TONGFANG GK7CN6S / GK7CP0S / GK7CP7S

It looks like the 15 has the same mobo, it would explain the free space next to it and makes sense in order to cut cost on R&D and production

But yes does someone have the 17 inch mobo number please? It would help me out a great deal! Thaaaaaaaaanks!!

 

Hey Lucas. Looking forward to hearing how well your replacement went. I also hope the next NVIDIA driver push is coming soon.

 

I can't help with RTX part numbers but I will say that I find the 17" to be fairly portable. I fit it into this bag (which I paid $35 for) and there is ample room for the laptop, AC adapter, and a large collection of accessories. The dimensions of the 17" laptop are 15.5" x 10.25 x 1" (thickness varies from front to back).

The hexagonal keys look awesome to me, and the typing experience it not terrible. They don't scream business or gamer, but exude a subtle retro vibe.

@Zill It seems to me with the 90w performance of the 2070mq, you are already getting excellent performance out of the 15" and should probably keep the 15" if you prefer its features and form factor. I am following your exploits with great interest! Could it be that not only the motherboards are identical, but that they are using the exact same graphics chips as well? It would make sense that they just run the same GPU at lower voltage in the 15" and call it a Max-Q... but I am not sure how that works.

 

It will be delivered back to me on Monday. And I have to say, the customer support there really is great. I got a call about an hour after their closing time on Wednesday from a guy named Brian. He gave me a full update on what he had tested so far, and actually looked at the included screenshot of msi afterburner showing a log of the temps.

As I suspected (and he confirmed) there was a poor application of thermal compound. Most notably was the fact that only one of the cpu cores was jumping in temperature. He had already reapplied the paste by the time he called me and was nice enough to run a few benchmarks with me on the phone and provide temperature feedback and benchmark scores.

All in all it was annoying to have to send the computer back but their customer service really was phenomenal (nothing like the horror stories of past experiences with companies like Acer). Regardless I'll give a full update at the beginning of the week and hopefully be able to contribute further to the thread if questions arise.

 

I tried the new driver 418.91 ( i think?) and I get a different error message but still not working

@ezradharma

Yes, cyberpower have confirmed that the motherboards are the same between the 15 and 17 and that all the 2070 are compatible regardless of size. But coming from Cyberpower I'm still being careful, and would like to see the motherboard number for myself so I can crosscheck with mine.

Imo, They are segmenting the cards via firmware (vbios) and to also adapt the same 2070 to different thermal designs depending on the laptop.


I was very happy with the 90W results and would've left it at that if it wasn't for losing the mini dp functionality.

However now I have more information and managed to find a way to flash the 17's rtx 2070 115W vbios I am VERY tempted to try it out. I would benefit even better performance and have mini dp support. I don't think the cooling is good enough for 115W of heat dissipation but I don't have to use all the power budget, reducing the clocks should do just fine and running max fans too. Will let you guys know if I take the plunge !

The new driver 418.91 doesn't work. I don't understand I was told it would be fixed with next release. Cmon! I get a different error message this time tho and I don't know if it could be because I'm running windows in unsigned driver compatibility mode..?

Maybe you guys will have better luck!

 

I hope this diver thing gets fixed I’m thinking about sending mine back


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I heard from many RTX owners, this problem is RTX Laptop wide, not just tongfang laptops.

 

That’s is true. You now wonder on launch which of the 40 NVIDIA decided were the chosen ones to get RTX driver support. Hope it’s not as slow as FreeSync.

Edit: typo

 

418.91 is now installing through "Gefrost" Experience.

Enjoy.

 

----------HELP----------

Hey everyone just got my OP 17 yesterday and I was updating driver and bios and my light bar stopped working!

I heard from OwNorDisown YT video on his OP 17 review that people who update to 1.08 led stop working. All I wanted was the turbo button feature, but when I upgraded mine by double-clicking in efiwin F bat file to run command prompt it updated to the latest (1.08) and now I have no way of using the light bar even after a fresh install of everything.

