With its home base in Ontario, Canada, Eurocom offers a wide variety of notebook systems that span from very portable to very fast. The Panther 5D is the company's statement piece on the performance you cram into an ultra-high-end mobile platform with a 17.3", 120 Hz, stereoscopic-capable display.
Part of driving that large panel with its fast refresh involves two GPUs working in tandem. And keeping those graphics processors fed with data, not bottlenecked, requires a big, beefy CPU. Eurocom goes so far as to drop a desktop Core i7 in there. In order to ensure the potent configuration stays cool, the Panther 5D is built into a large chassis with cooling and power delivery that you've probably never seen before. The system also offers a ton of I/O options.
Truly, the Panther's focus is on the most breakneck speed possible in an enclosure that can still be called mobile. It's performance above all else.
This thing is aimed at content creators, gamers, coders; basically, anyone who needs the power of a workstation, but doesn't necessarily want to be tied down to the same desk every day can use it. Configure it with a Xeon processor and up to two Quadro graphics modules. Or go the route we did with a Core i7 and two GeForce GTX GPUs. In both cases, you end up with the alacrity of a desktop in a package you can pick up and move to your next job site or LAN party.
Building One Bad Mobile Monster
Most of Eurocom’s systems are highly customizable. The company prides itself on providing the highest-quality parts there are, and its online configurator often gives you the option to choose between specific brands. In the Panther 5D, you don’t just add a hard disk. Rather, you choose up to four mechanical or solid-state drives, and then decide if you want storage from Samsung, Crucial, Intel, Seagate, or Hitachi. From there, you can set the drives up in a variety of RAID arrays, or just as a JBOD setup. This flexibility extends to the display panel, networking hardware, power, optical storage, and so on.
When we ordered our review unit, Eurocom was offering the Panther 5D with up to eight-core Xeons and Sandy Bridge-E-based Core i7s. Now, you can go so far as to equip the laptop with 12-core Ivy Bridge-EP-based Xeons, yielding 24 logical cores in a 150 W processor package. In fact, the lowest-power processor you're able to drop into the Panther is Intel's Xeon E5-2620 v2, a six-core, 80 W model. With support for CPUs dissipating as much as three times as much thermal energy as the fastest mobile chips, Eurocom's system must employ one of the most elaborate cooling subsystems of any notebook we've reviewed. Its power demands have to be satisfied with two adapters.
The Panther 5D also has two slots for a pair of MXM-B graphics modules, and you're able to choose between several Quadro and GeForce GPUs. Our test system came with a pair of GeForce GTX 680M cards running in SLI mode. Although the system's graphics cards are specified to draw 100 W, each is supplied with up to 125. Each graphics module has its own independent cooling fan, as well as heat sinks for the processor and GDDR5 memory.
Just between the Core i7-3970X and GeForce GTX 680Ms in our review unit, we're looking at up to 350 W, extending to 400 W with some graphics overclocking. Add in the motherboard, storage, and display, and we're closer to 450 W. From a notebook. That's more than twice what we've seen from other so-called high-end laptops. If the Panther 5D can keep all of that hardware cool and fed with ample power, it should deliver performance in excess of anything we've seen.
Not surprisingly, this machine wasn't built to offer hours of battery life. Even at idle, the desktop-oriented CPU and platform controller hub draw a lot more power than their mobile counterparts. Even with a 78 Wh battery, the Panther only runs for about an hour away from a wall socket. It's more sensible to think of the system's battery as a built-in UPS instead.
Our sample is rounded out with 32 GB of Samsung DDR3 memory at 1600 MT/s. The primary storage target includes three Crucial 256 GB m4 drives in RAID 5 (Eurocom no longer offers the m4; it was replaced by the M500). The 120 Hz 17.3” screen is anti-reflective and includes a set of Nvidia's 3D Vision glasses. Sound is supplied by a Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2 solution. Wireless networking comes from the Atheros Killer series, which includes QoS software for prioritizing gaming traffic. We also got a Blu-ray writer, webcam, and surround sound speakers. Although the default adapter is a 300 W supply, our setup is naturally more power hungry, necessitating the dual-330 W option for an extra $300.
Given its beefy chassis, there's plenty of room for I/O on the Panther 5D. Display outputs include DisplayPort, HDMI, and DVI-D. The Panther 5D also packs three USB 3.0 ports, as well as two USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800, and e-SATA. You also get separate gold-plated jacks for headphones/mic/audio-in/audio-out, as well as a TOSLINK optical audio output. Finally, there is built-in GbE, ExpressCard connectivity, and SD storage compatibility.
Eurocom Panther 5D | |
|---|---|
Processor | Intel Core i7-3970X Extreme (Ivy Bridge), Six-Core, 3.5 GHz Base Frequency, 150 W TDP |
Platform | Intel X79 Express Chipset |
Memory | 32 GB Samsung Dual Channel DDR3 @ 1600 MT/s |
Graphics | 2 x (SLI) Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M, 4 GB GDDR5 |
Display | 3D 120 Hz 17.3" 16:9 matte LED-backlit LCD @ 1920x1080 |
Solid State Drives | 3 x 256 GB Crucial m4, RAID 5 |
Optical Disc Drive | Matsushita LightScribe MLT UJ260 Blu-ray Burner |
Wi-Fi | Atheros Communications AR938x Wireless Network Adapter 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Controller |
Ethernet | 10/100/1000 Mb/s Base-TX Ethernet LAN (Intel 82579V) |
Audio | Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2 audio,THX TruStudio Pro, Five Internal Speakers + One Subwoofer. |
Ports | 3 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, HDMI v1.4, DisplayPort, DVI-D, Headphone, Mic, Line-in, Line-out, Optical Digital Out, FireWire 800 (1394b), e-SATA |
Miscellaneous | Integrated Webcam & Mic, SD (XC/HC)/MMC Card Reader, Kensington Security Slot, UPEK TouchStrip Fingerprint Sensor, ExpressCard/34 or /54 slot |
Battery & AC Adapter | Removable Polymer Li-Ion; 78.44 Wh Battery,2 x 330 Watt Power Adapters |
Size & Weight | 419 x 286 x 57.7-62.1 mm / 16.76 x 11.44 x 2.31-2.48 inches / 12.1 lbs (Weight) |
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro (64-bit), Options for no OS and other Operating Systems available |
Warranty | One Year Return to Depot / One Year Tech Support Standard. |
Price | Starting at $3300, $6638.56 As-Configured |
Eurocom likes to call the Panther 5D a mobile supercomputer. That's a bold statement about a design full of top-tier parts, intended to outrun every other mobile machine available. It's time to put the company's claim to the test.
The overall layout of the Panther 5D is fairly standard for a notebook computer. You quickly notice that it is a large system, but the size and weight are manageable if you are used to 17” notebooks. There are tons of ports along both sides of the system. Parts quality and construction are excellent. Overall polish is great as well.
With its lid closed, the Panther 5D is thicker than most systems, but easily fits in a large Targus backpack. The machine is easy to pick up and move around.
On the front-left, we find the ExpressCard and SD combo card slots.
Power indicators grace the machine's front-right.
Analog and digital audio I/O, two USB 2.0 ports, the subwoofer, and a Kensington lock port line the Panther 5D's right side.
Taking a closer look at the audio I/O, we find four channels of analog output, a mic input, and a headphone jack. There's also the TOSLINK port for up to six channels of digital output.
The back of the Panther 5D is dominated by ventilation. In the middle, there's the AC adapter plug.
Turning the machine to its left side reveals DVI-D display output, GbE, HDMI output, DisplayPort, USB 3.0, a USB 3.0/eSATA combo port, FireWire 800, and another USB 3.0 port. Under the USB ports there's a Blu-ray writer.
The lid on the Panther 5D is beveled with a brushed metallic finish. In the center is a glass-like strip with Eurocom's logo inset in the middle. The screen hinges are beefy and strong.
This is the screen opened as far as it'll go.
And here's the system closed, from the back. It's large, but is still very professional-looking.
The bottom of the Panther 5D shows off a clear focus on system cooling. The four feet at the corners are oversized, keeping the bottom of the chassis clear of whatever surface it sits on. Large circular intakes for CPU and GPU cooling dominate the bottom of the enclosure. The closed compartment to the bottom-left is the battery. The main hard drive bay is in the bottom-middle, and it's also well-ventilated.
