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

Is that the one that has 2,5kg weight? They can put 1080 max q or full 1070 like Zephyrus. Still isn’t really competitor for Blade 15, GS65 and Aero 15x, maybe for Alienware class that put more attention to cooling room than portability, look is personal matter, to me it feels uncomfortable to bring it outside to work or cafe. Though lower price is always good.

Try what this forum mentioned, it could be microstutering issues.

 

50's and 60's depending on game. It's roughly the same as 7700HQ when I used an eGPU on that blade too.

 

I've been working on undervolting my cpu and reached -0.145mV with Throttlestop, which I feel good about. When I stress test it on Throttlestop or AIDA64, however, it seems all 6 cores run around 3.2Ghz at 70oC, which seems too slow and cool to me. I'm a little unsure about the overlapping power plans (Synapse and Windows) and have been searching for thoughts. Anyone else with the new Blade 2018 having trouble reaching max clocks on the CPU cores?

 

I can’t for the life of me avoid power limit throttling no matter what the temps are. I’m working with Razer on this directly to help them tweak software and hopefully bios. I have been in many conversations with the staff about the issues I see.. I absolutely love the new Blade. I’m trying to help them work towards an even better running machine.

 

Thanks, Firebat, keep us posted.
For now, I've settled in on an undervolt on the CPU and an overclock on the GPU which has me above 14000 on firestrike with good temps, so I'll run with that for now.

 

The tech specs don't mention g-sync for the display, is this correct?

If there isn't g-sync, does anyone notice any tearing?

 

Ther's no G-Sync. I believe the only laptop out with G-Synch and a 144Hz panel is the Zephyr 502 from Asus. It comes with G-Sync and Optimus, which is pretty dope and very dissapointing that the Blade 15 doesn't have that switch.

I dare to say that one can avoid tearing by limiting FPS to 144Hz in the Nvidia settings or maybe by using fast sync.

 

I’m also going to repaste and replace thermals pads and see how much (if any that changes performance)

I don’t intend on it changing power limit throttling and my best fire strike score so far was just under 15k.... which I believe was in the top 30 or so scores for FS for that cpu/gpu combo. I’m having a hard time thinking any other model with the same spec is performing any better over multiple runs.

Trend seems to be after enough runs FS scores will drop and end up evening out in the 13.5-14k range. I think most of the high scores you see are a cold boot 1-3 solid runs and won’t maintain that score.

These 8750H’s run hot and I think most manufacturers are ok with them running in the 80s and even 90s during gaming sessions. More updates as I do more digging.

 

After tinkering in Intel XTU for a while, I've decided the rate-limiting factor is total TDP (45W) (aka Power Limit Throttling) for the CPU. It will turbo boost for a minute or two to ~3.9Ghz with 55+W, then drop to 3.3Ghz as it gets throttled to stay at 45W.

I was able to get a better result by changing the "Turbo boost short power max" under "core" section on XTU to 60W (from 80W). The CPU then stabilized around 3.5Ghz. I tried disabling turbo boost entirely, but had a similar 3.5Ghz result.

I've heard of people trying to mess with BIOS to get a bigger TDP, obviously this would be risky as the motherboard/chip may not be able to handle a higher than 45W sustained power delivery, not to mention it may be impossible to edit the BIOS to do that anyway.

 

Honestly I'd probably limit it lower like 60 just to keep the GPU cooler, and by consequence the important part, the fans quieter. I'd probably let it loose when I was in an environment where i wouldn't bother anyone with louder fans. which is rare lol..

For those people that can just slap headphones on and not bother anyone, let it loose.. let it loose..

 

I would love to know how running an 8750H up to/ around throttle constantly would affect the lifespan and the overall laptop and chip. If Intel and manufacturers say its "safe" to use it up to throttle, is it safe after 2 years of hard use? What we prefer our CPU's at (60s) and what is genuinely safe to use them at could be different, but knowing the truth will likely help us all with our tweaking.

 

could an owner of this notebook please clarify whether it is configured with Optimus? (like the Aero15x v8 as opposed to like the Zeph GM501)

My biggest hesitation in buying is if it has optimus :\

 

It has Optimus. I haven't experienced any screen tearing though. I'd say the battery life gain is worth it.

 

my issue is the display latency and current issues with it dropping out of discrete mode when in chrome/window/etc

 

That's why I just force it to use dedicated graphics. Prefer the buttery smooth experience over the extra battery.

