PC Specialist Vortex III HD7S 17.3″ Laptop Review (i7/7970m)

1. Introduction2. PC Specialist Vortex III HD7S (Packaging & Accessories)3. PC Specialist Vortex III HD7S (1)4. PC Specialist Vortex III HD7S (2)5. PC Specialist Vortex III HD7S (Super High Res Gallery)6. Installed Software, Hardware Configuration and Testing Methodology7. Synthetic: SiSoft Sandra8. Synthetic: PCMark 79. Synthetic: Cinebench R11.5 64 bit10. Synthetic: Unigine Heaven Benchmark11. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage12. Synthetic: 3DMark 1113. Synthetic: Hard Drive Performance14. Real World: BluRay Playback with PowerDVD 1115. Real World: MKV 1080p Performance16. Real World: Flash HD Performance17. Real World: Media Encoding18. Gaming: Total War Shogun 219. Gaming: Alien V Predator20. Gaming: Dirt Showdown21. Technical: Acoustics Performance22. Technical: Thermal Dynamics23. Technical: Battery Life24. Closing Thoughts25. View All Pages

If you are in the market for a new gaming laptop then today's review will be particularly interesting. UK system builder PC Specialist sent us their latest high end 17.3 inch Vortex III HD7S system complete with LED backlit screen, Solid State drive, Intel Core i7 processor, Killer 1102 wireless, BluRay drive and AMD HD7970M discrete graphics. The Vortex III HD7S also ships with Onkyo speakers and THX audio certification to enhance the multimedia experience.

Should you be shortlisting the Vortex III HD7S for your next mobile system?

PC Specialist are a certified Microsoft partner and an Intel Premier provider, focused on offering a variety a systems to cater to the widest possible audience. They have options to configure a laptop or desktop computer. You can also narrow down the systems to all in one PCs, mini pc's, home theater computers and home servers. If you fancy a tuned configuration they they also sell a variety of overclocked systems.

It is worth pointing out that not everyone has the time or inclination to build a computer from the ground up and that is when a high grade system builder comes into play. If you are in the market for a new laptop system then it is almost impossible for an end user to source all the components.

The Vortex III HD7S 17.3 inch laptop is built inside a Clevo chassis and on paper looks extremely impressive.

Specifications:

Screen: 17.3” Full HD LED Widescreen (1920 x 1080)
Processor: Intel Core i7-3610QM
Memory: 8GB Kingston Hyper-X 1600MHz SODIMM
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 7970
Boot Drive: 90GB Kingston Hyper-X 3K SSD
Storage Drive: 750GB WD Scorpio Blue HDD
Optical Drive: Sony BC-5550H Blu Ray ROM/DVD-RW

Wireless: Killer 1102 Wireless NIC
Keyboard: Backlit Keyboard
Operating System: Windows 7 64bit

Price: £1249.00 inc VAT & delivery

The asking price is certainly competitive, but can PC Specialist impress us with the build quality and component selection?

The PC Specialist Vortex III HD7S ships in a large, rather heavy cardboard box.

No fancy packaging inside, just another thick brown cardboard box inside for added protection.

The company have included optical media with drivers, as well as a cleaning cloth and literature on the product and a useful beginners guide for basic operation. Very useful for an inexperienced user.

The laptop uses an FSP power supply, a substantial brick which is required to deliver adequate power for the high specification components. This is a 100-240v model rated 19V/11.57A.

The Vortex III HD7S is protected between two thick foam pieces and wrapped underneath a protective film.

PC Specialist ship the Vortex III HD7S protected underneath various protective sheets.

These cover the lid, screen and various parts of the chassis. It actually took several minutes to carefully remove all of these. It is always a great first impression to notice that the company spent some time ensuring that none of the surfaces would be subjected to minor surface scratches during potentially rough shipping.

