Tongfang GK5C6X - Evoo gaming 15" EG-LP5-BK - Overpowered V 2.0

EDIT: correct TONGFANG model is GK5CP6X

Creating this to discuss the 2019 black friday Walmart overpowered V 2.0 laptop that was on sale for $799
Just received my laptop Yesterday

Model: Evoo gaming laptop 15" EG-LP5-BK

I7-9750h
1080p ips 144hz screen.
16gb ram (2x8gb) 2666
gtx 1660ti, i think this is the full 1660 ti and not the max-q version
512 m.2 ssd
Weight:i believe it's around 4.1~4.5 lbs.

Images:

Exterior:
https://imgur.com/27UbrCX
https://imgur.com/BQcgcWJ

bye bye warranty sticker (why in the heck they still slap on "warranty voided" stickers on laptops is beyond me).
https://imgur.com/Th7iVlS

Internals:

https://imgur.com/lUtwjfv <--looks very similar to last years tongfang gk5 series (overpowered LP2)
SSD = Biwin 512 gb M.2 ssd. This is a regular ssd, not nvme. https://imgur.com/6F04hqB
RAM = 2 x 8gb goldkey 2666 ram. Cas 19. This year they decided to put on dual channel ram, which is nice. https://imgur.com/5JzCQw7

Cover pic: https://imgur.com/ihkOyYf

Battery: https://imgur.com/ReOucMA
it's a Getac GK5CN-00-13-3s1p-0 <---this is the same exact battery from the overpowered laptops of last year. Its only like 47whr, so it's garbage. can be upgraded to 67whr battery. i wonder if other getac models fit in here, i know there's a 97whr 6 cell battery in the intel chassis, anyone know if it fits in the tongfangs?

First impressions:

On every laptop i ever bought i have always changed thermal paste, add thermal pads and further optimized airflow from fans to the heatpipes. I had to do this to all my xps laptops as well as razer blade laptops.
But guess what, this EVOO laptop out of box thermals is SUPER SATISFACTORY to me. I won't even mess with the thermal paste. Most likely i'll just undervolt the nvidia card a bit to maintain boost.
Out of the box, the CPU is undervolted by -0.050v. No messing around needed, the cpu does not throttle out of the box.
Granted, the fans do spin a bit loud, but so does every other gaming laptop i ever had that was THIN.

Out of box thermals:
running 3dmark stress test 20 loops:
CPU = around 75 degrees
GPU = around 75 as well

3dmark timespy score comparison against my 2700x + 1660 ti desktop build and 2018 razer blade 15 advanced with 8750h + 1060 maxq:
https://imgur.com/uDS0CaX
This thing smokes last year's razer blade, lol
That's about all i have for today fellas.

i'm currently researching for 6 cell 90+ whr battery upgrade since i'll never ever use a 2.5" ssd in a thin laptop.
Also looking for skins and covers to protect, can't find much about the gk5cp6x

UPDATE on compatible skin:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...gaming-15-eg-lp5-bk-overpowered-v-2-0.831213/

 

So... What's new compared to the old GK5?

 

It has an Intel 9750H as opposed to last year's 8750H. And this version has the GTX 1660ti instead of last year's GTX 1060.

 

I ordered a skin for mine (matte black) and it fits nice. You have to contact the seller and ask them to ship one without the skin cut-out on the lid for a MECHREVO logo. I only used the skin for the lid and the bottom part of the palm rest (cut the skin so that only the palm rest/touchpad area is covered instead of surrounding the keyboard). Didn't use any of the additional pieces included in the kit, as I did not want any other areas to be skinned.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Laptop-Sti...fiber-Cover-for-MECHREVO-Z2-15-6/323625355519

 

I'm definitely interested in 9 cell or larger battery. How much extra battery life do you think the 67whr battery will get? Current battery is getting me around 2 hours.

 

The larger battery that fits this product is a 4-cell 62.32WHr battery. I have that, but I couldn't tell you how long in runs on battery because I have never had any reason to check. I never (extremely rarely) use laptops running on battery. I think @B0B has a YouTube video covering the difference. I don't think it's a whole lot more run time than the standard 3-cell 46.74WHr battery, but I suppose if you use a laptop on battery every little bit helps. I haven't seen a 90WHr battery that fits this system.

 

FYI GK5 has 3 variants (probably more to come since Illegear has launched new Tongfang models yesterday)

GK5-Z: ~2.1kg, ~20mm, aluminium body, aka Eluktronics Mech-15 G2, Illegear Onyx
GK5-X: ~1.85kg, ~19.5mm, nosecam, aka Illegear Prodigy, Evoo 15
GK5-V: ~2kg, 20+mm, only 2 exhaust vents+slightly different cooling solution (depending on GPU), aka Illegear Raven SE-R, CyberpowerPC Tracer III 15V

All have optional 63Wh battery upgrade. Cannot fit 90+Wh as confirmed by XMG previously on GK5-Z.

