Razer Blade Owner's Lounge

Small (another) problem with my Blade R2. A while ago I noticed a burning sort of smell but just left it. Now that it is out of warranty I opened it up, to find the plug on the cable running from the battery to the motherboard melted. Any ideas on how this could have happened? Note: All stock clocks/voltages. Will post photos once I get on my PC.

Luke.

 

hi everyone. i've owned my r2 for a bit over a year and a half if i remember and i love most things about it , however i have had two serious problem from the start, when i play almost any game. the machine will randomly shut off. this had been almost every game i've tried. kept my graphics card up to date etc. minimized background applications.running everything on absolute minimums . and still they can't seem to run. sometimes i get a couple of hours before it does it , sometimes a few minutes. computer doesn't seem to physically get hotter, though can't say about the insides. i always thought it was overheating. but even old games that really shouldn't be causing it still crash. even mass effect I won't run steady. no slowdown or anything. just suddenly dies. does anyone else have similar experience as it really is driving me nuts. even happens when i run unity developer and various art programs. i really need a viable solution for this as i imported my mmachine from the us when it was first released. and i've sent it back once for another issue already. it costs a fortune and takes a v. longtime. so i'm hoping someone might have some solution other than just sending it back again . (think i'm out warrantee anyway.) love the machine. but if i can't get it to work right. i'm going to have to scrap it . which is a shame.
the second matter is less of a problem. i seem to have alot of problems with steam games in particular. and can't get them to run full screen at all (if i don't crash before hand) . any clues would be greatly appreciated as i've been up and down the internet for almost a year now trying to find some sort of definitive answer other than overheating (which is possible but wierd considering sometime the machine is running cold) and that my internals are somehow bust (getting a new machine is really not a helpful answer as this is not old and i've been having a real bad streak with machines.) thanks. ... oh .. if anyone knows a way i can override the fans. that might be an option.i don't care what i need to do , i just need to get the bloody thing to run stably and stop wasting both my work and my leisure time

 

I've had my Razer Blade 14 for about a week now.. and so far I'm really happy with it. It looks amazing and performs very well. I use mine for a mixture of work and play and fine the size perfect. It's very lightweight and takes up very little space.
Game performance so far for what I've played on it has been very good.. no complaints.. yes, I'll agree it does get hot but not ridiculously so and so far in my experience most of the heat has been kept at the top away from my fingers and the main keys.
How do I find the screen? This seems to be the biggest bugbear for other users out there. While it's probably the one element of this great machine that I don't love.. I gotta say it doesn't bother me that much. I've definitely had much better but I've also had worse. For me it works ok and the overall experience is still great IMHO.
So to sum it up way more ticks in the pros column vs the cons... At least that's my take on it.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

Well my Blade Pro finally got here, needless to say I am impressed with the laptop. Although my L key seems to be fidgety as sometimes it wont type upon the first press, or it will type 3 or 4 L's in quick succession. May send back if situation doesn't better.

 

I thought about the pro.. In the end went with the smaller size of the 14.. The switchblade UI is really cool though...

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

Stupid question guys, but my keyboard is busted in the fact that it will not press the L key reliably, i have to press the key very, very hard. So i am going to send support an email, but need a product serial number. where exactly is this located? I feel extremely dumb for asking this.

 

hehe nevermind, used a command prompt to find it. thanks anyhow

 

Should also be lasered onto the back. Kinda hard to see since its pretty much grey on black.

 

oh yes, you are totally right Nova!

I'll keep you guys updated as to how the progress of the return and all that jazz goes.

 

Main BIOS Screen has it too for the RBP at least. Also on the side of the brown box

 

new Razer Blade most likely being announced tomorrow. Probably a Maxwell refresh, a new size Blade is unlikely.

 

ok, looking at the photo again, looks more like a desktop keyboard... so either a new keyboard or a new pc system entirely?

 

Yea, the picture shows a curve on the key. That wouldn't allow them to retain the thinness of the blade.

 

Welp looks like my Blade finally hit that last nail in the coffin. Getting full 100% GPU usage and my frame rates in any game won't go above 20. Tried rolling back drivers, reinstalling new drivers...everything was fine last night and now today poof...Think my GPU is gone-zo. Anyone else experienced something similar to this and it be fixable by the user?

Edit: Unplugged everything including power supply while shutdown, booted back up, everything worked. Plugged everything back in, everything still works. My laptop has demons, I swear to you it does.

 

Just keep it away from the holy water

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

Yup, I was right! 3gb GTX 870m!!! With 4k screen! I think I'm going to sell my rMBP 15 for this. But before I do, how well do you think the gtx 870m will handle the 4k screen? I think regular GTX 780 has problems maxing out games at 4k. Thoughts before I pull the trigger?

