R9 M380 performance

Found a deal on a laptop with dedicated graphics (hopefully) for gaming. However, I'm unsure what level of performance the GPU is actually capable of. The GPU is an AMD R9 M380, but I'm having a hard time finding reviews and benchmarks of this particular chip. Can anyone out there (preferably someone who actually owns a laptop with this GPU) provide benchmarks (preferably Fire Strike) or general comparisons. For example, how does it compare to a Geforce GTX 960M in terms of performance?

 

Performance wise it should be a bit slower than the R9 M385X, comparable to the GTX 950m (of course depending on the game). But there are not many notebooks out there using this GPU. I only know of the Lenovo Y700 and if this is the case, stay away from it !

 

You're right it is a Y700. And I see from the review in your signature that it has a pretty poor cooling system. I found one on the Lenovo outlet store going for a song. And now I see why. If I were to get it, is there any way to prevent/reduce throttling? Throttlestop maybe?

 

There is a command line tool to modify CPU power states, this way you can undervolt or downclock the CPU (follow the link in my sig). Throttlestop will only work with Intel CPUs as far as I know. The key is to hold the CPU temp below 85 degree celcius.

 

Is the problem the CPU or GPU overheating, or both?

Your review is of the FX-8800P, the Y700 I'm looking has an A10-8700P. Would the lower clock speed prevent the CPU from going over 85C?

It probably doesn't matter. The price is really attractive, but I'm not sure I want to have to put up with the headache.

 

The CPU, if the GPU is active it will just heat up faster. Lenovo never bothered to implement a proper usage of the CPU power states, so the logic works like this: The CPU will use it's highest P-state until a certain temp threshold is reached (85 degree), then the CPU will switch to it's lowest P-state. That means it will run with max turbo for a few seconds and then throttles down to 1,x GHz. I do not think the A10-8700P will behave much different, unless Lenovo did limit the TDP to 15W.

 

The cooling is actually not the problem. The reason why the Y700-15ACZ has thermal issues is the horrible dust filter Lenovo puts on it. It acts as an insulator and thus causes there to be no airflow and horrible thermals/performance. If you remove the filter, it will run much cooler in the 70s under load.

As for the GPU's performance, the 960M sits squarely between the R9 M380 and R9 M385X - the 950M is about 10% slower than the M380 whereas the 960M is about 10% faster. Overall, it's a good GPU for esports games and AAA games provided you can compromise with the settings a bit.

 

It's a 30W APU - the problem is the crappy filter - here is a link to the thread where it was discovered: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Gaming...-throttle-FIX-I-GOT-THE-SOLUTION/td-p/2251878

 

Well it really doesn't matter now. The 15ACZ model I was looking at vanished off of the Lenovo outlet, so it's immaterial at this point. However, I researched the Y700 model a little more and it seems throttling is a common problem with Lenovos. It affects the Y700-15ISK (Intel + NVidia) model as well. Apple is infamous for poor thermal solutions, and it looks like Lenovo decided to join the party.

 

It's the filter as I've said. The original batch of ISK models also had the same crap filter. After removing the filter it runs cool as hell. A friend's Y700 runs at 60-70*C under load (ISK model)