Razer Blade 15.6" (GTX 1060/1070, 2018 edition) Owner's Lounge

Does anyone here have a Razer core V2 or any external GPU? how i the performance? I have the 1070m model and I was doing research on YouTube and the conscientious is that with the overhead and limitations of TB3 a gtx 1080 in a external GPU is the same performance as a 1070m... is there really that much drop off? the only videos i could find are of the stealth which runs a low power cpu so that could cause bottle necks but how is it on the 8750h? With the price of the core V2 its not worth it to drop over $1000 to get 5fps... Can anyone comment that has the 2018 blade 15 how the external GPU performance is.

 

There’s no build sample with 1080 but with 1080ti here.
Benchmarks maybe vary due setting but if I should take a summary, on 1080p 1070maxq will perform better on 1440p or higher 1080 will take advantages. I’m using 2080 and get roughly 20 to 30 FPS advantage on 4K and 1440p over 1070, plus almost 20 celcius cpu temperature improvement, it’s worth my €1,1K imo. For esports titles I use 1070maxq since eGPU is lame on high FPS. On overwatch 1080p epic it outperformed even 2080ti egpu.

 

thats what i was looking to do, get the core V2 and drop a gtx 1080ti in it as the benchmarks have shown the 1080ti out performs the 2080 in every game at 1080/1440p in higher FPS i prefer FPS over resolution as i have my eyes set on a few 1440p 144hz gsync panels. So the 1070m performs better in Overwatch than your 2080?.... thats disappointing I guess eGPUS are not quite there yet...

 

Blade 15 TB3 doesn’t connected directly to cpu unlike ultrabook and MacBook TB3 design, graphics performance may slightly lower but 8750H helps bumped it. I used also 1080ti, than 2080ti but ended up with 2080 because I get great gpu Evga xc. 2080ti is just too huge bottlenecked. On dx12 games it plays better than 1080ti. Yes unfortunately so on overwatch, TB3 PCIe3 4 Lanes bandwidth is actually around 22 to 26gbs on egpu setting I think on laptops or desktop PCIe3 it’s over 100gbs(16 lanes).

 

are you connecting it directly to a monitor or using it connected to the Blade? I read there is a bg drop off when you use the laptop display but get significantly better performance connected directly to a monitor. Im on the fence for a 2080 because they are about $100 more than a 1080ti but the performance at 1440p in 144+ fps is much lower. the 1080ti crushes it in higher fps. But for the price and the TB3 limitations it would prob be smarter to just sell the Blade and wait for the RTX model laptops to come out. as the $1100+ eGPU solution just doesn't justify the performance gains.

 

I think it won’t be RTX, but gtx since Ray Tracing core is quite power hunger, and highest rtx card is rtx 2070, mid range will be gtx 20xx. There’s already rumors about mobile version Turing but it’ll take longer imo since high end Turing cards are even till now have stocks and QC issues. Idk about the performance difference on high FPS, but I feel it’s more smooth playing on Rtx 2080 than my old 1080ti in various my games (open worlds), for example gta V I’ve to set setting to get smooth 4K 60~FPS on 1080ti, rtx 2080 plug it and it detects max 4K setting and without noticeable lags (frame drops). I play 4K open world on external monitor, FPS games on Blade screen since I don’t have 144Hz external monitor anymore, the FPS difference is there when playing on internal screen but not huge, (maybe on high FPS huge), since it’s 4lanes PCIe3 (some TB3 laptops has only 2 lanes that made data looping cpu to egpu to monitor on internal screen become TB3 half bandwidth aka tb2 speed).

 

I can't give you exact numbers but I have decided to get rid of my desktop and use my laptop with an eGPU for gaming.
I've always kept a decent laptop and a desktop but was getting tired of having to maintain an up to date development environment on both computers. So I bought a Razer Core X to try with my existing GTX 1080 Ti. Its good enough that I've decided to sell my 8 core i7-7820X desktop.