The Vortex III HD7S is not going to win any awards for radical styling although I like the functional, clean lines and businesslike appearance. I do admire some of the more flamboyant designs such as the Alienware M17X or M18X, however my personal desires would be more suited to the Dell Precision range. I think this Clevo chassis is very similar to a Dell Precision design, which is a plus point in my opinion.

Our sample was shipped with a glossy LED screen which delivered fantastic results. Colours are well saturated and fine text is accurately rendered. At full brightness the display is visible outdoors, although not in direct sunlight. Indoors it is perfectly usable around half brightness, improving battery life.

The panel delivered great results with high definition movies and when playing games, but I did find it highly reflective with even moderate ambient back lighting in the room. PC Specialist are aware that the glossy screen might not suit everyone and they offer a Matte screen for an extra £79.00.

The PC Specialist Vortex III HD7S is nicely finished although I found it was prone to attracting fingerprints. The image above right highlights the lovely textured surface visible only under direct light.

The left side of the laptop has 2 USB 3.0 ports, and an eSATA/USB combo port. Next to these is a IEEE 1394 port, GB LAN and multi card reader. The right side of the laptop has the optical drive, a single USB 2.0 port, and audio out connectors alongside a microphone port.

The rear of the machine is home to the power connector. Next to these are a full sized DVI port, HDMI port and DisplayPort. These cover all digital bases. On either side of these ports are two large cooling vents.

There are no cooling vents under the machine, so we can ascertain from the chassis design that warm air will be expelled out of the rear of the machine. This can be a beneficial design decision as it can reduce heat when the machine is positioned on a lap.

This Clevo chassis uses Onkyo speakers visible in various positions across the chassis. The onboard sound is actually very good with even a hint of bass response, although it goes without saying that dedicated standalone speakers are the best way to enjoy movies and games.

The machine uses a full sized keyboard with numpad on the right. It doesn't quite meet the same grade as the class leading keyboard on the Lenovo Thinkpad X1, but it is certainly above average.

This keyboard is backlit, which earns the Vortex III HD7S a bonus point. I do feel a backlit keyboard is a huge plus point, especially if you frequently work in poorly lit environments (like me). I wouldn't buy a laptop now without one.

Above the keyboard are a series of lights which indicate wireless, bluetooth and drive activity. There are also status indicators for caps lock and num lock. The power button is positioned far right.

The trackpad is smooth and tracks very well. There is a fingerprint reader between the two textured buttons, which work great. I would always tend to use a bluetooth mouse on the move when possible, but in a pinch this is perfectly useable.

A side view of the machine highlights the businessman appearance. Very functional and well built.

The battery is removed with two clip mechanisms. It is a chunky 76.96Mh, 5200 mAh model. We will analyse battery life later in the review.

There are three separate panels underneath the chassis which are easily removed. In the middle is a 90GB Kingston Solid State Drive utilised for the Windows 7 operating system. A larger 750GB mechanical drive is positioned to the side for storage duties. There are two cooling fans in this machine, one dedicated to the processor, and the other to the HD7970m discrete graphics card. The design utilises substantial copper heatpipes to enhance cooling.

We were also pleased to see PC Specialist didn't skimp on the memory configuration, using high grade Kingston 1,600 mhz DDR3 SO-DIMMS (2x4GB) complete with quality heatspreaders.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.

This is one of the cleanest system installs yet, with only barebones drivers and software installed. We always appreciate being able to install our own anti virus software for instance without having to immediately clean the registry.

Interesting to see GPU-Z preinstalled, although we aren't sure if this is because we have a review sample and PC Specialist were double checking the configuration before shipping.

The system scores very highly, 7.3 points overall. This tool just uses the lowest common denominator for the final score however, rather than the ‘average'. The Solid State Drive scores the maximum 7.9 points, which is a good indication for later benchmarks.

