TONGFANG GK5CN5Z / GK5CN6Z / GK5CQ7Z / GK5CP0Z

Thank u very much @ Phoenix1221, @ lKinder_Bueno and @ Nap0l3on

The new BIOS works fine.

But did u haven´t the eol.nsh file too? In my PCS Folder wasn´t the eol.nsh file.

 

I am waiting for it for ordering.
If it doesn't come soon I may go to a msi/asus since there are nice sales this days


Enviado desde mi ONE A2003 mediante Tapatalk

 

hi there , any linux user here ?

Did anyone found a solution for the touchpad ? , also is there any alternative to the gaming center on linux ?

 

Hi there. I was wondering... if anybody here is planning to re-paste their Tongfang / Recoil II in the future:

Then next time you remove the heatsink assembly. Can you also please try to take a very high resolution / detailed photo of the CPU / GPU area for us please?

This would enable us to see / check the chips marking on the VRM components. And work out what the VRM on this laptop is like. The quality / effeciency / performance. Good / bad, and compare it against other laptops such as the Aero 15, MSI, Razer Blade 15, etc.

 

Forgot to mention that sometimes there can be VRM chips on the underside of the mainboard too. Both sides. Therefore if the mainboard happens to be easy enough to remove, then it's also worthwhile to just check quickly the flipside for any more worth photographing. Just in case.

 

Do the touchpad settings allow you to turn off, "tap to click"? I guess the settings are not as elaborate as a Synaptic touchpad's.

 

Hello guys,

I've been following this thread for a while and planning to get the PCS very soon.
I just have a few questions: does the laptop have a well-know battery? (i.e: Can we easily find a replacement in the future?)

Thanks!

 

This is normal 60Hz panel? :/ (i read about this panel for gigabyte, local forum. But i dunno)

 

Yeah unfortunately the 60hz Innolux/Chi Mei panel can vary GREATLY in quality. When it's okay it's actually pretty decent (like mine is), but when it's bad it can be pretty atrocious (go see the Aero 15/X 2017 owners thread). And bleed isn't the least of your concerns, believe me.

If you're working on colour sensitive applications and/or just have cash to spare, I REALLY suggest splurging for the 144hz panel - same panel used for the GS65 (an LG panel). Sure, the 144hz might be overkill for a 1060 and modern games, but it's just a better panel in general.

Me? I'm cheapo and I got lucky with mine so I guess I'll just stick with the Innolux for now - even if my local folks actually does offer the 144hz as an aftersale drop-in replacement option.

 

Ohh. I feel lucky to in the corner only slightly and only in black background. Maybe, If it is possible to order a better quality then I replace it with myself if possible. But at least I calmed down.

 

Double post. Apologies.

 

Thanks for sharing. Maybe a stupid question, but what does the "medium" and "default's refer to in your graph?

And what is the difference between Mechrevo 1.10 and PCS 1.04? Which one is the default bios and why would you go from 1.10 to 1.04?

 

Posting this here just in case anyone else comes across this issue - so I've upgraded my bios to mechrevo 1.1 and after the reboot my temps and general performance turned to crap. CPU would hit 95c even though it seemed to be only generating 23w tdp, and frequencies dropped to around 2.2ghz under load and my CineBench score dropped from 1211 to 700ish. Initially I thought maybe a bubble developed in my thermal compound (i travelled with the laptop that day, so thought maybe something on heatsink end moved, had that happen before with one of my previous machines), so I got some more gelid gc and repasted, but it made no difference.
In the end, I did a bios reset and upon reboot performance came back to normal... so I guess some old setting from previous bios was messing with voltages or something as CPU was hitting max temps within seconds.

 

yes it's probably some setting problem, I'm running 1.1 too and it's working alright

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

Hi guys my review of this TF barebone. I've got not good config tough...
https://pclab.pl/art77070.html

 

Hello. Glad to see that you gave the keyboard negative marks, my opinion is same. Still hoping that someone else will order the other 'v2' keyboard. From the French seller, for 60 euros. To test it / see if it's any better.