I've only tried it with external monitors so far but in that scenario, the TB3 bottleneck is fairly negligible. Particularly with my 144hz G-Sync monitor. With G-Sync, if I lose 15% fps, I really don't care. The GTX 1080 ti boosted my fps significantly at 2560x1440 compared to the 1070 maxQ.

The biggest unknown I had going into eGPU was how much quieter the Blade's fan would be if any. Using the dGPU resulted in too loud of a fan for me to tolerate with daily use, especially in gaming mode. Luckily, with the eGPU, the Blade in gaming mode is so much quieter.

 

It’s only cpu (left side fan) working, on balanced mode it maybe difficult to notice on non cpu demanding game? I believe you’re playing. With gaming mode that rise cpu tdp or on cpu killer game like AC Odyssey I can notice Blade cpu Fan working even PSU fans on Core v2 are louder.

 

Certainly I can hear the fan in both the Blade and the Razer Core X. But, it doesn’t ramp up nearly as high as using the dGPU. The Blade CPU cooling isn’t perfectly isolated from the dGPU so CPU temps stayed about 10C cooler with the eGPU.

Admittedly, I don’t have a ton of games installed yet on the laptop but various VR games, Star Citizen, Doom, Divinity 2, etc all ran at near 100% cpu at all times because of the 165hz external monitor. Fan noise was well controlled on all as long as I used the eGPU. CPU temps seem to hover around 68-74C when all cores were stressed. Clocks in this scenario were pretty well locked to 3.9ghz with gaming mode and ~3.2ghz with normal mode.

 

I’m also playing without eGPU sometimes, to warm up dGPU Especially esports title that are better playing on high FPS like overwatch.
If cpu load 100% which rarely happens on my most games yes I think Temperature improvement won’t so huge, I don’t need full cpu works on my games only gpu so except Shadow of the tomb Raider that could use often more than 50% cpu works play mostly on balanced that take almost 20 celcius lower cpu advantage compared playing on dGPU. You might know that beside rising cpu tdp gaming mode is also overclocking the gpu that translate to higher cpu temperature. For longevity my unit I’m doing that way.

 

Thank you , that is what i was looking to hear. Does the core X have upgradable fans i was looking at the gtx 1080ti liquid cooled model that has a singl loop cooler installed into it

 

Whoa would that actually fit in the Razer Core X? the Liquid Cool with a Radiator?

 

No actually, you can change the fans easily but not water cooling system, never saw user who tried it, maybe wanna be first challenger
For water cooling enclosure there’s sonet breakaway 650 or I forgot one other, Mantiz or Aktio, one of them. Anyway with bottleneck, and TB3 bandwidth I don’t see the need of water cooling in egpu setting, unless your card is already has bad cooling, even the worst cooling gpu with blower fans still not reaching 84 default factory temp limit and you won’t mostly get same OC value like on desktop anyway.

 

do somthing like this
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...3tVuS-LdManXNWHETXxoCSFEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

or this
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...HGOqGri6MiqoU-fcD3xoC3YgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

thats a 2080 model a few manufacturers make these i know this would fit in an Akitio Node but would rather use the Core since i know for a fact it will work properly

 

You should considering other enclosure, I don’t think core x could fit water cooling. Here’s some egpu water cooling video, I think the enclosure has more room than core x and could be used better on open air condition.

 

im not doing a custom loop im using one of those all in one solutions

 

im actually typing this on the razer blade you posted. other then that small scuff the computer is in great shape! glad I picked it up

 

Yes, and maybe.

It has a semi-standard ATX power supply and a standard 120mm fan. Even has room for a 3 slot wide card.
Granted because of all this space it is also larger than some mini-ITX desktops =P

The potential issue for a liquid cooler is the bracket used to attach the 120mm fan. It might interfere with some radiators. The only proof of concept I have seen for a liquid cooler in the Core X is here where they show it with an EVGA hybrid and they attach the radiator using velcro.