Hopefully, if I downgrade back to 1.06 this will fix the issue if not can anyone confirm a compatible bios from a different vendor that will 100% work with the OP 17 and maybe even better. (Of course, I don't mind a different splash screen and having to swap the gaming control center to their version of that vendor)

someone, please advise for a different/better bios or how to downgrade away from 1.08 to like 1.06 to get my light bar to work again.

 

Check out the pinned comment under the Ownordisown review video, he gives instructions on how to fix it on the 1.08 BIOS...

Here is what I did to correct the issue (OP tech support could not help)
Solution #1 (Tested on BIOS 1.04)
a) Reboot into BIOS, pressing DEL key
b) From Advanced Menu under: Keyboard BackLight Features
Change Light Effect to something else (mine was set to [Wave], I set it to [Rainbow])
c) Save settings and reboot into Windows
d) Reboot back into BIOS
e) Perform (b) and (c) above but this time in (b) set the Light Effect back to the original setting. [Wave]

Solution #2 (Tested on BIOS 1.08)
a) From a laptop with a working Light Bar, export the following registry key using RegEdit utility
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OEM\GamingCenter
b) Copy this registry file to the machine with the broken light bar
c) Import this registry file into the machine in (b) by double clicking on the file
d) Reboot
e) If the light bar still is not working, perfom Solution 1 above.

 

New review:

 

The relatively high refresh rate on the panel gives me some pause. 30 ms seems a bit off considering others have a 3-5-7 ms refresh panel.

 

This might be an unpopular opinion but I think Dave2D is one of the worst tech reviewers on YouTube. He has on more than one occasion given false information about the specs on devices he reviews, not to mention his method of benchmarking thermals is a bit lame. He typically runs a single benchmark and claims that it's a solid indication of thermal performance.

Reviewers like Bob of all trades, own or disown and jarrod's tech seem to focus on accuracy and consistency in reviews.

Edit* I'm also glad to see eluktronics reach out to clarify the misinformation in the review video.

 

Dave's channel looks very strange to me. Sometimes looks like a salesman and others he throws false info over a product while never making an in deep review or test in screen. Still I have some faith on him.

The other three are great reviewers, Bob my favorite.

 

Bob works hard to give the most honest output possible from how hard he's worked over the OP stuff.

Really want to get his views on the RTX laptops.

 

Hey guys, I downloaded sounds blaster from eluktronics support page, but I can't seem to get it online. The instructions doesn't show either, can someone show me some directions ?

 

I agree. Dave2D has had this laptop for ages (it was part of rtx laptop thumbnails). He prioritizes the overpriced big names and then posts this one way after. When he posts this one he's very lazy. For example the sound can be boosted by just launching the "Sound Blaster Connect" utility. Oh big deal, you do that once per boot up (it can be improved but I've had other bigger issues with big named brands that are never mentioned by Dave2d).

In comparison to @B0B and OwnOrDisown for example, Dave2D is absolutely fast-food and generic. Once I discovered the former, I just couldn't watch Dave2D. Most of us, need intimate reviews with the hardware because we don't get free units right and left. So the review channels like Dave2D and LinusTechTips review hardware as if we all receive multiple test units per weak. I don't know about you but I don't

 

Yes I saw the pin comment unfortunately I don't know how to downgrade (or if it even possible) to a version below 1.08 bios. I can't tell which file in the OP bios folder is for a older one.

I also do not have the registry file for the gaming center pre update if you have it please provide it to me if not I need someone to help me with a diffrent bios.

I emailed OP support waiting on response

 

So if the refresh rate is 9ms what is the refresh rate for the LG panel on the GK5CN5Z-GK6N6Z the 15 inch model.

Also I realized that the rtx laptop cooling looks diffrent then the 1060 version or currently the 17inch one from overpowered that I have.