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The CPU will be fine. It is very hard to cause a CPU to fail. Everything else around it will degrade though (CPU cooking the motherboard). It can also depend on layout and quality of components how fast the motherboard will eventually fail from sustained high heat.

 

I pummeled the CPU in my 2014 blade 14. After three years and thousands of hours of gaming it was still plugging away. That thing ran hot.

CPUs can run around 90 with no problem. Shouldn't hurt anything. Cooler is always better obviously, but 90 isn't death.

 

This is the million dollar question. I think the issue is that, for most of us, we've been around long enough to have been so hammered by "cooler is better" that we automatically panic when we hit anything higher than 50-60c. Intel says it's no issue, the OEMs say it's no issue. . . . but psychologically it's such a huge issue that a lot of this entire thread is related either to experience with the new Blade thermals, or how to reduce them.

To my knowledge though, nobody has sat down and actually HAMMERED a chip to see how long term heat/throttling affects notebooks. We're simply left with "should be ok" and "cooler is better".

Ultimately I'm onboard with HFM: 90c or lower "should" be ok. That said, I would *LOVE* to see someone like LinusTechTips, JayZ, Bitwit Kyle etc do some hardcore temp tests to find out just how durable modern notebook processors are under thermal throttling continued usage. I've heard stories of people with older blades that have bounced off 100c for years with no issues, and we've ALL heard horror stories of people who were. . . not so fortunate [and that extends way beyond Razer] Anecdotal evidence is all well and good, but I'd love to see some hard core in depth scientific FACT.

 

Is anyone here with an 1060 and 144Hz? I want to know how the thermals are... would be nice if we could get some benchmark temps or similar

 

The only good reason to limit FPS to 60 is if your panel is limited to 60Hz. If you have a faster panel, but are not using it, then you might aswell have bought the 60Hz version. Where i would agree to step down from 'more Hz', is when i'm playing somewhere where i can't focus on gaming anyway.

I still don't like the 8750H in thin and lights... Maybe in the 4K "production" unit, but not in the gaming ones. :/ Shame that no one is trying to use a 8559U even if it was in review prototype units to see the feedback. That CPU and a GTX1060 would have been such a nice pair.

 

But the cost for the fancier Iris graphics makes NO sense in a laptop with a good dedicated gaming GPU installed. So it just drives up cost. Regular Intel IGP is more than sufficient for anything non-gaming/production related. Would be a great Ultrabook CPU though - possibly for a new Blade Stealth

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the new stealth had the intel+AMD package in it like the new XPS 15 2 in 1. That'd make for a sick little porta-gamer.

 

That is still a 100W SoC that needs to be cooled. The XPS 15 2-in-1 is a lot more volume for cooling than the Blade Stealth would be.

 

Out of curiosity, which method do you find works best to do this with the Razer? I have the 15 and am loving it.

 

Just go into Nvidia settings when you right click desktop. Under 3d settings change the top option to use Nvidia gpu always for global settings... And then scroll down to where it shows an optimal power option... Change that to maximum performance. Very easy.

Note that each time you upgrade driver's you have to do this again. Cheers!

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Thanks! I know there various utilities that try to do this for you so I wasn't sure if you were using one of them or the nvidia setting.

 

What about temperature for normal usage (browser, text editing, video ) ? I am reading on reddit that it becomes relatively hot (bottom and palm rest) also in the normal usage to the point that if you put it on your legs you will sweat

 

It's not only a better iGPU. More lanes and a higher base/boost clock. TDP up/down are also higher. I don't mind having a dGPU paired with a beasty iGPU, would give one more flexibility in battery/thermal management. Damn, intel would make 50$ more by promoting that CPU instead of the 6 core ones~

I've just read the review on the Dell XPS 15 with a 8300H and 1050mq and i'm just amazed at how even that lower tier CPU hit's 90°C+ with a pull of 70 something watts. Not a fan of the development in thin and light hardware.

 

No cheating physics, that much heat in a given package will either require larger cooling (and laptops) or sit at a higher average temperature - you cant have it both ways without sacrificing either performance or temps

 

Not unless companies start using liquid metal instead of cheap thermal grease. That's one way to get some temps down without making any real sacrifice if done right.

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I agree with that. The gents with the ability to design and manufactur the hardware shouldn't need buyers to fix their thermal challenges. I bet they could design some wicked spill-proof equipment. Or at least sign a damn contract with Thermal Grizzly for some Kryonaut paste factory installed.