The battery is secured by three screws. Again, it helps to think of this power source as a UPS, rather than a true enabler of mobile computing. Screwing the battery in, rather than clipping it, minimizes the chance it'd get removed accidentally.
A 78.44 Wh rating defines the battery's energy, while 5300 mAh represents its charge capacity.
There's a third drive bay under the battery.
Power can be supplied to the Panther 5D in different ways. As mentioned, Eurocom's default configuration is a single 300 W AC adapter. However, as you add higher-end hardware to the machine, it can quickly be made to need more than that. Our sample came with a pair of 330 W power supplies, each connected through a converter box that is in turn attached to the notebook. Of course, this is more complex than most other laptops, but it's the only way to get 660 W into the Panther 5D.
Each adapter is a 330 W Delta unit.
Compared to the 240 W Flextronic power adapters common on many Dell and Alienware machines, the 330 W version on the left is almost twice as thick.
At least its footprint is roughly the same.
Each 330 W adapter plugs into the converter box. The status of each attached power supply is displayed via LEDs on the top of the converter box.
This is what the converter box looks like with both power adapters connected.
And here are the two plugs for the adapters on the converter.
The converter feeds into the chassis' single input.
Here is how the connection to the machine usually looks. With all of the fans for the Panther 5D exhausting to the rear of the unit, it is best to keep the area behind the system clear.
The Panther 5D’s keyboard and trackpad layout is typical of most laptops. The keyboard includes a full number pad. The touchpad is close to centered with the keyboard, and sits slightly to the left on the palm rest.
The palm rest itself is clad in the same brushed metal as the exterior cover, giving it a sturdy feel.
Keys on the keyboard feature a rubberized texture, and convey excellent tactile feedback when they're pressed. It's easy to type quickly and accurately. This is probably inevitable, given the notebook's size and substance, but the Panther 5D's keyboard is one of the best I've used.
The Panther 5D's three-button touchpad has an integrated UPEK TouchStrip fingerprint reader. Its touchpad is inset into the metal palmrest with a blue back-lit strip, and it has a textured surface that effectively supports multi-gesture and scrolling functions.
There's a very large power button to the right of the keyboard.
Here's a close-up of the brushed metal palmrest.
Above the keyboard, you'll find touch sensors for adjusting (even muting) the volume, controlling wireless networking, and activating the webcam. Each touch sensor also shows the status of that function.
An IR emitter just below the screen is used to sync the Panther 5D's 120 Hz display with Nvidia's 3D Vision glasses.
The glasses have their own built-in IR receiver. I never lost sync with the Panther 5D unless I was trying to.
This is how everything looks together.
We have access to several other 17” notebooks for comparison. One of our favorites is the original Alienware R17x, which has gone through several iterations and is consequently widely-used. It is a prime example of a large notebook built exclusively for high-end gaming. We do not use the Alienware for design or style comparisons; it simply a large gaming machine that people will have likely seen in real life. We are using the R17x to help people get an idea of how large the system being reviewed is.
The Alienware has a slightly smaller footprint than Eurocom's Panther 5D.
The Panther 5D is thicker than the Alienware, too. I never thought I would be able to call the original R17x relatively thin.
Our second comparison system is Dell's M6700 Covet mobile workstation. Like the Panther 5D, the M6700 is a mobile workstation with a 17” chassis. The Dell has a single graphics module and a mobile quad-core processor.
Eurocom's Panther 5D has a slightly larger footprint than the more conventional Dell mobile workstation.
The keyboards and touchpads are similar sizes.
Again, Eurocom's Panther is a good bit thicker than the M6700.
The whole idea behind Eurocom's Panther 5D is uncompromising performance. As a guitarist, I understand this idea in terms of uncompromised tone. There are many guitars that are less heavy and bulky than a Gibson Les Paul, but for me, the sound of the guitar is worth the extra effort required to play it for a couple of hours during a show. To many, the performance is all that matters.
I have two reasons for including size comparisons between the Panther 5D and guitars. First, it may be easier to see one of the these guitars in person than it would be to run across a Eurocom Panther or one of the comparison notebooks. Second, we see parallels between not sacrificing performance for something a little easier to carry around. As a bonus, comparing guitars to a notebook computer is a weird enough idea to have fun with.
We are not trying to endorse or recommend any of these guitars. They are simply the tools that the author owns and uses to make music.
Compared to a Fender Nashville American B-Bender Tele, the Panther 5D is a little thicker. The metal B-Bender system adds extra weight to the Tele, but with that weight comes new options for playing music.
With Eurocom's notebook placed next to a late 60s Gibson Les Paul Custom, the thickness is close to the same. The weight of the guitar is close to the Panther 5D.
The thickness of a mid 90s Gibson Les Paul Standard body looks very close to the Panther 5D. Once you add the hardware though, the guitar is thicker.
Moving up to a Mid 80s Gibson ES-175, the Panther 5D is finally dwarfed by a larger guitar. The ES-175 is subject to several trade-offs like a large body and susceptibility to feedback at high volumes. Then again, the ES-175 can produce some amazing tones that are worth the effort.
The Panther 5D ships from Eurocom with very little bundled software, which we typically like. Almost everything that's installed supports the machine's hardware components. The AuthenTec TrueSuite handles fingerswipe logins and encryption. The BisonCam software is used by the Panther’s webcam. The Realtek and Sound Blaster software controls the Panther’s audio options. The Bigfoot Killer Network manager allows for in-depth management of the Atheros wireless card.
Even though the Panther 5D comes with ArcSoft's TotalMedia Extreme entertainment software, it was not preinstalled. Eurocom leaves it up to you whether you want add-ons or not.
The Atheros Killer Network Manager allows network traffic to be prioritized for gaming or video streaming.
The Sound Blaster software gives you lots of control over the Panther 5D's audio options.
The THX TruStudio Pro software, which is part of Creative's suite, facilitates additional options for home theater-oriented audio processing.
Creative's Sound Blaster Console enables interesting options for altering how you sound over a microphone.
The system also includes Rapture3D software to help control game audio. Similar functionality can also be found in the Sound Blaster software.
Configuration of audio inputs and outputs is done in the Realtek HD Audio Manager.
We start with the Panther 5D flipped upside down. We've established that the bottom-left compartment houses the battery. The bottom-center section, which is ventilated, covers one hard drive cage. And the upper two-thirds of the system is covered by a large panel with four fan intakes.
Yanking the battery necessitates removing those slotted screws. A coin will suffice in the field. A screwdriver is your best bet in the lab.
We run across the Panther 5D's first SSD under the system's battery.
Once the other drive compartment's cover is off, we see the cage holding SSDs two and three.
Here is a closer look at the hard drive cover. You can see that it's well-ventilated. Also note the bar on the left side. It holds the hard drive ribbon connector firmly in place when the cover is installed.
Now we're above the system with its battery and storage cover removed. The aforementioned ribbon connector is clearly visible.
We have to remove four screws to free the hard drive cage. The quartet of fasteners is decoupled from the chassis by rubber grommets to help isolate mechanical disks you might install from physical shock.
This is the cage, removed. Our Panther 5D came with two drives installed, and plenty of space between them. You shouldn't have any trouble with mechanical storage running hot.
Moving on to the third drive under the battery, it's mounted in a sled that also employs rubber mounts to help cushion the drive. The sled is secured through slots in the chassis. It then slides forward to lock into place when there's a drive installed. In case that mechanism isn't enough, four screws reinforce the configuration.
Here is another look at the rubber-lined mounts.
This is a shot of the vacant drive bay. We have the cage out and to the side.
Opening up the larger flap, we see extensive shielding and reinforcement. We also get our first glimpse at the real extent of the cooling necessary to make a 150 W CPU and two 100 W GPUs work in a mobile platform.
