Lenovo Legion Y740 17" 15"

Those are very interesting results .Really appreciate the time you put into it.
It looks even on quiet mode it performs very well and still has excellent temps. I’m sure unless you have a FPS counter you probably wouldn’t notice the difference to much between 80Fps vs 100Fps anyway.

I have yet to play the Division, is that a demanding game on GPU and CPU?

 

Ya Ubisoft games are notoriously CPU demanding games (particle physics) and with all the post-processing can be very GPU demanding as well. Same with Anthem which is also demanding.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

 

So like i said my repasting session went wrong and i messed up one screw... Any suggestions how to get it out? I tried the rubber band trick but didnt help..

Anyway the main question:
Do you guys know how to revert back on bios from 1.08 to 1.06. I feel like on that bios i had the best thermals without limiting clockspeeds or watts. I get a message that says something like " Newer bios already installed" or something like that when trying to run the exe file...

Althought limiting the clockspeed has very little impact on performance, but still feels a bit silly to keep it in max 3.4 Ghz for example in BFV when with 1.06 i was getting like 3.7Ghz easy with the same or better thermals. So any suggestions ?

 

If you have a Lowe's near you. You can get a small Easy-Out set.

 

You have to go to the bios and enable the bios flash back or back flash or a similarly named option, I forget the exact name. Then you can use the standard utility in Windows to flash to an older version.

 

I have done that, still doesnt work.

Ill be on a look out for something similiar, thanks!

 

Hey...i would recommend it.. it is a very solid laptop ...with some caveats.

Good things:

-great build quality (aluminium case), 180 degree display hinge (important for ergonomics ..for example with laptop stand)

-great looking display with light-matte surface (most other gaming laptops are pretty grainy in comparison)

-great Samsung nvme SSD (also runs cool) and it offers 1 TB SSD capacity at much much lower price than any other competing 17 inch laptop (mine costs around 1500 USD and had 1TB SSD, the closest offering with 1TB SSD from ASUS cost 2500 USD)

-runs cool and quiet (cooler and quieter than any other competing 17.3 gaming laptops out now, my version has GTX 1660 ti (basically a RTX 2060 without ray-tracing hardware)

-keyboard is good for typing, workable for gaming


Bad things:

-its larger than the average gaming laptop (i'm talking 17.3 inches ones) and has large edges to it...i personally couldn't get comfortable gaming on it in any position (any which way hurts my wrists or compresses my nerve if i game for a while) - the cure to this is a laptop stand..so you can adjust it at an angle..this could have been solved by having smaller display bezels and less sharpened edges..

-(this applies if you spend a lot of time on your laptop, reading) display has a diffuse-light spreading sheet that makes reading somewhat more strenuous (text doesn't appear as sharp)

-has lateral evac on the sides..this is personal..but i personally keep my hand at the evac point on the left side..and if you run some demanding tasks the vents expel pretty warm air (which over long term may cause skin issues)


Like i said, a great laptop, with some caveats.

 

It spits out warm air on both sides (and the back), unless there's a major difference between 15 and 17 inch. Though I doubt this is going to do anything harmful unless you hold your hand over the vent while gaming for hours on end... which would probably cause burns.

Speaking of which, I'm wondering what you mean by "cool and quiet" because (see previous posts...) that hasn't exactly been my experience, at least not under any sort of load with stock settings.

 

Forgot to mention...mine has a 1660 ti so that's maybe the reason why it is more quiet. Before i returned an ASUS scar strix ii 17 inch with a gtx 2060, compared to that it's very quiet. On the Y740 i can play rpg games and listen to dialogue..on the ASUS i could barely hear the action in FPS games (at medium volume).

Yes..it has 4 exhausts points, but i only keep my hand rested on the left side..so the right side is not an issue. The ASUS i returned didn't have vents on the left side so i could rest my hand even when gaming (say in a RPG talking to people) or when running demanding tasks.

 

@IKAS V As promised here is a rough guide on how to OC + UV with MSI afterburner for better performance and thermals.

https://imgur.com/gallery/EyjHLWs

Here are some pictures of my profiles in afterburner that I'll explain below how I created.

The 1st is no UV, just a +150 core OC.

The 2nd and 3rd are 1,890Mhz @ 850mv, and 1,785Mhz @ 793mv.

