Waiting for news on the Dell AMD G5 SE

Seems like around 1600MHz@1000mv is where it maxes out. I can run 1600MHz@850mv 100% stable on 5700XT. Can you try and see what happends?

 

No frequency or voltage control is available in MSI Afterburner regardless of settings selected. I am using the latest AMD provided GPU driver package if it matters, shows up as version 2020 10.10. I am not sure if Radeon Wattman is still a thing or not, but it did not seem to be present or enable-able in the Radeon Software.

 

If you can get Wattman to appear in Radeon Drivers by using MSI Afterburner to unlock voltage control, it could provide you with the needed leeway to undervolt the GPU.
Some people had success with this on RX 560 mobile GPUs... however, they did report that changing settings in Wattman just resets them after trying to apply the changes (at least on the indicators)... the modified settings however did still work apparently (despite them resetting to standard).

 

Have you checked 'unlock voltage control' in afterburner? Does frequency/voltagecurve work? Ctrl+f?

 

I tried all of the various options. Reference / Standard MSI / Extended MSI / Third Party. Nothing allowed the sliders to be enabled. I tried the Beta version. I tried Ctrl+F.

On another note, I found out that the USB-C port is connected to the IGP Vega GPU, so if you want to run a projector or such, using that connect greatly increases battery life vs. the HDMI / mDP which are connected to the 5600m.

I was curious what your thoughts are about DDR4-3200 CL22 vs. DDR4-2666 CL16. I installed my 32GB HyperX kit which has worked great other than it operates at the slower frequency which may be limiting infinity clock (but the Anandtech Renoir article claims that infinity clock is not tied to ram frequency anymore as it does not use chiplets). I could purchase a 32GB DDR4-3200 CL22 kit, but I feel like it would be a waste until better stuff is available with JEDEC timings.

 

New Intel Gen10 laptops i came across from Lenovo offerings are specified to be efficient with 2933mhz RAMs. However, such "Obsure Clockrate" RAM is not widely available in the market, except the wider available higher 3200mhz Sodimm RAMs. Hence, some Gen10 gears are fitted with 3200mhz RAMs that can cater for Ryzen4K CPUs, can be considered as "pillow" to "low demanding" Gen10 Intels.

One funny observation i have on the Clevo NH5#A laptop... Not all resellers elsewhere offers by default, 3200Mhz RAM in basic system configuration. Some are fitted with 2666mhz RAMs that we're still using with Ryzen3K and Intel Gen 8th/9th CPUs.

 

That was a downer, hopefully newer versions of afterburner will support it.

As for ram 2666cl16 has a bit better latenvy than 3200cl22, but lower bandwith. The IF seems to run coupled with ram on H-platform, but uncoupled on U-platform so you either get 1333 or 1600 IF clock.

 

I did a little research and it appears that Afterburner does not work at all for 5500m either, so I do not think this issue is related to Smartshift.

I am going to try HX432S20IBK2/32 again and see if it is stable at DDR4-3200 CL20. What is a good benchmark to compare memory performance?

 

Aida Cashe/memory bencmark. As well see here if you can find something to use for the comparison https://hwbot.org/benchmarks/memory

 

Hopefully MSI launches a new bersion of AB which is compatible soon Both the 560 and 580 mobile works good with UV in AB after they got support.

As for ram you need jedec or a ram which the IMC can read the spd of the ram. With Intel it's easier due to xmp. As far as I know only the 3200cl22 are jedec and hence get good support on both Intel and AMD. You can try the HyperX, you might get lucky they are Micron E-die so they should in theory work very well with ryzen.

 

They do indeed have JEDEC timings for DDR4-3200 CL20.

Sadly I did not run the same test on the 2666mhz CL16 ram. But honestly I am probably just going to stick with the 3200mhz CL20 ram regardless.

 

That is good to know Is it the HyperX Impact 3200cl20?

 

Yes it is the HyperX HX432S20IBK2/32 kit. It does use Micron memory but I did not check if it was specifically E-die.

 

I think I read it somewhere. Good that there is slightly faster ram available

 

Has this been posted?

Very interesting stuff

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/hni64h/i_finally_got_my_dell_g5_15_es_4800hrx5600m/

The question is, do Dell care enough to fix it?

 

The STAPM reported is CPU and GPU TDP combined. The issue with heat is poor contact with the factory paste job. The die size of the cpu and gpu are much smaller than the 14 and 12 nm dies of Intel and Nvidia. It makes good contact even more important.

This laptop is built by Wistron and I am not sure what the quality control is like, but given the low price it is probably not very good.

 

Have you re-pasted? Has anyone in this thread?

He seems to know what he's talking about though. According to this other thread, Dell had him sign an NDA and test some code to try and fix it

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/htqt21/dell_g5_15se_thermal_issues_a_followup/

 

I did repaste, however in the process of taking it apart I discovered a motherboard mount for one of the heatsink screws was missing. So even with a good repaste job it's going to be tough to get good die contact.

I have read through his thread and hope he can we get a positive experience from it.

 

That sucks. Did you mention it to Dell, or did it break off while you were re-pasting?

Btw, how do you remove the casing on this laptop? Like which order did you pry and lift the cover off? On my G3 (which is practically identical) each time I opened it, from front to back, as careful as I was, one of the little plastic clips ended up breaking off. So now both plastic clips have broken off at the back of the bottom cover near the hinge, I don't want the same to happen to my G5

 

I am not sure if it was missing before hand or broke off. Nothing is rattling around when I shake it. The missing post was for heatsink screw #3 so I am curious if yours is missing as well when it is taken apart. It is easy to tell even without removing the heatsink as the screw just spins freely and bounces on the tension spring.

