TONGFANG GK5CN5Z / GK5CN6Z / GK5CQ7Z / GK5CP0Z

I can confirm the size is 5.5mmx2.5mm for the plug. I would also just make sure that the amperage matches on the power supply you buy... most of them will match as long as it is 180w, but it is the best indicator that you won't fry your laptop IMO.

 

People, anyone experienced sudden shutdowns after extended use? My heat levels are acceptable, but every now and again the laptop just shuts down. Other times there is a performance drop with screen dimming (just like when you unplug the power cable) for a second then goes back to normal. My suspicion is that the PSU was just enough to power the laptop when it was new and possibly due to the PSU degrading over time it can't power the laptop properly anymore. I haven't messed with my settings since I undervolted the laptop for the first time ages ago.

The bios I'm using:


I'm going to try it with stock settings now(so no ThrottleStop) and report my findings.

 

Yep, happened to me 3 or 4 times whilst gaming, I also suspect power being the culprit (my brick is only 150w) as sticking a CPU multiplier limit at 35x would stop this from happening.

 

This is exactly what happend to mine while on 150W.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...tongfang-gk5cn6z.815943/page-21#post-10736410

Here is @Prema view on it
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...tongfang-gk5cn6z.815943/page-22#post-10736505

Since i got the 180W it has been rock solid.

 

Perhaps a 230 watts one wouldn't hurt either then. Except I think the prices are probably a lot higher. Like for example the ASUS slimline 180w ---> any higher costs a lot more. So are the Razer 230w ones likewise.

 

Here are specs of the charger that is shipped with every TF laptop:

Wattage: 180 Watt (150W early models)
Voltage: 19 Volt (19.5 works fine based on my findings with Clevo laptops too small of a difference to be dangerous)
Amps: 9.5 Amp

Having the SAME voltage matters (too much more or less will lead to problems ex: 24v will kill your laptop.), having higher amperage won't as the laptop will not try to take more amperage (unless modded to)

Here are some options if you really hate angle connectors and/or you don't want to spend $75-$100USD for a replacement original charger:
1. (Cheapest)
Lite-On based 180w chargers w/4 pin
https://www.ebay.com/itm/TARGUS-UNI...=item5afcde6660:g:SIMAAMXQLs5RuBFO:rk:11:pf:0
h ttps://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-TARGUS-LITEON-UNIVERSAL-AC-ADAPTER-APA05US-PA-1181-08-3-TIPS-180W/183640864475?epid=1981045727&hash=item2ac1d936db:g:VooAAOSwGNNbMXLW:rk:13f:0
If you want a straight connector, get a 4 pin to 5.5x2.5mm adapter (very hard to find that isn't angled)
2. (straight connector w/adapter)
If you are going this route, there are a ton of options, make sure the adapter is 19V or 19.5V.
350w:
Rare and expensive, i9 w/ RTX 2070 won't need this amount of power I think, if the 17in came with i9 w/ RTX 2080, this would make more sense.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-OE...=item261140af98:g:WvIAAOSwbWJcRfcv:rk:13:pf:0
330w:
Plain overkill, I guess if you have an i9 model, might let you do some crazy things to overclock, wouldn't recommend for any of the i5 or i7 models at all. Make sure you know how to make the laptop accept more power. 330w is not too much an i9 with the higher end GPUs, but I wouldn't look for any thing even more powerful as there is no single adapter stronger than 350w, plus keep in mind most of you have a 1060 GTX which with the i9 would work with the 240w, if you had the RTX 2070 max-q and wanted to overclock the hell out of it with an i9 and wanted to turn that 80w tdp performance to something simlar between laptop-desktop level performance with some custom cooling solution, this would be reasonable. The highest TDP someone tried I've seen was 105w on an Aorus X9.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ADP-330AB-...h=item2aaff78a58:g:heAAAOSw9DVZsJk5:rk:5:pf:0
New (Really looks nice, pricey)
https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/omen-by-hp-power-adapter-330w
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-33...=item1cc73f596c:g:f~AAAOSwKL5cQqV0:rk:75:pf:0
240w:
I prev. owned this adapter, it has lasted years with no problems at all, slim at the cost of width and length.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-DE...h=item2ab752b636:g:HZoAAOSwgKRbsrNi:rk:8:pf:0
https://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=8692
230w:
https://us-store.acer.com/230w-adapter-with-power-cord?___store=usa_en
HP (New design, silm, rare)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-OE...=item41f6d23562:g:X7AAAOSwAx9cHuaw:rk:33:pf:0
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-OE...=item1a63cc2005:g:aVoAAOSwvD5Z--gI:rk:15:pf:0
180w:
I would avoid Dell labled as delta 180w adapter without the normal smooth box style, almost looks like the Targus/Lite On, I had a stack of dead ones that only lasted a half of year. There is also the 210w version, also avoid, they are very very old at this point.
https://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=16691
https://www.ebay.com/itm/180W-Ac-Ad...h=item2610ff2aa0:g:c6sAAOSwviBcQiNK:rk:2:pf:0
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-DE...h=item2f235a3cf9:g:4vkAAOSw2opbs8s~:rk:6:pf:0
Newest (best looking, but pricey)
https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-power-adapter-180-watt-74mm/apd/450-ahdj/pc-accessories
New (good looking, very rare, only sells in combo with VR battery charger)
https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-z-vr-backpack-battery-charger