Here's what I did:

Use OC scanner to get a stable core OC and apply it. Then, choose a voltage/frequency that you want to undervolt at. Yours will be different because each chip varies. Play a game for a while and use HWinfo64 or another monitoring tool to see what your max GPU clock speed is. You can start at this frequency, and then in the curve editor flatline all points to the right of that frequency. You may want to try a few different profiles out though, as you can see I have one at 1,890Mhz and one at 1,785Mhz. But basically you just pick a frequency and flatline all points to the right of that voltage. The further to the left / lower frequency you choose to flatline at, the greater the undervolt and better temps you will get. It also helps stabilize your clock speeds so you get more consistent performance. So when your voltage is left of the flatline, you still get the core OC the scanner gave you. Under heavy GPU load you won't be at max voltage, it'll be lowered and operating in the actual curve. So you still want to have an OC on those voltage points. Then when GPU load is less your GPU will only go as high as the voltage you flatlined at, using less power and hence the undervolt, giving you lower GPU temps and also lower CPU temps. I think flatlining around 1,800Mhz or so is a good starting point to work with, as the mobile RTX GPUs while gaming don't go much higher than that under heavy load.

It takes some work and testing to get a few good profiles. You can test your UV profiles with benchmarks like Fire Strike and Time Spy to test how your temps and performance are.

I got my best results and like the #17 highest time spy score for all 9750/2070MQ configs with a +200 core OC + Undervolt flatlining at 1,785Mhz @ 793mv.

Let me know if I explained everything OK and if you have any questions just let me know!

I also added a +400 memory OC after configuring my profiles which is stable for me.

Also as you can see I only flatlined up to 1000mv, because the max the 2070MQ will pull is 950mv, so it won't go over that.

This method allow a higher OC at the lower voltages, if I just apply a +200 core OC without the UV it isn't stable. So at the lower voltages it allows a higher OC than would normally be stable.

I've combined a 150mv CPU undervolt + 3.5Ghz all core underclock and GPU +200 core +400 memory OC + UV flatline at 1,785Mhz @ 793mv for best performance and thermals. I get max CPU temps of 80c with these settings and averages in the 65-75c range. My GPU also has lower temps by about 3-5c.

I've tested this with synthetic benchmarks and also gaming and I get the same if not slightly better performance than without undervolting, and CPU temps are 5+ degrees lower for both Max and Averages. This is all on Performance mode as well.

Hope this quick guide helps a few people and let me know if anyone has questions.

 

I did try to take the screws out for thermal re-paste, y740. Few months back. Those black screws are very very delicate, not sure why Lenovo even use them. A wrong bit and you are done. Just like yours I got mine rounded (stripped badly). I tried many different things, mostly all I came across online. Rubber band method, using quick glue, screw extractor, moody tools screw extractor, another extractor set from Menard, precision screwdriver sets, and lastly reverse drill method. Nothing helped at all, all failed for me. That bit** stripped screw is still there hiding under the back panel. Good luck to you. If you ever can take that stripped screw out, I appreciate if you let me know how. Hope someone may have better suggestion on this.

 

Even in the CPU test part of Time Spy? At 3.5 Ghz, my CPU usually stays under 80 until that part, where it hits 90+. Have to put it all the way down to 3.0 Ghz to keep it under 80 the whole way through. It still gets an above-average overall score with the GPU overclocked (had previously just used the overclock-scan result, tried flattening the curve at ~1800 MHz and it got the same score, so that part seems to work; this is with a 2060 though and I wasn't paying attention to GPU temps since that hasn't been an issue for me, it rarely goes over 70 C) but this processor continues to be a bit of a disappointment.

Did those tests in performance fan mode (which does seem to make a difference in scores, though not temps). CPU is also limited to 45 watts for short-boost, though I don't think it gets that high anyway with those clock speed limits.

 

When I run benchmarks like Fire Strike/Time Spy, I usually keep my 9750H running at 4.0Ghz if I'm looking to get the highest score possible. I usually don't run into any temperature issues with synthetic benchmarks though. Gaming always gives me much higher temps. With a 150mv Undervolt applied and the back of the laptop raised 1-2 inches with a stand, I don't ever see thermal throttling, whether my CPU is running at 4.0Ghz or underclocked. Do you have the back of your laptop raised up? It makes a huge difference. What kind of temps do you get when gaming compared to the benchmarks?