At the heart of the system is the latest generation Intel Core i7 3610QM processor, built on the 22nm engineering process. The mainboard is manufactured by Clevo, with an American Megatrends bios. There is 8GB of Kingston DDR3 memory installed, in a 2x4GB configuration. This memory is set to 1,600mhz with relatively tight 9-9-9-27 1T timings.

GPU-Z failed to pick up the details of the AMD HD7970m discrete graphics card, although we know this is Direct X11 compliant, with 1280 pixel shaders. The core clock runs at 850mhz and the memory at 1200mhz connected via a 256 bit memory interface. On paper it is a very powerful mobile graphics solution.

AMD's Catalyst Control center is the hub for adjusting the switchable graphics settings –  between Intel HD graphics and the HD7970m. We didn't run into issues during testing, although when first running a few programs CCC did ask a few times if we wanted to use power saving (Intel onboard) or high performance (AMD discrete). It saved the choices directly into the control panel, with the option to change later.

The choice of 90GB Solid State boot drive is inspired. It is a perfect size for maintaining a cost to usability ratio. Any smaller and you are likely to run out of space over time. With Windows 7 and all the applications installed, there is over 30 GB of space free. PC Specialist have also included a 750GB Hard drive for storage and backup purposes.

Comparison Systems (for specific synthetic test compares):
Asus G74SX-91013Z (featuring Core i7 2360QM)
Dell XPS 14z (featuring Core i7 2640M).
AlienWare M18X (featuring Core i7 2960XM Extreme Edition).
MSI CX640 (featuring Core i5 2410M).
Intel Core i7 2600k desktop processor.
Intel Core i5 2500k desktop processor.

Software:
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
PCMark 7
Cinebench 11.5 64 bit
FRAPS Professional
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
CrystalDiskMark
Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra 11
Cyberlink MediaEspresso
HQV Benchmark V2.
Alien V Predator.
Dirt Showdown.
Total War : Shogun 2.

Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Asus BluRay Drive
Lacie 730 Monitor (Image Quality testing)
Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter
Nikon D3X with R1C1 Kit (4 flashes), Nikon 24-70MM lens.

SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.

Sandra is a (girl’s) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.

It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.

Native ports for all major operating systems are available:

• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x86)
• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x64)
• Windows 2003/R2, 2008/R2* (IA64)
• Windows Mobile 5.x (ARM CE 5.01)
• Windows Mobile 6.x (ARM CE 5.02)

All major technologies are supported and taken advantage of:

• SMP – Multi-Processor
• MC – Multi-Core
• SMT/HT – Hyper-Threading
• MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE 4.1, SSE 4.2, AVX, FMA – Multi-Media instructions
• GPGPU, DirectX, OpenGL – Graphics
• NUMA – Non-Uniform Memory Access
• AMD64/EM64T/x64 – 64-bit extensions to x86
• IA64 – Intel* Itanium 64-bit

Fantastic results from the system, showing the benefits of adopting the latest Core i7 3610QM processor. Memory bandwidth is also very impressive, scoring over 21GB/s.

PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use.

This score is strong, although CCC used the onboard Intel graphics for the graphics section of this result. This is what can happen sometimes if the switchable profile defaults to Intel. You can manually override it.

CINEBENCH R11.5 64 Bit is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.

CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and Mac OS X). And best of all: It’s completely free.

A great result for the i7 3610QM, outperforming the reference clocked Core i5 2500k processor from the last generation.

Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset. A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand.

Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk.

Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable:

• Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render
• Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux
• Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems
• Multicore CPU support
• Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles)
• Powerful C++ API
• Comprehensive performance profiling system
• Flexible XML-based data structures

We use the following settings: 1920×1080 resolution. Anti Aliasing off. Anisotrophy 4, Tessellation normal. Shaders High. Stereo 3D disabled. API: Direct X 11.

The AMD HD7970m is a mobile powerhouse, delivering a stunning 58.3 average frame rate in this tessellation heavy Direct X 11 benchmark test.

