile version, I'm also conscious though Razer is not like the tier 1 vendors and will take time before it adopts the new chipset, especially as their current model is less than a year old.

In realty I have many devices I can use for work so I suppose it can just be a play laptop, not sure about lugging a beast around after previously having an Alienware although admitidley this was a M9750 and in 2007!

[mbox_bob]

Cool screen attachment. Not seen one before. Got a link?

Covfefe Lake is rumoured to be sometime in 2nd half 2017 possibly 2018. On 14nm. As Kaby Lake was pushing 14nm to the limit, I'm not sure whether 14nm Coffee Lake will be much better, although it will have more cores in mainstream.

7nm is expected 2018. That would be the one worth waiting for IMO. You get the second gen architecture and a die shrink, unless they just use first gen arch get a die shrink out. Hard to say.

Of course the rumoured dates are also for desktop CPU, not mobile, which is typically 6-12months behind, plus they've just released Kaby Lake R in August, so the chances of Coffee Lake are much slimmer. On the odd occasion they have released simultaneously, and sometimes mobile even came first, but certainly the last few releases mobile has been months behind.
For my latest work book, I waited for the 7th Gen mobile CPU's to arrive, and it was several months behind the desktop release. There was also a "big performance increase", which turned out to be FA (more noticeable with games of course).

Only thing about current gen laptops is making sure you get an i7 4+4core rather than an i7 2+2core. They were a bit sneaky with that one, although most gaming laptops do run the 4+4.

[mrdsp]

Cool screen attachment. Not seen one before. Got a link?

Covfefe Lake is rumoured to be sometime in 2nd half 2017 possibly 2018. On 14nm. As Kaby Lake was pushing 14nm to the limit, I'm not sure whether 14nm Coffee Lake will be much better, although it will have more cores in mainstream.

7nm is expected 2018. That would be the one worth waiting for IMO. You get the second gen architecture and a die shrink, unless they just use first gen arch get a die shrink out. Hard to say.

Of course the rumoured dates are also for desktop CPU, not mobile, which is typically 6-12months behind, plus they've just released Kaby Lake R in August, so the chances of Coffee Lake are much slimmer. On the odd occasion they have released simultaneously, and sometimes mobile even came first, but certainly the last few releases mobile has been months behind.
For my latest work book, I waited for the 7th Gen mobile CPU's to arrive, and it was several months behind the desktop release. There was also a "big performance increase", which turned out to be FA (more noticeable with games of course).

Only thing about current gen laptops is making sure you get an i7 4+4core rather than an i7 2+2core. They were a bit sneaky with that one, although most gaming laptops do run the 4+4.

There are a few on the market, I've looked at this one as it's USB powered and DP (many are USB powered and use the USB to run the GFX). It's called Packed Pixels - https://www.packedpixels.com/

I know these things are never exact, but can I read into what your saying is the new gen Intel i7's are not around the intimidate corner (eg before Christmas)?
Start my new job in 2 weeks so thinking of using it as a reason to justify the new machine )

As you seem to know alot more than me, can I be cheeky and ask if you had a budget of around £2k ($2650) what would you go for?

Thanks,

Dan

[mbox_bob]

I wouldn't count of me being totally right with predictions of what Intel will do and when, but certainly, my guess is that Coffee Lake for mobile will be next year as Laptops are just beginning to be announced with Kaby Lake R.

As for laptops under £2k
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/173-...x-1070-dvdrw-w

If I had a slightly better budget of £2.5K
Slightly newer version with GSync.
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/173-...1tb-hdd-usb-ty

Not that I'm hard set on ASUS products, but out of the features they happened to come in at the right level.
I also prefer a 17" screen over 15", so you can get the same other features at about £200 less if you go down to a 15"

Also, for portability, yes, they are heavy to lug around, but as it is usually between home and a hotel room, and this is via car/plane/train, I'm not carrying it for miles on end. If it was a daily work machine, 3Kg starts to get rather tiresome after a mile, although backpacks are better than shoulder bags, but you end up with a bunch of extra peripherals, like PSU/Mouse/etc. For gaming, I have a decent gaming mouse.

I have a lightweight wireless mouse for the work notebook (logitech m525), which I am happy with. Also have an external KB for it too (K270), but I don't always take that, depends on what I'm doing for the day.

[mbox_bob]

For the Coffee Lake roadmaps, everything is pointing to desktop SKUS for October. http://wccftech.com/intel-coffee-lak...pus-pre-order/
http://wccftech.com/intel-coffee-lak...-chipset-leak/
I cant find anything on Mobile release, although the conjecture is that it will be next year for that.
The Kaby Lake R (i7 8xxxU) series do seem to be 4+4core, which is a good thing for mobile, although the GHz is dropped (note, this says Coffee Lake, but the Intel roadmaps have since been shown that this is Kaby Lake R).
http://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/10886...itro-5-laptop/ It is also not a CPU I'd be after in a gaming laptop. A lower power battery lasting work machine yes; gaming, I'd rather the higher GHz HK/HQ/Q series.

[mrdsp]

Thank you for the comprehensive reply's.

I've got a feeling I've got to make the decision as to performance vs portability and get the right mix. The bigger devices seem to have the better performance (35-40%) on the GFX card. I'm also imagining they have the thermals to cope a little better too.

Not sure if I'm now less certain what I want, but this is a good thing as means I need to do a little more research.

I really don't like the thought of getting the bigger systems as they look like boys toys in some ways but then I suppose if I'm only using it myself the fact it looks like a UFO is something only I need to put up with.

Thinking Asus ROG Zephyrus GX501 might be worth the extra investment (scan link) still only 15.6" but makes up with the 1080... not sure what the keyboard will look like in person though?

Edit: What is the bottleneck in terms of multi boxing 10 toons? Does the main strain hit the GFX or CPU or does it all need to equally come together?

[mbox_bob]

Bottlenecks are a combination of factors. This is exacerbated when there is one item in the setup which is underperforming on the load.

Just saying "what is the bottleneck" is a hard one to answer unless you actually have some data to look at. In this case it is just conjecture until someone actually 10 boxing on a laptop steps in.

Could you 10 box on the GX501? Sure. Do you need the 1080 to 10 box? Not really if you are prepared to accept lesser graphics. You've already indicated you are, so Would a 1070 work, sure. A 1060 probably would too. I wouldn't go lower than that as it helps to have Vram and grunt. As for the CPU. In a laptop, I'm going to say just get the best you can afford. You usually want 1 core per game, but you wont get a 10core laptop (not yet anyway), besides as you go up in games, you don't strictly need that ratio. A 4+4 should stretch for most things, and then it just comes down to GHz, which is pretty much the differentiator.

You've indicated you have better eyesight than me, so you can save £100 or so in the screen size, although I note your gx501 was £2700. I thought for what it is you get a slightly lighter laptop and smaller screen for more £££, over the 17" I suggested. Can't see it performing much better despite the "advanced cooling". My preference would be to go bigger because I wouldn't be trekking all over town with it (although those 24" monsters are not my scene - there's big, and then there is just stupid).

[mrdsp]

You are swinging me again! I'm multi boxing from a hotel room so like you mention it will spend its life in a backpack when being lugged around!

Do you have any knowledge of how the Alienware stuff is these days?

Alienware 17"
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 with 8GB GDDR5X
Intel® Core™ i7-7820HK (Quad-Core, 8MB Cache, Overclocking up to 4.4GHz )
16GB DDR4 at 2667MHz (2x8GB)
512GB PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)

Comes in at around about the same price?

Never been a fan of Asus but also have nothing to base that on other than working with cheap Asus laptops in the past!