The thing about the Undervolt is you can apply a higher Overclock than what the scan gives you and still be stable. Even if say +200 isn't normally stable for you, if you undervolt you can reach a higher OC on the parts of the curve that are left of the flatline. At least this has been my experience. I usually can't go past +150 core OC. But when I Undervolt at 1,785Mhz @793mv, I can apply a +200 core OC and it's stable. So the points to the left of the flatline are OC'd higher than what's possible without the undervolt.

Undervolting only seems to lower the GPU temps by maybe 3-5c. But, this also leads to lower CPU temps because they share a heatpipe. And also when the GPU runs cooler, due to the way GPU boost works it will run at higher clock speeds at the same voltages. As GPU temps get higher GPU Boost lowers clock speeds by moving the v/f curve downwards. When it runs cooler it keeps the voltage/frequency curve higher. Hopefully this helps clarify some things.

 

Jeez. I guess that settles it--need to call Lenovo tomorrow and see if my warranty is worth anything. Wish I could have figured this out before the end of my return window, but if it's defective it shouldn't matter.

I do have the back lifted up a couple of inches, but this has little to no effect. Don't really have any super-demanding games to test with at the moment, apparently, since 3DMark is harder on it than anything else, but even older games get the CPU pretty hot unless it's underclocked/underwatted/whatever. Cinebench or any other CPU-only-stresser makes it hit 94C thermal throttle more or less immediately on stock settings (which doesn't make the temperature go down, only keeps it from climbing even higher).

 

Do you have an undervolt applied to your CPU? those temps do sound too high, even at stock settings. I didn't really test mine too much at stock settings but I know I did get thermal throttling without an undervolt and on a flat wooden desk. Once I applied a 150mv UV though and kept the back raised, it got rid of the thermal throttling for me. I still saw max temps in the high 80s though occasionally during spikes. Once I underclock though it pretty much keeps my CPU temps out of the 80s. Still hits maybe 80-82c running at 3.6Ghz during spikes, but that's just before the fans rev up to max under a heavy gaming load.

 

It has a cache+core undervolt of 140mv, yes. Even with that, raised back, and reducing the turbo power limit to 45 watts, just running Cinebench makes it hit 90+. Not on every core, though--a couple of them stay below 80 no matter what I throw at them. Seems like some sort of heatsink issue based on what others have said.

Lenovo support, somewhat to my surprise, agreed that those temps are too high and said they'd send someone out (likely in a week or so) to attempt a fix (replacing the motherboard, probably), so we'll see how that goes.

 

Yeah that definitely sounds like either an uneven heatsink or bad factory thermal paste job. Hopefully they come out and fix it for you. Motherboard replacement will definitely solve the issue I'd imagine.

 

@codeHusky
Nerve Sense on bios 1.03 is working with Extreme Cooling . I will test 1.06 tomorrow. and i will see if i can get the OC features enabled on both or either.

 

Tested with 8th gen. Worked on bios 1.08 that has the fn+q function on default. On 1.10 with the fan profiles, didnt work. The nerve sense just lost the option alltogether... Dissapointing

 

15" is finally available on UK site

 

Any difference between Nerve Sense and the regular Vantage it’s shipped with?

 

The UK site is a rip off: £1650 with no operating system, which costs an additional £153. I've given up on Lenovo UK. They barely stock y740s all year and when they do they they inflate the prices. Better to get a decent gaming laptop from PCspecialist that do 17" Clevos with full RTX 2070 for £1700.

 

I had some work server related issues and I didn't get to test it completely like I wanted to tonight. So I may have an answer for you tomorrow..

 

Are you using the Lenovo Nerve center you can download from the windows store? or is it the one from Lenovo's website? you said it worked on 1.03 but that bios already has the max fans mode correct? It would be awesome if it worked on 1.05 and 1.06 for the 9750H models.

 

It's the downloadable version from Lenovos website. I avoid windows store apps like the plague.
But I can confirm that I can not get it to work with 1.05 nor 1.06.
I can also confirm that changing fans temp settings with the debug bios on 1.03 works but it doesn't in 1.06.
In all honesty, I don't think 1.06 was ever meant to remove the control per say. I think its a legit bad bios. It requires flashing back twice to 1.03 and stopping windows updates from installing an EC firmware to a 1.09 version for the fan control to come back completely. I have been able to replicate it showing the laptop having 1.03 installed, but with an EC/system firmwae version of 1.09 from windows updates. And pressing fn-q only ramps the fan up for maybe 20-30 seconds before returning to being completely off. Flashing 1.03 TWICE is what has been required rid the system of that EC/Systemfirmware 1.09.