 

1.10 (Mech.) And 1.04 (PCS) are almost the same. But PCS bios no TDP option. Because of RMA, so much power does not give 1.10 bios to be worth it to me. As well as improved the 150W TDP maximum neither freezing nor tearing, and no radomly shutdown and restart . (Medium is TDP option, default no uv and tc)

 

Havent tried 1.04, but it looks like 1.10 improves battery life. I have managed to get over 6 hours of internet browsing yesterday, with WIFI disabled you can add another hour or so. I have also had the predicted battery time left read out over 10 hours a couple times (wifi disabled, brightness at min) , before adjusting back down to 6-ish.. Really not too bad for a 6-core monster machine with a relatively small battery, would be even better if the large capacity battery ever came out.
Now if only there was a way to fix the Precision touchpad palm detection...This would then be the last serious irritation about this machine for me (I've got used to the keyboard, actually quite like it now).

 

Hello fam, here again with another question. Through the Control Center or other app like Speedfan ... is it possible to make the laptop "almost dead silent"? I have read in the Notebookcheck review of the XMG Neo the fan speed goes from dead silent to noisy, although in the pictures they posted looks like there is a slider to adjust the fans somewhat accurate. Any word on this?

 

To be honest, with a repaste and undervolt the fans are pretty much always off or nearly inaudible. Although naturally it kicks in when benching / gaming / heavy load, but without fans going at good speed when under load you will get higher temps, which will equall lower performance as GPU / CPU reduce turbo frequencies.

 

I just want to control myself the fans, I much prefer to have the laptop in the 70-80s and nearly silent than having in the 50-60s with the fans revving. Also unless it surpasses the temp limits it will not reduce the cpu frequency.

ps:also don't want to repaste, will undervolt for shure.

 

It looks like you can set a custom fan curve if you want to, see attached screenshot.

I would also still advise repasting, its a 5 minute job that will give your machine more speed. Depending on how lucky you got with a factory paste it can mean a difference in CPU operating turbo frequency jump from 3ghz to 3.9ghz.

 

Is out there any guide about repasting it? I'm very sick with this laptop sh*t. First a MSI with dead pixels, then another one DOA, now I need to return a new HP Omen 15-dc which after the BIOS update (highly recommended everywhere) turned into a real aeroplane revving loud fans almost in stand by

 

There are probably lots online, no specific to this machine but outside the screw locations they are generally nearly the same.
I would recommend getting some Gelid GC Extreme paste (top performance, doesnt seem to crack after a while, not electrically conductive so you can slap more on if in doubt)
- Shut down the laptop and disconnect the power cable
- Open all the screws on the bottom panel (dozen or so there) and pop the panel open
- Disconnect the battery cable (just in case you drop a screw and it shorts something out)
- You will see the heatsink / fan assembly right in front of you held by another dozen or so screws. If i recall correctly the first 7 are numbered and then you have 3 screws on each fan. Unscrew all of them.
- Try to pull the heatsink off, it should come off without using much force - maybe slightly more force than where your'e pulling off a fridge magnet
- Once removed you will need to clean off existing paste which will have a gummy / clay like consistency on both the CPU / GPU chips as well as the heatsink itself. You will see lots of people advising to use specialised solvents / solutions, etc. I've never used anything but cotton ear buds or some strong pieces of tissue / kitchen towel.
- When both the heatsink and CPU are clear of the old paste you are ready to apply the new stuff. Just drop a small pea sized blob on the tops of both chips, on a longer chip you can add a longer blob.
- Gently put the heatsink assembly back on where it needs to sit, which will squash the new paste to cover the full top surface area of CPU / CPU chips.
- Screw in the numbered screws in the number order (1, 2, etc), then screw in the screws on each fan
- Reconnect the battery
- At this point you can test the performance, by just slotting the back on and running some benchmarks if you want to see that its working as expected... Might save you having to unscrew the bottom panel if anything needs sorting out again.
- Screw in the bottom panel

 

First follow this guide by XMG and disconnect the battery (you don't need to remove it entirely, just unplug it)



Then unscrew the heatsink assembly, and follow a general laptop repasting guide. It should be pretty easy to service. Easier than most other laptops.

Personally, I would recommend to use the Gelid GC Extreme+ thermal paste.

