TONGFANG GK7CN6S / GK7CP0S / GK7CP7S

Just to predict what those 2nd gen models could be within a few month, just keep an eye out for what laptops at on pre-sale by Mechrevo. If Mechrevo doesn't sell any more lower tier laptops (GTX) or doesn't have pre-sales of any GTX 1660ti +etc in the Chinese market, Walmart is most likely to sell RTX models only, hopefully they stop going with the Supreme tactics of only buying a batch but having no extras since their laptops have been on and off sale constantly. Another thing I would like is for them to stop imprinting a logo and get a new logo.

 

Wow ...

 

How are the thermals of this chassis with an 8750H and an RTX 2070 mobile? I'm assuming quite good bases on what I've seen in this thread, but should thermal throttling be a concern? Is an undervolt/repaste necessary? I am considering going with the Eluktronics Mech-17 G1R with the RTX 2070 and 8750H, and on both their website and Amazon, they have a 35$ upgrade which gets you liquid metal on the CPU and some decent thermal compound on the GPU. Is that 35$ upgrade worth it, or even necessary?

 

I got the mech 17, love the laptop besides the weird driver issues and the insanely high CPU temps. GPU is fine doesnt go above ~74 for me. CPU however, even with undervolt and thermal grizzly paste it goes to 98C during gaming. I have no clue why. I would definitely do liquid metal if I were you.

 

Do you know if this Nvidia driver issue has been resolved?

 

You should probably RMA your laptop if you are getting CPU temps like that, even with an undervolt + repaste. From what I've seen in this thread, those temperatures are not normal, even at stock. Perhaps Eluktronics botched the thermal application, hopefully that is just a fluke!

 

Yes sir.

I've had multiple game ready drivers install through GeForce experience with no issues.

 

So how would you compare these to things like the Lenovo Legion Y740? Like the style and feel of a unit.

 

I forgot to mention, you also need to install the nvidia control panel separately from the windows store with the rtx laptops. From what I read it's no longer included in the standard driver install file due to some changes windows made to drivers and their respective updates.

There's a direct link to the control panel download on the windows store a few pages back.

 

Not as pretty as the legion, that's for sure. But the tongfang to me is a workhorse. I would rather have the better cooling system in the tongfang over the legions stylish design and two shared heat pipes any day.

Though, Dave2D indicated the new RTX legion series has a more efficient cooling capability when compared to the pascal versions of the same chassis. I would take anything he says with a grain of salt though. Sounds like his though process is that it's due to a better application of thermal compound, which if he is getting a test unit is a terrible sample size to claim this. Production versions will likely see worse quality control.

But, with that said the legion would be a lot more appealing from a visual perspective (I love the hinge forward design) and the chassis quality for the most part is solid. I don't think you could go wrong with either machine as long as widespread testing and reviews are favorable towards the Legion having efficient thermals.

 

Well Bob of all trades did a Teardown of a Legion. According to him the paste was quite good and a repaste had barely any impact.

Only if is it worth it. They have Max-Q 2070 and 2080 models and the TONGFANG Full 2070 is very close to the 2080 for a bit less.

 

My question is always whether or not they bought them off the shelf or were sent review units with better QC. Bob of all trades would probably be the only one who grabbed one off the shelf to review if I had to guess. But that's also a good point about the legion being max-q vs the full 2070 in the tongfang. The full fat version really is a monster of a gpu.

 

Looks like the shipment to Eluktronics has been delayed once again. Looks like it went from a 3 day wait to over 2 weeks best case scenario ... that’s a bummer lol

 

Anyone know why my CPU is throttling now? I haven't done anything to this computer besides basic drivers and games. I also undervolted and that was it. -.100 mv. I'm getting so sick of this laptop. I want to love it but it seems like more and more issues just keeps popping up.

 

Just a heads up anyone purchasing the mech 17 laptop from eluktronics. I purchased it a month ago and have had nothing but issues with the device. some were small but fixable (had to open device since battery came completely unplugged, no Nvidia control panel, no Intel graphics control panel, WiFi wouldnt connect automatically after put to sleep/restart, really confusing/bad gamimg center software locking me into office mode without realizing it, etc).