Adapters to convert to 5.5x2.5mm:
7.9x5.5mm to 5.5x2.5mm (old IBM/Lenovo style)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-Power-7...item2808bf30ec:g:Ct0AAOSwKIpWApfO:rk:153:pf:0
https://www.ebay.com/itm/7-9-x-5-5m...=item362cfda632:g:WMIAAOSwarlbyCAY:rk:54:pf:0
7.4x5.5mm to 5.5x2.5mm (Dell/Delta/FlexTronics style)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-5-5-x-2...=item363d762591:g:gvQAAOSw9iFbvObQ:rk:28:pf:0
https://www.amazon.com/BiXPower-X75...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=D51XX36H6PCT39D6GDE5

3. (straight connector no adapter)
180w ASUS ROG replacement (doesn't seem to be actually OEM since OEM is also angled),
https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-180W-A...h=item52005dafbc:g:1MYAAOSwal5YGX0g:rk:3:pf:0
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NEW...C-Adapter-Charger-Supply-for/32413018214.html
200w Aorus/Gigabtye replacement (non-OEM design I think)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/200W-AC-Po...=item5d5b89d318:g:CvQAAOSwtINcIeQq:rk:13:pf:0
You could remove the cable holding the 7.4mm or any other mm and add a 5.5mm if you know how to.
I have yet to find another straight connector 5.5mm rn, most of them are angled for some reason.

4. (No adapter but angled)

ASUS ROG New style 180w:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-As...=item3d7b9e0431:g:81EAAOSwdrdcAbOg:rk:21:pf:0
https://www.ebay.com/itm/AC-Adapter...=item2cdf2247fc:g:DLsAAOSw2gNb6mnS:rk:22:pf:0

If you were unlucky and couldn't score a large battery upgrade, getting a portable laptop charger might help extend battery life, I think it would throttle performance in order to charge (unless only dell/alienware does it, they will throttle to charge with lower spec chargers even the 45w.) If you travel on flights, make a note on TSA certification. There are 2 kinds of portable laptop chargers, there are ones with an AC connector for the laptop, and there are the one with a direct cable that includes all the laptop charging tips you need.

Random adapter that seems to be able to convert a powered usb type c to usable 5.5mm
https://batpower.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=108
Don't know if it will actually work.

 

Omg thank you!!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

@ ezradharma

Wow. About $50 cheaper than the OEM models. Thanks for this.

 

Why? Intel says that their CPUs can run 100% reliably up to 100°C.

https://ark.intel.com/products/134906/Intel-Core-i7-8750H-Processor-9M-Cache-up-to-4-10-GHz-

At this point, they will start to throttle to prevent any long term damage. TONGFANG goes one step further and has reduced the thermal throttling temperature to 95°C. Run your CPU as fast as possible. No need to worry about its core temperature.