The issue with the fan bracket is that it sits to the inside of the 120mm fan. So, with a thicker radiator, I think you would need to either remove the bracket(like the link above) or drill 4 holes for screws and have the bracket between the radiator and the fan.

 

Nice!! I'm in Woodlands, I keep my eyes open for ads like that. Nice buy, get a Dbrand skin on it and it'll be like it never happened!

 

Hey guys so yesterday I received my 1070 Blade 15. I was just wondering if its normal for a 79 to 84 (after 1hr plus gaming at max settings and 90% gpu usage) is an acceptable temp for the GPU?

Based on what I heard it’s not bad but wanted to get another opinion. CPU is undervolted -130mv and runs fine.

 

Manual fans or auto, and gaming mode or balanced? Plus how hot is your room?

 

Manual fans but they're just at the beginning of the blue / high area.
Ambient is warm, not sure exactly but no AC, building has insulation so the rooms are generally warm.
Balanced mode, not performance.

 

Sounds like you're totally fine, those are good temps for that range even with ac.

 

yup that is right on point with what i have been getting too. Its normal for this machines. you will even see your cpu crawl into the 90s in some games. Download throttle stop and limit your cores to 3.2-3.5 and you will see a 10-15c drop in temps system wide and you will get more consistent gaming performance as well.

While this opinion varies from person to person i recommend leaving the system in balanced mode and high performance power setting with auto fans. Works great for me with the above tweaks no under-volt im getting a max of 82c on the cpu and 75c on the gpu no matter what I play and its quiet. Gaming mode turns your laptop into a jet engine. for a negligible difference

 

Hey guys, just got my new 1070 blade yesterday and putting it through its paces. Will post some temps and benchmarks here in the coming days. Have a quick question in the mean time. What are your guys CPU clocks and temps while idle or web browsing, and using the balanced profile and slider set to best battery life?

 

It’s mostly between 40 to 50 with -130mV intel xtu uVolting, maybe sometimes hit low 60ish when something hard working background, clock as well from 1ghz to 3,6. Default paste and dual monitors setting. I’m using always better performance at home and best battery on the go, on battery the frequency will be slightly lower.

 

Is there any good in update to new bios and new EC? Or stay on 1.03 BIOS and EC 1.0?

 

Your temps seem to be in line with mine. Although my clocks not so much.

With my max battery profile on TS. I'm undervolted -125mV and have turbo boost disabled. However my clocks are always sitting around 2 GHz plus or minus 0.2.

I'm also constantly discharging around 26W +

So this gives me a battery of around just 2 and half hours, while only sitting ilde on desktop with chroma off, backlight off, and brightness at 25%.

Also, I don't have the option in synapse to change my refresh rate from 144hz to 60hz. But I swear the option was there when I first got my razer on Friday.

Any thoughts?

 

Really dont understand the point of under volting when the CPU is already power limited... when im on battery i run with it on balanced/ better battery no laptop cooler on a Glass desk I get between 45-48c temps both idle and normal usage (web browsing, youtube, Netflix) my clocks fluctuate depending on what im doing but i get around 5.5-6 hours chrome makes my computer run much harder than Edge and it doesn't support 144hz so i stick with Edge.

Side note i use Throttle stop to limit my clocks to 40,40,38, 38, 36, 34 Arctic Silver 5 repaste

 

Undervolting can actually increase the power budget and stop power limiting. Reducing the voltage reduces the heat generated, and can also stop power throttling.

By undervolting -100mV you will drop 100% CPU load temp 10c and often it will also improve performance by increasing the power budget.

Give it a try, and let us know how that works for your system.

 

should be there but I use Intel control panel to change FPS although the battery difference is so little its not a big deal but 2 hours??? why are you gettign that low? even with the system on Max Performance on the balanced setting in synapse i get 4.5 hours on over half brightness with chroma on 65

 

I know this is blasphemy but are there any Razer Blade 2018 users that have the base model as their platform and who use it as a power business machine? I am contemplating on upgrading my current laptop (Dell XPS 13 - 2015 model) to this machine. The pluses for me are the extra USB ports, dedicated HDMI, Ethernet port and the ability to swap out the HDD to a 2.5" SDD (possibly 4tb). I have one graphics software (offline programming software for a certain line of industrial robots) which the XPS with internal graphics handles alright, no major issues there.

