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

Can anyone make an image of CPU cores temps after half an hour of gaming logged with Intel XTU? Interested to see if anyone else has permanent differences in temps for different cores and if so how big they are.
Recently looked to such a graph and found that 95% of time core 3 has 5-6C higher temperature than the coldest one (+3-4C while idling) and thinking now whether I should repaste it or not - if that's just a core 3 DTS sensor inconsistency (+/- 5C by Intel specification) than I'd leave that as is. Could that be an air bubble in thermal compound?

Spoiler: My XTU screen after ca. half an hour gaming

And additional question if anyone can explain why XTU shows the thermal throttling flag while the HWmonitor doesn't? Temperatures aren't that high for cpu to throttle - the maximum core temp according to HWmonitor was 82C. On previous version of XTU cpu was powerthrottling instead...

 

The corner piece cracking is a well reported problem on Razer Blade 15 Advanced model. Whatever plastic material they're using, it simply cannot stand the stress of being constantly heated and cooled. Especially with the metal insert to hold the screw. Design flaw. There's multiple reddit threads and people on this thread complaining about that specific piece cracking.

Basically, all Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2018) has this ticking time bomb that is bound to fail. Although it's not a critical piece for normal operation. IDK about base model.

IDK if they replaced it with a metal piece on RTX blades but I doubt it.

 

They did not fix the problem in the 2019 models, i recall reading a couple of similar problems on r/razer with the RTX models.

 

Idk if it’s only me I don’t have any other system for gaming only the Blade, yes I prefer also metal Anchors but 9 months gaming usage the time bom isn’t exploding yet . I saw with him 2 users reported cracked anchor without opening it, the rest are when they were screwing it in.

I see, any links about similar issues on rtx model? maybe I missed it or my google search is crap I saw mostly coil whine issues on rtx Blade especially 2080, some are windows hello, pretty much similar with last year ac adapter buzzing and not charging while off, their early batch issues, might be addressed per update, not quite sure about coil whine.

 

Is it only me who can’t see your attachment on Spoiler? Anyway it is weird thermal throttling on 82, mine maybe on 95. Cores Temperature differences maybe because unbalanced or uneven paste and vapor chamber, repasting or adding pad may solve that but 5 degrees different isn’t big deal at least to me, I think 1,3 are higher usually due the core position when I’m not wrong (note 2 on HWinfo means core 3). This was half hour or maybe more playing Anthem, I think on ultra 1440p, forgot but from cpu wattage it’s maybe on balanced mode. On idle there’s no huge difference mostly on gaming I noticed the difference.

 

That may be due to low number of my messages i guess. Here is a link to a google drive with that image of my temp readings. As for throttling, I don't actually see that - sustained stable TB at 3.9GHz, single cores may jump from time to time to 4.1GHz. Forgot to add, this is all for Gaming mode, auto fan settings in Synapse, uVolted at -0.170V for cores and cache, 55W and 70W for turbo boost long (28sec) and short periods. Those 55W and 70W before were the values for which there was almost no power throttling before (below those power throttling stepped in more often). But the behaviour of the processor doesn't change even for default 60 and 80W settings - thermal throttling.
As for position of cores on a die, I couldn't find how they are counted - by rows or columns (first row 1-3 and second 4-6 or each column is a 1-2, 3-4, and last one 5-6)? But any way 3rd core seems to be somewhere close to the mid of the die and in this case it's either uneven surface of a heat chamber or a dirt/bubble in the compound.

Anyway, thanks for sharing the thermal readings.

 

It's as follows:
0 2 4
1 3 5

Interesting. Do you have a 2019 RTX Blade 15, or the 2018 one? By the way, if that -170mV undervolt is rock solid, you got a really good chip dude.

 

I have 2018 GTX 1060 version. Yes, those are solid voltages: system crashes at -0.22V, from that to -0.185V high turbo boost frequencies (x38-41) are not stable enough, +0.01V to be on a safe side and as a result - 82C stable core temp in cpu benchmarks (max core up to 84-85). Cinebench scores are 1180ich on sequence runs for those settings. I am a bit upset though that can't reach for those 1230 points of the first run in the consequent runs though. But fine tuning (neither decrease, nor increase) of the voltage offset don't lead to a persistent highest score results - those are the voltages that give the highest scores system can produce.

