TONGFANG GK5CN5Z / GK5CN6Z / GK5CQ7Z / GK5CP0Z

It's a pity that cosmetic functionality should come at such a premium. It was actually those bezzles that initially dazzled me, but on a closer inspection am not sure.. Having said that, if i was just using it for gaming i'd get it in a second.

 

@steberg You can find the Mech Z2 bios on tieba.baidu.com. Note that it's all in Chinese and the install video is also in Chinese. I do caution that doing so will void your warranty and perhaps disallow future bios upgrades from your reseller if they make a bios that does security verification. For now, it looks like the chinese oems dones't do any bios verification and you can cross-flash as long as the CPU/GPU combo is correct.

1050TI GPU BIOS:
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/5674269816?pid=119438291504&cid=#119438291504

Flash at your own peril. Make sure you have hardhats on.

Correction: Latest 1060 GPU version of bios is below. The above is only relevant for 1050TI version.

1060 GPU BIOS:
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/571543470

EDIT: the second link is correct but not sure why it brings to totally different post on tieba.baidu.com

 

Do mind what he said and be mindful of your GPU version to avoid bricking.

Also, there is no way of going back to your own BIOS after this unless your customiser already has a BIOS update out... which means that you're NOT gonna able to go back if you need to RMA.

Which doesn't matter if they don't mind the MechRevo logos and name splashed all over your boot screen and BIOS, but is worth noting anyway.

 

@eiraku I actually like the MechRevo logo much better than the FireYing/Vulcan version on boot up. I consider it an upgrade. =)

 

Me too, but let's not tell my customizers, eh?

 

I like the MechRevo logo as well. But my 3DMark11 Physics Score went from 12 811 in old bios to 9810 in new bios. I have it set to high in BIOS, tried middle as well but stays the same. oh well...

I just tried with Low setting and now I had the best scoore so far in 3DMark11. Physics scoore a bit less but overall 200 points more than old bios.
https://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/12794030

 

Glad it is working out for you. Make sure you factory reset the BIOS after flushing the EC part which is separate.

I have a hunch that they tweaked power (lowered power delivery) to CPU when GPU is on full blast since Chinese users with 180watt power supply on 1060 have been crashing repeatedly due to power delivery issues. U need 200watt plus for full 1060 full 6 core heaven.

 

PS-specialist ships it with 150W. I can see that the pc goes inte battery mode while running 3DMark11, The screen dims from time to time and stutters.
Anyway found an even later BIOS 1.08 and EC 1.21.09 Which upped my 3DMark11 score again. There was also a new version of GamingCenter v.1.1.15.6. So now I'm pretty happy with the notebook except the keyboard, but I'll get used to it.

 

@steberg Do share the links to the newer BIOS and EC! =)

 

My local folks are shipping with 150w adapters for 1060, and I wonder if that's why a few other local Onyx users have been crashing while gaming with them lol.

For me, I have been using 180w units (yeah I had a few lying around) since day one, and somehow those haven't been giving me any issue yet. I'm kinda thinking that the system is throttling itself below full boost despite not breaching thermal limit is due to power throttling, as you suspected.

Dang, no wonder the Aero/GS65 is also getting throttled even worse lol, as it's probably thermal + power throttles. None of those ship with 200w PSUs either.

Well, personally, even if the system is gmiped slightly for 180w I'm okay with that TBH, as it would probably run right at the 90c limits if we unlock the rails and give it access to a full 200w PSU - which might overwhelm the cooling solution as is.

 

If you use those firmware then you also need a bigger PSU than 150W (which should not even be sold with the 1060 configuration), otherwise (as you already experienced) the AC Adapter will trip and the full load will be caught by the battery, hence your score drop on high power mode.
That stuff kills the battery cells for good in no time. On my Clevo W230Sx it did that on the first trip during a bench.

 

Hmm. Apparently in the beginning the Z2 didn't even work that well with a 180w unit even it seems, as per @diegosan 's account.

And also, I guess this is one of the few times I've seen a 1060 notebook needing a 180w unit outside of the Alien 13, so maybe they were just thinking 1060 = 150w without even measuring the on load draw? Or they just cheapened out like MSI did with my old GE40 (90w PSU for a laptop that draws 105+w at load? Hmm genius much).

And MSI had the gall to sell it as a feature lol (Battery Boost ya all!).

And yes, someone has got to dig out concrete evidence that the 150w units are gimping the devices so that our integrators can be informed (and in turn they can tell TongFang), though I'm not sure if that's gonna change anything TBH.

 

I hope keyboard problem is subjective and depends on person who uses this computer. I want this notebook manly for programming and work, so keyboard is important feature to me. I wonder if there are any alternatives with i5-8300H and 1050 or above?

 

How loud is the keyboard, as compared to let's say Cherry MX Brown or Cherry MX Blue switches?

I tend to bottom out while typing so both Brown and Blue are about the same in terms of loudness (since the loudness mainly comes from the keys bottoming out and not from the clicking).