 

How common is coil whine on the 2060 model? I hear it during certain games when my headset is plugged in. Never heard it on the 1660 model I had previously. Not sure if it is worth returning yet although this model has a few issues compared to my first one.

 

I had coil whine on my 8750H 2060 and I have it on my 9750H 2070MQ as well. I can only hear it when the GPU clock speed is really high though. It isn't noticable once the fans come on or game audio is moderately loud. With fans off and game audio low though it's a little audible. Not worth returning over imo. If you search around coil whine is present on a lot of RTX GPUs.

 

Can anyone's Y740 handle this at 8k without stuttering ? Mine cant but the 4k version it can handle :

I tested the video using Edge .... Plays back the vid in 8k without issue, it seems to be a browser issue ... not a hardware issue.

 

Works fine for me on 8K in fullscreen on Edge. Probably a browser issue like you said.

 

I had to switch away from Chrome for watching videos as even 1080p videos would stutter. Plays just fine at 8k60 when using Opera, which I prefer it because it has a picture in picture function that works across all programs, not just on the page itself.

 

I've been messing around with my undervolt lately and found something interesting out.

So, if I don't mess the curve and don't undervolt it, I'm stuck at a +125 Mhz OC on the core. I can't go past that much. The clocks will shoot to almost 1700Mhz, but dip down as low as 1500-1475Mhz. So I'm not getting as many frames from doing that.

On hwInfo64, I'm showing a GPU draw of 99W at most, 90W on average.

I found that I can OC to +211Mhz if I lock it at 0.768V. This means I get 1620Mhz stable as opposed to it jumping around. I noticed the CPU does this same kind of thing if I don't undervolt it and try to keep at 3.9 Ghz (as it will jump between 3.5 and 3.9...as opposed to UV and keeping it at 3.8Ghz constantly.) As a result, I get 5-10% higher frames. For example, on BL3, I get 78.2 fps at 1080p with Ultra settings and the +125 Mhz OC. If I use the undervolt, I get 82.6 fps. I get similar results with MHW and some other games.

I should also note that running OC Scanner does something similar to if I just set it to +125 Mhz. The frequency just jumps around as much as it can and hurts performance. By locking it at a 0.768v max, I don't get that behavior and my frames increase.

 

Thanks. I played the same game again last night (R6) and it was barely noticeable, if it comes and goes I can probably live with it, or get a USB DAC/Amp.

 

Coil whine was pretty bad on my 2060--continuous through headphones when running any sort of game, and often audible without them. I guess that part was a bit of an anomaly, too.

Incidentally, update on the repair situation: tech guy showed up very quickly, just a couple days after I called, but the motherboard Lenovo gave him was defective! Wouldn't even boot. Currently waiting on a replacement for the replacement. Crazy. Hopefully third time is the charm on this one, but regardless of how that turns out, I doubt I'm buying anything from this company again. Such quality control, wow.

 

I posted a similar guide on how to OC + UV the GPU a few posts back if you want to take a look. You may have used a similar method of flatlining to UV in the v/f curve in afterburner. I have a profile with +200 core OC @ 793mv and it works really well performance wise. GPU temps and subsequently CPU temps also stay lower. I got a much higher fire strike/time spy score by doing this and about the same 5-10% performance boost. I posted a few pictures of my v/f profiles if you want to compare. My GPU clock speed still fluctuates somewhat under full GPU load while operating at the lower voltages, but I can only OC to +150 core without doing the undervolt. My clock speed stays around 1,750Mhz much more often though with the OC + UV applied.

 

I followed your guide and got excellent Firestrike and Timespy scores (not so much userbenchmark but that's fine). Playing in Division 2 and Anthem have seen better FPS and far lower temperatures so I'm happy with the results. Thanks for posting that info as I never would have thought to use the OC curve and flatlined the voltage at 1790 MHz. Worked beautifully! Also limited the turbo to 3.7GHz because unfortunately it's necessary until the geniuses at Lenovo fix what they broke in the BIOS for the fan curves...

