Eurocom Racer: Radeon HD 6990M In A Truly Mobile Form Factor

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Test Settings And Benchmarks

Test System Configurations
 Eurocom RacerX7200
CPUIntel Core i7-2960XM 2.7-3.7 GHz
Four cores, eight threads, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache		Intel Core i7-990X 3.46-3.73 GHz
Six cores, 12 threads, 12 MB Shared L3 Cache
ChipsetIntel HM65 Express PCHIntel X58 Express IOH / ICH10R
RAMSamsung M471B5273DH0-CK0
8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600 C11		Samsung M471B5273DH0-CK0
12 GB (3 x 4 GB) DDR3-1333 C9
GraphicsAMD Radeon HD 6990M
715 MHz, 2 GB GDDR5-3600		(2 x) AMD Radeon HD 6990M
715 MHz, 2 GB GDDR5-3600
Hard DriveIntel SSDSC2MH120A2
120 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD		Intel SSDSC2MH120A2
120 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD
SoundIntegrated HD AudioIntegrated HD Audio
NetworkIntegrated Gigabit NetworkingIntegrated Gigabit Networking
PowerLi-Shin 20 V, 7.5 A AdapterChicony 20 V, 15 A Adapter
Software
OSMicrosoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64
GraphicsAMD Catalyst 11.11


With new benchmarks in our suite and no smaller notebooks to compare, we pit Eurocom’s Racer against one of the company's own X7200-based offerings. This should provide an excellent demonstration of the more portable machine's added efficiency, while addressing doubts about its performance.

Other parts of the larger notebook were equalized to the best possible extent. However, disabling the X58 platform's triple-channel memory configuration would heave created a false parity, since that is a built-in feature. Note that the same memory runs at a slower data rate on the X58-based machine due to Intel's official specifications. That lower data rate enables better timings, though.

Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
DiRT 3V1.01, Run with -benchmark example_benchmark.xml
Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA
Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x AA
Metro 2033Full Game, Built-In Benchmark, "Frontline" Scene
Test Set 1: DX11, High, AAA, 4x AF, No PhysX, No DoF
Test Set 2: DX11, Very High, 4x AA, 16x AF, No PhysX, DoF On
StarCraft IIVersion 1.4.1.19776, Tom's Hardware custom map
Test Set 1: High Texture, High Quality
Test Set 2: Ultra Textures, Extreme Quality
Audio/Video Encoding
iTunesVersion 10.4.1.10 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format 
Lame MP3Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s)
HandBrake CLIVersion 0.95: "Big Buck Bunny" (720x480, 23.972 FPS) 5 Minutes, Audio: Dolby Digital, 48 000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile)
MainConcept ReferenceVersion: 2.2.0.5440: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, Two-Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV
Productivity
Adobe Photoshop CS5Version 12.1 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates
Autodesk 3ds Max 2012Version 14.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080
WinZipVersion 15.5 Pro: THG-Workload (464 MB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r"
WinRARVersion 4.01: THG-Workload (464 MB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3"
7-ZipVersion 9.22: THG-Workload (464 MB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5"
ABBYY FineReaderVersion 10.0.102.82: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages
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Summary
  1. Is There Such Thing As A $2000 Portable Gaming Monster?
  2. Eurcom's Racer, From The Outside
  3. Under The Racer's Hood
  4. Test Settings And Benchmarks
  5. Benchmark Results: 3D Games
  6. Benchmark Results: Non-Gaming Applications
  7. Power, Battery Life, And Efficiency
  8. When A Smaller Notebook Makes More Sense
About the author
Thomas Soderstrom

Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.

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34 comments
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  • sodaant
    Whats with all the noise in the pictures?
  • Crashman
    sodaantWhats with all the noise in the pictures?
    Sorry, the equipment probably isn't suited to shooting textured black objects.
  • nevertell
    It could've easily done away with a "slower" 45w i7 quad or even a 25w i7 dualcore CPU. This would help with the mobility bit of the laptop, making it last quite a bit longer. And a 9 cell battery wouldn't hurt either.
  • theuniquegamer
    It is a semi desktop by its weight i.e 10 pounds. And performs as a desktop(with 23' ips display and ups) price less than it. In the world of growing market for tabs and ultrabooks the price of mobile cpu and gpu should be lowered in order to make these premium gaming laptops popular.
  • Maziar
    Great review!
    It's good to see the battery life has increased notably compared to 990x.
    Overall,it's a decent desktop replacement laptop.
  • demonhorde665
    i sort of want one , , whats not to like about a laptop that would crunch circles around my current desktop (amd athy 64 X2 5000+ black ed Oc'ed to 3ghz, 3 gigs ddr 2 pc 800 ram , and a radeon 5770)

    sure my computer still runs most current game great at my monitors max res (1600x900) but damn , i'd take one of these laptops any day for that performance booste .. here's to dreaming of winning the builder's marathon though !
  • cknobman
    It would have been nice to at least see a little of the review cover things like: screen, keyboard, build quality, etc........