The sound test vid earlier in the thread is very much appreciated but the Windows beep wasn't at standardised volume so I'm not sure how loud it actually was.
The keyboard appears to be the only deal breaker at the moment for me . The layout and stuff I can adjust but I can't deal with 3 years of the missus complaining that my typing is too loud.

 

@steberg @eiraku Any chance you guys can share your calibrated ICC? Thanks

 

@testdasi

Relative loudness is actually the same but the frequency is different. The cherry switches (I am on Cherry Red right now) have a dampened sound, the cheap mech keyboard on this laptop has a thin plastic (high frequency/pitch) sound that is hard to describe. Just imagine two very thin pieces of hard plastic hitting each other.

If this is an musical instrument, imagine Cherry as the string bass, and the cheap mech keyboard as the violin. If you like the violin screeching sound, this keyboard is for you. =P

 

Are those keys removable? Is it possible to buy/make plastic sound dampeners for this specific keyboard?

 

The key face is removable but not the actuation mechanism. The sound is made by the internal component when u force the actuation mech downwards. I had the same question as you and took off the space-bar to see of I can add some rubber pads there. Unfortunately it is not possible to dampen with current design.

 

Thanks. Your musical instrument comment sounds a bit like Brown vs Blue sound characteristic.

The missus hates the clicky Blue even more than my current loud Brown so it sounds like (no pu intended) I have to restart my new laptop search then.

 

easiest way to get a quiet blue keyboard is for the surrounding listeners to be deaf

get what fits your fingers and let others put up with it

 

@testdasi

WARNING: THIS WILL ABSOLUTELY DESTROY YOUR LAPTOP AT WORST AND BEST, YOU MAY BREAK SOME KEYS

After becoming fed up with the keyboard noise I decided to open the keyboard. I have modded my keyboard DESTRUCTIVELY to git rid of the clicky sound but at the same time made the keys a bit mushier.

1) Flip the key caps. This is super easy.
2) No you see a clear plastic module with a gold tip at the bottom.
3) The plastic module sits in a metal cut-out. Notice the extra spacing to the left/right bottom of the cut-out.
3) Now use a very small/thin flat screw driver, pc mod grade small, and push the plastic module on the right side (left side if you are left handed) from within the spaced out cut-out near the middle.
4) The module is latched by two small plastic tabs that is fragile but squeezable. You want to squeeze the tab, push from left to right when operating from right side, while slightly pulling on the metal spring bar. If it comes off, no worries, you can put it back in but makes the job harder.
5) Once plastic module is out, you need to reverse it and use a thin tweezer and DESTRUCTIVEY bend the horizontal metal tiny little part in the top where it's ONLY purpose it to make a sound AND to give a 10% pressure when pressed. I just used the tweezer to take out and bend it in in a u-shape. It is okay if part of it sticks out from the module, The keycap will hide it.

Repeat for each a key. You now have a crappier keyboard that is mushier, still loud when hit hard, but it NO LONGER CLICKS! =)

If you kill your laptop. Don't blame me.

If you really really want to do it, first try it on a key you don't use very much. Second, be patience and go slow when pushing the plastic module tab while pulling on the metal bar. Once you get the hang of it, it is VERY easy. It does take a little learning curve to get the hang of it.

 

Wow!!!

Any chance of a vid of what the keys sound like now?

... but also, why crappier? If it works, then I wouldn't care if under the hood things were a bit messy.

And why loud when hit hard? - is there still a click if you press too hard?

 

Can you do a short video only for one button from the remotion till the end? It can be very helpful for everyone. My gf doesn't want to study anymore with me because she hate the clicky keyboard

 

@diegosan just get the ICC off Notebookcheck's review of the Aero 15/15x V7. Same screen used and works well to my eyes TBH.

My own got lost when I refreshed my Windows and I can't be bothered to ask from my integrators to send it back lol.

 

UPDATE. I unistalled and reinstalled Gaming Center and now all is working pretty good


Guys. i have a ridicolous benchmark.



On Cinebench max cpu freq. is 2.2Ghz
On Intel XTU if i do a stress test, my cpu doesn't go over 1.3Ghz.

I don't know what to do. If i don't find any solution i will return the laptop. I have bought this PC for the high performance, but this is ridicolous. My sister has an asus laptop much faster than this and she paid it 850€.
I tried to downlvolt, remove TS, nothing to do

 

Can you check that you are not running on battery power? Another possibility is a bad paste job, which means your CPU is thermally throttling.

 

UPDATE. I unistalled and reinstalled Gaming Center and now all is working pretty good

Is there a way to check if i am using battery power? (the laptop is connecter to the AC and it's charging)
It's not in throttling because temperature doesn't reach 50-60° in benchmark and for AIDA there is no throttling.

In gaming instead it arrives at 4Ghz and reaches also 70-80°

 

Something must be limiting it somewhere, can you check you havent set it to some power save mode somewhere? Also, are you using throttlestop? Can you screenshot your FIVR, TPL and main menu settings?

 

Stupid question: what's the diff between GK5CN6Z and GK5CN5Z?