As for core 3 temp, I found the reason - it's a game itself which is keeping the load on that particular core. For some reason World of Warcraft occupies core 3 each time. No clue why, but benchmarks do not confirm that core to be the hottest. The thermal throttling is also absent during benchmarks runs. Can it be that Synapse raises max power limit and/or max temp throttling values when detects the common benchmarks (like Samsung with it's smartphones)? The Fire strike called an error that time scale is inconsistent and it can't validate the result (in background were HWmonitor, XTU and Synapse)..

 

All this my Razer is hotter than your Razer, something else for you guys to gander at

 

with my Blade 15 Advanced and a 1070 mq i get CPU Temps in normal mode by around 86C with -0.145 undervolted, if i set it to gaming mode i stick permanent at 100C with undervolt.Only downlocking brings a bit of benefit, if i set mine to 2.2 Ghz ive get around 80C. 2.2Ghz are enough in the most games to hold 60fps, playing actualy metro exodus on high and i get stable 60fps.

Will do some repaste with Liquid Metal within the next days... i hope that brings lower temps and less fan noise.

But my RB15 is still a very impressive device, the most time i use it as working device. There is no problem to start 3 windows servers and a bunch of linux machines in hyper-v .... damn, i ve never had such a overpowered cpu in any laptop, even compiling isn´t a problem.

with the latest bios i got the C10 state which brings more battery life, the cpu drains only 0-7 - 1.2 watts in idle or simple browsing: https://www.reddit.com/r/razer/comments/9jq0w0/temporary_fix_for_razer_blade_15_high_cpu_idle/

i just want more options to handly my fans, but the EC still encrypted so there is no hope for modding :/

 

Yes waiting for someone who can crack that, bios moding can solve also power limit throttle 100%, maybe they’re keeping that for avoiding user hitting 100 on gaming mode. Btw it’s not all titles hitting 90 on my case, some are fine with only undervolting, uploaded those titles screenshot before, but still SoTR, AC Oddysey can easily hit high 90 on gaming mode.
I like also this machine and don’t see the need for upgrading to 2019, unless they put new cpu and screen.

 

same here... the rtx 2070 isnt a bid deal / benefit compared to a 1070

but i also hope that new cpu´s come out this year.

 

For you guys wanting to track the voltage and core frequency down to 625mV I just posted a video on how to do this with GPU-Z logging.

 

I finally solved my long-standing problem of having to use the Microsoft audio driver because the microphone is unusably quiet with the Realtek driver Razer supplies. And without the Realtek driver I had a pretty loud pop on speakers and headphones every time the driver would wake up from sleep to play sound (which would happen after only a few seconds of silence).

Reinstalled Windows on my desktop PC the other day and wanted to use a more recent audio driver, since Realtek actually updates their driver much more often than vendors will propagate these updates to users. And after a little research I found someone who takes the updates from Realtek's FTP and provides a relatively easy to use guide and app to create your own driver (or rather, your own installer) using the recent generic Realtek driver and your vendor-specific additions.

https://github.com/alanfox2000/realtek-universal-audio-driver/wiki

For the Blade 15 you can use the Dolby vendor files, but you don't have to if you aren't interested in Dolby Atmos. Should you also want to use this, just follow the instructions and remember to completely uninstall the Razer-provided driver before you install this. Realtek switched to the newer Universal Driver API, so the driver will not replace the old driver. It will also automatically trigger the installaton of the Realtek Audio Console (and optionally the Dolby Atmos app) from the Windows Store (where they are hidden). The guide also links to the Audio Console app for manual install if you removed Windows Store functionality or the install failed for some reason. Using the most recent driver revision my microphone functions just like it should and on the off-chance Realtek could have potentially increased audio quality a tiny bit, there's that. The UAD is also smaller than the old HDA counterpart.

 

So, how does everyone feel about having both rows of the function keys and all the shift key modifier character keys being fully lit in the 2019 models? It's incredibly frustrating to use this keyboard in the dark.

