***Gigabyte P35X owner's lounge***

The truth is that you cant really say that performance scales linearly with CPU clock rate. Especially in games: a top tier i7 4690X at 3,6 Ghz is 1 fps faster then the old i7 920 at 2,66 in Battlefield 4 set to ultra.The answer to the question "why it doesn't affect performance" is way to complex because of how modern CPUs are designed- its all multiple threads, pipelines and "superscalar architecture".

Think of it as a factory: The GPU is the workforce and the CPU is the manager. If the manager has a fever and cant operate at full speed , but is still efficient enough to give proper orders to the workforce it doesn't affect the performance of the whole factory.

The drops you experienced were probably extreme clock rate drops- something like 3 Ghz- down to 800 Mhz.Some older CPUs/laptops do that. The throttling on the P35X is rather intelligent, it never drops the clock rate like an ugly baby, but does it gradually, so you don't really notice it. Unless it drops below a certain level and can't "feed" the GPU effectively, of course, but thats unlikely.

 

Oh god, the forums...

 

My computer either has the wrong date or two weeks of posts are missing. Hopefully it's just a minor glitch with the forum update.

 

Are the forums missing a couple pages of posts for anyone else?

 

Hi,
I just got my laptop today (P35xv3 Cf5) I like the laptop but what I hate most is windows 8 and I'm really want to change it to windows 7 but it will be any problem doing that?

 

2 weeks of posts are missing...

 

Probably not the thread, but does anyone else really hate the new style? The old one was much better in my opinion.

 

Nope, just do a normal clean install. I'm not sure whether the gigabyte utilities and drivers come for win 7 or not though, so you might loose those.

 

Hi all,
Into my 2nd month with my P35X V3 and so far it is the best laptop I have owned by far.
It does get a little "warm" but nothing a good cooling pad can't fix.
Just swapped the DVD drive for a hybrid 1TB drive to add to the other main drive and the 2 SSD.
Even spilled a cup of tea over the keyboard a few weeks ago and thought it was dead.Opened it up and inverted it,left it in a warm room over night and hey presto,back to normal.
Excellent forum by the way.
paul

 

I agree. Second month here for me too and having a great time with it. It's got great battery life, a nice bright screen and a killer GPU. It's not for overclockers but I don't overclock and I'm really enjoying this laptop.

 

I didn't expect somebody with the name "****hole" to be so pleasant. Welcome to NBR!

 

Thanks for the answer and yes there is drivers & utilities support from gigabyte I just checked out. As it for me I'm very happy with the laptop and I tried it with Dragon Age Inquisition under ultra settings and I did not have any problems with frame rate as it just keep above 40 fps all the time maybe the most annoyed is the fan noise as under heavy load it become very noisy.

 

I was very worried about win 8.1 as think win7 is brilliant, but actually I've got used to 8.1 very quick, and if set it to start into desktop you never need to see the metro screen... It could be the laptop but it seems a pretty fast efficient OS so i'm sticking with it. Just in case you might be thinking of trying it for a while before switching ;-)

 

In light of the recent GTX 970 memory controversy rumors started creeping up that the 980M 4GB has the same issue and cant allocate more than 3,5 GB correctly.

I've tested my P35X and am happy to say: no issues, it correctly allocates all of its 7936 MB RAM

here are my results: https://www.paste.to/2pFFhF7g

 

I agree that

you need to give windows 8.1 a try.
At first I hated it but as soon as I installed classic shell it was back to the way I like windows.
Always thought XP was the bees knees but you eventually have to upgrade.
Still miss windows 7 64bit though
Paul

 

What's the general opinion on the 35w vs 35x. Is the 980 producing that much extra heat or is the upgrade worth it?

 

Well, with the Windows 10 just months away, maybe just upgrade to 10 from 7. What do you think?

Regards

 

Both are very competent, buy whichever you can afford.

Regards

 

It depends on money really. Both are great laptops. However, I would consider other laptops if you are getting the w, just to compare. The x is the only one of its kind though.

 

What other laptops also have the 970 6gb vram other than MSI?

 

Here is a list of recent laptops with 970M and 980M: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1A0LiCTs3MTI-4ptvZufLTWGLuyfdlL0j97sdUpUMHjQ/edit#gid=0

If you plan to run demanding games for the next several years, I'd go with P35x with 980M 8GB if you can afford it in your budget.

Already there are a few recent games the 980M can't even handle at 1080p steady 60fps max settings. The 970M is going to have an even tougher time with the future console ports coming out in the coming years.

 

well I hate windows 8 mostly due to two thing:
1- Start menu: which is replaced by the stupid metro UI which is good for touch screens (like mobile & pads) but not for desktop or laptops devices.

2- The cartoonish UI in windows 8 which is a drawback from the beautiful UI in widows 7.

What I'm doing now to get the start menu back, I replaced the start menu with Gigabyte Switch and choose to startup immediately to the desktop not to the metro interface also I''ll see the games compatibility in windows 8 if I''ll get a lot of games problems due to the windows for sure I''ll change to windows 7.