@sicily428 created a separate topic for the 6Z model and linked the Scan3XS LG15 Vengeance Pro to it + this separate topic for the 5Z model linking pretty much all the other variants of what looks like the same chassis

Is 5Z = 1050Ti and 6Z = 1060 version?

 

Does anyone know whether a different cable would be required if I chose to DYI upgrade the screen panel to the 144Hz one?

 

Just different numbers for the GPU and/or the physical customizations (finishing, keyboard).

It probably needs to just be rolled up in here as the innards are practically the same IMHO.

And @arcticjoe probably nope. My integrators are saying it's a drop-in upgrade, but you need the right panel, not sure what that is yet though.

@lKinder_Bueno that looks bad really. On Cinebench looped (not a single run) my 8750H managed to sustain around 3.3GHz easily.

 

How are the screens for it? i know theres an IPS type @ 60 hz and the LG IPS @144. Any reviews/pictures anywhere?

 

Well, TBH my local guys actually have stock already of the 144hz panels, but I'm not really in a hurry to upgrade my screens because the 60hz unit on mine is good enough.

If you want reviews, check out the Notebookcheck review of the Aero 15/15x v7 for the 60hz panels (the GK5CN uses those same panels), the GS65 review for the LG 144hz panel and the "new" Aero 15/15x (v8) or Asus GM501 for the AUO 144hz panel (both of which can be used for the GK5CN for 144hz).

 

Here's a teardown to add to the comunal database (apart from the already excellent ones Schenker/XMG post themselves):

 

Hello guys, it's been a while! Any significant software/bios update that rolled out recently?

 

Unfortunately no, but I haven't exactly been stalking their Baidu page either for updates.

I need to go check again one of these days.

 

Thanks a lot for this informative thread, especially eiraku!
I bought this notebook and it's great!
The only thing that doesn't work properly is the screen calibration (I haven't done this before).
I downloaded the file for the Gigabyte Aero, installed it and made it the "standard" profil.
Every restart the screen keeps this profil activated for about 5 seconds and then the colors appear as they were previously. So I go into color management and reload the calibration. Then everything is fine again.
Do you know what I can do that I do not have to activate the profile manually?

As I searched a while for a sleeve for this notebook: I bought a tomtoc that fit's the 2015 Macbook Pro. It as well fits quiet well with the Tongfang. So probably most sleeves for the Macbook Pro 2015 will fit this notebook. Hopfully this helps some of you.

 

Hi, I believe that Gamecenter loads another profile while starting up. Remove gamecenter like I did and the profile will stay. Where did you found the Aero profile? And I also bought a sleeve for macbook pro 15 retina 2013-15 which fits perfect. The new touchbar version is a bit smaller and sleeves will probably not fit.

 

You can download a calibrated ICC file from Notebookcheck's review. Just click where it says " ICC File (X-Rite i1Pro 2)".

 

Ah, actually, it's not that one if you're running a 60hz display. That one is for a 144hz panel (and it's an LG panel too so I'm not sure if it would even fit the 144hz paneled GK5CN, which AFAIK uses an AUO panel).

Go the the 2017 Aero15/X review (the one with the 7700HQ processor, and uses an AUO 60hz panel) and get it from the same section on that review.

 

anyone know how to disable the front led? so annoying. Also got my first BSOD. Getting used to the keyboard finally

 

It's somehwere on the RGB Keyboard settings tab on your "Command Center" (or whatever it is that your Integrators decided to name the Settings App).

On your left, LED Light Control should be right below the Keyboard page. You can turn off the lightbar there (though it would still light up at boot and during shutdown).

 

Thank you couldn't see it for looking lol

 

the keyboard noise is too much for typing in a library?
does this also happen in p950hr or other clevos?

 

Nope, the Clevos is much quieter, though also, they're not mechanical.

Unfortunately the P950HR also has a little design flaw with the display flex that CAN (it will not happen a 100% of the time) cause weird flickering with the screen every time you open and close the lid... which then COULD further worsen into a constant flicker you can't do anything about.

Source: I owned one for a bit, and again it's not guaranteed to happen, but it happened to me.

I don't think it's an issue on the other Clevos though.

 

is this p955hr also flawed? it seems a bit different but I cant find remaining info about it and I just discovered clevo laptops
https://clevocenter.es/clevo-p955hr-precfg.html

 

Yeah, as does the P950HP6 (the 1060 version). It's probable that all the laptops of that series with the same hinge design are susceptible to the issue (as it's the hinge + lid "softness" that probably causes it in the first place). Though again, I can't guarantee that it WILL happen FOR SURE to all of these laptops.

On the other hand, the newer Coffee Lake P95x (eg. the Eurocom Q6) seem to be based on the "corporate" version of the chassis which has a completely different hinge design so I can't comment on those in regards to susceptibility to the flex issue.

 

There is a new bios update for 1060 version
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/5726872551

 

Hello everyone!


First i would like to thank you for this thread, which is the best source of information I found about this laptop.


I have a question related to the noise of the laptop. I read (in this topic and in some reviews) that in general he is not very noisy, which is great, but I was wondering if he was really silent while idling or during basic task.


Thank you