This is how the fans and heat sinks line up with the rear exhaust vents.
Peering in from the front corner, we see the hard drive connector under the battery's mount.
These are the two fans and corresponding heat sinks that make up Eurocom's CPU cooler.
And here are the CPU coolers from above.
Moving on, this is one of the GPU fans covering a heat sink from above.
With all of the fans unfastened, there's a veritable copper mine hidden inside the Panther 5D. The size difference between the normal CPU fan (center-right) and the "full-power" CPU fan (far-right) is interesting. When that second fan spins up, you know it.
Looking in from the front, we see the CPU heat sink on the left and both GPU heat sinks on the right. There's just so much copper.
These are the two GPU thermal solutions from above. That heat pipe and sink on the bottom-left cover Intel's X79 Express PCH.
If you look closely from the back of the Panther 5D, you can see the heat sinks through the plastic grating.
A closer look at one of the graphics module heat sinks reveals two heat pipes over the GPU and one over its GDDR5 memory.
This is a more detailed shot of the CPU heat sink on the right.
And here's the one on the left. Four heat pipes connect them. Curved chassis dividers direct air to the back of the machine.
As you know, the X79 platform supports four channels of memory. Two of this system's four slots can be found just under the outer CPU fan.
The CPU fans have small foam rings around their intakes, which help ensure that all of the air going through the cooling system is fresh, rather than recirculated from inside the chassis.
Let's get the fans back in place, though.
Now the Panther 5D's thickness makes a lot more sense!
Synthetic and game tests are performed on the MSI GT70 Dragon Edition 2, Eurocom Panther 5D, and Alienware M18x. The Dragon uses Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 780M mobile GPU, while the M18x employs the previous-generation GTX 680M. Eurocom's Panther 5D employs a desktop processor and a pair of GeForce GTX 680M modules running in SLI. All comparison machines utilize DDR3 or DDR3L-1600 RAM, and their CPUs and GPUs run at factory clock rates. The MSI GT70 Dragon Edition 2 uses a GPU clock rate 75 MHz higher than stock and 500 MT/s-higher memory.
| Alienware M18x | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-3940XM (Ivy Bridge) Quad-Core @ 3.0 GHz, 55 W TDP |
| Platform | Intel HM77 Express |
| Memory | 8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 @ 1600 MT/s |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M 2 GB GDDR5 |
| Storage | 180 GB Intel SSD 520 + 500 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive |
| Eurocom Panther 5D | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-3970X Extreme (Ivy Bridge) Six-Core, 3.5 GHz Base Frequency, 150 W TDP |
| Platform | Intel X79 Express Chipset |
| Memory | 32 GB Dual Channel DDR3 @ 1600 MT/s |
| Graphics | 2 x (SLI) Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M, 4 GB GDDR5 |
| Storage | 3 x 256 GB Crucial m4, RAID 5 |
The productivity-oriented benchmarks are run on comparison machines with Intel's Core i7-3940XM (Ivy Bridge) and Core i7-4930MX (Haswell) quad-core processors. The -3940XM is in Dell's Precision M6700 Covet Edition. The -4930MX is in MSI's GT70 Dragon Edition 2, which is slightly overclocked to let the CPU run at 4.1 GHz in its most aggressive Turbo Boost mode.
All of these tests are run on an optimized image of Windows 8 loaded on a 180 GB Intel SSD 520 drive that we install ourselves. Compression tests are run on a RAM drive to minimize the impact of storage hardware on each machine.
| Dell Precision M6700 Covet Edition | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-3940XM (Ivy Bridge) Quad-Core, 3 GHz Base Frequency, 55 W TDP |
| Platform | Intel QM77 Express |
| Memory | 8 GB DDR3 @ 1600 MT/s, Dual-Channel |
| Graphics | Nvidia Quadro K5000M |
| MSI GT70 Dragon Edition 2 | |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-4930MX (Haswell), Quad-Core, 3 GHz Base Frequency, 4.1 GHz overclock, 57 W TDP |
| Platform | Intel HM87 Express Chipset |
| Memory | 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L @ 1600 MT/s |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M, 4 GB GDDR5, Optimus Switchable Graphics Technology |
| Storage | 3 x 128 GB SanDisk SDSA5SF2-128G mSATA, RAID 0 (Primary System Drive) |
Benchmark Suite
| Synthetic | |
|---|---|
| Futuremark 3DMark 11 | Version 1.0.3.0, Benchmark Only |
| Futuremark 3DMark Vantage | Version 1.1.2, Benchmark Only |
| Productivity | |
| File Compression | 7-Zip Version 9.28: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to 7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" WinRAR Version 4.2: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" WinZip Version 17.0 Pro: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
| Photoshop CS6 | Version 13 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Premiere Pro CS6 | Version 6.0.0.0, 6.61 GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality |
| Maxon Cinebench | Version 11.5 Build CB25720DEMO CPU Test, Single- and Multi-Threaded |
| HandBrake CLI | Version 0.98: Video From Canon EOS 7D (1920x1080, 25 FPS) 1 Minute 22 Seconds Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile) |
| iTunes | Version 11.0.2.23: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 52 min, convert .wav to .m4a audio format |
| LAME | Version 11.0.2.26: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert .wav to .mp3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
| Gaming | |
| Battlefield 3 | Campaign Mode, "Going Hunting" Mission 90-Second Fraps Test Set 1: Ultra Quality Settings Test Set 2: High Quality Settings Test Set 3: Medium Quality Settings |
| BioShock Infinite | Built-In Benchmark Utility @ 1920x1080 Test Set 1: Ultra, DirectX 11, DDOF Test Set 2: Ultra, DirectX 11 Test Set 3: Very High Test Set 4: High |
| Call Of Duty: Black Ops II | Campaign Mode, "Celerium" Mission 2-Minute Fraps Test Set 1: Extra Quality, High Filtering, 8x MSAA, Ambient Occlusion, High Depth of Field Test Set 2: High Quality, Medium Filtering, 2x MSAA, Ambient Occlusion, Medium Depth of Field Test Set 3: Normal Texture Quality, Low Texture Filtering, Low Depth of Field |
| Crysis 3 | Test Set 1: Very High Details, Very High Textures, Motion Blur Medium, Lens Flare Enabled, 2x SMAA, 16x AF Test Set 2: High Detail, High Textures, Motion Blur Low, Lens Flare Enabled, 2x SMAA, 8x AF Test Set 3: Low Detail, Medium Textures, Motion Blur And Lens Flare Disabled, No AA, 4x AF |
| DiRT: Showdown | Built-in Benchmark Test Set 1: Ultra Quality Settings Test Set 2: High Quality Settings Test Set 3: Medium Quality Settings |
| Hitman: Absolution | Built-in Benchmark Test Set 1: Ultra Quality Settings Test Set 2: High Quality Settings Test Set 3: Medium Quality Settings |
| Sniper Elite V2 | Built-in Benchmark Test Set 1: Ultra Quality Preset Test Set 2: High Quality Preset Test Set 3: Medium Quality Preset Test Set 4: Low Quality Preset |
| Tomb Raider | Built-In Benchmark @ 1920x1080 Test Set 1: Ultimate Test Set 2: Ultra Test Set 3: High Test Set 4: Normal |
| Total War: Shogun 2 | Built-in Benchmark Test Set 1: High Graphics @ 1920x1080, FXAA Test Set 2: Very High Preset @ 1920x1080 Test Set 3: Balanced Graphics @ 1280x720 |
| World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria | Honeydew Village, Between Guards In The Rain, 60-Second Fraps Test Set 1: Ultra Preset Test Set 2: High Preset Test Set 3: Medium Preset |
| Storage | |
| CrystalDiskMark | Version 3.0.2 |
| Display | |
| Datacolor Spyder4 Elite | Brightness, Contrast, White Point, Luminance Uniformity, Color Uniformity, Color Gamut, Color Accuracy, Monitor Rating |
A Note on FPS
We realize that playable frame rates can be debated on a per-game and per-vendor basis, which is why I'm simply listing averages. As long as we're getting smooth gameplay, I tend to choose higher-quality visuals over higher frame rates. After all, we want to see all of the work that game designers put into making a game visually appealing. Typically, we find that 20 FPS is the absolute minimum we’re willing to call acceptable, with 30 FPS a more ideal minimum. In multi-player games, we favor higher frame rates and low lag.
Display Testing Methodology
Display testing and calibration is carried out using Datacolor’s Spyder4Elite calibration system, which we walked through in Display Calibration 101: Step-By-Step With Datacolor's Spyder4Elite. The system consists of a full-spectrum, seven-color sensor. All of the measurements and charts are generated by the Spyder4Elite software. The only changes are a quick crop to make the images easier to read.
With the latest version of 3DMark now available, 3DMark 11 and Vantage are showing their age more than ever. However, they still offer unique insights into system performance, allowing us to make comparisons to older hardware you might still own.

