iBuy Power laptops are widely known for gaming and their customization option i.e. you can customize your iBuy laptop online and then purchase it so Today we review the iBuy Power CZ-17 with i7 3610 Quad Core processor & GTX 675m GPU but you can customize it as you want when purchasing from their website.CZ-17 is worth more than a little attention. Sourcing a notebook from MSI instead of Clevo is actually a good start to differentiating your brand from other boutiques, but the real surprise is just how strong of a competitor this gaming notebook is. For the first time in some time, the old Alienware design is starting to really lose its lustre.GPU is fairly entry level for a gaming notebook, but that's not necessarily a bad thing since this is about the lowest price I've ever seen a GTX 580M/675M at. The Intel Core i7-3610QM is Intel's bottom rung quad core processor, but still able to turbo up to an impressive 3.1GHz on all four cores, 3.2GHz on two cores, and 3.3GHz on a single core. This is more than enough processing power for most tasks.Even if the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M existed essentially as a stopgap for NVIDIA to release the GTX 680M (review impending), it's still a very formidable GPU. The 675M is a rebranded GTX 580M, but ours is running at very slightly higher clocks than spec; 632MHz instead of 620MHz on the core clock, resulting in a corresponding 1265MHz on the CUDA cores instead of 1240MHz. It's not really a noticeable difference, but remember the 580M was basically last generation's top of the line mobile GPU and it still has a lot of fight left in it.As I mentioned, though, the rest of the system is less exciting. The lack of any SSD is going to cripple the base CZ-17 in our PCMark tests and certainly doesn't help it feel more responsive, while the 8GB of DDR3-1333 is standard if unexceptional. Users looking to upgrade RAM will have to remove the keyboard to do so or replace the existing DIMMs with 8GB sticks. At least iBuyPower includes a blu-ray combo drive standard, and the Killer Networks e2200 gigabit ethernet.cooling system on the Valkyrie CZ-17 is pretty respectable. It managed to keep the entire system running fairly cool without producing large amounts of noise. That's not to say I couldn't hear it, but the sound wasn't your typical whiny sound that is associated with smaller fans.The reason for this great cooling ability is due, in part, to the thickness of the system. This allows for a larger fan, which is quieter and a larger heatsink that can remove more heat. While the keyboard still warms up under a load,On the front of the system, we logged a maximum temperature of 110 degree Fahrenheit and a maximum of 105.5 degrees Fahrenheit on a location that is likely to be touched. For our friends using Celsius, those temperatures are roughly 43 degrees and 41 degrees, respectively. The palm rests stayed a cool 94.5 degrees Fahrenheit or 35 degrees Celsius.Moving around to the back side, temperatures were even lower. The maximum observed temperature was again 110 degrees Fahrenheit or 43 degrees Celsius. This was observed directly above the heat sink assembly. The rest of the system was around 85 degrees Fahrenheit or 30 degrees Celsius.The maximum observed GPU temperature was 97 degrees Celsius, not unreasonable considering I've seen desktop graphics cards that run hotter. Most GPUs can withstand temperatures in excess of 100 degrees Celsius (but don't aim for this temperature), so this isn't anything to be concerned about.Even in light of the cool underside temperatures, it's still recommended to use the system on a hard surface to allow adequate airflow to the heatsink. It's a good idea to avoid prolonged use of the system on your lap, though doing so is unlikely to cause issue if you avoid the heatsink location. You will also have a hard time gaming if you don't have a hard surface for your mouse.As previously stated, the cooling system is audible, though not necessarily annoyingly so. The sound it produces is more of a low whoosh, like a ceiling fan, as opposed to a whiny sound that can be produced by smaller systems. Overall, it shouldn't bother you too much during gaming and watching a movie, you won't be able to hear it at all as we tested.The CZ-17 desperately needs palm detection, and it doesn't have it. The pad immediately picks up even a light brush from the bottom of the palm and promptly transforms from staid icon of productivity to caffeine-fueled Jack Russell Terrier. This wreaks enthusiastic havoc on text and web forms.who learned proper wrist position from an overzealous Catholic nun will have no problems. Everyone else is in for a rough time. Mobile gamers almost always use a mouse for playing, but the CZ-17's trackpad drove me to full-time mouse usage. I couldn't leave the trackpad enabled.CZ-17's other victory is the display. MSI's CZ-17 appears to use the same panel as the Samsung Series 7 that we looked at last week, and it was one of the highlights of that laptop. While the measurements are solid if not exceptional, and we're still on a TN panel, it's nice to see a matte display on a gaming notebook after coping with the glossy display on my M17x R3 for so long. The M17x R3's glossy edge-to-edge surface photographs great and seems cool initially, but its reflective nature and penchant for picking up fingerprints and dirt makes it problematic over time.Well lets stop theory work and take a look at BenchMarks Results....
- Decent Performance.
- Good Design.
- Nice 1080p Display.
- Runs Cools.
- Track-pad is disappointing.
- Track-pad is at wrong position.
- GPU performance is not satisfactory.