 

Win8 is unusable and I don't know of anything it can that 7 can't do better except touchscreen stuff.

For anyone who wants a good start menu in Windows there is an awesome free project called Classic Start menu.
One of the first things to install on any newer Windows.

http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

 

Some games do have frame rate advantages in Windows 8.1, such as Battlefield 4. I wish that was not the case, as I would like to avoid having to buy another OS (since I have an unused Windows 7 disk), but there are a number of discussions on various websites that show the increase in frame rates using Windows 8.1 in BF4.

 

That's an awesome list, did you make it?

 

So exactly how loud are the fans when gaming?
I've heard reports to where it's very loud and distracting to where it's tolerable but still louder than most laptops.
I would love to hear more actual hands on owners about there own personal experience , also does a notebook cooler help lower temps at all?
It seems like it has tiny vents on the bottom and would greatly benefit having larger vents to suck in more air.

 

Pretty loud. A very very audible whhhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. You won't hear it with headphones on, but everyone else in the room will. GF complains often, it's not silent. Cooler helps temps, but really just elevating the laptop helps the temps.

Edit: of course fans only kick up during gaming. Otherwise it's almost silent.

 

This laptop has a very unique specificity: it is super thin and packs a 4710hq plus 980m. As said earlier, cooling is good but not optimal.

Meaning that it has small vents and small heatsinks, and the fans need to spin faster. Noise: when browsing or computing, fans are barely audible. In game, it depends on the gpu+cpu load. Max fans really sound like the laptop is about to take off. It is a steady whoosh, but high pitched so can be annoying. However, with proper repaste, undervolt and propping the laptop up there are only a few games that will push the laptop to max fans.

I think a laptop cooler does not help over propping the laptop until it blows strongly cool air into the vents of the laptop, which you said are tiny. I already thought about it when disassembling mine, if you could somehow enlarge the vents, since the base is plastic.

 

Thanks for the info.
So I guess it's pretty distracting
Wasn't expecting a silent laptop but it's too bad it gets that loud where it can annoy others in the same room......not good.
I really love what this laptop offers but loud fans under load is not one of them.
Yeah it seems something as simple as enlarging the bottom vents would greatly help reduce higher temps.
I know this sounds a bit crazy but has anyone tried running it with the bottom panel completely removed?
Not permanently but just to see if it actually helps reduce temps or if the higher temps are due to the cooling system itself and not affected by restricted air flow.

 

It's very loud while gaming, the fan has 3 stages speed in which the third stage is very loud and noisy, you can check a review video on youtube which included the cooling fan sound:

 

Yes, but these videos worsen the noise from my experience, it is not as bad as it sounds in the video, in game it is not that distracting, as said earlier it is a concern for the others in the room.

That being said, if you are looking for this kind of gaming laptop, I would pick the p650sg. After my p35x died I gave it a shot and am very happy so far, and it is much more silent.

 

Agreed. If you're looking for a laptop primarily for gaming 24/7 then something else is better. If you want a thin and light laptop for work but sometimes play games on then the P35X is pretty darn good. No major problems for me yet.

 

Personaly, even when gaming for a while, I haven't seen any noticeable throttling (in game) or problems, and this is with the laptop completely unmodified. While I can't speak for the sager, the p35x is fine for a heavy gaming machine imo.

 

Absolutely, my main concern about it for not getting another one is the hefty price tag for the average build quality (personal feeling)

 

The only thing I don't like about the P650SG is the 4GB 980M and stock screen.
Do you have the stock IPS screen ? what brand screen is it and impressions of the screen would be great.

 

Yeah I was concerned about the 4gb too... But after checking multiple reviews on the vram consumption, comparing the reviews of p35x v3 and the one of p650SE/sg for gaming I concluded that vram is not a limiting factor for gaming in fhd for these cards... And after testing it on my p650sg it is perfectly fine even for games specifying more than 4gb needed.

I ordered from clevo extreme gaming because they offer stock ips fhd screen and have very competitive pricing (plus I'm in France, next to them). I have to check which screen I have, but even if the resolution is less fine than on the p35x I do not miss it that much, and this screen looks better in my opinion, I will check what model do I have.

 

1080P is fine more concerned about the quality of the screen and response times. I know IPS screens are more pron to ghosting/blurring , have you noticed any motion blur yet on your P650SG?
More info on your screen would be great to better help me decide what's good for me.
I was maybe thinking getting the 4K SHARP screen and just lowering and leaving it at 1080P, interpolation should be good but that sort of defeats the purpose of 4K, + Windows is still a little wonky when it comes to high res options.

 

Yeah I play games all the time, have finished a whole bunch since getting the P35X. It's great for games. I never notice any throttling as I've been saying. Anyone who's really worried about temps or whatever can go to XTU and turn all the ratios to 24x (same as turning off turbo). I noticed drops of about 8 degrees for both CPU and GPU when playing Crysis 3 for a few hours now. But whatever, I'm not worried about it. 91 is high for the CPU but it's designed to go up to 100 before it throttles itself, so it's not exactly dangerous. Most of the complaints about the laptop seem to be about throttling that's why I say if you're worried about it, choose something else. Again guys, there's no visible throttling. The only throttling you'll see is if you have some app like XTU monitoring throttling. The GPU never stutters and throttles.