My mother got the 2019 edition and from what I've ascertained is that the 2018 second row of each keycap are not shine-through, only the top row is. It may be possible to simply source the 2019 function row keys and the shift key modified second-row character keycaps, those being: <, >, /, ;, ', [, ], \. This site sells the 2018 key caps but not yet the 2019 keys. Perhaps if they're released we can simply swap them. Though I have a feeling the 2019 keys have an extra LED.

 

I think it's a nice change from the previous version and they way it should have been implemented from the start, actually. I believe now you can also highlight the corresponding keys by hitting Fn, which I had seen on some MSI models but not Razer. Good to know maybe they are listening to their customers in that regard.

 

I just color coded them like this. After a bit of time getting used to it's completely non-issue.

And for every other keys I don't really need illumination to tell what's where, so.

 

Speaking for yourself, I assume. I'll take swapping the keycaps over creating colour-coded illumination profiles.

 

As with everything, incremental upgrades just like all the other companies out there.

Give it enough time and I bet some places will start selling the 2019 keycaps, I'm sure. I'm willing to bet that's going to be more or less meaningless due to LED placement though.

 

not exactly sure about it, but i think i remember seeing a video of someone removing the 2015 keycaps and the keys are non transparent underneath, means the led is only on the topsection, wich means other keycaps wont do anything, i would except them to have redesigned it with transparent parts and a moved led for the new model . ( we would have to wait for someone to remove a keycap of their 2019 model ) EDIT: found the video timestamp directly to the removed key. no way of lighting the secondary keys with the butterfly mechanism in place

 

Yeah that's exactly what I'm thinking. Just swapping out the keycaps will probably do nothing.

 

1. I have a 2018 RB15ADV.
2. I have access to a 2019 RB15ADV courtesy of an immediate family member.
3. The bottom row characters on the 2018 keycaps are not shine-through; only the top row is transparent. There is a distinct difference between the two rows and the engraving.
4. The bottom rows on the 2019 keycaps are not distinct from the top rows and both are shine-through.
5. Looking at the video the LED is in the top row, but perhaps there might be some light leakage and enough to shine through with 2019 key caps.

I don't think my family member will appreciate me removing a keycap from their new laptop.

Onto the laptop itself: anyone having BSOD's from nvlddmkm.sys with power state failure stop errors? I'm pretty sure my 1070 is cooked, which isn't surprising given the temps these laptops are reaching

 

On Friday i did a repaste with Liquid Metal on my Razer Blade 15 Advanced.

Why i did that?

- temps in idle wiith just 1.1W CPU drain are about 43-53 C -> Fans getting started at 50 C
- CPU is throtteling a way to much and gets to warm: in Crackdown 3 i got 100 C in Gaming Mode

So lets take a look:

This one is with the stock paste... and as always: too much applied





I ve cleaned it and applied LM:









and also on the copper of the vapor chamber:




My Result:

i can play Crackdown 3 while the temps are not going beyond 83 C and 3.9 Ghz are stable

I did a 10 runs of cinebench in Gaming Mode:




I ve also spend my MSI 1080ti Gaming X Liquid Metal... damn, they are also using too much paste. These are the results after 10 Minutes in 4K in Metro Exodus:

 

guys im gonna change the thermal pads on my blade 15, since most of the vrm (or what ever is cooled ) thermalpads, are solid and not thermalpadish, more like really really old crusty thermal paste ... is it still only 2-3 100x15x1,5mm pads ? and since someone said that 2 is barely not enough, you guys think that 2X 120x2x1,5 is enough ?

 

What, is that your Blade OSD, 2018 one? How can you achieve 4,6ghz cpu and over 2000mhz gpu? I can do that only with my egpu setting. I’ve also Exodus but can’t play on 4K with Blade 15 2018 only with egpu help.

 

No

This is my Desktop gaming rig with a 8700k and a 1080ti, they also got the liquid Metal upgrade.

I can also share the temps of my razer blade 15 2018 with liquid Metal within the next days...after there days I am very happy.