The pair of GeForce GTX 680Ms in SLI is much faster than Nvidia’s current flagship mobile graphics processor. Improvements to the GeForce GTX 780M are evident, though. Performance is up roughly 25% compared to the single 680M in Alienware's machine.
Looking at Physics performance, the desktop processor in Eurocom's Panther 5D is 20% faster than both mobile CPUs. Intel's newer -4930MX comes out ahead of the -3940XM, but the difference is only around 7%.

As expected, Eurocom's Panther 5D registers the highest CPU score. But the difference between two GeForce GTX 680Ms in SLI and one 780 is only about 16%, and that's smaller than we expected.
3DMark Vantage lowers the number of advanced rendering features, allowing the GeForce GTX 780M to pull further ahead in the GPU test compared to one 680M. An issue with the MSI Dragon Edition 2’s CPU score bottlenecks that system's overall outcome.

The six-core Core i7-3970X desktop processor is faster than the mobile platforms in threaded tests. But single-threaded benchmarks leave all three CPUs mostly sitting idle. The Panther 5D's Sandy Bridge-E architecture typically comes out on top, but not by much. The Ivy Bridge-based Core i7 in Dell's M6700 comes much closer to the GT70's Core i7-4930MX than we expected. Then again, each Extreme Edition processor has the same base and maximum Turbo Boost clock rates. Small design tweaks are really all that separate them.
Our Premeire Pro CS6 test shows how quickly each CPU can encode an H.264-based 720p video file.