Yeah I've read that 4GB is fine for now. I guess my only worry would be will it be fine in a few years time? There are already games that can use 4GB (even if they don't need it) at 1080p. Wolfenstein: The New Order needs 3GB of VRAM to even show the Ultra option. The P650SG is a good machine but I really like that the P35X is thin and light with great battery. It's not as good at cooling as the P650SG but that's to be expected for being so much thinner and lighter. Even with its inferior cooling though the benchmark and gaming performance is almost exactly the same. As to FHD vs 3k, another matter of personal opinion. I like 3k a lot for working in windows but I mostly game in 1080p. I don't notice any scaling artifacts or junk like that.

 

You're right, 24 is a lot though, setting mine to 32 or 31 for four cores made thermal throttling disappears for my worst case scenario game (far cry 3).

Just want to add that this laptop is not for overclocking either, you have to establish what you want to do with the laptop prior to buy it.

 

I believe @Lendari is the one who put this list together for us.

 

I'm facing problem after updating the wireless driver and that if the laptop goes to sleep the wireless become disabled after it and I have to restart to enable it again. I''ll appreciate if anybody can help me with it.

 

Mine is bent, too. The front left foot floats 1 mm above ground.
Quite unexpected at this price...

 

I had that problem with older wifi drivers where it wouldn't reconnect after sleep. The new drivers fixed it and also fixed my BSODs.

 

Strange I noticed also a small bent on mine too I did not notice that until I read about here.

Thanks for the reply but the problem happened after I updated to the new driver, I"ll try to remove the driver and install it again.

 

Where exactly do you guys notice where it bends ?
Pics would be great for future reference.
I can overlook running a bit hot and loud but when it comes to physical damage I might start looking elsewhere.
On a side note how many W is the PSU? At least 180W I hope.

 

There are multiple pics about bend/unevenness and the PSU is 180W.

Regards

 

Currently trying to decide between the P35x or the Clevo P750zm. The P750zm is going to be better for some creative applications, but unless the performance disparity is massive, I will probably go with the more portable P35x.

Here is my benchmark wishlist. Any of you guys tried video editing, motion graphics or other creative applications with your P35x? How about Skyrim or GTA4 with lots of high res texture mods?


SPECviewperf 12

SPECviewperf 12 download​

Adobe Premiere

PPBM7 benchmark
​

After Effects

AE Raytrace/CUDA Benchmark Test
Teddygage Raytrace Benchmark​

Photoshop

KitGuru Photoshop Benchmark
Photoshop Speed Test
​

Encoding

x264 Encoding Benchmark
​

Cinebench

MAXON | 3D FOR THE REAL WORLD: Overview​

PCMark8

Creative Test
Applications Test​

Blender

BMW Test Scene
Blender Render Benchmark
Blenchmark​

Autodesk

Cadalyst Benchmark​

DA:Inquisition max settings with 4xMSAA, 2xMSAA, 0xMSAA
BF4 max settings 4xMSAA, 2xMSAA, 0xMSAA
Assassin's Creed Unity max settings
Witcher 2 max settings, uber AA enabled
Evil Within
Lords of the Fallen
COD Advanced Warfare max settings including Cache Sun Shadow Maps, Cache Spot Shadow Maps
Metro Last Light max settings
Skyrim with high res texture mods

Skyrim HD Texture Pack
HD Fire
Skyrim Flora Overhaul
Quality Snow HD 4k
Skyrim Galaxy and Nebula Pack 8k
Superior Rock Textures 4k
Alternative Rock and Mountain Textures 4k
Real Ice
Realistic Water
W.A.T.E.R​

GTA 4 with iCEnhancer C ( video)
Morrowind with MGSO 3.0 Graphics Overhaul Mod
Civilization V Huge Map with max AI opponents (22) (does it crash at late game)

 

Hi guys

I have the p35x v3 And I confirm it has a 1mm gap on front left foot. So annoying after paying that much.

 

Yeah sorry, it seems I forgot to mention the version (doh!). The version that works best for me is 17.13.11.5. If I use anything else I have issues. I did notice that sometimes it takes a few seconds to reconnect on resume but we're talking < 10s even in the worst case.

I can confirm that despite me opening it multiple times, my P35X doesn't have this mysterious floating foot syndrome. That's weird.

Edit: Corrected wifi driver version number.

 

A week ago I asked about a possible memory issue in gtx980m and 970m, similar to the confirmed memory issue found in gtx970. Now I read some rumors saying that the memory configuration of gtx960 and gtx980m had similar issues to that of gtx970 ( https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/803518/geforce-900-series/gtx-970-3-5gb-vram-issue/295/). I don't know for sure if this is true or not. Since laptop users usually don't need to run games at extremely high resolutions, the memory limitation related to gtx970-like configuration won't be a big issue. But I think that it is important for 980m laptop owners to pay attentions to this issue.