 

Found yesterday that my camera is not recognized already for few days (Device manager throws error code 43, descriptor problems). Does anyone know the solution except warranty repair? Want to try those software solutions if there are any prior to repair since I'm using this laptop for work and don't have a replacement machine.

 

Driver updates:

Intel Software Guard Extensions:
http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=3069

Chipset:
http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=3070

Dolby Atmos:
http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=3071

Dolby Atmos App:
http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=3072

Thunderbolt 3:
http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=3073

WiFi:
http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=3074

Bluetooth:
http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=3075

Management Engine:
http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=3076

Realtek Audio Console App:
http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=3077

Realtek UAD Audio Driver:
http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=3078

Realtek LAN (for the base model):
http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=3079

Intel Graphics:
http://drivers.razersupport.com//index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=3080

Better get Intel drivers directly from Intel though.

 

how new are those ? and for the gtx or the rtx models ?

 

They were uploaded two days ago as indicated by the creation and modified dates on the download pages. Technically they are for the 2018 base model, but there's practically no difference between that and the 2018 advanced model.

I'd have posted in a 2019 RTX Blade thread if there was one.

 

i see .. they are for the base and not the advanced model .. advanced model still has drivers from 2018...

 

Because these drivers are pretty generic you can totes install these on an advanced model and likely also on an RTX Blade. Just don't install a LAN driver on a laptop without a LAN port (and corresponding controller).

 

Evening folks. I've recently purchased a second hand UHD 2018 Blade with 1070. It seems pretty solid, apart from a little bit of light bleed in the top left corner.

One thing that's driving me nuts though is every time I boot the machine the synapse window pops up as if it's never been run before, asking me to try the new features and for the life of me, I cannot get it to stop!

Anyone have any ideas?

Edit: lol. Just had to google the shortcut for a question mark

 

They just did Synapse update just run it if you don’t want it popping out after booting. I ignored it anyway and close it right away not only synapse, but intel windows etc. I don’t update as long there’s no problem. And I put always on sleep to avoid seeing such update windows. Btw Windows Update you can set it to not popping up, Synapse not, you should uninstall it if don’t want see it popping up but loosing some control features as trade off.

 

I feel there is something wrong as it is popping up every time I start the machine, whether I go through the options or not. Every time the new features tutorial is sitting there . Very annoying!

 

Is it recommended to do a completely clean install rather than a reset?

Also curious if anyone else has a second hand unit and has managed to make use of the warranty. Am I correct in thinking its not transferable?

 

Only SSD upgrade i did clean install with my past and current Blade, on new unit reset is enough unless you’re thinking Synapse is bloatware like you mentioned before there’s no other bloatware comes with.

 

The problem with the Synapse software comes from their last update ... on some machines the software window will open after every new start ... the support wrote me, that it will fixed with the next update. Nevertheless on my machines it helped to reset the settings within the synapse software ...

If the software works correct you can also set a mark that the razer logo will not popup after starting the notebook. On my both machines the software starts "quiet", only the taskbar icon is visible.

 

Can the keyboard lighting be controlled without Synapse software? I have a base unit so I cannot set my keys up individually, just across the keyboard. Other than controlling the keyboard lighting I have no real use for Synapse.

 

On another note, battery life using the 1060 MaxQ graphics card (for offline robotics programming software) really is not that great. I only get about 1.5 - 2 hours of battery. Performance of the RB15 base model has been exceptional, battery life not so much. Good thing I almost always have an outlet available.

I have not tried to plug in on a flight as of yet so I am not sure the current draw from the power brick is too much for the plane outlet. Any insight would be helpful. Of course I can try on my next flight in a few days.

 

Afternoon folks, I've been putting my machine through it's paces today and testing out some undervolting and I'd love to get some opinions on my settings and results.

My machine is the 2018 UHD model with 1070 maxQ.

I have Synapse set to gaming mode
Windows power mode set to best performance
screen brightness set to 30%
In Throttlestop I have Speed shift set to 64
BD Prochot turned off
CPU core and cache undervolted to 150 mvs
iGPU undervolted to 50 mvs

With the above my CPU idles at 45 degrees

When I run Prime95 stress tests my CPU hits 89 degrees and throttles to 3.37 ghz and a steady temp of around 82 degrees.

