Razer Blade 14 5900HX

Something is definitely not right with your performance. I no longer have my Blade 14 rtx 3080 but here's the last Timespy score I got before sending it back. This is with Optimus enabled using the internal display. It's a pain in the butt, but you should consider the nuclear option and do a complete system restore to default Razer factory settings. It may not help, but never know. If it was me I would just send it back for refund if the issues can't be fixed.

 

Btw do you run any antivirus? This video mentioned some big FPS drops on some antivirus on those online shooting titles. And I don’t use also nvidia experience, since it’s lower 3Dmark and a bit FPS sometimes.

 

Ordered the 3060 base variant in the hopes that the FHD screen will yield better battery life compared to the QHD 3070. Is this accurate in real-world use? On top of that everybody is saying that the FHD panel is too slow (20ms) and will ghost in games. Should I return the laptop and spend the extra money for the 3070 version? What about thermal performance between the two models? Especially in terms of surface temps, will the 3060 be cooler to the touch and less loud? Would appreciate any help from folks who have tinkered with both variants. There's very little detailed information comparing the two.

 

Hi,

I figured out that by setting maximum processor state to 99%, the CPU only runs at 3,12 GHz which makes the laptop really quiet. However if I enter a game the clock speed rises goes up to 4,2 GHz and the fans start roating at high speed.

I recently updated my Balde 14 with Windows Updates and since that the clock speed chanes once I enter a game. Do you know how to set up this value again for games as well?

 

Use the method here to get more fine-grain control over the CPU's boosting behavior.

Important Update To PROPERLY DISABLE Boosting : ZephyrusG14 (reddit.com)

 

The FHD screen was just fine for me when I had it. Ghosting never bothered me, to each his own. Battery life should be the same because they all use the same CPU and the GPUs are all limited to 100w TGP. Same for thermals. Keep the FHD and see what you think, can always exchange it.

 

Thank you. This is the method I am using right now. If I want to have more power, I just go to Windwos + x => m => and select at battery status from balanced to performance. In performance CPU Boost is still enabled.

 

Someone on Reddit reported insane battery life actually, probably higher response time and FHD resolution helps it, i couldn’t get 10 and YouTube over 8 hours hours doing paperwork on dimming and lowering things, but apparently he could easily surpass it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/razer/comm...urce=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

You can try ryzen controller or apu tuning utility, there’s temperature and frequency limitation without needing to disable turbo boost if you don’t like higher temperature or louder fans acoustic, using ryzen controller it feels quiter than usual when playing Ubisoft open world that usually brings jet sound on my Intel blade 15. Personally I’m buying 5900HX not 5900HS so I want it runs on its boost and automatic OC.

 

My Razer saga continues. They received my defective Blade back months ago, I received a credit through bank dispute. I also disputed the $350 warranty charge which was also credited. Razer re-charged me $350 on Oct 25, it is labeled a "re-bill" on my statement. What a trash company, I'll need to dispute this one as well. Hilarious that they charge me for a warranty several months after I returned the laptop.

 

That has to be the scummiest thing I've heard of. Like who do they think they are pulling something like that? They're not doing themselves any favors if they're trying repair their notorious reputation for poor customer service.

 

Razer support was actually very quick to help this time, it got refunded a few days ago.

 

Someone must've realized finally they weren't going to pull a fast one on you.

 

Hello!

I'm new to this forum and I recently purchased a razer Blade 14 with the RTX 3080. (I posted the same question over at the 17 inch thread, not sure if it would be OK to post the question here again):

I read that you are able to Flash the vbios of the Blade 17 with RTX 3070 on the Razer Blade 14 (3070). Unfortunately the Razer Blade 17 with RTX 3080 has 16 GB or 8 GB of VRAM depending on the display.

I only could find the vbios of the Blade 17 3080 with 16 GB of VRAM and I don't know if I could safely flash that on the Blade 14 with 8GB 3080. Does anyone happen to know the answer to this or could provide the vbios of the Blade 17 with RTX 3080 and 8GB of vram?

Thank you very much and have a great week!

 

You can flash a 16gb vbios to an 8gb 3080. The issue is from what I recall the 17” 3080 vbios has a different ID from the Blade 14, so it didn’t work. It would only work on yours if the device IDs match in NVflash.

Look at my post history in this thread, I tried almost all of the other 3080 vbios and settled back on either stock Razer vbios or 105w Clevo vbios.

Good luck and don’t brick your laptop.