Now the majority of the issues I fixed but the one crippling thing about this laptop is the rtx 2070 does not play well when using it's internal display and the iGPU. When I was playing fortnite on the laptop, I was seriously getting lower fps than my Dell XPS GTX 1050. I was legitimately struggling to maintain 144 fps on low settings in the menu. CS;GO was the same situation since I wondered if it was just fortnite acting buggy to rtx cards. (Unfortunately new to PC gaming so don't have many games to test).

What really made me realize something was up is when I connected via displayport to 144hz 1080p monitor. Since I believe this only uses the dGPU and bypasses the intel graphics after some research, I finally was getting rtx 2070 like performance numbers. Fortnite was now in the low 300s in main menu and during game play, I regularly was in the low to mid 200s and at worst in the high 100s. CS;GO was the same situation where I couldn't hit 144 fps on high settings on internal display but on my external monitor, was in the low 200s

Having only gamed on my XPS 15 with the same external monitor, i had no idea Nvidia Optimus could possibly have such a drastic drop in fps on these rtx cards. My XPS 15 on the external monitor is very close to the same fps as the laptop display so this made absolutely no sense untilI i found an article on notebookcheck mentioning rtx cards and their results being similar to mine when benchmarking at 1440p and 4k on external display monitors. I'm not a PC expert so not sure if others are experiencing the same on their machines but just wanted to throw that info out there.

I am returning my device since eluktronics support has been pretty slow to respond to my issues only until 2-3 weeks into my return time frame. I actually sent them photos on my phone of the drastic fps difference in those games to prove how underperforming the GPU was but they don't seem to have an answer or solution. I am just glad I notice the issue now while the return period is still active. I'll try to attach a Dropbox link (not even sure if that's allowed on this forum?) so others can see what I am talking about with fps differences in the games. I
just hope others who got this device or want this device know they could face this issue.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Turin...rformance-losses-due-to-Optimus.410848.0.html

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5n68z8djia1g2o2/Laptop comparison pics.7z?dl=0

 

Did you check your PhysX settings in Nvidia control panel to ensure its using the 2070 and not the Intel GPU? A PCS Recoil II 17.3" owner on the PCS forum recently discovered it was the cause of a 25-30% performance hit

 

Yes, I did. i actually tried maximum performance, adaptive, and the default setting in the manage 3d settings to see if for some reason it was handicapping the GPU. Also, if it were using the Intel hd 630 graphics would it be possible to get 130ish fps on a game like fortnite at 1080p low settings? I know it's not a demanding game but I believe it requires at least some form of dedicated gpu to get into that range of fps I would think? . It wasn't like the dGPU wasn't working at all it's just the performance felt very low considering the average fps gaming benchmarks for an rtx 2070. I'll double check tonight though and do a retest to see if I missed something in the control panel.
Thanks.

 

I had the same problem with apex struggling to play and its as simple as setting the rtx gpu to be the default for all programs in the nvidia control panel. And you said that you are new to pc gaming? Welcome! If you stick around you will likely learn a lot of new information. If you are generally new to the "advanced" computer world these problems can be daunting. But, it sounds like every issue you've had, or are having at the moment could be fixed with some education or discussion on boards like this one.

 

Could be unrelated but there was a windows security update last week that killed gaming performance for a lot of PCs. It would be worth a quick Google search on the topic. Resolution is as simple as uninstalling the security patch.

 

Do you have the eluktronics 2070 version? If so, con you confirm how much power the GPU is allowed to pull? Seriously considering this laptop as you can get it without OS, Ram, and storage for around 1450 - this is for the rtx 2070 version.

 

I do. It's the full fat 115w version of the 2070.

 

Thanks, I tried based on your recommendation. Uninstalled all updates and still have the same issue.

 

It's hard to tell based on your screen shot because it has no reference points. But are you power limit or thermal throttling? If you're thermal throttling that's so far an easy solution in most cases with good thermal paste.