 

does anyone know:

on gk5-x, are the 2 x m.2 ports both support pcie gen 3 x4? i think one of the m.2 only does half @ x2 and only one of them support sata m.2. but i'm not sure.

do other control center software work by just installing or do they require bios/ec update to their respective brands?

Also, thank you for confirming 90+ whr battery don't fit. man, what a bummer. i just ordered the 67whr from eluktronics

 

You can use other brands of control center software designed for the same model, but you will find some offer fewer features (like no Turbo mode) than the Eluktronics control center does. I could not get the MAG-15 control center to work on the MECH-15.

Only one M.2 slot supports SATA. Both should support NVMe x4.

https://www.eluktronics.com/content/Manuals/Mech-15 G2/Mech-15 G2 User Manual.pdf

 

I bought this same laptop at Walmart on Black Friday. Windows Hello is not working for me at all, is it working for you?

 

The PIN feature works fine, but the web cam is not a "Micro$oft-Approved" Windows Hello device for facial recognition. If the PIN feature is not working and you have a logon using a Micro$oft account (not local) you may have a required service disabled.

" Windows Hello requires specialized hardware including a Windows Hello capable device, fingerprint reader, illuminated IR sensor or other biometric sensors and capable devices."

I don't know what makes a webcam "specialized" other than maybe they have paid a tax (license fee) to Micro$lop like the tax that NGREEDIA requires for G-Stink licensing for laptops. But, there could be something unique about biometric webcams that I am not aware of at a hardware or firmware level.

 

That sucks considering it was advertised as having Hello with the camera. It looks like it even has the IR lights or sensors on the side of the device too. I wonder if other variants of this Tongfang chassis have Hello via webcam enabled?

 

Mine does not have it and mine is from Eluktronics. Maybe it is an approved Hello webcam and there is something that needs to be enabled that neither of us know about. I have never investigated it because I do not want that feature enabled. But, I understand some folks do and if they advertised it as a feature it should work. Maybe the OEM's Tech Support can help you identify if there is a switch that needs to be flipped. Maybe it's something simple. If that turns out to be the case, please come back and share the solution here so others that want it can use the feature.

 

Gotcha, thanks. I doubt EVOO is going to be any help as they still have Lorem ipsum text all over their barebones site. Who knows if there even is going to be CS for EVOO.

 

LoL. The Lorem ipsum text is definitely a confidence booster. Didn't Steve from GamersNexus talk to them at some point? Or, maybe it was only Walmart CS.

Interesting that they changed the brand name from Overpowered to EVOO. Or, is EVOO a completely different vendor?

 

I'm not sure about the branding, it seems both are limited type companies that just drop these laptops on Black Friday. Both use Tongfang chassis.

 

This laptop and the Ilegear Prodigy use the same chassis as the EVOO I have, and comes with windows hello. Unfortunately I don't see drivers for Windows Hello on their support pages either.

 

Hmm. My webcam is at the top of the screen, not the bottom like the one in that video.

I did not know that Windows Hello required special drivers.

Edit: I did some Google searching and it may not be the laptop. It may be Windows. Seems after 1803 Hello functionality can be hit or miss on devices specifically marketed as having Hello facial and fingerprint recognition features.

https://social.technet.microsoft.co...-for-biometric-device?forum=win10itprogeneral

Edit #2: the Infinity X5 in that video is not the same product as the MECH-15. It is very similar. However, it has a membrane keyboard (versus mechanical), a rubberized finish and webcam under the screen instead of above it.

 

Looks like there's more than 1 model, mine has a membrane keyboard and is identical to the one in the video. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Laptop-F...ing-15-1660Ti/685182150?action=SignIn&rm=true

 

Last year with the Overpowered offerings, Windows Hello was only on the 17" model.
I wonder if it is the same this year? THe 17" EVOO have it but the 15" models do not?

 

anyone know what motherboard chipset this uses?

i wonder if it's the same h370

 

chipset per cpuz is HM370

 

Trying to find driver support, but EVOO has absolutely nothing on their website. How will I be able to update all my component drivers? Chipset, USB hub, sound, wifi, etc

 

Try to get from another reseller that offers the same chassis (eg Illegear)

 

Thanks for feedback, it looks like the Illegear version of the EVOO 15" 1660 Ti / i7 9750H would either be their "Laguna SE" or the "Prodigy"
Is there a way to confirm which models have the exact same chassis? Is there somewhere I can confirm which exact chassis I have?