 

Great, thank you for the quick response. I read that it seems to work with the RTX 3070 version, so these probably share the same device ID, I guess?

For me it is important to keep HDMI 2.1 functionality and that seems to only be the case with a razer vbios.

 

They did not have the same device ID when I tried it, the flash wouldn't work.

 

I went ahead and tested the 16GB 130w TDP vBios of the Blade 17 ( https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/236587/razer-rtx3080-16384-210628) using nvflash from here ( https://www.reddit.com/r/razer/comments/oqnjbl/11_performance_with_135w_vbios_on_my_razer_blade/) and it worked fine. You just need to confirm that you are aware that there is an ID mismatch.

With the Blade 17 vBios the maximum TDP is actually only 110w (GPU does not go higher than that) and this is achieved via Synapse GPU high setting. The maximum TDP for the other Synapse modes is also increased from 90w to 100w, which is basically the stock Synapse high setting. So I will probably use this in balanced mode to get the same performance as the stock synapse high setting but at lower fan speeds. Also you gain access to fan speed control at 100w TDP with this bios, which is kind of nice. HDMI 2.1 works (4k 120hz tested, 12-bit RGB tested), right-sided USB-c works for external displays / left-sided does not.

All tests done on Windows 11 (Blade 14, RTX3080):

Timespy (overall / graphics / cpu)
Original vBios: 10129 / 10438 / 8675 CPU max 100°C GPU max 74°C
Original vBios (liquid metal): 10193 / 10463 / 8897 CPU max 88°C GPU max 71°C (12°C and 3°C less using liquid metal)
Original vBios (liquid metal, stable OC: 220/600): 10639 / 11016 / 8911 CPU max 88°C GPU max 71°C (same as non oc)
Razer Blade 17 vBios (liquid metal, stable OC: 220/600): 11084 / 11556 / 9002 CPU max 88°C GPU max 75°C (4°C higher than 100w TDP but only 1°C more compared to stock thermal paste)

I also tested balanced mode with the new vbios as a comparison:
Razer Blade 17 vBios (liquid metal, stable OC: 220/600, Balanced mode): 10470 / 10872 / 8660 CPU max 89°C GPU max 74°C (fan speed is automatically reduced by Synapse in this mode compared to the results above, leading to slightly higher temperatures compared to setting Synapse to Boost/High)

Maybe someone else will also find this information useful

 

Looks great, that vbios became available after I got rid of my Blade so I didn't try that one, but I remember the ID of mine and yes, this one would've worked I think.

Curious- do you get battery drain while gaming + plugged in to AC adapter? On the very powerful vbios that I tried before (scored over 12K in Timespy graphics) I got battery drain even when plugged in because it drew more power than could be supplied. At times I was pulling 216+ watts from the wall when I checked using a Kill A Watt monitor. The AC adapter should've been able to handle it, may be just a crap power supply from Razer.

 

No battery drain at all. I think the AC adapter is the same for all of the Razer models (230w) so the vbios of the blade 17 should not cause any trouble in that regard. I think the 3080 model really profits from a higher TDP, otherwise the other models are probably the better choice.

 

Blade 14 owners,

Is it true that the 3060 has a 20ms screen and the 3070 version has a 10ms screen?

Also, does the 14" screen feel too small?

 

That is true. Not sure about the exact value, but 3060 screen was reported to be hella slow. 3070/80 is fine.

 

I agree on that. The 3070 and 3080 versions are faster.

About the size I can't complane, however I am used to 14 ich laptops for serveral years so...

 

Yes FHD one has high screen response time, maybe if you’re valorant, CSgo, Overwatch etc fast shooting player you’ll notice ghosting. Similar issue with 2060 g14 last year and they fixed on this year 3060 variant. The good thing is probably due that screen you’ll get decent battery life despite having only 61Wh capacity, i saw users reporting 10 hours or even more on Reddit. With 3070 qhd I’m struggling getting 10 hours by dimming this and that.
For screen i used to use 15 blade and 13 set it was better on 15 but I can get used to it, to me isn’t too small for media consumption or gaming, stealth 13 yes, with stealth i always want to plug to external monitor at home but not with 14.

 

Thanks for the info. This is going to be a Christmas gift for someone who is definitely a heavily into CSGO/Overwatch and other fps games.

Also, are the "customer care" nightmare stories I'm seeing from youtube reviewers exaggerated?