 

Thanks. I decided to pull the trigger on the barbebones mech 17 2070 model. I have the OP 15+ now that should be a pretty easy sell. Looking forward to a little more GPU power.

 

Did you place the order on the eluktronics site? did they give you an eta?

 

It's been repasted twice to solve cpu temp issues, but the graph is actually showing power limit throttling. You know any reason for this? thx

 

Yeah I actually tried that too this morning and did see a good 15% performance increase in game and the GPU clock was boosting much higher. However, there is still a pretty drastic performance decrease from using an external monitor. I will post some pics below for reference. the performance loss might not be noticeable to someone not using a monitor but I did buy this as basically a desktop replacement until I build my own (dealing with the headaches now probably a good thing lol).

Im just wondering is this a Nvidia Optimus performance loss thing? I saw someone in another thread with a scar 2 rtx 2070 post about the same issue when he was connected to an external monitor. I wish i could figure this all out but the thing is that my return period ends in a few days so after a month of trying to fine tune this thing I am running out of time.. If I knew everything would be ok a month from now I'd gladly keep it but this isn't guaranteed. I was looking at the clevo pb51 since it has a full rtx 2070 with the ability to disable iGPU and just uses the rtx card. I wish I had one for comparison to see if the FPS would be more like what I am getting on my monitor with this laptop.

 

What program are you using to undervolt? XTU, throttlestop etc. My first thought would be to uninstall (save your profiles before uninstlaling) or disable the undervolt completely if your utility allows it.

I can't remember which video it was, but Bob of all trades goes into some of his undervolt settings on these tongfang chassis laptops. He specifically changes the speed shift value in throttlestop to something other than what he normally values that setting at. I'll see if I can find the video and post a follow up with a link to it.

I did a lot of troubleshooting with both software and hardware at my prior job and I always found the best method to be restoring the system to its original state and trying again. So in this case I'd undo your undervolt, test and make further adjustments if needed.

Also, if this computer is still under warranty you should just send it back to have it looked at. I can't say enough good stuff about the guys at eluktronics. One of their customer service guys Brian actually called me after they closed up shop for the day to give me an update on my laptop that was sent back for thermal issues. While on the phone he ran a few benchmarks and confirmed with me that the temperature issues were corrected. You won't find that kind of service with any of the big companies.

 

I use XTU. I removed the voltage changes back to default already, tried everything I can think of. Removed drivers, installed, and now just tried the security update thing you suggested. I'll try to find the video you're referring to as well. I really wanted to love the laptop.

 

If you look around online this isn't an issue with tongfang laptops. This happens on every laptop with a dedicated gpu. And your fps are still way above what the monitor on the laptop can reach, so I wouldn't be concerned in that respect.

If I had to make an educated guess it this would happen because of the following.

When you're using your laptop's screen with the nvidia graphics card it still has to filter through the integrated gpu to display anything on the screen. (look for a video from linus tech tips on using a 1060 mining card with no video outputs to learn about this further, he actually uses the same technique laptops use on a desktop. This gave him the ability to output the video from the 1060 through the motherboard's integrated display outputs.) This pass through isn't analogue and will have some impact on overall refresh rate, but on screens like these it's a minor thing, as you will never see anything above 144hz anyway.

Now, when you plug an external monitor into your laptop the whole method above is bypassed. You're communicating with the nvidia card directly and there's no pass through with the integrated graphics card. This allows for the higher refresh rate you're noticing.

Go take a peek on Tom's guide and you will see this has been a thing that people have been noticing for years now (I saw some threads with dates as far back as 2015 which is well before pascal cards even made it into laptops). So yes, what you're seeing is kind of odd, but it's absolutely normal for gaming laptops like ours.

 

So would a laptop with the ability to disable the iGPU and just run the dGPU be able to get the same kind of fps I am getting on the monitor? Hence why i wondered if the clevo PB g sync model would be getting that high of fps since you can switch off the iGPU in it..