I'm wondering how these results stack up against everyone elses?

 

It’s normal, they set it to throttle to avoid thermal throttle by power limit throttle.
Also note gaming mode on your Blade means overclocking the gpu and put higher cpu tdp than balanced mode so it’ll stress the cpu more.
You can fool the cpu by tweaking it by bios flashing and get stable 3,9ghz or even 4,1 sometimes if you want, but with your own risk, there’s guide on other thread here on Razer sub forum.
Without it (with default setting) by playing around with Synapse mode even on lower tdp balanced mode, core clock still reach 3,9ghz but on average gaming mode would be better.

Btw set power mode to better performance at least on me it’s better than best performance (from 3Dmark benchmark) somehow, and set speedshift to 0 on plugged if you want better cpu performance, my cpu idle is 50 but it’s nothing to worry about.

 

Unfortunately no, without it on single zone advanced one I think it’s default wave (or spectrum cycling, forgot). You don’t use fans control? It’s important if you doing heavy tasks for keeping it cooler than default one. Switching gaming and balanced mode is also important imo, to get max cpu performance.

Idk the software but if it demanding program like gaming it would make sense, I got also on advanced model 1,5 to 2 hours gaming. Check the battery discharge if it’s under 12 Watt than you’ll get good battery life for your model, advanced 80watt battery capacity is around 5 to 6 hours watching YouTube or streaming videos, and paperwork browsing 6 to 7 or maybe more if you turn down everything.

 

I just checked background tasks running and a whole slew of them were running. I shut off most of those apps running in the background. It might not help much but I really don't want apps running that I don't initiate running (like camera, or software apps, etc.).

 

Afternoon all, I'm preparing to open up my Blade and do a repaste/repad. I already have some Kryonaut knocking around but I need to order some new pads and I was wondering if anyone could advise what thickness I will need?

 

I'm also wondering if anyone has any suggestions for good cooling pads?

 

Don't bother replacing the pads. Any pad with contact will provide more than sufficient cooling for the components they touch. Power delivery is rated pretty generously considering the temperatures they run at, even though they sink into the same heatsink as the CPU and GPU.

Really, don't waste money on it. Replace the thermal compound, at least you will see a performance benefit from that.

Btw. Thermal Grizzly Minus pads are pretty good for price to performance.

 

Really? Have Razer used decent pads then? I've come from the Dell XPS line where the pads were awful and changing them made a big difference. So you reckon just a repaste will suffice? Or do Razer generally do a good job there as well?

 

Nope, the pads are bog-standard, probably around 2-3W/mK, but they are enough to keep the components in spec. 110°C is still fine for most often used VRM components and if you sink them with a ~70°C heatsink, they'll be absolutely happy. You don't gain any performance unless they are throttling because of high temperatures anyway, because it's power delivery. As long as the core components are supplied the power with the voltage they want, they'll be fine.

Razer started to do better thermal compound applications after around two months after initial release, but their compound is of course worse than Kryonaut or comparable, so you'll see a decrease in thermals. Of course also expect the lower of CPU or GPU core temperatures to rise a bit, since they both sink their heat into the same heatsink.

 

Okey dokey, so I've been tweaking my settings and did a re-paste of the CPU and GPU, followed by dozens of benchmarks and stress tests (Mostly Fire Strike and Real Bench)

I think I've reached a fairly decent place where I can get good performance, but not at the expense of melting my machine

I've undervolted CPU and Cache by 140mv and the iGPU by 50mv
I've left the turbo multipliers at stock settings 41,41,40,40,39,39
I've set speed shift to 96
I leave BD PROCHOT switched on, as I want my machine to start throttling down if the CPU reaches 100 degrees.

With these settings my Fire Strike score is 14,157 with graphics at 16,080, physics at 16,097 and finally a combined score of 6,815
During this my CPU maxes at 89 degrees and my GPU maxes at 74 degrees

I can also do a 60 minute Real Bench stress test with my CPU maxing at 97 degrees and the GPU maxing at 89 degrees

What do people think about those numbers? Should I stick or twist?