 

Then get 3070 from retailers like Amazon plus they at least here in Germany has great return policy and CS, and I think here return windows in November would be super long like till end January so you can try anything in that period, plus soon would comes I believe a lot deals due Black Friday (got 4 months ago 3070 with similar price with mrsp 3060).

 

For a heavy esports game player, the Blade 14 is not going to be a great option. The keyboard deck can get uncomfortably warm when the system is under load even for a short time, and the system's lack of a MUX switch limits performance on the built-in display. Neither of these things will matter if the laptop is going to be connected to an external display and mouse/keyboard, but if not, you should consider a larger laptop with better cooling.

Nope. I had a problem with my Razer Synapse account, and it took a solid two weeks of back and forth with their support to get it resolved.

 

The customer care stories are real, take a look at my post history here. It took several months for my full refund to be issued (laptop plus the Razer Care warranty). TLDR, bought Blade in June and all issues finally resolved a couple of weeks ago...in November. Two bank disputes, warranty re-charge by Razer after the fact. Whatever you do never purchase anything direct from Razer.

That said, as much as I hate the company, there is nothing that compares with the 14" Blade in terms of power, portability, and build quality. Is the person sensitive to motion blur / response time or do they not know a thing about it? It isn't as bad as it's made out to be. Yes you can notice it (I play racing games) but it is not at all a deal breaker. Great time to buy as the holiday return periods are in effect, so the person has awhile to test out the laptop.

 

Oh boy! No external display and keyboard but I already bought him the mouse. He lives with the family in 2 houses. So there won't be a powerful desktop at homes. I was looking for a "powerful portable all in one solution" for him and that's how I landed on the Blade 14. Do you have a suggestion for a portable solution for an esports player with better cooling?

WOW!! That is insane that you had do to go to the level of a bank dispute. Thanks for the heads up to never buy directly from Razer. I'm planning to get 3 laptops for family this Christmas and I was going to use third party sellers like Xoticpc or Hidevolution. The person is a heavy esports player and I figured faster response times would be appreciated in those games. Just like you said, I couldn't find any comparison for power and portability!

 

You can also buy it from Amazon or Microsoft store. You can get a discount by signing up for an education discount on Microsoft. Xotic or HID may upcharge a bit.

To answer your other question, there isn't anything else at 14" that compares to the Blade 14. Asus G14 is nice but will suffer from the same screen response time issue, and build quality isn't nearly as good. You'll need to step up to 15" laptops for better performance and build quality, which it sounds like isn't ideal for this person.

 

Has anyone tried applying liquid metal on the CPU / GPU on this laptop? I have the 3060 version and despite the massive vapor chamber the CPU temps are a bit high. I'm wondering if liquid metal would help at all. I have experience applying lm on a laptop before, but I'm a bit concerned about it possibly "eating" through the vapor chamber over time.

 

Liquid metal is far more of a pain than it's worth. Use a high-quality thermal paste like Gelid GC Extreme or Phobya Nanogrease instead.

 

I didn’t repaste it yet sometimes cpu spiked to mid 90ish (3070 variant, with 130 watt blade pro vbios) on cpu heavy titles, and I limit it with ryzen controller to mid 80ish. Other than that games that runs on 70 to 80ish I let it without ryzen controller. I think I heard thermal improvement would be around 5 degrees with LM on 3080 variant here so it depends on which temperature do you prefer to run if it’s worth to do, and it’s mixed I’ve friend who always LM his Blade (15 advanced and old 14) and didn’t tell about corrosion but someone on Reddit mentioned vapor chamber deforming due LM which resulting worse temperature, when I’m not wrong it’s mentioned that vapor chamber being used is mixed from…forgot, however not pure which’s apparently isn’t great for LM.

 

yeah, I understand that the temp gains w/ liquid metal would be minimal - maybe 5-7 degrees C at best. The high CPU temps are likely more a result of the CPU being located so far away from the heatsink "fins" and fans, which would explain why the GPU temps are much better. There's just so much stuff (vrms/mosfets/ RAM, etc.) crammed under the vapor chamber that it gets "soaked" with heat under load.

 

True, but vapor chamber maybe help a bit especially on higher end gpus like 3070 and 3080, considering g14 which I think factory LM with side vents can’t also properly cool the system, I think themal performance is worse there that needs users to hack registry (disable turbo boost) to runs cooler, not mentioned they use lower tgp. I use already around 3 months (half period owning it) blade pro 130 watt vbios so far thermal is great none game hits higher than mid 90ish (peak) on demanding titles like from Ubisoft, though when I saw it runs often on 90ish I install immediately ryzen controller.