The New Razer Blade Ultra-Thin Gaming Laptop - 14" Notebook Display

 

There are a few reviews out there already. I think something along the lines of ~45 fps for medium settings for Battlefield 4.

 

Bout battery life? What is everyone currently getting vs the reviews you see?

 

Battery life on my current blade is pretty good, over five hours with casual use, at least an hour or more of intense gaming.

They are quoting six hours for the new one...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

If anyone has access to an education discount code, let me know, I'd appreciate it! Can't wait to get my hands on one of these.

 

I have bought Razer products for a long time and I have to admit they surprised me yet again!

A 14" Razer Blade with QHD+ IPS Display!!!?!?! Not to mention a GTX 870M in it! Its a beast!

I also believe that this is the very first Gaming Laptop that features a touchscreen display.

However, I really want to point out something and I wish anyone else to think about this too.

The New Razer Blade 14" costs US$2,199. With it comes the QHD+ IPS Display, 8 GB of RAM, 4th Gen i7, 128GB SSD and of course the insane GTX 870M

The New Razer Blade Pro 17" costs US$2,299. With it comes a FHD LED Display, 16Gb of Ram, 4th Gen i7, 128GB SSD and a GTX 860M?

Now, I love Razer and all but tell me something. Don't you think that they just introduced a product that is far superior to the other that they are selling? Doesn't it make the Pro redundant at this point? It has a weaker GPU, an inferior screen (though probably not bad) and a weaker sound system in my opinion. It's only redeeming factor is that it has a 17.3 inch screen but even that is only FHD.

So tell me, who will buy the Razer Blade Pro now that it has a weaker GPU, inferior screen, and ultimately, costs more than the Razer Blade?

I would like different opinions and thoughts about this if possible! Thanks for reading! >.<

 

Wow the sound system must suck in the Pro. The Blade 14" had a rather tinny sounding speakers IMO. Usually use my headphones if possible.

 

I was never interested in the pro, but I agree it's an easy choice this generation.

More portable
More gpu
Better screen.

Hopefully there isn't some flaw we don't know about yet!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

I only have one question.

Can you squeeze more RAM in there?

I'm doing some unhealthy multitasking and those 6GB I had in my Vaio F13 prior to the 16GB upgrade were pushed to their limits very often, causing some very noticeable slowdown. Granted, I didn't have an SSD at that point either... 16GB are just perfect and there's always enough free memory for the OS to optimize things here and there - it really shows. You would hardly need more than 8GB for gaming, of course, but I'm really considering this as my only PC for everything, for once Razer built something ridiculously impressive, even though the price tag bites.

 

This is what I've been trying to get a grasp on as well. Let's say the 870m can handle 4K at that resolution about as well as the current Blade's 765m can handle 1600x900p, would it be beneficial to drop the 2014's resolution down to let's say 1080p (which would still look miles better than the current Blade's rez)? I know you'd then be messing with sub-native resolution on the new Blade but I'd LOVE to know if that gives you a serious fps boost in some of the more demanding games...

 

I would think dropping it to 1600x900 would be best, rather than 1080p, as their would be less blurring with the pixels (it's a one to four conversion, correct? ) for games that can't handle the 4k.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

Agreed 100%. Apple has that Hi-whatever technology that drops the resolution but doesn't lose much sharpness compared to native resolution. I guarantee Razer will have that here.

 

I think that the 3200x1800 is overkill for such a small screen, and may make running windows at that res very difficult to read text unless you crank up the text size. That being said, I do think Razer was smart going with a multiple of 1600x900. That way if you run at that 1600x900 there will be 4 pixels lit (2x2) for every pixel in game. This will result in zero blurring (the blurring comes from dithering odd resolutions to each other, which will not be done with an even multiple).

Older games like skyrim may run great max or near max at native (since it has no problem with ultra on the current gen and res), and new games could be run at 1600x900 with no dithering.

If they went with a 1080p screen they couldn't have the highest resolution laptop, and unless they went with 3840x2160 they wouldn't be able to do the no dithering trick(and that would be even more pixels to push and even smaller pixel density.

Remember this is a 14" ultraportable, not a 18" dual GPU 12lb monster notebook with a power brick almost as large as Blade itself. It was never intended to compete with those large and unwieldy notebooks that can cost twice as much.

 

its my birthday next month so happy birthday to me, a 512GB Blade. Now Razer needs to get back and cancel my original preorder of 128GB system, before my wife sees our credit card balance at $5000 or so...

 

The 1st revision of the 14" Razer Blade's memory was soldered to the motherboard, so I doubt this new model will be upgradeable also.