Given tons of cache, a clock rate advantage with all of its cores fully loaded, and a lot more thermal headroom, the six-core desktop CPU in Eurocom's Panther 5D destroys both mobile quad-core processors.
Demonstrating a difference of roughly 1%, Dell's Precision M6700 is once again very close to the speed of MSI's Dragon. This is essentially the difference between Ivy Bridge and Haswell.

As with Premiere Pro, IPC and clock rate both play a role in defining the performance seen in Photoshop. In this threaded workload, the Panther 5D is once again significantly faster than either mobile processor.
Photoshop CS6 only gives us two seconds between the Ivy Bridge- and Haswell-based mobile quad-core chips. That'd hardly be a good reason to upgrade.

The Panther 5D comes out on top once again in our well-threaded HandBrake benchmark. The -3940XM is a little further behind the Core i7-4930MX, and it’s possible that the shorter test allows the GT70's Haswell-based processor to hit a higher Turbo Boost frequency.
Moving on to Cinebench, the multi-core result reflects all four cores fully taxed, while the single-core number allows each processor to hit its maximum Turbo Boost clock rate.

A high 4.1 GHz Turbo Boost ceiling lets the MSI GT70's Core i7-4930MX to outperform everything else. It's 4% faster than the -3940XM in the M6700 and 5% faster than the Panther 5D’s i7-3970X desktop CPU, which is based on a two-generation-old architecture.
Swapping over to Cinebench’s multi-core metric, the Panther 5D puts its six cores to use and jumps far ahead. The -4930MX is fastest by virtue of its Haswell architecture, but not by much. A 4% advantage in single-core processing falls to just over 2% in the multi-core test.
Further exploring single-threaded performance, we turn our attention to the iTunes benchmark.

We see clear gains from the GT70's overclocked -4930MX. Results reflect clock rate differences and the small IPC throughput advantage of Haswell over Ivy Bridge.
The Panther 5D’s 5 idle cores do little to help it compete against the pair of mobile processors. This test is all about single-core Turbo Boost and architectural efficiency.

Single-threaded performance in the LAME audio encoding test further highlights the architectural advantage that MSI's GT70 Dragon Edition 2 holds over our comparison machines. Once again, results are right in line with the small tweaks and a slight Turbo Boost overclock.
The Panther 5D's single-threaded performance could quickly move ahead of the two mobile processors with overclocking. Its Core i7-3970X is unlocked, and the included power adapters certainly have headroom to spare. Eurocom doesn't ship its setup overclocked though, so we left the frequencies as we found them.
Productivity-oriented apps demonstrate the benefit of two additional CPU cores, a beefy shared L3 cache, and a desktop-oriented power ceiling, specifically in threaded workloads. The Panther 5D is easily faster than any notebook based on a mobile Intel processor. Being able to render 3D objects 28.5% and encode video 25% faster means that you can complete a day’s work in less than six hours instead of eight. You can then spend those two hours getting even more done. Professionals paid per project certainly understand how increased productivity can quickly cover the cost of a pricey machine like the Panther.
Battlefield 3
Benchmark settings for Battlefield 3 are the same as those in Battlefield 3 Performance: 30+ Graphics Cards, Benchmarked.

The single-player component of Battlefield 3 shows that the two GeForce GTX 680Ms in Eurocom's Panther 5D easily outperform the other mobile machines. MSI's GT70 Dragon Edition 2, with its GeForce GTX 780M, is still capable of excellent performance with maxed-out settings, as is the Alienware machine's single GeForce GTX 680M. But the scaling of SLI is such that you can easily enjoy this title, maxed out, at the panel's native resolution. That bodes well for doing the same in Battlefield 4, also at Ultra settings.

There's no real reason to do this, aside from thoroughness, but taking the detail settings down to High quality yields a slight increase in average frame rates.

By the time we hit this game's Medium quality preset, the Panther 5D slams into Battlefield's 200 FPS ceiling at the lowest tested resolution. The single GeForce GTX 780M in MSI's GT70 almost gets there, topping out at 190 FPS.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Benchmark settings for Call of Duty: Black Ops II are the same as those in Call Of Duty: Black Ops II Graphics Performance, Benchmarked.

Once again, the Panther 5D delivers the fastest performance, and there's no real need to go any further. A built-in SLI profile makes it easy to hit almost 100 FPS on average at 1920x1080 using the game's most demanding quality settings.
The GT70 Dragon Edition 2 has no problems with performance in Black Ops II. The GK104-based 780M is notably faster the 680M, which centers on the same GPU, but includes fewer active CUDA cores.

Using Medium-quality details, the platform starts to impede measured frame rates.

Stepping down to Low details, a processor bottleneck limits the performance of Nvidia's most modern mobile graphics chips. The Eurocom system's six-core desktop-class processor hits its wall just over 180 FPS.
Crysis 3

All three of these systems can play Crysis, but some manage the feat better than others. Eurocom's configuration doesn't seem to scale quite as well as we've seen two GK104 GPUs perform in the past, but still manages to drive the highest frame rates with a pair of GeForce GTX 680Ms.
Dropping below 60 FPS means that 3D Vision isn't going to look as good as it could, since the effective frame rate will fall below 30 FPS. While the glasses can be used at 40 Hz, that's not optimal.
In comparison, one GeForce GTX 780M approaches the two 680Ms at 1920x1080, averaging almost 40 FPS. 
Dropping back to the High detail preset suggests that these platforms might be more processor-bound than we thought. At 1600x900 and 1366x768, the two fastest setups demonstrate identical frame rates.

Shifting down another notch, all three machines are completely platform-bound. The six-core desktop processor in the Eurocom Panther allows for almost 30% higher FPS. The Core i7-3940XM and -4930MX are essentially even in this situation.
DiRT: Showdown
DiRT: Showdown's built-in benchmark is very tough on both the CPU and GPU. It also exacted the highest continuous AC load of any game drawing 433 W from the wall on Eurocom's Panther.

Even with all of the quality settings maxed out, each notebook delivers playable average frame rates. Eurocom's two GeForce GTX 680Ms in SLI maintain the top position, but again the benefit of two cards isn't as pronounced next to the 780M's compelling performance. In fact, the GeForce GTX 780M enjoys a nice 20% improvement over a single GeForce GTX 680M.