Futuremark released 3DMark Vantage, on April 28, 2008. It is a benchmark based upon DirectX 10, and therefore will only run under Windows Vista (Service Pack 1 is stated as a requirement) and Windows 7. This is the first edition where the feature-restricted, free of charge version could not be used any number of times. 1280×1024 resolution was used with performance settings.

A score over 20,000 points for a laptop system in this Direct X 10 benchmark is extremely impressive, and rather rare.

3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading.

After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

If you want to learn more about this benchmark, or to buy it yourself, head over to this page.

Another phenomenal result for the Vortex III HD7S system, scoring 5,854 points. This would be a good score for a desktop gaming system.

A very important part of overall system responsiveness is down to hard drive performance. We use two of our favourite benchmark utilities Crystalmark X64 Edition and HD Tach to rate performance from the onboard SATA controller.

PCSpecialist have included a SATA 3 capable Kingston Solid State Drive in this system which really helps improve overall system responsiveness. The sequential read and write results are just under 500 MB/s, which is excellent. 4K QD32 performance is also very strong. The mechanical 750GB hard drive delivers over 100 MB/s which is as we would expect.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.

The ATTO Disk benchmark verifies the previous results, The Kingston SSD is extremely capable, peaking at 555 MB/s sequential read and 520 MB/s sequential write. The mechanical hard drive scores over 100 MB/s in both read and write tests.

Cyberlink PowerDVD 11 is one of the finest solutions for the BluRay experience on Windows and we found this software to work perfectly with this chipset. We tested with the new extended Bluray Disc of Lord Of The Rings.

The PC Specialist Vortex III HD7S has no problems handling 1080p bluray content, demanding only 9 percent CPU time. Plenty of CPU cycles left over to handle other tasks.

The Matroska Media container is a very popular, open standard Multimedia container which is usually found as .MKV files. It is a very popular format in enthusiast circles and can be played directly in Windows Media Player with suitable codecs installed. We use the Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP).

We ripped our BluRay disc of Sniper Reloaded to 1080P MKV and use Windows Media Player to playback the file.

MKV contained high definition files can place a lot of stress on a processor. Thankfully the quad core Intel i7 only requires around a third of the processing cycles to handle smooth delivery. Again, there is plenty of horsepower on tap to maintain a good multitasking environment.

Many people using this system will be enjoying Flash related content so we feel it is important to test with some of the more demanding material available freely online. Full hardware acceleration is enabled.

Flash video is another fairly demanding test, however the 7970m manages to offload a substantial portion, leaving the Core i7 with more time to handle other duties. The system was very responsive during playback.

CyberLink MediaEspresso 6 is the successor to CyberLink MediaShow Espresso 5.5. With its further optimized CPU/GPU-acceleration, MediaEspresso is an even faster way to convert not only your video but also your music and image files between a wide range of popular formats.

Now you can easily playback and display your favourite movies, songs and photos not just on your mobile phone, iPad, PSP, Xbox, or Youtube and Facebook channels but also on the newly launched iPhone 4. Compile, convert and enjoy images and songs on any of your computing devices and enhance your videos with CyberLink’s built-in TrueTheater Technology.

New and Improved Features

• Ultra Fast Media Conversion – With support from the Intel Core i-Series processor family, ATI Stream & NVIDIA CUDA, MediaEspresso’s Batch-Conversion function enables multiple files to be transcoded simultaneously.
• Smart Detect Technology – MediaEspresso 6 automatically detects the type of portable device connected to the PC and selects the best multimedia profile to begin the conversion without the need for user’s intervention.
• Direct Sync to Portable Devices – Video, audio and image files can be transferred in a few easy steps to mobile phones including those from Acer, BlackBerry, HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Palm, as well as Sony Walkman and PSP devices.
• Enhanced Video Quality – CyberLink TrueTheater Denoise and Lighting enables the enhancement of video quality through optical noise filters and automatic brightness adjustment.
• Video, Music and Image File Conversion – Convert not only videos to popular formats such as AVI, MPEG, MKV, H.264/AVC, and FLV at the click of a button, but also images such as JPEG and PNG and music files like WMA, MP3 and M4A.
• Online Sharing – Conversion to video formats used by popular social networking websites and a direct upload feature means posting videos to Facebook and YouTube has never been easier.