 

Normally I would agree with that advice. However in some laptops, a very high CPU temp can adversely affect nearby components, such as vrms, jacking up their temps and thermally stressing them out more than the orginal design spec expected / intended for. And the cpu is normally BGA soldered using unleaded balls. Which dont like the thermal cycling quite so much either.

There are also certain cases where specific machines end up with chassis thermals above 50C which then becomes a burn hazard for people's fingers / hands.

So yeah... it definately wont hurt the CPU, but might end up hurting other things. What you might call collateral damage.

 

Not sure if this is exactly why, but I've read some aftermarket thermal pastes can degrade at 80C? Wish i could find supporting facts, but didn't search too hard lol.

 

1300 was like everything i could squeeze out of it with 2666 ram

 

If a thermal paste degrades at 80°C, a person should not be using it on a CPU that can run reliably up to 100°C. Do some Google research on thermal paste and make sure they are testing on a laptop. Some thermal pastes can "pump out" when used on a laptop and will be useless in a short amount of time.

@B0B might have some thermal paste recommendations that are suitable for laptop CPUs.

 

Wow thanks for this... I'm pretty cautious so I made sure to line up all the numbers (voltage, amperage and wattage) but had always thought amperage was the critical part since if it was too low, it could damage your parts, and if it was too high it just wouldn't work. Guess that was voltage lol.

The more you know

 

Depending on how warped your cooler is or how much you move your laptop may dictate what paste works well for you. Some may be able to get away with a thinner paste. Icdiamond seemed to be what I needed as NH 1 paste pumped out in just days to the point of thermal throttling. But I move my laptop in a backpack so I seem to need a thicker paste then some. if you just use your laptop as a desktop and dont move it much or have a quite flat heatsink you maybe be able to use a thinner paste without pump out. thermal grizzly's new heat pads look interesting as they are able to take up some gap but only time will tell since they are not out yet

 

Link? Are you taking about the minus pad 8? Or is there something better coming. My Kryonaut came in the mail this weekend, but I haven't had a chance to do it yet.

 

Tried out some of your configs, in addition to a TS battery profile I put together following some of @unclewebb 's opinions in the forum, and I'm getting 4 ~ 4.5 hours of usage without a hitch (in one instance got to almost 4:45!). I think you can squeeze a bit more out of your settings by lowering your ICC Max config to around 86. That way you can leave your EPP sit high at 128. With these settings I'm getting idles of sub 1 no problem. As soon as I get the new battery installed I'll try it out and share findings.

Please feel free to make any suggestions or tweaks to these settings, I'm by no means and expert.

 

Tried to beat @demon09 on Cinebench after tweaking Throttlestop again for max performance, better luck than before, but still 13 away.



My CPU package power never reaches 70W, how are people actually getting their 8750H's to draw more than that? Setting power limits and Iccmax higher does nothing, though multipliers never go below 39 on all cores so I don't see how I could improve. (even tried setting turbo ratio limits to 41 on all cores). Power limits are disabled and locked. Undervolting -135mV (-125mV on cache) seemed to be my sweet spot. I tried speedstep on 0 and 1 and set Intel power balance all the way to CPU (31 CPU and 0 GPU). Background processes are reduced to a bare minimum. Any other tips?

 

Thanks for the input guys. I thought I'll try my luck and request a bigger one from PCS and after explaining what's happened they actually agreed to send me a 180W one on the condition that if it fixes the issue I need to send the old one back. Have to admit, I'm pleasantly surprised by this and fair play to PCS.

 

Quick question on the repasting, since these are “naked” cpu and gpu chips w/o lids, is the goal to have enough paste cover the entire chip surface after tightening the heat sink screws, or the goal is to aim for the thinnest paste layer and thus some uncovered area around the corner and edge of the chips are ok?