 

In compare to the MSI 3070 vbios, how is the blade pro 130 watt vbios? How are time spy scores? How is the temperature? Can you please post the link for the blade pro 130 vbiso?

Thank you in advance

 

MSO still better by a lot, on my signature it’s 3DMark from msi, 130 watt pro maybe around 11K gpu score max, but it’ll never reach 130 watt or even 120, good thing is all sensors displayed correctly which’s important than higher timespy to me. I’ll upload the vbios later when at home.
Edit: Maybe ryzen controller hold the performance especially cpu, here is the score on internal monitor and vbios i can't upload but i think this's the one. Use this way to flash, ordinary one maybe won't work.
https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/69684561?
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/236715/236715

 

got the 3070 versione beast machine , worth it disable turbo boost? for temperature

 

No imo, disabling it you won’t take advantage having 5900hx for some apps or games maybe. I personally use max fans on balance mode if temperature is higher than my preferred temperature or if really pushing cpu to mid 90ish I install ryzen controller and cap the temperature to mid 80ish, better than having boost disable.

 

Just got a 3080 version. I have a blade 15 advanced with 2070 super that my wife is taking.
11885 with the good 100w bios and LM on CPU and GPU. I have better thermal pads I will apply soon. Temps still get high while gaming, but it maintained higher FPS than before the repaste. With the OEM bios I was getting around 10600.

https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/70455873?

 

https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/70456593?

broke 12k time spy

 

Duplicate post

 

Are you using that same Acer "100w" vbios that I tried before? If so, it is far higher than 100w. I used a Kill A Watt and measured over 216w being pulled from the wall. I got battery drain while gaming on AC power because the power supply was inadequate. I also got an occasional odd fps drop in games, but that was rare.

 

It is the Acer bios. I tried a couple of others with a slight gain and several that refused to flash. I need to find my kill a watt unit and test

 

It is the Acer bios. I tried a couple of others with a slight gain and several that refused to flash. I need to find my kill a watt unit and test. Also, I haven't noticed any battery drain while gaming in halo with max settings.

 

Good luck, great scores nonetheless. LM and thermal pads also probably help.

 

So I cant find my Kill a watt atm, but per HWinfor64, the GPU rail is pullin 105 watts. GPU hit 81.7 degrees. Playing Age of Empires 4 maxed at 120FPS @2k.

 

HWInfo is not accurate when using this vbios. It'll say 105w as will Afterburner, GPU-Z, etc. It is pulling more than that. That's the trade off with flashing vbios. Some will show the correct values in monitoring apps and others won't. There was another vbios I used where monitoring software showed it running at 45w (or close to that...ridiculously low) during benchmarks, which was clearly inaccurate.

It doesn't make sense that the default 100w vbios would score 10,500 in Timespy graphics and the flashed 105w vbios scores 12,700. That's 150-165 watt 3080 performance. The insane performance boost doesn't come from a different "good" vbios, it comes with the cost of pulling a lot more power. Given Razer's track record I question the ability of the VRMs to handle what could be 40-60 more watts than the design calls for. There's also AC adapter quality that comes into play when you're pushing the limits. Again, Razer...

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for flashing vbios. I'm running an Alienware vbios on my Legion 5 that works perfectly. When I had my Blade 14 3080 I was searching for a larger power adapter that could handle the extra wattage. Didn't find one, if you are able to I'd jump on it to make sure your laptop is getting enough power.

 

I agree that there is no way its a 100w bios. It does get toasty. The LM helps alot, of course. Risky to install too. I use the kapton take around the processors to reduce the odds of damage from leakage. Time will tell, of course.

As for the power adapter, is the Razer 17 a different style? i see there is a 300+ watt one out there.

 

From what I recall when I looked, the specs were a bit different.

 

So I got the razer bios for 16gb flashed. It states 90w with a 130 max, but only nets about a 5% gain. The Acer vbios nets about 20%. Overall, and 22% in graphics score from stock. The razer bios showed it was pulling about 110w GPU power per HWinfo64. The stock Vbios displayed about 85 and the Acer one was showing 105 max. Something is weird about that Acer bios. It does push my gpu up to thermal limits when set to custom. I hit about 87 degrees on the GPU and the hot spot jumps into the 90s.

I do need to find my kill a watt tonight.