HP ZBook G3 (Studio, 15u) Owner's Lounge

You can do it but you won't be able to use a second hard drive.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzgdA0Z7l4j1Mi00QzB2c1RyY2c/view

 

Re: 200W HP TB3 dock with HP ZBook Studio G3.

The HP TB3 dock drivers for Win10x64 1511 version didn't work on 1610 (Anniversary), and the 1610 drivers didn't work on 1703 (Creator). Now that MS forces Win10 versions, you will need to load the latest BIOS and the HP TB3 drivers for each Win 10 version (the dock will charge, but the ports are dead after a new Win 10 version installs), along with related drivers, e.g., Intel Management Engine, Dock Audio. Updating just the TB3 driver and firmware will not work (no TB icon in the system tray) if the BIOS and ALL the supporting drivers are not up to date. The TB3 dock has tentacles everywhere.

The next Win 10 version ("Redstone 3") is now in beta, RTM late 2017, so the TB3 driver cycle will be repeated later this year.

 

I have the 150W TB3 dock and I've been updating my Windows versions without having to jump through hoops to keep the dock working. It seems to be just fine for me. But perhaps I'm already ahead by keeping my BIOS and drivers up to date as the new ones come out?

 

I infer that you are using the HP Support Assistant app, too. Good rule of practice is to defer a Windows version update until after you run the Support Assistant, then allow a Win version update, then run Support Assistant again. One Elite TS tech told me that the TB3 dock is currently the most problematic hardware device they deal with.

 

Hi,
I´am just reporting, that I´am still using your Zbook Studio fan profile config on my 15 G3 laptop (I know it´s silly, but it´s the only fan profile with both CPU and GPU fan setup I could find). It´s still better than no config at all, since the fans (mostly just CPU fan) are turning like crazy, even when idle without the fancontrol turned on. I was not able to acquire those EC values to create my own config. The only thing that helped was to fiddle with those temp tresholds a little. But the CPU fan i still making this terrible sound - like an old hard drive - probably it´s confused by the fan control.
Recently I tested to undervolt the CPU and it´s also a good way to reduce temperatures and power cosumption. On my 6700HQ I successfully achieved -0,130V undervolting without any crashes. I reduced max power draw (package) from 36,4 W to 28,06 W and highest core temp from 73 to 67 celsius! Next thing I´am planning is probably to replace the thermal paste, since there is no "varranty void if removed sticker" on the heatsink, I think it´s worth the risk - will post photos and results later, how is the thermal compoud applied on this machine.

 

I am glad the profile is compatible and has helped you. Sadly the 17 G3 I have access to only has Intel graphics so HP shipped it with one fan installed and a heatsink that only covers the processor side of the system. The system can definitely cool more efficiently if both fans run at the same time and speed.

As far as repasting is concerned, I am sure that it would be fine, but those components are technically not customer repairable parts so you may be on the hook if the components somehow got damaged as part of the repasting.

On another note, has anyone here tried the Studio G4's larger battery with a Studio G3 yet? I see that the 92W battery is on backorder in the partsurfer but the price is only $71 which is very reasonable consider a 50% capacity increase if it works.

 

Hi,
I have good news for those with 15 G3, there was a guy on the hp forum, that uploaded his own fan profile made for 15 G3. It most probably uses machine´s own EC values etc. Also someone from the HP employees said, that it´s not good to keep those fans running under 30% speed, because it can demage them (LOL), but unfortunately maybe he was right, because my fans are now making really strange electrical noises (but still working) after several months of NFC....

HP forum, about the fan noise: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-Notebooks/Zbook-15-G3-Fan-Activity/td-p/5731987/page/2
fan profile: https://github.com/xuanguang/Software/tree/master/Fan/NotebookFanCtrl/config

Right now I´am preparing for the repasting. If someone would know the thermal pads thicknesses for AMD GPU, I would be glad. Most probably, those from the factory are ****ty too.

 

Yeah i did it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzgdA0Z7l4j1Mi00QzB2c1RyY2c/view

 

For those interested in reducing temps with ZBook 15 G3:
So I finally decided to repaste my 15 G3. Together with undervolting (-0,125 V, stable), the results are very pleasant. As you can see in the benchmark reults tab, the difference was almost 20 degrees celsius under load. I also used a fancontrol, to see the results with 100% fans and auto option. The profile for this model is in my previous post. I used that one, but I recommend to change some temp tresholds, so they turn off, when idle and with low temps. I used Intel XTU for undervolting.

With fans on auto, after repasting and undervolting, the average temp of the CPU was 50,5 celsius on full load. The fans were running 60% and 60% both (in this fancontrol profile it´s not very loud, you can´t really hear them when running at 40% - it´s probably just wrong EC value in the config). Good thing was also, that with the new paste, there was no jump of the temperature after starting the benchmark, so the max temp was under 60 degrees. Ambient temperature was around 24-26 celsius. I was fascinated when I ran the benchmark with fans on max, that the average CPU temp was just 43,95 celsius! This is the evidence, that the cooling solution is not that bad, it´s all about the thermal paste, overvolted CPU and terrible default fan setup.

As a thermal paste, I used Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, which is a little bit expensive, but its totally worth it.
I also replaced some thermal pads on GPU (I used Gelid GP-Extreme), but only those with a thicknes up to 1,5 mm, since I didn´t have any thicker ones. The Heat sink solution for AMD GPUs is not well designed, so the gap between the capacitors and resistors (I´am not sure, how those components are exactly called) was around 2mm, which is too much. Also they used those very strange looking thermal pads and I´am not sure about their conductivity as well.