I have heard of heat issues with regards to gaming but I won't be gaming. Just business applications (Office products), some general software applications, RobotStudio Offline programming software, internet, file uploads/downloads, mindless internet surfing and some video/audio streaming. I am thinking this platform will be suitable. I am also looking at the MSI GS63 Thin but would like the ability to expand storage from 2 - m.2 SSDs to 1 - m.2 SSD and 2.5" SSD. I am also focused on keeping the size of the machine to as small of a footprint as possible since I travel by air for my work (I am on an airplane A LOT). Thanks in advance.

 

Yeah I'm wondering that myself. Do you know what your discharge rate is during these moments?

I know that I should not be constantly dischargeing at 26+ Watts while doing absolutely nothing and in max power saver mode.

Also does your guys blade charge really fast?

 

Just let windows and synapse know each other for a week or so, I had also bad battery life on first one or two weeks after that it’s fine over 6 hours on battery saver now in 4th months, Razer laptops has quite issues with first windows update from my past experience. Let windows doing his update and update also your bios directly from Razer to the latest. About refresh rate, if it’s shown before most probably software issues, try update Synapse 3, nvidia driver and intel drivers (using intel software update utility, and update all that scanned).

 

It seems Blade 15 base is your better option, gs63 has older cpu I believe, so in term cpu performance that I think you guys need it’s more worth extra money. And from carrying around aluminum cassis on Blade is more durable. It’s still new so it’s not a lot user yet, you can ask OP on this thread. Though he’s also seemly a gamer.

 

Is there any good in update to new bios and new EC? Or stay on 1.03 BIOS and EC 1.0?

Can any one advice from his expiriance - it worth it or no? Many bad reviews in reddit

 

I’m on 1.05 without issues, don’t look at Reddit it’s complaining forum...mostly

 

It's generally not advisable to update your BIOS unless you are experiencing an issue that is specifically fixed by the newer revision.

 

If you must buy, purchase from a third party reseller and not directly from Razer. Razer support is completely and utter trash unless you are a big YouTube star.

 

update bios unless there is a note of a issue im having fixed however i have noticed a big battery life difference updating to the latest bios and EC firmware i went from 4.5-5 hours to 6.5-7 hours of battery life with no loss to performance in fact not only is my battery life better it runs cooler too. Ive had my razer blade 15 since launch i have the 1070m 144hz model so I would Deff recommend updating it.
Im usually one who doesn't

Never judge your batter or power performance during the first 2 weeks the system is still breaking in and Windows takes awhile to index itself and fully get itself set up so if you are still having these issues 3 weeks to a month later then there is a issue. as for power discharge how do i check that? throttle stop is telling my 7.5-9w on battery

 

Ahh, gotcha. Yeah you can view the discharge rate in TS, BatteryBar, BatteryMon, etc. In TS it just click on the "Batt %" box until you see "xx.x W". Sounds like you're doing it right and that's what is typically expected. My lowest is 24-25W. So there is clearly still lots going on behind the scenes and the source of my fast battery drain. Will monitor as time goes on. Thanks for the input

 

bare in mind the base model has a smaller battery, thus lower battery life, if you are working long hours without any power outlets it might be a problem, plus you'll have to carry around the power brick wherever you go, which makes portability not as good. I'd go for the advance model with the 80Whr battery, at least that can last 5-6 hours on work oriented applications, also get an extra power brick so you don't have to lug it around.

 

This would me my business machine and I travel for a living so the charging brick will be with me anyway. The brick on the base model is smaller so that's a plus. I am a little displeased that the cooling system for the base isn't like the other models. Then again, I am not intending to play games with this laptop so heat issues shouldn't be a big concern. As stated in my original post I do like the ease in upgrading SSD/HDD/Memory on the Razer compared to the MSI.