 

Prodigy

 

How can you be so sure?

 

Thanks for sharing this! Can I ask if it's the skin that creates those two vertical lines that appear to be going across the chassis? And I know you said it's a 'good' fit--would you say it's almost a perfect fit? It looks quite good. Is it a grippy feel as well?

 

Can anyone comment on the noise of the machine when just doing basic tasks while plugged in? I know Jarrod's review of an equivalent model said 37.2 dB on idle, and it sounded fairly noticeable to me. Just want to confirm if that's the case.

Additionally, are the ports HDMI 2.0 and Displayport 1.4?

 

You're welcome. I would call it a "good" fit. I did some trimming with a razor blade after it was installed on the back edge and both sides so that the plastic ended up just short of the metal edge. This was effortless and looks perfect. I simply ran the razor blade horizontally across the edge of the metal lid and shaved a thin "hair" off the edge of the film. I did not want to be able to feel the edge of the plastic film flush with the edges of the metal lid. The vertical lines are style lines in the lid itself (it is not a flat surface) and the plastic film simply conforms to that shape.

I would say it is a "grippy" feel since it is not as slick as the metal finish.

 

Thanks again, man! That's helpful to know. Apologies, but may I also ask you the questions below if you're able to answer:

Can you comment on the noise of the machine when just doing basic tasks while plugged in? I know Jarrod's review of an equivalent model said 37.2 dB on idle, and it sounded fairly noticeable to me. Just want to confirm if that's the case.

Do know if the ports are HDMI 2.0 and Displayport 1.4?

Do you feel that the touchpad is pretty 'usable'? I've heard reports that it's pretty bad, including this thread

 

Sure, I will answer for you... but, I doubt my responses will be useful for the typical person that might be interested in a product like this one. Under normal circumstances, I would not have any interest whatsoever in a product like this and I typically hold them in contempt. It fit a very specific need for me within budgetary constraints and the way I use it is not consistent with the way most buyers of thin and light extra portable notebooks would use one. For example, I use it on AC power at all times and have everything pushed as far as it is capable of being pushed in terms of power use and performance. I never use integrated graphics.

How loud the system is depends on the fan profile selected. Using the quiet profile I never notice the fans. Using the other profiles, I do hear them. People that are sensitive to fan noise will likely find the system obnoxious using anything but the quiet profile. I am not sensitive to fan noise and I find nothing objectionable about it. I can run the fans full blast all of the time and not be bothered by the sound.

I do not know what version the ports are. I am not aware of a way to determine that other than obtaining the information from manufacturer information. Maybe contact Eluktronics and see if they have that information from Tongfang.

I am not the best person to comment on the touchpad because I universally despise all touchpads, and find those without discrete buttons the most loathsome type. I have been a notebook user since about 1989, so since before touchpads were invented, and I have always hated them. I avoid using them and carry a mouse when traveling so that I do not have to use it. I only use the touchpad on a laptop as a last resort. That being said, I don't find it any worse than the norm, and not nearly as miserable as the buttonless touchpad on my wife's XPS 15.

 

Just wanted to post some Read/Write benchmarks I did to test the SSD and USB 3.0 on PNY Turbo 256GB USB3.0 flash drive.

SSD:

USB:


I am very out of the loop on current tech.
Are these acceptable transfer rates for these platforms? NVMe and USB 3.0?

 

@Mr. Fox Curious as to why you didn't skin the bottom of the laptop?
I'm considering buying one of the skins you linked to.

 

I take it in and out of a backpack frequently and didn't want any extra edges that might be subject to peeling or curling. I normally do not like skins, but wanted to keep the lid and palmrest looking crisp and clean. I also didn't really see much point of applying the skin to the bottom cover. I'd never see the bottom of it except when taking it in and out of the backpack.

Be sure to message the seller and request a skin without the logo cut-out for the lid.

 

@Mr. Fox I was going to message you this, but I'm assuming I couldn't because you have them disabled? Anyways, here goes:

I was just checking out some videos in your youtube channel.
You are the epitome of a power user haha. I was watching the video on your bios firmware update on the Mech 15 I think it was. I own the EVOO version of the tongfang chassis and may be interested in doing the same with it, as I'd like to unlock its full potential.

What specifically does doing these firmware tweaks "unlock" that gives significant performance increases?
Also, the video I was watching looked like more of a "tour" of the unlocked BIOS. Do you have a guide on how to actually perform the unlocking?

Thank you.

 

Thermals not looking very good, did some brief Diablo 3 gaming and this was results:
This was in "Turbo" mode with fan boost on.