I mean that's a pretty drastic difference in fps ... If it was like 5-10% I'd feel like it were normal just seems to be quite high. Thanks for the info though!

 

Yes - Expected ship date of of 3/21 and possibly earlier on 3/15. No tax either which is nice.

 

Possibly. But what you're seeing as in issue is really a non issue as none of these fps limits you've shown would be impacted by the current 144hz screen on the laptop. Fire up an intensive game that runs closer to 60fps on max settings and see what you get for a fps diffence on the internal vs external unit. I bet the gap would close to the 5-10% range. I don't believe it's as big of an issue as you are concerned with it being in the grand scheme of things.

 

Also if anything the gsync models would lower the fps on average. But would give a great consistent frame rate. Which is why 60hz gsync looks better than some 144hz panels if they are subject to screen tearing.

 

The Lenovo Legion are 144 Gsync panels.

 

Correct. However when his current fps is around 180 it's still a moot point. A 144hz gsync panel won't cause your rendered fps to increase. Nor would it increase the current maximum displayed fps. My point was that 60hz gsync can in some cases look better than 144hz with screen tearing.

Gsync won't increase your fps, it will artificially limit it to synchronize the gpu and display. All it is doing is creating a smoother experience, which is great.

Again, I don't think this is really an issue. He's not being limited on utilizing the full refresh rate of the panel inside the laptop as he's 40+fps above the 144hz limit.

The best comparison I can think of would be someone complaining that their car can do 120mph but the speed limit is 75. You're still getting full use of the car based on the external limit that is imposed. In this case the speed limit is the refresh rate in the laptop panel. All gsync would do in this situation is set the cruise control at the same 75mph. There is zero net gain in fps at this point from having gsync vs non gsync. You can either gas the car manually and hold close to 75mph with some small dips and spikes, or lock it in with cruise control. At no point does that speed limit ever change though. And the engine in both situations would be the same gpu giving you the exact same performance in max fps two years from now.

 

Please help me choose. I've narrowed my choices down between the Eluktronics Mech-17 and the MSI GE75. Both with the 2070.

I don't need anything super portable so I figured these two models were the perfect size.

The MSI would cost me $200 more for roughly the same set up.

Basically, I just want to know if there are any bugs that have yet to be ironed out by Eluktronics.

Comparing both, it seems as if the cooling is similar on both laptops and the only thing that really stands out is the better speakers on the MSI.

Any and all input is welcome.

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Does anyone know where I can order a spare 230W power brick for my GK7CP7S in the UK?

 

Stay away from Eluktronics!

I had thermal issues with the CPU from the mech 17 on their stock thermal paste and they claimed that it was because I didn't know what I was doing and then proceeded to warn me that if I send it back to them, and they find nothing wrong, that they would charge me for services. They claimed that it was most likely that I installed the thermal paste, hard drive, and memory incorrectly and that was what was leading to thermal and throttling issues. I never even installed the thermal paste until I was consistently getting 98C under light games not to mention I've built barebone laptops without issue for the past 7 years. Yes, I am definitely not a certified expert and their knowledge far exceeds mine, but it is NOT normal to have a 98 degree CPU with this kind of cooling and it doesn't take a computer genius to install memory and ssd.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience. But unfortunately you're in the minority in terms of thermal issues that can't be resolved with the mech-17. I did encounter some issues with the thermal application of the unit I received however the guys at Eluktronics were more than willing to make it right. And unfortunately, in your case their website specifically states that support is very limited for bare bones laptops.

There are way too many people like myself that have great thermal performance to prove that there is nothing inherently wrong with the chassis and its ability to dissipate heat when thermal compound is applied properly.

 

Did you just say "there are way to(sic) many people like myself that have great thermal performance to prove ..." and also claim that you had to ship it back because you had thermal issues? I am willing to bet the vast majority of people who ordered from them don't even check their temperatures and are fine with knowing their CPU is 98C. Thermal paste doesn't take a rocket scientist to apply. There is nothing mystical with installing hardware either, and an ssd/memory does not cause your CPU to be at thermal limit levels.