Haven't open up my unit yet but I will to re paste but is the added heat plate and extended heat pipe a rtx laptop exclusive or a add on to newer GK7CN6S model?

 

At the end of the comment, Eluktronics mentions “an even larger battery”. Would something like that be a possibility?

 

I still like his reviews. I don't go to him for thorough reviews but for short overviews. He is not overly enthusiastic and shouting like many many youtubers. From consumer perspective, he is right about the sound. In every few pages in this thread, you see some complaining about it or asking about the software. Why is it not enabled from vendors by default? The sound is a real problem and I would have never thought a software would make a big difference. The response time of the screen was off but at least he looked it up and tried. If you go to Panelook, all AUO panels have 25ms response time except v4 which has 9ms. I also saw people complaining about ghosting in this thread. I don't care about his remark on battery life even though he seems to have the bigger one. Overall, he was positive about it and recommend it.

 

I believe it's added for RTX cooling. The laptop already has excellent cooling for the 1060gtx/8750h combo so I'm guessing they're keeping the higher bar for the RTX upgrade

 

The fans, pipes and heatsinks look a bit more refined than the last version.

Also laptops in general having crummy sound is the reason I bought an external sound card amplifier dac unit. Since all use basically the same lackluster audio hardware.

 

Well freeing up the 2.5 hard drive slot gives them a good amount of space. They've got a 4-Cell 62.36Wh Polymer battery option now. So if they could get a larger compatible battery I think they will.

 

@ezradharma and @Zill is this enough?



As for the BIOS, we think so, we had a GK5 motherboard replaced that came with a GK7 BIOS so they might be the same but we never tested to flash different BIOS.

 

GKX(Model Size)C(MAX-P/MAX-Q)7X(Form-Factor), this 100% is a interchangeable motherboard between 15" and 17". This is all we need to confirm. ty

 

Would be nice if resellers could offer the full 2070 in the 15" model then

 

Who ever at Tongfang did sound drivers system wise, did a crappy job, the sub is doing full range instead of mostly lows and mids which causes problems in sound quality and the life of the sub.
There are ways to upgrade the sound software or even stack enhancers: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/making-audio-enhancers-work-on-windows.244309/
As for changing which Freq. are played per speaker, that is going to need a some audio recording for sound chip to process correctly.

I think the only way all vendors can offer the MAX-P on the 15" without having a ton of thermal re-pastes needed is by liquid metal all of them. Cause the current paste from TF can be a hit or miss.

17" still has empty space near the LED bar, a little above, and little to the right of the battery with the "larger" battery.

 

That sounds more like a crossover issue than a software one. Normally you want the crossover of your woofer set to play the frequencies that your mid range and high range drivers can't and to ignore the rest. Woofers are loudspeaker drivers that usually handle the bass/low frequencies, so you are right in saying that it shouldnt be trying to playing all the frequencies. This is where a crossover comes into play, crossovers take an input signal then divide it into multiple output signals seperate discussions by bands of frequency for the different drivers in an audio system, like high frequencies, low frequencies, etc.

 

@Bruno@INPHTECH Do you guys happen to know the correct way to add Sound Blaster 5 on a clean version of Windows 10, a lot of the other vendor's solutions don't seem to work or have clean enough instructions. Also if you happen to have direct contact with Tongfang, could you ask them the rated crossover frequency for the subwoofer and the speakers?

 

Going to reference this guide to fix the crossover issue. https://www.evga.com/support/faq/afmviewfaq.aspx?faqid=59663
Might need another guide if this only allows be to only set Freq. limits globally.
Saving this just in case you're one of the guys with popping audio
https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/solving-dpc-latency-issues/

 

Wow thank you so much! Great pic!

I will go see and crosscheck with my 15"

Are you saying that you think that system Bioses are interchangeable between the 15 and 17?

Thanks again, very much appreciated!