I have done a lot of benchmarks with stock paste/ repaste, with fans on full/ auto (both with fancontrol) and finally with normal volting/ undervolting, for those who are interested. They were just 20 minutes long.

One thing, which is really bothering me, are those two tiny scratches on the CPU. I don´t know, how it could happen, but I´am sure, it´s from the factory, which is very dissapointing.

pictures and benchmark results:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0Bz6p1i8Vv7TkN2lkY21ldFBvcGs?usp=sharing

Hope, this was interesting for some of you, perhaps wondering about the repasting, if it´s worth it. For me it was. The dissassembly is very simple, but don´t forget to wear an anti-static wrist strap. Have a lot of stuff to clean that load of stock thermal paste. Be prepared to replace some thermal pads, since you can easily tear and destroy them by removing the heatsink. Most of the thermal pads are around 2mm thick.

 

Just to introduce myself. I am getting my Studio G3 tomorrow. found one on ebay with the 6820HQ, 32GB RAM, M1000M, 1080p for US$1199 with 31 months of warranty+accidential protection. if you think this is a horrible deal, let me know. I was debating to buy from the HP outlet, but the only one year warranty on the outlet changed my mind.

obviously very open for any words of widsom including of any critical updates I should execute and any to avoid. my recent background has been on Precision 5510/XPS 15 and Thinkpad P50. my main reason to prefer this over, say the Precision 5510, is the possiblity to use two M2 drives; and of course, a better keyboard. I hope I can just plug and play a Samsung M2 SATA stick I have floating around on my desk. I was first desperately hunting for a 4K panel version, but reviews about battery life made me conclude that a 4k panel will be an overkill for a 3-cell battery.

anyhow, I am delighted to start reading this thread.

 

I have 2 major problems with this laptop:

1. The Thunderbolt controller shows up as a PCI to PCI Bridge no matter how many times I uninstall/reinstall the drivers. Even having IT reimage the machine didn't fix the issue. Needless to say, the Thuderbolt 3 dock doesn't work and HP support has effectively told IT to go pound sand.
   
2. If I close the lid but keep the laptop running (i.e. disable go to sleep when the lid is closed), after a week or so the laptop will inexplicably become unresponsive with a black screen, requiring me to open the lid and hold down the power button for 10 seconds to turn it off and then turn it back on again.

I don't really mind it sitting on my desk as a fancy paperweight since IT gave me a Lenovo P50 while they continue to battle with HP support, but needless to say, the combination of these 2 problems makes it impossible to use this laptop as a desktop replacement, if at all. Has anyone here experienced & managed to overcome these issues?

 

sorry to hear about your bad experience. for 1) can you post what you see in device manager?

 

I also edited a profile for fan control, for Zbook 15 G3, it can be found here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApOOcI4bl0TJo3pPi5joCHs3sgjl . It's a more silent one, but with minimum fans above 30 % speed

 

Is there anyone using 960 pro ssd in your zbook 15 g3? I´am having some strange issues with my 512GB drive. Crystal DiskMark results are very low, compared to declared speeds. When I run samsung´s magician software benchmark, sequential read is around 665 MB/s and 1312 MB/s for write (edit: Magician software is crap). I know I should not notice any signifficant difference when I use my computer, but sometimes I even feel small lags. I update my drivers regulary and my configuration should be fine as well. Do you think it has to do something with the pci-e slot / drivers or is there a chance of a slightly slower product from the manufacturer?

Crystaldiskmark results (I ran the benchmark several times and results are similar to these)

Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 2647.051 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 1659.857 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 436.910 MB/s [106667.5 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 323.296 MB/s [ 78929.7 IOPS]
Sequential Read (T= 1) : 1282.415 MB/s
Sequential Write (T= 1) : 1522.639 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 45.301 MB/s [ 11059.8 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 130.968 MB/s [ 31974.6 IOPS]

 

I have a 17 g3 and recently installed an regular evo 960 M2.

I will try crystaldisk. Will update the thread with my benchmarks

 

@jansol

Here are my results

Zbook 17 G3 i7-6700HQ, 8GB DDR4-2133
Samsung 960 evo 512


Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) : 2375.360 MB/s
Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) : 1748.980 MB/s
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 1414.008 MB/s [ 345216.8 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 8,T= 8) : 1224.464 MB/s [ 298941.4 IOPS]
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 279.374 MB/s [ 68206.5 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) : 219.941 MB/s [ 53696.5 IOPS]
Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 45.774 MB/s [ 11175.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) : 110.693 MB/s [ 27024.7 IOPS]

 

Hi guys,

Sorry to bump up an older post. Got a query about ZBook 15 G3 DreamColor laptop. Recently switched from an older ZBook 17 G1 (with DreamColor 2) to this. Slightly mixed feeling about the 15.6" UHD display.

Is it just me or do the panel brightness fade somewhat near the left and the right edges? (especially if you're ever so slightly out of the optimal vertical viewing range?)
Also - the color seems to not spread as subtly/granularly as the old panel. is this the 8bit vs 10 bit thing?
Seems the bezel got the G3 double tape treatment - much more backlight bleed now. Will give HP a call this week as the laptop arrived with some bright pixels too.