 

Ah! The previous poster also seems to agree with the suggestion of Gelid GC Extreme too. All good stuff he has written there.

Perhaps 1 thing to worry about (usually older laptops), is when the old thermal paste is really baked on there. Making the heatsink difficult to remove / dislodge. It won't budge or move at all. Stuck like glue.

[EDIT] Really don't think you have to worry about this right now... included for completeness. Because inevitably, your laptop will [at some point], need servicing again later on.[/EDIT]

In those cases it is not clear how much force is required to break the adhesion. And you may find yourself in a situation where you end up needing to apply far too much force (excessively) to rip this thing off... That is definitely a bad idea and to be avoided. Because it is very easy to bend the heatsink out of shape. It is very thin, made from a very soft metal (copper). And a wonky heatsink does not cool so well afterwards! Especially if it ends up with multiple bends in it. That is particularly difficult to straighten back out afterwards.

So the twisting sideways (on a flat plane) technique might be enough to solve this problem for you. But if not, or you really want to be super-careful and super-safe about it. Then here is another method:

Stand it up sideways (on it's edge), and soak a load of 100% alcohol (IPA) into the gap between the heatsink and the mainboard / cpu / gpu. Then go away for 1 hour / 2 hours / come back later on. This soaking will moisten the dried up thermal paste, and (like adding water to clay), make it soft again. Then it can be removed more easily, with risk damaging it.

The disadvantage is that maybe you will also be getting rid of the stickiness of any thermal pads for VRMs which are also under there, with the same alcohol.

Not too sure, but it's a small price to pay. Because you can always buy new thermal pads. For less than $10 maybe? And (if possible) get even better ones than the original stock VRM thermal pads. Where-as on the other hand, a new heatsink assembly costs a lot more than that to replace, if you were to bodge it up.

Try the twist method first. Because it's a new laptop/ Maybe the paste is not all dried up yet.

 

Hi and thank you all for this very informative thread.

Which bios do the owners of 1050Ti version recommend? (mechrevo or PCS)
Which is the last version of them?

thanks for reply

 

If someone is using 1.04PCS. Does the LED bar work? I can not be switched on.

 

Yes, it´s working.

 

Hi if this key caps would be not so lose and there would be a second clicking making wire at the bottom this would be good KB i think. When i will know that these V2 variant arrives in Poland i can try to get one.

 

I have some questions:

1. is the keyboard that bad?
   other than being noisy is the keyboard good?
   
2. Is the palmrest in aluminium (for the no-brand version)?
   some version like the mechrevo are clearly in aluminium but others i could not tell, usually the palmrest of my notebook gets really beaten up from usage so a good palmrest would be great.

 

Its bad news for me. Upd.: Gaming Center Light settings don’t show the LED Bar. :/ I hope not go RMA option.

 

Do you mean that the settings do not show up in Gaming Center, or that they are failing to control the LED bar? Also, are you on battery, as on battery the light is always off for me.

 

On the power source.

 

What version is your Gaming Centre?

 

1.15.10

 

ok thats the same as mine... Not sure what it could be then, maybe some cable is disconnected on the motherboard. Probably RMA time, but before you do it try resetting your bios just in case.

 

Ohh, Long time waiting for me without a laptop then, I changed RAM, and update SSD Is this a problem with RMA? (I know stupid question)

 

Ah yes. It is really hard to know when / if when it will come to your specific local reseller. That you have in Poland. No information yet

Maybe they still have quite a lot of the v1 keyboards (from earlier production) still left to get though. Until those are exhausted. Or perhaps they are trialling the v2 keyboard at [much fewer] specific resellers first. Before rolling it out elsewhere.

Honestly I don't really know. Those are just some reasons I can think of. It's purely a guess.

Until then, PCW will ship to any place on the globe. Same cost to any country, 59 eur. Or less than that, if you live in France. In same country.

http://www.pcw.fr/shop/non-retro-eclaire-1691.html

 

No, your personal upgrades do not affect the warranty, unless you broke something whilst doing the upgrades.

 

Thank you. It's time to contact the PCS.

 

thank to diegosan I found the mechrevo bios for 1050Ti (dont know if this is the latest one)

I can not find the PCS bios 1.04 for 1050Ti version: can anyone upload to a cloud drive?