I have read several reviews from users that question build quality. From what I have seen this shouldn't be an issue, at least with the 2018 model.

 

There’s no room for same heat sink with advanced model from pictures that I saw, it’s not only for lowering the price. Yes it’s true the power brick would be way smaller like Blade 14 and easier to carry around and you can use also aftermarket 165? watt ac adapter and also way cheaper than advanced model ac adapter from Razer store. Temperature seems not bad with undervolting it’ll be fine on heavy cpu usage imo.

 

I had the base model, returned it. First, though, I'm a gamer so keep that in mind. Temps were very high. I was downloading a few games via Steam and was hitting 70c. Also, off battery, doing more than just general web browsing and the computer seem to lag.

If you're not gaming, those items can probably all be fairly easily mitigated with pads/paste and settings. At the end of the day, though, I want what is by all intent and purposes a rarity in the market today - something that is ready to go out the box. So, take everything I said above with a grain of salt.

That said, the build is fantastic. Feels solid in your hands. Trackpad is very nice and responsive. Palm rejection wasn't 100%, but still pretty good. I type better on the chiclet style keyboards, but was still within 15-20% of my top wpm and only 3% off on errors after a few tests - so not terrible and could have probably got used to it and been at my norm. Keyboard felt nice to the touch (albeit outside of gaming... it does get warm when gaming). The 60hz screen isn't professional grade, but still looks great to me. I was sad to let it go. But, like I said, between being with my family, work, and grad school, tinkering with a 1500+ investment (which is actually a secondary machine) isn't in the cards these days. I want/need something that runs as designed out of the box and doesn't need TLC.

I'm currently waiting to see what the new m15 from Alienware comes out to price wise. I'm debating spending the extra money for the base model Blade from HIDevolution with their Liquid Metal and pad solution.

 

What’s your previous laptop btw? On gaming laptop mostly out of box performance isn’t great especially on thin light categories, you need to undervolte it to get better temperature. On first days load there’s a lot proses working background maybe because of that your temperature was high. My Blade 15 advanced...kind like this naming was also on high 80ish on load out of box, undervolted it and load max now 60 idle mostly 40 to 50, maybe base model with appropriate software tweak could also maintain that. Don’t expect too much on liquids metal solution on thin light gaming laptops I saw today a Zephyrus s users isn’t satisfied with thermal Liquid Metal temperature and got also bad performance and a lot Blade 15 user was also not getting huge thermal improvement even some of them getting it. LM seems great if you doing also other tweaks like adjusting thermal sink die, idk exactly but users who often doing LM and got great thermal improvement with his job on Blade 15 saying something like that. New Alienware 15...if you like the design then good for you.

 

I had/have a Thinkpad Yoga. It's a rockstar but the 940m doesn't cut it for gaming anymore. The AW m15... kind of want to see it in person. Not a big fan of the glossy bezels and grill on top. Really, though, if the temps are halfway decent on it I may just do it. IDK. Almost to the point where I'll just use my Thinkpad for awhile longer and not game on the road (it's how me and the misses spend time together when I travel).

 

Are we sure that the vapor chamber from the "advanced" model is totally incompatible with the "base" model? Would there be any way to purchase or acquire the vapor chamber separately? Seems to me it could be an interesting project to decrease temps

 

Almost quite sure it’s a huge die you’ll have to add inside that already full parts thin chassis. To decrease the temperature I think it’s only repasting and software tweaking, did bios moding and undervolting only on similar heat sink last year Blade 14 and it was great temperature in 14 months gaming usage, still could sold it on mint condition. Yes finding that vapor chamber after market would be first hard things to do imo.

 

I ended up ordering the Razer Blade base model with hopes that my intended use of this machine will not exhibit the issues noted regarding heating. Exchanging thermal paste is definitely a possibility since I will be upgrading the m.2 SSD and HDD (with a 2.5" SSD).