 

With this being a laptop which means lower clamping pressure and also less flatness of the heatsink due to being thinner or possibly lower QC, I’d recommend putting a average amount. I would not spread it paper thin or apply a huge gob. I personally used somewhere in between a grain of rice and the size of a pea for volume used and have had great temps.

After repasting just check your temps and if you’re in low 70s or even a little higher you’ll be good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

All CPUs are unique and their reported power draw will vary from one to another. This number is only an estimation which is not the same as measured power draw so I would not worry too much about it. As long as the CPU maintains a 39.00 multiplier for the duration of the Cinebench run, there is nothing more you can do. That is maximum performance.

The 8750H is a locked CPU so increasing the turbo multis higher than the default values of 41, 41, 40, 40, 39, 39 will not help.

Did you max out the Min and Max Cache Ratio in the FIVR window?

What C0% is ThrottleStop showing when you are idle at the desktop? You should be able to get this down to 0.5% or less. One bad driver or Windows background process can make this significantly higher.

Some users go into the Task Manager Details tab, right click on Cinebench and increase the Set priority value to help the cause.

The last variable is memory. Faster memory or tighter timings might be the difference. 1287 is 99% of 1300. Want to empty your wallet for that last 1%? Probably not.

Check out how the mainstream competition is doing on NotebookCheck. A 1287 run is killing the competition.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-...GTX-1050-Ti-Max-Q-Laptop-Review.355641.0.html

Now that you are dialed in, are you seeing the huge drop off in performance that most of the competition is showing after the initial Cinebench run?

@ZaiArgylle - One thing I noticed is that in the Options window, ThrottleStop is reporting a Timer Resolution of 0.997 ms or approximately 1 ms. The default for this is 15.6 ms. ThrottleStop has the AC Timer Res set to 16 which is where it should be. The problem is that some other software on your computer is using a lower timer res value. This is a global value so Windows will use the lowest value that any software asks it to use. A low value can increase power consumption when lightly loaded. Some popular apps like Google Chrome might set this to a low value and then forget to set it back. You might get a little more battery run time if you can find out what is causing this problem. This value is not updated in real time in ThrottleStop so you will need to close the Options window, try closing whatever might be open on your computer and then open the Options window again to see if the reported Timer Resolution has changed back to normal.

 

Thanks for your input, I'll try and pinpoint the program changing the Timer Resolution to see how much more I can squeeze out of stock battery. That notwithstanding, I just cleared 5 hours of non intensive usage at a 95% drain with the settings posted before (5:05:28 to be precise). My "non intensive" encompasses word processing, internet browsing, video streaming and other non stressful processes, but do realize this is subjective, as I'm not using any standardized tests. Still, much better than I expected for the stock battery. High hopes for the larger one on the way.

 

Something odd is going on with my idle power level it's sitting at 12W at idle but a few days ago that figure was down to under a watt or so. I can't figure out what has changed that would cause my idle power draw to increase so much.

https://imgur.com/a/QTy8IRj

 

Your nvidia GPU must be active, as soon as mine goes active (say I plug in an external screen) usage jumps from 1.1w (i have no idea how to get it to 0.6w draw that other posters have managed, I suspect my 2x NVMEs must be homehow contributing to extra 0.5w draw) to 12w. The only way that I found on how to "release" apps that are now running on dGPU without rebooting is to disable it and re-enable the dGPU. I've ended up setting up a powershell script that is triggered by Throttlestop switching to a battery profile, this way when I unplug my laptop from the screen / power it automatically does the disable / enable to save battery power.
Also, I noticed that using the function key + airplane mode switch also forces something to draw 12w on throttlestop until laptop is rebooted... this was on the original BIOS that shipped, so not sure if that issue still exists now.

 

Could you please share that script? Could prove useful if need be. Thanks in advance

 

Nope https://i.imgur.com/aTTlQo2.png GPU is off and it's still 13W, It think something (maybe an update broke my Cstates. seems like it won't go to a package CSTATE of greater than C3

 

sure, will upload it later when i get home.

 

Can you enable the GPU activity monitor in Nvidia control panel settings and then check its status in the notification area on your taskbar?

 

I have three questions.