THANKS

 

In reference to SB 3, finally It run. The problem was relationated with Windows Store (IDK why). And now i have SB cinema 5, not 3. The specifications shows SB cinema 3 but the stic on the laptop is of SB cinema 5.

The drivers was not problem, but also is true that I had install the new version of wifi adaptor (20.60). The drivers supplyed by PCS didn't work properly (wifi and BT).

The steps for SBC5 was:
1- uninstall HD audio drivers and software SB (if appears)
2- Install HD drivers and reboot
3- Install SB software, upgrade windows store and reboot.

Thanks for comments

 

Just to offer some further details on this, we struggled to replicate the Sound Blaster installation issue internally but have found that uninstalling the software, updating all Windows Store apps, and then reinstalling the software should work. Be sure to check for any more Windows Store updates after reinstalling the SB3 software as well.

 

Just got the CyberpowerPC version, the TRACER III 15 SLIM 200. It didn't come with the Gaming Center software at all, I fired up Starcraft ll and the laptop got super hot right away as the fans didn't turn on at all. I found the Mech Revo Gaming Center software V1.1.16.1 and am running that now.

The issue I'm having is that the fans seem to work pretty well in office mode, however in gaming mode they don't turn on at all unless I manually enable Turbo Mode; when I do that they run but then turn off after a while. Anyone know how to get fans to auto-run in gaming mode?
Thanks!

 

I just ordered the Recoil 2 from PCS. Hoping it will arrive safely and work better than the MSI GE73 I tried for a couple of hours with some technical issues.

In the end, 1300€ for the specs is too good to pass up when a g-sync 1060 laptop costs 2200€ (Asus GM501GM)

 

So I have the recoil II (with 1060) from PCspecialist for one week now and I really enjoy it.

I am not a gamer but I bought this one because in this form factor I have everything I need: power, 2.5" hdd slot, two M2 slot, a sober design (once the lights are turned off!) ... and all of this for a good price.

Almost everything I read here and on review were exact so I don't really have good or bad unexpected things.
-The battery was my only concern but so far it seems great for my usage, I did web browsing with some idle (wi-fi on and brightness at about 1/4) for hours and still had a good % of battery I'll do more test with numbers.
-Keyboard: as I thought before buying it I still don't know what to think about it, it sometimes fells good and sometimes not so good maybe I just need to be used to it but there is something I hate: I don't really know how to explain this, sometimes a letter is "written" but I didn't had the "clicking sound" so it feel weird (for the brain-fingers link I guess!) especially like in this moment while writing in an other language I often need to look at my keyboard and less the screen, the result is that sometimes I have the letter duplicated.
-Building and shipping was fast, I ordered it a friday afternoon and got it 10 days later, considering the order right before a weekend, was in the transport during a public holiday and shipping outside of UK, it was really fast! Great protection, the computer was in his box with protection and this box in a bigger one with some protection too.

TL-DR:
Good form factor, powerful, lot of storage, good battery, good price, not sure about the keyboard maybe I need some time, great shipping time and protection.

But I have one issue... when turning on the PC while the back-light is set to low (less than 1/3) the bottom of the screen is not fully "ON", if I increase the dimming over about 1/3 the issue is gone even if I decrease back the dimming but it's not a permanent fix. For now it happen when the screen is turned ON (power on, back from hibernate / sleeping). It's the 60Hz panel and I should have listened the warning a bit more and took the 144Hz just for the quality.
I am going to contact Pcs and see what's wrong.

Also I used my own hard drives with new Windows install and I can't find the Soundblaster cinema in the PCS drivers page nor the creative website how can I do?

 

Good to hear another positive feedback from PCS customer.

I went with the 144hz panel myself so we'll see how it fares. Also ordered with just a 120gb Adata SSD as I will be supplying my own MX500 525gb 2.5" SSD + Samsung 970 Evo 500gb pcie nvme ssd.

 

Hi there,

I am glad to hear you are happy with your product. I would definitely suggest contacting our support team regarding the screen issue, we will look into it with you. We should also be able to supply the SBC software for you if you cannot see it in your account.