We know DiRT to be both CPU- and memory-bound, so as we start relaxing the graphics load, those bottlenecks begin showing up.

At Medium quality settings, Eurocom's machine is completely platform-bound. MSI's GT70 exhibits the same symptoms, but still manages to stay a few FPS ahead of Alienware's system on average.
Hitman: Absolution
Hitman: Absolution is the opposite of Sniper Elite V2 when it comes to resource utilization. In the game's built-in benchmark, thousands of NPCs are animated throughout the scene. The GPU may end up waiting for the CPU to finish.

In the Ultra quality benchmark, both the MSI and Eurocom machines are CPU-limited. Alienware's sample trails behind, but is able to pull slightly ahead of MSI at 1366x768.
Since we tested the Panther 5D, Nvidia has made driver improvements to Hitman: Absolution's performance. The notebook should be able to cross the 60 FPS threshold, though it's likely that Nvidia will never show spectacularly in this AMD-sponsored title.

Taking the quality down a notch improves the Panther 5D and Alienware scores, but not as much for MSI's GT70. The Alienware system, with its single GeForce GTX 680M and Core i7-3940XM, manages to pull ahead of both comparison machines at 1366x768.

At Medium quality, the Alienware pulls ahead of MSI in all screen resolutions, and ahead of the Eurocom in two of them. This is largely academic, since no one with any of these systems would be playing at reduced quality or at a resolution of 1366x768.
Sniper Elite V2
The built-in benchmark for Sniper Elite V2 places a light load on our CPUs, but serves up a punishing GPU workload. These benchmarks are a good way to demonstrate the graphics capabilities of each machine.

With the game maxed-out at the Ultra quality preset, each card delivers playable frame rates at every setting. Since Eurocom's Panther 5D achieves more than twice the speed of a single GeForce GTX 680 (in Alienware's machine), the desktop-class CPU must be conferring some benefit to the final result.

Scaling back to the High quality preset changes very little about the placing of these three mobile platforms.

Dropping to Medium quality allows each configuration to speed up further, though only Alienware's M18x R2 benefits. The other platforms were already averaging more than 60 FPS.

Although the benchmark results at Low quality settings are a little higher, the Panther 5D was already playable at the highest detail settings. That's where you'd find us playing this game.
Tomb Raider

The built-in benchmark for Tomb Raider shows that the Eurocom Panther 5D leverages SLI to remain far ahead at every resolution. Alienware's single GeForce GTX 680M falls shy of an average 30 FPS at the Ultimate preset; you'd probably want to drop back to High for an optimal experience. Meanwhile, the MSI’s overclocked GeForce GTX 780M manages a more comfortable 42 FPS at 1920x1080. That's probably good enough to enjoy the TressFX option at Ultimate, though you could certainly drop to Ultra and still get great visuals.
Total War: Shogun 2

None of these machines have any problems playing Shogun 2 at its highest settings. What's more, we get a good sense of how the GeForce GTX 680M, factory-overclocked 780M, and two 680Ms in SLI scale.

Disabling anti-aliasing yields a massive performance increase for the single-GPU configurations. Two 680Ms in SLI don't get as much of a boost. Then again, it wasn't really needed; the first graph showed Eurocom's Panther 5D to be plenty playable.

Dropping to 720p relieves enough of the graphics workload that the factory-overclocked 780M in MSI's GT70 almost catches Eurocom's more potent SLI-enabled platform. That's a platform bottleneck for you.
World Of Warcraft: Mist Of Pandaria
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria offers a lush expansion with detailed new worlds. One of the most demanding sections of the game is in Honeydew Village. Placing a character directly in-between the guards of the entrance to the city when it’s raining in-game, then panning the camera just above the grassy hill beside them brings a very high number of moving objects into view. It is one of the worst-case scenarios that we’ve found in the game.

There are a ton of moving components in our test sequence. Each machine delivers excellent frame rates, with only the Eurocom platform showing signs of an outright processor bottleneck.

The best-looking settings are plenty playable, so there's no real reason to drop to Blizzard's High preset. If you do, however, performance shoots up palpably. The Panther 5D is again processor-bound, of course.

Once again, the Panther 5D's SLI setup is bottlenecked. It takes a GeForce GTX 780M to cause Intel's fastest Haswell-based mobile processor to show up as limiter in this game. The lower-end GeForce GTX 680M in Alienware's M18x still scales when it's paired to an Ivy Bridge-based CPU.
In all of our gaming tests, the Panther 5D solidly outperforms the other two notebooks with one GPU and mobile processors. The fact that several of the games we tested were CPU-bound, even backed by a six-core desktop CPU, demonstrates the Panther 5D's advantage over other mobile platforms. Really, you'd need to hook this thing up to a QHD or larger display to tax its graphics subsystem.
System Throttling
Running Prime95 and FurMark at the same time places a very high load on any system, with both the CPU and GPU drawing maximum power while also generating maximum heat. The Panther 5D's CPU is rated for up to 150 W and the each of the GPUs are at least 100 W. Add in 25-50 W for the desktop platform components and you're looking at 400 W or more. Obviously, that's significantly more power than most notebooks draw, and the reason why Eurocom needs to offer dual power adapters. If the system can't get more than 400 W from its supplies, or isn't able to dissipate that amount of heat efficiently, it will throttle the CPU, GPU, or both in order to honor its thermal and electrical specifications.
Synthetic Heat Run
In order to really push the Panther 5D to its limits, we fully load its Core i7-3970X CPU and both GeForce GTX 680M GPUs. The goal is to tax the machine until its internal and external temperatures plateau. The only reason to end a run early is a hardware failure.

In the chart above, you can see the load and temperatures for the CPU and both GPUs.
The CPU took 12 minutes to heat up both of its big copper sinks enough that the fans were spinning at their highest rotational speeds. You can see the slight dip between the 12- and 14-minute mark where the amount of air being drawn in momentarily pulled temps down a bit.
At the 60-minute mark, I shut down FurMark to alleviate the GPU load, dropping them to idle. The CPU temps were unaffected. It was not until I also shut down Prime95 at 65 minutes that the thermals started to relax.
The two CPU fans are on the right half of the computer. When they both kick in, the amount of air they move is startling the first time you feel it.
After close to 20 minutes, the CPU hit 90 °C and throttled down to 3.4 GHz. It stayed at that clock rate for most of the remaining run.