    But good review on the graphics chip :)
  • nforce4max
    Take a good look at the fans, notice some dust on them. Someone has been putting this laptop to use ;)
  • amstech
    The laptop maxes out at only 1920 X 1080?
    The single GPU 6990M is overkill for that resolution and $2000 is a joke but hey atleast you can max everything.
    Idiots out there will buy this.
  • scook9
    amstechThe laptop maxes out at only 1920 X 1080?The single GPU 6990M is overkill for that resolution and $2000 is a joke but hey atleast you can max everything.Idiots out there will buy this.

    That is the native res on the laptop. Which is the res most would game at on a laptop.....

    And as for the price, find me a better performing laptop that is cheaper please.

    Troll somewhere else
  • amstech
    Thats a terrible price when a GTX 560M can handle just about everything at 1080P maxed.
    1920 X 1080 isn't that hard to run, a lowly 5870M handles it well.

    Whine somewhere else.
  • AMD_pitbull
    amstechThats a terrible price when a GTX 560M can handle just about everything at 1080P maxed.1920 X 1080 isn't that hard to run, a lowly 5870M handles it well.Whine somewhere else.

    Actually, whining is what you're doing troll :) "that is a terrible..." shows complaint through personal preference. Just thought you should make sure to verify what you're typing up before you type it and look like a fool...again.

    Anyways, enough with the troll. Overall, the price level of this laptop seems excessive when you compare it to laptops such as G74 series and other more modest gaming laptops. But, there will always be a price premium for performance gains. As they always point out in these types of articles, it's a very niche market. In conclusion, nice review, great performance, and look forward to where our laptops will be 5 years from now :) Technology is fun.
  • amstech
    Yeah its a ripoff for $2000.
    Don't like my complaint/opinion?

    And price premium for performance gains?
    Your limited to 1080P what more performance do you need?

    It's a niche product, and just like Alienware's topshelf stuff and Razer's new laptop, its overpriced and it won't sell.

    Anytime now someone reads something they don't like they toss out the troll word.
    Obvious and lame.
  • julius 85
    amstechThe laptop maxes out at only 1920 X 1080?The single GPU 6990M is overkill for that resolution and $2000 is a joke but hey atleast you can max everything.Idiots out there will buy this.

    And 6990M is like desktop 6870 in case you don't know.
  • amstech
    Yeah thats common knowledge for mobile GPU's.

    Take the 5870M.
    Has 5770 specs...which is still enough to play all games at 1080P and most of them maxed or close to it.
  • clonazepam
    Do an article about modding the laptop batteries. Take them apart. Replace the internal components of the batteries with something higher end found on the net or wherever if possible, wire it up, test and do a full blown how-to type article. Tom's intentially set an AMD processor on fire in the past, so maybe you could do a "what not to do" section of the article and set one on fire! :)

    Could also be spinned on how to cheaply give new life to an aging laptop battery versus buying a new battery and price comparison of the parts vs new battery. :)
  • Crashman
    __-_-_-__nothing new to see here. This model lacks a very important feature of a switchable gpu that could make the intel igp working tripling the battery life.
    But it does minimize the number of variables when comparing the previously-reviewed 990X-based "notebook", which was the primary point of using it.

    Tom's Hardware reviews notebooks on a voluntary basis, so if you'd like to see a company's newer product compared you should ask them to pony up.
  • Anonymous
    Where is the Crysis benchmark Tom's ?
  • Crashman
    clonazepamTom's intentially set an AMD processor on fire in the past
    Ah yes the conspiracy theories. I'm sure you're referring to the article where the site pulled the cooler off AMD and Intel processors to test thermal overload protection and the AMD processor UNEXPECTEDLY burned up. Because AMD said the system would shut down and that's what's EXPECTED. Intel's advantage was not supposed to be "doesn't burn", it's advantage was supposed to be "slows down rather than shutting off".

    But go ahead, keep the conspiracy theories alive. Make sure the next time 1 out of 3 systems has an Nvidia graphics card you call Tom's Hardware out on being Nvidia-biased as well.
  • clonazepam
    Yes, I read the article the day it was posted... I've never said Tom's was biased one way or another in any category. Anyway, saying it was intentionally set on fire is a lot more exciting than breaking it down as you have. Also, I read it ten years ago, so I took some liberties. I think it only smoked / charred anyway. It was a cool article, maybe people will look it up and check it out now :P

    I really wish you had picked apart the meat of the comment as far as battery modication vs replacement. :)
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