 

Happy birthday indeed!

Unless the wife sees the credit card I imagine.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

I require some advice.

Recently, I launched nvidia inspector and played a game of battlefield 4 to check the temperature of the GPU which is a GTX 660M. I was surprised to find that the temperature reached 88 degrees C.

Now, I did not expect the temperature to reach that high as the blade did not felt too hot at all. I could even touch the top right corner of the blade where the GPU is where it was certainly warm but not too hot touch. The blade felt normal like any laptop running a game.

So, I would like to know if getting a laptop cooler base would help or should I just change the thermal paste to IC Diamond? I know for sure that the latter will decrease the temperature by a whole lot. But I'm concerned if it will void the warranty.

Thanks.

 

88 C is a tad bit high for the GPU I believe. It should be fine up to 100, but afaik the lower the better. Changing the thermal paste would void the warranty technically. Not sure if they can actually tell if you opened it up or not. Getting a laptop cooler will also work for lowering the temp a few degrees.

 

1) Repaste voids warranty
2) 88c is fine. Mine tops out at 91C most of the time while playing. Thin form factor + power = way higher temps on your gpu. It's fine as is. There are some that would say lower is bender as it would add longevity to the computer, but IMO the fans are more likely to go out before the GPU, in which case it doesn't matter what paste you have on.

Also laptop cooler won't do anything really, the blade is propped up perfectly fine as is so that won't lower temps, and the vent holes for the fans are so small, even if you had a specially made one that had fans right below the blades fans it wouldn't make much of a difference at all.

tl;dr your temps are nominal for how thin the blade is, and I'd be surprised if a laptop cooler made any noticeable difference in temps.

 

Thanks for the reply! Went through several sessions of gaming after that while checking the temperatures on each session along with different games.

I actually found out that playing Tomb Raider maxed the GTX 660M at 84C, Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag at 85C and Battlefield 4 at 88C. Pretty interesting results!

But as usual, the blade did not show any sign of overheating at all nor did it felt too hot to touch. Felt exactly the same as when I first got it!

Right now, I'm actually using 4 small rubber base to lift the blade up higher to allow more airflow and it actually reduced my temperatures by about 4C! Haha!

Thanks for the advice! I personally feel that the Blade's cooling system is great and there's no need for any external cooler at all. I now understand that those temperatures are normal and won't think about it too much anymore. In addition, because I do carry my blade around frequently, I felt that an external cooler would be redundant.

Really thanks for the advice!

 

Alright so I literally purchased the most recent 14" Blade about two months ago, along with the Edge Pro and accompanying accessories. With this recent announcement of the new 14" Blade I'm going to sell this one and pay extra to have this year's model. I notice the new 2014 Blade uses a completely different form of internal storage as opposed to mSata SSD, so what I'm wondering is along these lines:

-Should I remove the 1tb Samsung mSata SSD upgrade I did, before listing my current Blade? It increases the value but I'm not sure if a casual buyer would understand that, worst case scenario all they see when they read about the upgrade is "warranty voided" lol (as you know ur not supposed to open but you can't tell if someone did already etc.)

-2nd thing is let me know if anyone's interested in the upgraded 14" Blade, it's the most recently released model except with a huge amount of storage (Samsung 840 EVO Series 1TB mSATA SATA3). Plus it's 2 months old and in mint mint condition since I have OCD and clean it everytime I use it

Any advice on the matter is appreciated! Thanks guys

 

Ooh lala! What lifts are you using? I tried some myself and they made absolutely no differnece in temps for mine. Then again mine has demons in it so I'm not surprised it didn't! Where do you get the lifts?

 

- Depends on how honest you want to be, me personally, I'd remove it and sell it "as is" to get the most for my money. I tried selling my G73jw after getting my original blade I lost money on every upgrade I had in it because people weren't looking for an upgrade G73jw, they just wanted as advertised by Asus G73jw. I ended up cutting the price so that I could sell it and ended up losing more money than I'd have liked on the upgrades I put into it. That's just my personal experience, also selling something with the "Hey I've opened this thing up and messed with it" turns off a lot of potential buyers.

- No sir, I myself am looking to upgrade to the new Razer Blade myself. Speaking of, Anyone want a Blade Pro with a 660m in it?

LOL - Given up on the Aorus as well? Hehe...I'm looking to snag one of these bad boys too. Not happy about having a 14" screen, would have prefered maybe 15" but maybe I'll enjoy having something a little bit more portable and smaller. I'll just be happy to have no more SBUI in my life

 

^^This is exactly what I was worried about so I'm glad you shared that similar experience, selling as-is looks like the way to go for me. Thanks!