You can see the CPU's clock rate through our run in the chart above.
The first GPU is located next to the GPU, and it sits in the middle of the machine. Its air intake is third from the left. Cooling that graphics processor is naturally a little more difficult, so its temperatures were a few degrees higher than the second GPU, situated all the way to the right.
With that said, neither GPU ran particularly hot during our test, even though they were both fully-loaded for an hour. In the 70-minute graph, you can see a slight dip in their temperatures, which was caused by lifting the machine to measure heat on the desktop under it.

Both GPUs maintained their minimum clock rate during testing.
We saw power drawn from the wall peak at 464 W. Allowing for 10% losses at the power adapters, this means that the Panther 5D was dissipating more than 400 W. Even the power adapters themselves heat up quite a bit. It's naturally important to keep everything around Eurocom's machine well-ventilated if it's under a demanding load.
Then again, we didn't see temperatures spike so high in any real-world workload we through at the Panther 5D.
Unlike most notebook systems, the Eurocom Panther 5D is really meant to run from AC power. Its battery is more of a UPS that gives you time to shut down elegantly in the event of a power loss.
Battery Life
Even with 74 Wh of energy, the battery in the Eurocom 5D is quickly depleted by the desktop CPU and dual GPUs driving its performance.

With a fully-charged battery, we were able to get about an hour of run time performing office-oriented tasks. Watching video or running more demanding apps dropped longevity by another 15 to 20%. Encoding video with the CPU, rendering 3D models with GPU acceleration, or gaming all drain the battery in less than 30 minutes.
AC Power Draw
By necessity, Eurocom's Panther 5D has one of the most robust systems for supplying AC power available on any notebook. Its pair of 330 W power supplies converge through a custom connector to feed the LGA 2011-based desktop platform and the 100 W GPUs that are attached. Even without overclocking, we regularly saw power use exceeding 425 W with peaks over 460 W.

With the system off and the battery charging, 40 W is drawn at the wall. Firing up the system and sitting idle at the desktop typically results in 110 W of consumption from the wall. Fully loading the CPU demonstrates 284 W of power use. Loading both GPUs draws 323 W.
Utilizing one GeForce GTX 680M, the system pulls more than 350 W with a CPU and GPU load applied. With both 680M’s running in SLI, working hard on a demanding game, the Panther reports close to 400 W from the wall. It maxes out at 464 W without overclocking.
If one adapter fails, you could maintain the performance of a CPU- or GPU-heavy load. With both subsystems taxed, you need both adapters.
Storage Performance
Our Panther 5D sample shipped with a trio of 256 GB Crucial m4s configured in RAID 5, giving us a decent balance between performance, capacity, and data protection.

We measured respectable sequential read speeds from the array, though writes aren't particularly impressive. This could be hampered over time since you don't get the benefit of TRIM, forcing you to instead rely on Crucial's own garbage collection routines.
The Panther 5D offers a great deal of flexibility for storage configurations. Dialing in the right combination of performance and data protection is as simple as making changes in the notebook's firmware, or simply ordering from Eurocom with the arrangement you plan to use.
Audio Performance
Audio fed to external amplifiers via the analog headphone jack sounded very good. The optical digital output works well if you have an external DAC. Additionally, I didn't have any trouble hooking up to a receiver via HDMI. There wasn't any buzzing or popping to report from the analog outputs, either.

I set up multi-channel output through the analog jacks, HDMI output, and TOSLINK interface without any issues.
Testing Through Headphones
As part of my usual testing routine, I like to listen to music through multiple sets of headphones. Through the very sensitive Etymotic HF3 in-ear buds, there was no unwanted noise to report, and music playback sounded good. Audio quality was also good from the slightly bass-heavy Bowers and Wilkins C5 earphones. I also had good experiences with the very detailed and slightly bass-shy Shure SE425.
Additionally, I auditioned a couple of pairs of traditional over-the-ear headphones. The 32-ohm Grado SR125s sounded good. With Sennheiser's HD 600s plugged in, the headphone output drove the difficult 300-ohm load to solid listening levels.
Music through Sennheiser's HD 600s was neutral, detailed, and had a wonderful sense of rhythm and pace. I found myself listening to entire albums played back from the Panther 5D’s headphone jack instead of my normal dedicated amplifier. With all of the software processing disabled, I found the Panther 5D to be nothing short of excellent.
With all of the audio hardware I tried, there was very little distortion, no background noise, and no hiss. I got an excellent sense of detail with wide stereo separation. The overall tonal balance was great. The low bass had a strong impact without being bloated. Above all, the sound straight out of the Panther was involving.
In short, the Panther 5D probably has the best headphone output of any notebook I have ever used.
If you do need to tweak the sound, the equalizer in the Sound Blaster Console is excellent.
We were less enthused with the Sound Blaster headphone optimizer. The software appears to crossfeed audio to make headphones sound more like listening to speakers in a room. Unfortunately, the effect takes away from the excellent performance of the Panther’s built-in headphone amp.
Built-In Speakers
Unfortunately, the built in speakers sound like they come from a clock radio. They seem much better tuned for vocals than music. The subwoofer does help with upper bass, but not as much as we've heard from other systems. Even with extensive tweaking using the bundled software, the built-in speakers cannot compare to other high-end laptops. Game sound effects, movie vocals, and teleconferencing are fine; the lack of low bass and high treble detract from the impact of sound, but dialog is at least very clear.
The Panther 5D offers a ton of analog and digital audio I/O, along with the software to adjust those connections. While the notebook's built-in speakers leave us unimpressed, its headphone output is excellent.
Brightness, Contrast, And White Point
The maximum brightness of the Panther 5D’s Samsung panel is 377.4 cd/m2. This is brighter than many notebook screens, but close to 10% dimmer than the panel’s 400 cd/m2 published spec. Measured contrast is excellent. In my experience, the screen exhibits bright colors and deep blacks, and my measurements back that up.
A white point of 6500 K is considered neutral and close to the color of midday sun. If a screen measures below 6500 K, it takes on a warmer appearance that leans towards reds and oranges. If a screen measures above 6500 K, it is said to have a cooler appearance that favors the color blue. Cooler color temperatures are common in a retail environment because they make screens stand out next to other displays.
The Samsung panel's white point shifts from 6500 K at 25% brightness to 6900 K at full brightness. This shift towards a cooler white point as the screen becomes brighter means that calibration curves need to be created for each brightness level for the most accurate colors.
Viewing Angles
The screen has excellent viewing angles for a TN-based panel. Tilt the screen far forward and the colors shift to blue, tilt it far back and colors shift towards red. Side viewing angles are excellent, allowing several people to look at the display without a debilitating loss of quality.
Uniformity

Luminance uniformity is excellent on the bottom and middle sections of the screen, and merely good up top (the corners measure 15% and 14% dimmer than the center of the screen). This effect is visible on large swaths of single colors, but typically not noticeable in normal use. And the discrepancy is consistent across brightness settings.
Of course, the uniformity of this specific panel may not represent all of Samsung's 120 Hz panels. This is but one sample, and we know that there's variance from one display to the next.
Color uniformity is again excellent in the center and lower sections, but not as much in the top corners. Once you get past a Delta E value of four, the differences are apparent. At full brightness, this panel's top corners report Delta E values of 4.4 and 5.0. The fact that the rest of the screen is so neutral may make those shifts stand out more.