 

Yes but why am I getting poor results when using the 115W MaxP vbios? I think we need to also use the 17's bios in order for the 115W vbios to work correctly on the 15"

Thats my theory anyway. I don't know if I can safely flash the 17 bios on my 15 yet for sure...

 

But I think that the full 2070s are superior silicon and have better IMC's. thats why max-q can only run at lower clocks and lower mem speeds

Genius nvidia marketing, recycling and selling us poor quality siclicon under the MAx-Q branding

I do encourage people who want more gpu perf and don't care about losing mini dp to use the 90W razer vbios.

Mini dp will work eventually but still working on it

 

Is the 90w razer vbios a full 2070 vbios?
What vbioses have you tried so far

 

As soon as I saw a Dave2D video posted here I had a negative reaction. I find him guilty of frequent over-generalization and unthorough reviews, but I can see how he appeals to the microwave-dinner mentality. But I actually appreciated the positive review from him of this chassis, and would say my opinion of him has gone up a couple notches. I am surprised he mentioned some things such as the Tongfang model and its connection to Walmart OP brand.

Very interesting observation on the thumbnails, and I agree with your assessment. I especially enjoy @B0B of All Trades, Jarrod's Tech, and OwnOrDisown on Youtube, and watch them religiously.

Eluktronics offers two sizes of batteries, and Dave2D got the smaller of the two for his review. I don't see an option on Amazon, but Eluktronics.com gives the option for a battery size upgrade.

 

No the razer 90W is a max-q vbios but with 10W extra headroom vs the stock 80W

Full 2070 laptop is 115W

I tried both, the 90W is the best, great improvement imo over stock and safe to use

 

In response to the last part of your post, at this time the Amazon configuration only comes with the larger battery option.

 

The TongFang 17.3in has a full 2070 at 90w I believe, so I wonder how that vbios would work for you, also wondering how the 115w vbios would work for the tongfang, though tbh I dont think it needs it since it already performs very well compared to most other 2070 laptops out there.

 

I'm almost certain the 17 inch has the 115w TDP version of the 2070.

 

https://noteb.com/?model/model.php?conf=8632668422223271555_2408&ex=USD The 2060 has a 90w TDP.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the actual case. Someone said it was 85w though http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-gk7cp0s-gk7cp7s.825461/page-29#post-10862550
Not sure how valid that information is though.

 

Has anyone found a better bio to use then Overpowered 1.08 my lightbar isn't working cause of that and I don't know if it really easy to downgrade down or use another vendor's bios but could use some help please OP support is non-exsistant.

 

Has anyone bought a larger battery for the OP 17+ ?

 

Well according to Eluktronics the 17 inch 2070 comes with a 230 watt power brick. If that helps

Also seeing another review on RTX DLSS is there any reason to care for it on a 1080p panel. Can a 2070 use them effectively?

 

My PC Specialist Recoil II 17.3" RTX 2070 comes with a 230 watt power brick

 

Anything more than 1080 resolution on a laptop screen is snake oil in my opinion. A screen that small has no need for the pixel density of 4k, and your refresh rate would tank with such an option. You have display outputs to connect to a legitimate 4k screen with a viable refresh rate if you see fit.

Its always baffled me that people in the laptop gaming world are pushing so hard for 4k pannels that will bring us right back to 60hz refresh rates.


RTX and dlss at certain resolutions are gpu and nvidia support dependent at this point, as each resolution needs to be run for extended periods on their super computers. But with further dlss updates more resolutions will be supported. There is a chart depicting the current state of supported resolutions that was released about a week ago from either nvidia or ea.

 

Has anyone else with the 2070 version tried to play apex with the newest drivers available from GeForce experience? I attempted to play last night and I'm getting less than 20fps regardless of graphics settings. Other games like gta v play at maxed out settings fine and average 80+fps.

Not sure if this is a driver issue that can be easily fixed by rolling back to the last version , or if it's just apex being poorly optimized