 

It sucks to do it especially if the next person in line with it has an issue and has to RMA back to Razer and finds out "Uh oh! Someones already tampered with it, no warranty for you!"

BUT I will say that back when I was all over this forum like white on rice when the Blade Pro R2 launched, there was someone that had that issue pop up and Razer helped the guy out. If they can link the problem to something related to a user messing with it, they'll deny warranty but if it's like, okay you install a HDD and the battery dies a month later, obviously that wouldn't cause that so they'll turn a blind eye. Again, that's just once persons experience and mine with their support (Have had nothing but good vibrations from them), but that isn't to say there haven't been some fair share of people that have had some major issues with them even ITT.

 

I just noticed the new SSD is listed as Sata M.2. What is this and its different then the old on msata right?

 

M.2 isn't new; it's a different form factor which doesn't accommodate standard mSATA drives. There is a markedly lower selection for aftermarket sale.

 

Ah...That plus the different more expensive panel probably explains the price increase over the 1st gen!

 

Darn, guess I can't get the smallest 128gb version and buy a separate drive.

 

You probably can. Just that finding that separate drive will be tricky I'm still hoping the msata drive used in the first gen Blade will start dropping in price now that Samsung released the EVO for consumer purchase in that format...

 

The price dropped to around $500 the other day on Superbiiz and I bought it, the 1tb Samsung msata Of course as soon as I received it they announced this year's new Blade -_____-

 

Heh. Hoping it will continue dropping to very near sata ssd prices. Wow, just realized superbizz has stuff really cheap compared to other online retailers. o.o

 

I just bought some rubber feet base from a DIY shop, about twice the size of the rubber feet on the front of the blade pro. It's around half the thickness of the blade pro.

So all I did was just position them are the exact same spot as the rubber base on the blade pro. It basically lifts the blade up while retaining the same angle of inclination the blade pro already has. I believe all it does is to allow more air to flow under the blade. So theoretically, more air would allow better cooling and easier heat dissipation through the blade's aluminium chassis. With the rubber base on, the amount of space between my blade and the table is about 1 cm or so/half an inch. About thrice the normal space.

Well, its just a temporary set up when I don't move the blade around. Haha!

On another note, I overclocked my GPU recently to see if there is a huge difference in temperature. I was a bit skeptical and shocked at the results.

GTX 660M - 950Mhz (Nvidia Stock Boost) - 2500Mhz Memory - 86C

Overclocked GTX 660M - 1085 Mhz ( +135Mhz ) - 3000Mhz Memory ( +500Mhz ) - 89C

In battlefield 4, I'm getting a stable boost of about 15 FPS when overclocked, maintaining a stable FPS of high 40s and 50s. ( FHD and a mixture of High and Medium settings, No AA )

In the end, I will refrain from overclocking it but I'm amazed at what little temperature it increases. Hooray for Kepler!

 

Bad news

Was playing Battlefield 4 as usual and ran Nvidia Inspector at the same time. No overclocking was done whatsoever.
The blade was running at base clocks of 950Mhz on the core and 2500Mhz on the memory. A GTX 660M

Played for a good 30 mins or so and Alt-Tabbed to check the temperatures. 89C at the point of time. Was about to Alt-Tab back to game when I realized something.

The speaker grill on the Blade Pro on the side of the GPU ( Right Side ) curved upwards. It curved so much that I could slid a paperclip underneath the grill.

I've attached photo for those who wants to see it, but do note that I only took the photo about 2 minutes after I stopped gaming. The Razer Blade does cool relatively quickly, so the bend quickly subsided.

Right now however, that portion of the grill has had it's surrounding glue with the aluminium chassis melted. It's still in place definitely, but the flexing is quite obvious when pressed down.

The speakers themselves are still working fine though it might just be me but it does sound very slightly less crisp. It's probably just me though.

I have already sent an email to Razer Support explaining the situation and requesting for a RMA to change the thermal paste and inspect the GPU and fix the grill if they can. Awaiting their reply as of right now.

-_-

( I have no idea why the picture is upside down and I tried re-uploading but it does nothing ) >.<

 

Not really much to fix in the GPU department, that thing is running fine like a champ if you're sub 90c while gaming. A lot of reviews I read of people that had the Blade R2 back when I was pulling the trigger noted how hot it can get after extended periods of gaming. I'm contantly at 89c-91c with a mix of OC'ing and not OC'ing. Haven't had my speaker grill glue come apart though, and I've had this thing in a worst case scenario before where it BSOD'd because the ambient temp was so high it reached "critical levels" and shut down everything to save it self...Definitely need to replace the glue on the speaker grill though, that's crazy @.@ Kind of wonder how mine has lasted so long now after everything its been through...lol