Taking brightness down to 50% significantly improves the panel's uniformity. Most readings drop under one, while the top corners duck in under a Delta E of three.
Our main reservation here is that you'll want to game with the brightness cranked way up if you're using Nvidia's 3D Vision glasses, since they take a huge chunk out of perceived luminance.
Gamma

The Panther 5D's gamma measurement comes close to the reference 2.2 curve.
Color Gamut

The Samsung panel covers 95% of the sRGB color gamut in the middle of the screen. In the above image, the measured performance of the Panther’s panel is shown as a green triangle, and the reference sRGB color gamut is the red triangle. AdobeRGB is purple. The display completely covers red and blue, slightly missing sRGB in deep greens. This is a very good color gamut that is only limited by the WLED backlightling.
Color Accuracy

The average Delta E reading is a very good 1.22. Almost all of the grey patches are less than 1.5, so black and white photos should look very neutral on the screen.
Most colors stay pretty close to a Delta E of one. The only major departure from the reference color is the teal blue patch. This spike is typical of WLED-backlit TN-based screens, and we see a similar result on most panels of this design. Calibrated to remove the slightly blue white balance, the screen should serve as an excellent tool for color photo and video editing.
Monitor Rating

This is the rating generated by the Spyder4Elite monitor profiling software.
Calibration

The images above are photos of the Panther 5D's screen after (top) and before (bottom) calibration with the Spyder4Elite system. Depending on the monitor you're using to read this review, you should see some pretty significant differences between the top and bottom. Un-calibrated, the screen has a blue tint common to WLED panels, reflecting its native white point of 6900 K at full brightness.

And here's the correction applied to the Panther's Samsung panel. The bottom blue line shows the target 2.2 curve that the software was calibrating to. The middle blue line shows the blue channel being pulled down in intensity to pare back the panel’s white point to a more neutral 6500 K. The red and green channels are left mostly unchanged, with a slight bump in midtones.

After calibration, the screen curves are very close to the target. After all of the display performance discussion, a calibration yields excellent results.
Prior to calibration, the panel’s brightness measured 370 cd/m2. Removing the slight blue tint takes that measurement down to 365.4. There is also some slight tweaking to the gamma curve.
Eurocom's Panther 5D offers excellent brightness, contrast, and calibrated color accuracy. Thanks to a 120 Hz refresh, fast action looks smooth as well (in fact, this is necessary for 3D Vision support). We measured 95% of the sRGB color gamut, which is very good. Color and luminance uniformity in the top corners of the panel affected overall performance somewhat, but the screen still looks good. Although it doesn't match the performance of the best IPS panels, Samsung's display is a good example of TN-based technology.
Performance above all else was Eurocom’s mantra as it put this thing together. It had to be. The Panther 5D is a solid machine that delivers speed in games and threaded desktop apps that you won't find from any other notebook. Although, calling this a mobile platform is somewhat of a misnomer. Yes, you can pick it up and move it from one room to the next. But flip the lid as your plane lifts off and you won't even make it to beverage service before it cuts out on you.
With that said, despite its power-hungry contents, the Panther 5D never crashed on us and it never showed any signs of getting overwhelmed by dissipating hundreds of watts of power. Thanks to a 150 W Core i7-3970X CPU, general-purpose processing far exceeded the capabilities of any laptop with a mobile processor. Its two GeForce GTX 680M graphics modules sliced through every game we threw at them. A native 1920x1080 screen just isn't large enough to tax a pair of GK104s rendering cooperatively. This machine doesn't do well on battery power, but plugged into the wall, it's a true gaming and productivity beast.
There would only be a couple of ways to extract more performance from this setup: either upgrade the GTX 680Ms to GeForce GTX 780Ms, or drop in one of the new Ivy Bridge-EP-based Xeon E5s with up to 12 physical cores. The step up wouldn't be cheap, but yeah, talk about turning the dial to 11.
Content creators, engineers, and other professionals who need big performance wherever they go can rely on the Panther. It demonstrated the stability to be a dependable tool, and it is fast enough to get real work done quickly. In fact, the Panther's performance could end up paying for the procurement costs quickly by giving contract workers better productivity, translating into more billable projects in the same number of hours. It's a complete desktop workstation that fits in a large backpack. And Eurocom is quick to point out that the CPUs, GPUs, memory, and storage are all readily upgradable, saving you from buying a new system if you start small and scale up down the road.
Gamers should also be impressed. It's not often that we run across a notebook that begs to be hooked up to an external display just to tax its graphics modules. We had the Panther 5D set up for a group of enthusiasts, and it received a lot of attention. It was naturally faster than every notebook in the room, but its specs also outmoded most power users' desktop rigs, too. The big hexa-core CPU largely uncorks the performance of two GTX 680Ms in SLI, which is where those huge average frame rates come from (ideal when you're using 3D Vision, too).
Now, we can already predict how the comments for this story are going to look. There will be those who understand where a platform like this makes legitimate sense, whether for desktop-like performance or for making money on the go. Those are the folks Eurocom has in mind when it does something like announce its Panther 5SE mobile server (a concept that still seems strange to us, but is just one step removed from this very similar mobile workstation). It's all about performance and adaptability above all else.
Then there will be the critics who see this system's size, its inelegant dual power adapter setup, its battery life, or even just its price tag and conclude that it doesn't do anything for them. These folks aren't going to be entirely wrong, either. The Panther 5D is undoubtedly a very niche offering for a very specific customer. It's aimed at a narrow group that needs maximum performance in a portable. People outside the target demographic will see overkill.
We used the Panther for a variety of tasks over a couple of months. During the day we worked with video production, photo editing, and software testing. The Panther was great at chewing through hours of sequential video data. After hours, there was a lot more gaming going on. There's a lot to like about the system's headphone output, too. At the end of the day, Eurocom's configuration never let us down in a task that demanded maximum speed. And while its weaknesses are apparent, it does everything else exceedingly well.
























































