 

Well, if you read my initial statement I said that there are few thermal issues with the mech-17 that COULDN'T be resolved. And I'm sorry you're dealing with this, however being a new member and coming on this forum bad mouthing a product with anecdotal evidence and a pissy attitude won't get you too far. Apparently the guys at Eluktronics can get the thermal application done correctly if you send it to them. Their workers will even call you after hours to run through benchmark testing and stress tests to confirm that the thermal issues have been rectified after a reapplication of thermal compound.

Then again, you don't seem like the kind of person to play well with the customer service people that are willing to help if you're remotely kind to them.

 

I did read your initial statement. You automatically dismissed my complaint as one of the few with these issues, when even you had thermal issues. I don't question their capabilities in solving the issue- I question their willingness. From the response I received they already positioned themselves defensively and placed the blame on me and cautioned that I will incur additional service fees if I proceed to ship the laptop back for repairs. That is not an ethical or honest company but I'm sure they love blind followers like you. So don't go off telling me "unfortunately you're one of the few ..." and "bad mouthing a product with anecdotal evidence and a pissy attitude".

 

You bought a bare bones laptop that explicitly states there is very limited support after the purchase for such systems. If you came to this forum to look for guidance/help I could have respected that. Instead you decided to act like a spoiled child and just complain and warn others with your already established anecdotal evidence. If you're not going to at least try to hold a productive discussion you should stick to some YouTube comments to get your frustrations out. ✌️

 

And who are you to tell me I don't have a right to complain? I already went through 65 pages of material on here and have some of the similar problems others have and they have yet to have a solution or responses to their question. If someone posts a complaint and I don't like it, I ignore it, I don't tell them they don't have a right to complain and that they are whining with no evidence. Think before you talk.

 

OK. Still more complaining. We get it. You're not happy.

 

Which laptop did you go with instead?

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I went through the same situation myself when shopping for a replacement. I spoke to HID and they've confirmed the ge75 (2019) runs in the 90's with stock paste and with the hid liquid re-paste ($90ish) they've been able to get it down to the 70's.

I specced out the mech 17 with a 2070, 1tb of ssd, and dual channel ram, dead pixel guarantee, and liquid re-paste for 1850 vs 2600 for a similar setup with the cheapest hid approved components so it didn't make much sense at all to go with he ge75 based on cost alone.

When comparing them this is what I observed. It seems that cooling "appears" to be better on the eluktronics, based on overall sentiment and reviews. The msi thin units have been known to run hot, just pop over to the gs and 8rf units forums. This new Gen based on "stock paste" numbers alone appear to be that way. Regardless of which unit you go with, I'd advise shelling out the $35 ($95 for hid) and go with liquid cooling and save yourself the headache. The eluktronics are not exempt from manufacturing defects, I would guess that they also have defective units but the overwhelming concensus appears to be positive.
My guess is that the msi will also have a better keyboard and better rgb overall. The steelseries in the ge75 are nowhere near as good as the mechanical unit on the Titan but they're solid and the rgb is top notch. The mech 17 does offer mechanical but common concerns are that it's a little cramped and rgb is meh.

Obviously, there are various factors that led to my decision such , design, build quality, size among others. For example I'm not really a fan of the msi gamer boy design or red dragon sigil on the lid. The mech 17 also appears to be lighter and slightly more compact, but those are all personal.

I'm still waiting on my unit to arrive but I've done an absurd amount of research and have had hands on time with the ge75 so take it for what it's worth.

 

Thanks for the information.

I am definitely going with the upgraded thermal paste no matter which unit I choose. I wonder how Eluktronics installs their liquid metal and if there are any concerns of it leaking over on to the motherboard. I was honestly just thinking about going with the regular paste upgrade since liquid only gets you 2 degrees cooler. Just figured it was one less thing to worry about.

Also, why do you say the LED back light on the Eluktronics is bad or not as good as the MSI?

Lastly, it appears as of the keys on the Mech 17 are more spaced out than the Mech 15. Is the keyboard still not that good on the Mech 17?

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