Use the correct screwdriver bit and a good quality kit. The screws feel like pot metal so it is easy to slip and round them off if care is not taken. If you are removing the bottom panel, just use a plastic spudger along the edge to pop all of the clips apart, including up under the display between the hinges. At that point it should be able to slide around the hinges on the back to come free. If you encounter resistance, just go back to using the spudger to pop the missed clip free rather than pulling from the entire bottom panel.

 

More info on the tdp bug and possible fixes:

 

The problem for me doesn't seem to be the temps of the components, it's how hot the laptop itself gets.

i.e. earlier my CPU and GPU were both reporting below 60C (with turbo disabled) but the bottom of the laptop was extremely uncomfortable, almost burning my legs. But the air intake for the fans was ice cold (the fans were on)

I've had other laptops (even the G3) where the CPU and GPU reach even higher temps, up to 80C and it's nowhere near as uncomfortable.

It seems to be so inconsistent. There is a random piece of metal on the bottom of the back cover, anyone know that that' for? Seems like insulation would be better if that were removed.

 

Did you repaste your G5? Was there good die contact with the heatsink? Is the exhaust air not very hot even under load? There could be a defective heatpipe if that is the case.

It is possible there could be a software issue. Something could be holding the 5600M turned on even with no game running. The 5600M should appear grayed out for most sensor readings in HWInfo64 when it is powered off at idle. You would also notice this issue if the battery life is only 1-2 hours. Also if you drained your battery and are plugged in charging, the battery will get warm as it charges up to full. You can customize the charging method by using Dell Power Manager. It will definitely get hot if it is set to the ExpressCharge method.

On a side note, I got my machine swapped with one that does not have a missing heatsink standoff. It also has a bit different spec. I got the 68Wh battery and a 1TB SSD / 16GB RAM. Also, it has an AUO 144hz LCD panel which does not have PWM flicker (Dell part number K055G) which is great.

Strangely Dell has delisted the G5 SE from their site. It would be great if they end up releasing a new revision with improved thermals.

 

Yeah. Sadly re-pasting didn't help at all. I did tighten the heatsink down, but was scared to tighten it too much in case I cracked the motherboard or something.

In fact scores were lower in Cinebench R20 so maybe I did do a poor job. I did swap out the 2x 4GB 3200C22 RAM for 2x 8GB 2666C16 though, maybe this lowered scores? Scores went down about 1% and temps were the same

Maybe one day if I can be bothered I'll take it apart and see what the spread looks like on the heatsink.

I don't think the RX5600M is stuck running. I do wonder what the point of that metal is though... I was thinking about removing the mesh that reduces the air intake as well, maybe I'll remove that metal too

 

The heatsink screws should be tightened down until they stop. They have special spring loaded washers to prevent over tightening.

I do think you should have stuck with DDR4-3200 even if its CL22 vs CL16. The bandwidth is ~44000MB/s vs ~37000MB/s and also the infinity fabric clock can not go beyond 2666mhz as well. Also when gaming on the 5600M it copies the framebuffer over from the 5600M dedicated memory into the Vega IGP's area of system ram, just like Nvidia Optimus, so more bandwidth can positively effect this operation. It is part of the reason why the system performs so much better if you hook an external monitor to the HDMI or mDP, then the Vega IGP can just sleep instead of being used as the final output device.

I did repaste mine again with Thermalright TFX this time. It seems to have made my CPU temps better but my GPU temps worse. I may have done a poor job on the GPU die so I may have to take it apart again.

 

Unfortunately, before reading this thread//your post, I just purchased/received a 32 GB / 3200 MHz set [2x16 GB] of Crucial Ballistix, and can confirm they are set by BIOS to run at 2667 MHz.
Now I'm tempted to see i I can return them to NewEgg and purchased JEDEC compliant modules instead, but wondering if it's worth it?

What did you do in the end? Stik with the CL16 SO-DIMMS, or switch to "slower" CL22 ones so they could run at 3200 MHz?

 

I would suggest exchanging your Ballistix for HyperX 3200 CL20. It works and is the best option for Renoir laptops right now.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

Crucial is now RMA’d ($30 hit ), and the Hyper X ordered...

I’m running some synthetic benchmarks - 3DMark Time Spy and Unigine Superposition - using the Crucial DIMMs before I remove them, and I will also benchmark the OEM RAM and the Hyper X (once it arrives) for comparison.

 

Anyone tried the new BIOS? 1.4.4? Also there is a new videobios that is recommended. Wonder how these affect performance\noise and heat. Hopefully things have improved.

 

I think some people on reddit reported the new vbios allows tools like Ryzen Controller to work even with the 5600m running. I am glad these fixes are available now as it seems like a much more usable experience than what I had back in July. It sounds like there are still some outstanding issues with Linux though, even with the latest kernel plus patches from the AMD open-source driver devs. I wish I knew why Dell did not support standard S3 suspend mode, there is no reason for this laptop to have S0 support like a tablet, unless it was some requirement of smart shift.

I hope the MSI Alpha 15 refresh addresses some of the issues I experienced with the G5 SE. Mine should arrive early next week.

 

I don't know if this is anything new, but it seems Dell now offers the Ryzen 9 4900H in the highest configuration of the G5 15 SE. Sadly, you can't really customize it, and it has the smaller of the two batteries offered.