Should I consider undervolting the CPU more than the .050 that it is out of the box?
What about the GPU? 85 C and I was hitting no load limit because Diablo 3 isn't very intensive. Would hate to see how hot it gets playing real 3d intensive games. Which I will test out soon

 

I've seen such bad thermals before. However since you're using Turbo mode, try using Balanced mode and monitor the temps. If the result is similar then I guess you got a lemon unit

 

I switched to gaming mode, and temps were better. Averaging around 80 under load

 

Undervolt CPU+limit PL1 to 45w and undervolt GPU/lock GPU voltage with voltage frequency curve if you wish to utilize extra power for GPU in Turbo mode

 

I'm new to under-volting, but have been reading guides, etc.
What is PL1?

Also, which utility would you recommend for the CPU? Intel XTU or ThrottleStop?
What about to undervolt the GPU? Can MSI-AfterBurner do this? I'm getting a Power Limit on it, so shouldn't I be trying to feed it power, not take it away?

 

Awesome, thanks so much for the feedback! Really appreciate your help.

Just to follow-up on the ports question, I believe it's HDMI 2.0 and (2) Displayport 1.2 ports. You can see this on the page of a laptop that's using the same exact chassis: https://maingear.com/vector/

 

Hi bro. The BIOS I have is not currently available to the public and I do not have distribution rights. So, in that respect the video was only a tour of the BIOS. These processors have locked core multipliers, so the goal is merely to optimize. There is near zero overclocking capacity because the core ratio limits are capped at specific values. Even so, having the unlocked BIOS has allowed me to run the memory at 3000 and tune the timings for tremendous improvements in performance. It has unlocked SPD write access so I can use Thaiphoon Burner and provides access to other settings and menus that the firmware Nazi control freaks feel that they have some sort of right to withhold access to. So, it is definitely worth doing even with a CPU that is not unlocked. It's more about freedom and having the right to make your own decisions rather than overclocking.

Those temps are way too high. They won't necessarily cause harm to the hardware, but they will harm performance and the diminish the pleasure of owning the product. Pascal and Turing GPUs rapidly lose core clock speeds and the clock speed losses scale in a very dissatisfying manner above 45-50°C. The warmer it gets, the greater the loss of GPU performance due to clock speeds progressively diminishing.

You can definitely reduce throttling and improve temperatures by making adjustments. The default -50mV undervolt is not enough. You should be able to run -125mV offset on the voltage, and that will reduce temperatures. Use ThrottleStop to adjust things that the stock BIOS limitations will not allow you to adjust. Disable and lock turbo power limits. Max out the power limits so power limit throttling is not a factor, etc.

Don't go too far in the BIOS with the undervolt or you could encounter some problems with the machine not booting. But, you can possible go well beyond -125mV using ThrottleStop. The changes won't affect the machine in terms of being able to boot if you go too far as ThrottleStop settings are only applicable while it is running. If you push it too far you can delete the ThrottleStop.ini file and start over with a clean slate.

You're welcome. My pleausre.

Good job finding the answer regarding the ports. Having dual mini-DP is a major win and one of the reasons I selected this product.

 

Is there a way to toggle the "fan boost" without opening the EVOO Control Center?

 

PL1: power limit 1 aka long power max / sustained power limit (considering there's no thermal throttling)

I always prefer Throttlestop

Use MSI AB to undervolt GPU

 

Is there a way to stop MSI AB from waking up the GPU if the laptop has nvidia optimus? I noticed MSI AB will wake the GPU in 1 second interval, meaning when you are not gaming, optimus will continuously try to "fight" with MSI AB to turn off and on the GPU. if you look at HWinfo (set monitoring to 1 sec interval), you can see the nvidia gpu switching on and off non stop when you are not gaming. i cant imagine this is good for the GPU.

 

Unfortunately no. However the applied settings will still be applied without AB running if you enable the 'apply profile when Windows start' option

 

Anyone have the Amazon link to the larger 67WHr battery? My wife currently has an MSI gs 63VR and I'm considering getting this for her since it has a numpad (mostly because the flipped motherboard makes upgrades difficult for her and tiny fans are annoying). Does the keyboard feel anything like the steel series on the msi? Anyone documented how to fix the trackpad issues? Anyone have the height dimensions for this laptop?

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

So I established that thermals are much better than I had originally tested. After a 30 minute Aida64 stress test, my avg. temp was 80.

So I began under volting with throttlestop, set both core and cache at -.125 mv, other normal adjustments such as disabling PROCHOT, enabling speed shift.
Started running Aida64 again to test stability and I noticed that next to Limits, the throttle radio button is almost constantly ticked. So what does this mean, what is causing the throttle? How do I fix it?

This is my first time under volting, and read and am following guides, but I don't know what this radio button means.

 

Power limit throttling. PL1 is 60w as default