All this temp talk brings me to another question. Why now do we have 6 cores and a large clock speed increase at the same time? My 7820HK was clocked at 3.5ghz stock with the ability to OC, why are our laptops 2 more cored AND 3.9ghz? Doesn't that spell obvious temp issues?

 

They definitely went a bit too far on the 8750 in terms of cores and clocks. It's frankly WAY overpowered. If turning it down to 3.5 or so gets us into the 70s that's likely more than enough processing power.

RMA process is annoying. Requires patience and I just want my laptop.

 

The toothpase stamp while not preferred, is not terrible while it is wet, once it dries up it is of course garbage.The bigger issue is how to get that heat from chip to radiator fins (that is the vapor chamber and TIM here), and then from fins to air outside the laptop (quality/material of fins and fan design/effectiveness). Those transitions are where you take an efficiency hit.

 

Those are marketing clock speeds (single core), they do not advertise the 6-core turbo speed which is the real world number that matters.

 

I have done 8 test runs with stock paste... in firestrike and Farcy 5. With and without OC to GPU and with/without CPU undervolt. I will then do the same tests again after applying Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut and replacing thermal pads. I will report back this week on the results.

 

That does occur if you allow it to switch automatically.

I'm very curious to see how the repaste turns out. As far as I can tell, my CPU is power-limited rather than thermal limited (as per XTU), so I wonder what impact better paste would have. What do other users find on stress testing? Are you hitting thermal or power limits?

 

What's interesting is if I have xtu and HWinfo up same time... most the time xtu says thermal throttling HWinfo doesn't report any at all. Power throttling definitely, however.

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XTU is pretty obvious with the flashing colors... Where does HWinfo show throttling?

 

Just scroll down and look below the cpu temps and it breaks down all the cores and any thermal throttling on them. It goes into more detail about the ring etc.

 

Cool. I’m only interested in stock. IMO if it’s no good out the box (a repaste is allowed for comparison cos after all we will all get to that point) and only happy with it after undervolting it. Then it’s not a good unit (that particular one) or laptop design is bad (but it’s not). But some people are over fussy on there expectations. And it doesn’t help if your main rig before is a thick laptop, a non dedicated gpu laptop or a desktop because all of these are cooler.


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Maybe everyone involved needs to think stuff trough better. I'm glad we got 6c/12t CPU in laptops, but maybe those CPU should only be used in bigger (thicker, 17", heavyer) devices by default. Ther's no inteligent standard and stuff like Max-Q is only a smokescreen optimization rule that doesn't use the full performance of your hardware.

To Quote myself:

Hope one day we'll get some standards. Until then i'll keep my greasy hands of gaming laptops

 

Next year we'll see "I7 -8750H Max-Q! Keep your laptop cool for only 15-20% performance drop!"

 

But, Max-Q is an Nvidia Registered Trademark...

Intel OutSide® - Strapped to the Outside of your Laptop, for Better Cooling Performance!!

 

Just implying some stupid throttling technique coming soon

 

Although it will throttle on prolonged load - it doesn't mean 6 core doesn't have it's use. If you aren't using it for hours upon hours but have burst processor requirements, you'll fully benefit from the 6 cores.

E.g. using SQL server, or Micorsoft Excel, or compiling some code or photography work etc - where you will need a high demand from time to time, will be sped up!

Now, if you run some benchmark, it will probably die.

As for games, I would hope the throttling in games should either be non-existance or mild for the majority of people - but that could be because of the types of games I play.

 

Isn't Max-Q a therm used in aerospace engineering? Like maximum stress on a vehicle while flying or something like that

 

Am I the only one not having thermal issues? I'm sitting at -160mV UV, +185mhz GPU core, +600mhz GPU mem.

Firestrike just over 15000, CPU stays below 80 on full load. Fan is on manual control set at 5000 (Max)

 

Surprisingly...

"MAXQ® is the registered trademark of Maxim Integrated Products, Inc"
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/10series/laptops/max-q/

and...

"In aerospace engineering, the maximum dynamic pressure, often referred to as maximum Q or max Q, is the point at which aerodynamic stress on a vehicle in atmospheric flight is maximized."
Max Q - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Q

 

If you were to run those tests in FS over and over you will see degradation of score's. I got almost 15k as well then 5 runs later I get 13.5. Even if I wait for temps to come down and test again it's hard to reach 15k again.

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