For our testing today we are converting a 3.3GB 720p MKV file (2h:12mins) to Apple Mp4 format for playback on a portable device. This is a common procedure for many people and will give a good indication of system power. We are using the newest version which has been optimised for Sandybridge processors.

Hardware acceleration is enabled.

A score of 12 minutes and 24 seconds is excellent and a class leading result for a laptop system. By comparison, an Intel ATOM processor will take around 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete the same task.

Shogun 2 is set in 16th-century feudal Japan, in the aftermath of the Ōnin War. The country is fractured into rival clans led by local warlords, each fighting for control. The player takes on the role of one of these warlords, with the goal of dominating other factions and claiming his rule over Japan. The standard edition of the game will feature a total of eight factions (plus a ninth faction for the tutorial), each with a unique starting position and different political and military strengths.

The Shogun game highlights Intel HD graphics in the control panel, even though the AMD HD7970m is active.

The system averaged 61 frames per second at these settings, which is impressive. The frame rate remained smooth throughout our test phase.

Aliens V Predator has proved to be a big seller since the release and Sega have taken the franchise into new territory after taking it from Sierra. AVP is a Direct X 11 supported title and delivers not only advanced shadow rendering but high quality tessellation for the cards on test today.

To test the cards we used a 1080p resolution with DX11, Texture Quality Very High, MSAA Samples 1, 16 af, ambient occulsion on, shadow complexity high, motion blur on. We use this with most of our graphics card testing so cards are comparable throughout reviews.

No problems powering this Direct X 11 engine, averaging 55 frames per second at these settings.

Dirt Showdown is the latest title in the franchise from Codemasters, based around the famous Colin McRae racing game series, although it no longer uses his name, since he passed away in 2007.

Above: These are intensive settings normally associated with a desktop gaming computer.

Fantastic results and perfectly playable. The image quality settings could be a reduced a little to improve the minimum frame rate a little, although I was perfectly happy with the overall smoothness of the engine.

We measure from a distance of around 2 foot from the chassis with our Extech digital sound level meter to mirror a real world situation.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

The system is almost silent under normal circumstances however when the HD7970m is tasked, the noise levels quickly rise. We recorded over 40 dBA when playing Dirt Showdown which is clearly audible. I found the noise levels similar to the Alienware M17x R4 which I reviewed a short while ago. This is the penalty to pay for such high end, powerful hardware placed in a laptop chassis.

The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 23c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this. Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by running Furmark and Cinebench together.

The Core i7 3610QM remains well within the tolerance thresholds. AMD’s HD7970M runs quite hot under extended load, although the aggressive fan system ensures that it is perfectly stable at all times. Again, similar results to the Alienware M17X R4.

We also attached 5 diodes to the underside of the machine to measure the load temperatures of various parts of the chassis. These were measured after 1 hour of intensive work.

The PC Specialist Vortex III forces the warm air out of the rear of the machine, sucking in cool air from all the other vents. It is an intensive air flow system which generates a high level of noise when under full load. The upside is that the underside of the chassis is slightly cooler than the Alienware M17X R4.

To test the battery today we put the machine through three sets of real world situations.

One as a media movie lover on the move, a person wanting to watch HD media on a train journey or bus with two thirds screen brightness (any less and quality suffers).

Secondly as a business man, using the machine for productivity with wireless enabled and balanced power settings with a mid way (around half) brightness setting.

Thirdly as a gamer on the move, with the AMD graphics card fully active and screen brightness up high.