Is it possible to reverse the function key action? I would like to be able to use the keyboard/display brightness, etc without needing to press FN at the same time.

Is it possible for Control Center to automatically change fan mode when on AC or Battery? It would be nice in conjunction with TS automatically switching.

Does anyone else have huge discrepancies with core temps? After multiple re-pastes, I still have a large variance. I'm guessing it has mostly to do with clamping pressure, or the flatness of the heatsink. Has anyone come up with any fixes? It is always the same 3 cores in my case. Cores 1,3,5 are higher temp. Cores 2,3,6 are much lower. I uploaded an image with the mount points and how the CPU sits on the board (unless it needs to be rotated 180 degrees, i don't know). Is it uneven pressure being applied or something else?

 

How big of a difference are you seeing? There generally is always a bit of an imbalance on most laptops that I have seen (not unusual to see differences of 6-7c between cores), i guess if its more than 10c then it could well be a sign that the heatsink contact isnt completely level. Also thermal paste choice seems to make a difference as i remember going through a half a dozen of compounds a while back and finding some producing a more uniform spread than the others.

 

Here is a pic. Cores 1,3,5 are 80/80/76 highs (after a stress test). Cores 2,4,6 are 74,71,69. Seems kind of like a big difference to me, but maybe I'm being too picky.

 

Can somebody help me with with some good setting for throttlestop ?? I don’t want to push it to hard , on the safe side(for games) some pictures will help.
Thanks.

 

Use HWMonitor or HWiNFO and have a look at the Uncore portion of CPU power consumption. On the CPU I was looking at, this was responsible for almost all of the additional power consumption compared to normal. This might be a bug within the CPU. The PKG Power number that ThrottleStop reports includes everything on the CPU package including the iGPU but this number does not include the Nvidia GPU. PKG Power is only an estimate. It is not measured power consumption. Perhaps part of the CPU is sucking way more power than it should be or maybe it is just a bug and this estimate is not working correctly.

You also have too much stuff running in the background. Individual cores on an idle CPU should be able to spend 99% of their time in the low power C7 state. This is sufficient to process all of the Windows 10 background tasks even on a 2 core CPU like this one.



There are other bugs where the deeper package C states will suddenly disappear. These problems are common but difficult to track down. Sometimes after resuming from sleep or hibernate, the deepest package C state available will be reduced. That is a bug but I do not know how to fix it.

Scroll back 10 pages and there are lots of pictures.

To keep things simple I would use ThrottleStop to set the CPU Core and CPU Cache offset voltages to -100 mV. I would check the FIVR Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits box. I would set the Turbo Power Limits to something like 65 and 80. I would set the PP0 Current Limit to 100 or so and that is about it. This should be adequate for gaming.

 

Edit, the bit in bold might need to be updated with the start of your monitor ID string (I have a standard 60hz FHD panel, if yours is different the script will keep thinking there is an external monitor plugged in the whole time and fail to actually trigger the part where it recycles the dGPU. To find your monitor id just type the following into powershell:

Get-PnpDevice -InstanceId display* -status ok | select instanceid​

Below is the script for cycling dGPU and thus forcing all apps back onto iGPU (it will first check if external display is unplugged, if not it will loop repeat checks every 3 seconds until it is. There is no point cycling dGPU whilst external display is plugged in as apps just get loaded back to dGPU and CPU TDP jumps back up to 12w+). Please let me know if any of below needs expanding on:

while ($true){
$checkextdisplay = Get-PnpDevice -Status OK | ? {$_.class -like "Monitor"-and $_.instanceid -notlike "DISPLAY\CMN15D7*"}
if (!$checkextdisplay)
{
$d = Get-PnpDevice| where {$_.friendlyname -like "NVIDIA geforce GTX 1060"}
$d | Disable-PnpDevice -Confirm:$false -verbose
$d | Enable-PnpDevice -Confirm:$false -verbose
pause
exit
}
Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
write-host Checking if external display has been unplugged...
}​

you will want to save this into c:\temp\dGPUcycle.ps1
create a dGPUcycle.bat file with the following text:

powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File c:\temp\dGPUcycle.ps1​