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

 

Is kapton tape good enough around the CPU and GPU if you use Liquid Metal? If so how many layers?
What steps should I take to not have any seepage?

 

Do not apply too much and you will not have any leaks ;-) Liquid metal likes to "stick" to other metals so if you will not put too much - it should not have much seepage. One layer of kapton tape is enough as long as it completely covers all components.

 

Got it and thanks.
Anyone know generally if LM has good lifespan cooling? I don’t want to be reapply it every couple of months.
I order Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut and Conductonaut so I might try Conductonaut first and see how that goes because from what I’m told thermal grease last much longer and is easier to apply and work with.
Never used LM before but I hear great things about it but I’m a little bit worried about using it for the first time.

 

Gallium in liquid metal will diffuse into copper over time. This means you will have to reapply paste after some time, it may take a few months or a year or maybe more. This is not a big deal if you don't mind doing repasting and it doesn't really damage the copper so don't try to polish it off if you will see a visible layer of Gallium on heatsink.

 

Guys does the 2070maxq have the 80 watt or 90 watt one? I searched the topic but couldnt find answer. Would appreciate if someone finds the gpu-z screenshot of 2070maxq in this laptop

 

Is there any kind of a known issue with screen brightness on the y740?

I have a very frustrating issue (I've had it across 2 different Y740 9750H 2070 devices) where after a reboot, or waking up from going to sleep, my screen brightness will not increase to full brightness. The slider SAYS it's going to full brightness, but it's significantly more dim than usual. Having the device powered or on battery does not seem to make a difference. The ONLY reliable fix I've found is to uninstall and reinstall my Nvidia driver.

I can't get it to reproduce conisistently, so I'm not sure whats triggering it.

 

Awesome! I'm glad it helped. I've tried to UV and flatline a bit higher but 1,785Mhz is stable in all the games I play so far. It crashes in a few games if I push it past 1,800Mhz.

GPU Z will show the 2070MQ as the 80W part. But if you use either the max fan mode (older Bios versions) or Performance Mode the 2070 will pull 90W instead. So really I guess it's both. Balanced and Quiet modes it'll run at 80W, Performance mode it averages 90W and I've seen it as high as 100W max.

 

Are these back to running hard with max fan capability again?

 

Only with bios 1.03 for 9750h units.

 

I found that in performance mode/ auto / silent mode, the silent mode actually sounds like it spins up the fans faster??? Have any of you noticed this?
In a middle of a game if i go from performance mode to silent mode, I can clearly hear that the fans go faster. Then the wattage drops to 25W and the fans turn down a bit. But still, seems like auto mode or performance doesn't actually spin the fans as fast as the silent mode. And this is in a heavy gaming like bf V where the temps actually hit over 90C most of the time in auto or performance.

I'm with the 8th gen, Bios 1.10

 

That is VERY interesting. What is the max core clock it stays at during load/playing games etc then?

 

Are you changing thermal profiles while in game? If so then that's somewhat normal, the fans will ramp up every time you change the profile before settling back down, it's not specific to silent.
Either that or it's applying a short max boost to the fans to get the temp to where it wants before idling at a much lower speed+temp.

I've had a similar issue but usually just turning the brightness down a notch or two and back up fixes it for me. Are you running in hybrid or dedicated mode? Not sure if that would make a difference.

 

Silly question but can anyone here tell me what is your average fps with league of legends on the y740 15" with 2070 max q? Does your fps dip at any time during team fights? if so by how much? If you can tell me with and without hybrid mode enabled that would be amazing to... Considering switching from alienware m15 r1 (1070 max q) but I am unsure yet if it's worth it since I am a little worried about lenovo as a brand.

 

I usually play on performance mode with a +150 core +400 memory OC. Under full load (95+%) it stays around 1550-1700Mhz. When under lower load (50% or so) it'll boost all the way up to 1,900+Mhz, such as in Overwatch or WoW Classic.

Highest clock speed I've seen without crashing is 2,025Mhz, of course it doesn't have the power to run at this speed though while gaming.

 

Hey, thats really great news. the 90w version clocks between 1185-1305. So not only its 90w but it can also be overclocked which also means it has sufficient thermals. Sweet. Then an upgrade to 2070maxq seems to be worth it. My 970m is pretty aging at this point