Under light office use the system lasted 2 hours and 21 minutes, which is respectable for a performance based system. When loaded with more serious duties however the battery life was sucked dry in around 1 hour and 35 minutes. Gaming is best handled when plugged into the wall socket. AMD's HD7970m demands a lot from the battery.

The PC Specialist Vortex III HD7S has an almost identical specification to the Alienware M17X R4 which we reviewed in June. The Dell built machine is around £500 more expensive however.

There is no doubt that the Core i7 3610QM and AMD HD7970m is a stunning combination, capable of handling a myriad of tasks with ease, such as photo manipulation and video editing. It is also a gaming tour de force delivering performance results that we would expect from an enthusiast desktop system.

The Clevo chassis certainly won't win any style awards but it is well built and fully functional. While the full sized backlit keyboard is a pleasure to use, it falls a little short of the class leading ThinkPad X1 implementation. Onboard audio is impressive, and certainly useable in confined spaces.

The 17.3 inch LED screen is one of the primary selling points. It is bright and crystal clear with small text, delivering definitive colour rendition with only minor backlighting inconsistencies. Viewing angles are also reasonably wide and the glossy surface treatment makes it ideal for both gaming and high definition media viewing.

Playing devil's advocate I would prefer it to be slightly less glossy, as even moderate ambient environmental light can prove slightly distracting. PC Specialist do offer a matte screen for £79 extra, to suit a wider range of tastes. This is well worth considering.

The combination of 90GB Kingston Solid State drive and 750GB mechanical drive is an inspired choice. The system boots quickly and is always immediately responsive when multitasking under demanding conditions. We also appreciated the inclusion of high grade Kingston 1,600mhz DDR3 memory, complete with quality heatspreaders.

System performance is without reproach. The Intel Core i7 3610QM is perfectly usable for everyday, mediocre tasks, but capable of stepping up a level to deal with video encoding and 3D rendering when the need arises.

AMD's HD7970m is the most capable mobile graphics card currently available, with a level of performance previously unheard of in the mobile sector. This mind boggling frame rate prowess comes with a caveat however. It simply devours battery life and requires a cacophony of air flow to maintain stability.

Thankfully the Clevo chassis has a rear mounted cooling system which directs a sizable percentage of warm air outside to the rear of the chassis. Ideal for a gamer who uses the machine on their lap on a regular basis, although the sheer physical size of the chassis may prove unwieldy.

Technically this is an extremely noteworthy system, however it is not without fault.

Due to the high specification components, battery life is weak. The 76.96Mh battery struggles to maintain a 2 hour life time, unless the HD7970m is inactive. Alienware tried to counter this with a 90Mh battery, although system life was not significantly improved. It is a tradeoff that gamers will need to be willing to accept.

The noise emissions of the Vortex III HD7S range from almost silent to very loud. When handling general tasks such as surfing or office work, both fans spin very slowly. When hit with 100% CPU requirements, one of the fans spins up to compensate. This is clearly audible although acceptable.

While gaming, the secondary fan which cools the HD7970m also spins up and this is when the system produces the highest level of noise. In fairness this is par for the course when considering a desktop replacement fitted with a cutting edge mobile graphics solution.

PCSpecialist have managed to maintain a very competitive price point, with this machine retailing for £1,245.00 inc vat. We don't know any other system builder offering a similarly specified system at this price point. It is a MUST HAVE for a gamer who doesn't want to accept any compromises.

Pros:

• LED screen is fantastic.
• High grade Kingston SSD and DDR3 used.
• AMD HD7970m is a powerhouse.
• Intel Core i7 processor is very capable.
• Backlit keyboard.
• decent onboard audio.
• well built.
• competitively priced.
• rear mounted cooling system.

Cons:

• Can get very loud.
• weak battery life when AMD's HD7970m is called into action.
• appearance isn't the most exciting.
• not exactly portable.
• glossy screen is very reflective.

Kitguru says: The PC Specialist Vortex III HD7S is a gaming ‘tour de force' at a very competitive price point.

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