Now if you start throttlestop manually (not via a scheduled task) you can just add the path of this batch file here:




However if you're, like myself, using a scheduled task to start throttlestop you'll need to do a bit of a workaround, as it looks like apps launched via scheduled tasks are unable to spawn other apps running with admin privileges. So to work around that I have had to create another scheduled task, call it something like dGPUdown and set it's action to run dGPUcycle.bat.
Now you'll have to set throttlestop to run a different batch file that manually triggers the scheduled task, which then triggers the powershell script above. I used a dGPUdown.bat with below text inside:

powershell.exe -command "Start-ScheduledTask -TaskName "dGPUdown"​

so then I point my Throttlestop "Run Program After Profile Change" option to the 2nd batch file instead:

 

has anyone here gotten optane to work right on this laptop? I put in a optane module in the open nvme slot but I am not able to see the drive in windows diskpart or even then bios. maybe I just got a faulty 16gb optane module? figured it out had to install rst and not optane set up and it allowed me to erase the meta data on it otherwise I was unable to find it in windows disk part or even the bios but glad it got fixed

 

OK, so I just spoke with a OP rep from their customer service line, in regards of Walmart discontinuing the desktops/laptops, future pricing, and the exchange/warranty process. Mine came with a dent and a bad hinge, so I needed to inquire some info.

She told me she hasn't heard of anything about Walmart dropping the product line, as well as not knowing when the next units will be back in stock and at what price. She also told me if I like the laptop to hold onto it and don't proceed with an exchange because there could be a chance I don't get another unit or one at the same price (she gave me an example of this from a recent customer) - which makes me believe she maybe was bluffing about their current relationship with Walmart?

If Walmart drops OP, how would OP fulfill these RMA's? Also, the warranty is only the standard 1 year - the additional year is through Walmart, which makes this all more convoluted than it already is.

 

Thanks for passing the info on. If you decide to keep the laptop (which IMO is the best option if the laptop operates normally and you can't get an exchage) I would suggest bartering for at least a partial refund. Anything you get would be icing on the cake.

 

Thanks for sharing this. @sicily428 @Blebleuh in case you guys wanna check it out for your posts.

 

Icdiamond evened out mine alot more with nh1 when it pumped out I had huge core temp diff. what paste are you using?

 

Didn't even think about doing this, thank you for the advice! I managed to get 10% off my purchase price, which was $80 dollars back

Now hopefully this hinge holds up for a few years! Good deal!

 

I recently got the 15+ overpowered gaming laptop from walmart. I need to add a 2nd SSD drive. Can anyone recommend me a good SSD drive to add it as 2nd SSD drive? Thanks in advance.

 

Are we talking m.2 or 2.5 as the 2nd, also how much capacity do you need?

 

If the laptop support optane (8th gen should work, then again who knows), you should have an Optane tab in the RST software, you can refer to this guide to set it up (use intel's drivers, ignore step 6) https://www.dell.com/support/articl...x-inspiron-precision-alienware-system?lang=en

 

If you're trying to look for a replacement hinge, this site has the part numbers to try to look up, https://www.fortunetechnology.com/fortune-spares/12141/ Hope that might help when the hinge becomes too weak.

 

I'm glad it worked out. Just out of curiosity, who handled the matter for you, a representative from Walmart or from Esports Arena?

 

Are you talking about the second M.2 drive? If so, this would have to be NVMe since the second M.2 drive only takes it. You can cheap out on it since it's only 2 lane. I believe B0B recommended these Inland SSD's.

 

It was a rep from Walmart, I explained my situation and the back story of these laptops. She had zero clue about anything regarding OP.

 

I need an m.2 as a 2nd one. I'm going to keep the 2.5 for now for media storage.
The below is my plan
#1 SSD - Mainly for OS & broswer & Antivirus, MSoffice.
#2 SSD - m.2 drive for other apps like Lightroom CC,Premier Pro & Photoshop CC.
#3 HDD - For media storage only.