Razer Blade Pro 17" (1080 GPU/late 2016) Owner's Lounge

I think I'm going to have no choice but to try this. I was trying to hold off as Razer Support had suggested there should be a driver update later in the month with the new blade pro added, but I've s the weirdest issue on this machine:

I can only get it to shut down in Heroes Of The Storm. I can play D3 and Overwatch both on max settings for hours on end with no issues. If it were a faulty power delivery problem [PSU or motherboard, short, w/e] One would THINK it'd be consistent under load, and I CANNOT SEE HoTS drawing more power than Overwatch when HoTS is running one step down from max settings while overwatch is running Fully maxed.

When the problem occurs in HoTS, the both the screen and the chroma lighting will dim for about half a second at least once, sometimes two or three times the match BEFORE the shutdown. I've sent another follow up to Razer support asking for a callback.

I've been working on computers for decades.. I have NEVER seen an issue like this. Ah well, enough talk, time to mod me some drivers. >< See ya on the other side with an update!



-----Update

Well, I got 376.19 installed, and I didn't even make it through a single match before it shut down. I guess this confirms it's not a driver issue.

I are disappoinnt.

 

I have.

Thing is, which was part of my point, a laptop screen isn't going to handle scaling as well as your $899 TOTL gaming monitor.

 

Yeah

that's a driver issue. The ship with driver is what caused that. 369.78 or something. I updated to 375.74 and it went away but i had the random shut off issue every now and then. You'll know when it's gonna shut off cause the game will run really crappy and you just need to do a restart. I updated to hoofs method and using driver 376 and it works fine now

 

True, but I also used the 1800p blade and did 900p vs 1080p. 900p looked quite good in game, 1080p looked horrific. I guess I don't know if it truly looked like native 900p though.

 

As above, I tried this. HoTS is still randomly shuts down, even on 376.19. It fixed the dimming screen/chroma back, and I'm not getting any kind of performance hit at all. Everything is fine, then it just goes dark. It's ACTING like a power problem, but I can't see why HoTS of all things would shut it down.

 

Maybe you should try to run several tests (firestrike, time spy) with monitoring (hwinfo64) to see whether your problem is related to heavy load.

 

Actually a great idea, so I downloaded intel XTU and 3dmark, and ran a simultaneous CPU stress test + firestrike to see if I could get it to shut itself off.

It passed

Normally I'd have used Priem95, but Prime and skylake don't get along these days.

 

Hmmm... Strange.
By the way what was your firestrike score?

 

Thing with Blizzard games is that they push the system in a weird way. My GPU clocks work with everything else, crash Overwatch unless i clock them down. Heck sometimes Overwatch doesn't even like a 10Mhz OC.

 

Just under 10k. . . .9786...ish? I wasn't paying that much attention.

Today I gave it one last shot, and then I dug into event viewer. I'm getting a lot of flags "SettingsyncHost (7600) requested write at offset X succeeded but took an abnormally long time, followed by improper shutdown criticals.

Completely unfamiliar to me, but it reminds me of overclocking BSODs expected X seconds got Y, so I suspect there's some kind of issue in the CPU itself [of course, this one's beyond me so I'm guessing] Hopefully I'll get my RMA request granted tomorrow so they can tear in to it and learn more.

 

firestrike ultra score: @ stock no oc. blade pro 2tb version.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/16630985?

i dont think i could hit 5k even with oc... no hope

 

of course should go without saying but it handles both Oculus Rift and Vive gaming no problemo.

 

yea, it runs vr flawlessly. it would be awesome to get 5k + on firestrike ultra that would be sick..

 

Please dont take this the wrong way, but how are you finding the laptop worth the $4k cost after that kind of performance. Basically you guys got sold a GTX 1070 , with barely any headroom.
Im genuinely interested, because i would be furious if i found out the GPU in my $4k laptop is a GTX 1080 only in name.

 

i spent 4,5k... it sucks to hav this kind of performance.. unexpected. dont really know what to do now.. we all thought that it would give impressive performance as you mentioned.. thats why i preordered in a heartbeat after it went live.. RAZER please unlock this beast .. i hope its software restriction..

 

Sorry, it's not entirely a numbers game for me at this point. I mean I had a GT80 Titan that just barely beat the Blade Pro as well as the new Aorus x7 V6 that matched up well. The Blade looks and feels much more premium than either laptop, which does matter to me. Plus, it has the mechanical keyboard that I simply love similar to the GT80, and has a far superior display than the TN panel in the Aorus. So Graphic performance matters, sure. But if I can play all my modern games at high settings and near or at 4k and have all the features I want to boot, and I can afford the price of admission, then I'm OK with that. Happy to answer question and discuss improving performance or overclocking and stuff, rather than being asked to justify a purchase.

Incidentally if I had $2700 as my budget limit I'd happily recommend the Aorus as it was great (minus the KB and display). That or the Alienware 13 OLED with graphics amp, but I wanted a bigger screen.

 

Hots is a mess with a lot of Pascal owners. people complaining about low performance low gpu cpu load and stuttering frames on the blizzard forums. working perfectly on some desktops before the gpu upgrade, and horribly after. so go figure. the issue has not been solved on the U.S. or eu forums

It runs perfectly fine on my 1080gtx desktop with 100hz predator x34 gsync on. And it runs fine on my 980m asus gaming laptop with 75hz gsync on. but it is horrendous on my 1080gtx aorus x7 dt with 120hz screen.
If i disable gsync for windowed mode and just run hots in windowed fullscreen i get solid 150fps peaking 200 occasionally . menus at 60fps locked.

I get 60fps on full screen with gsync.
Full screen with gsync and vsync I get 120 fps but quickly drops when the game gets hectic. gpu load is low and fans don't kick up. With full screen and gsync even though it says 60fp it's choppy and stuttering. A lot of ppl experience frame drops to 30fps or outright crashes as you've mentioned. .

So not an issue with your blade or but a Hots one. I'm looking to get one as well for my gf over Xmas. how's the screen for creative work? video and photo editing on the go.

 

Actually I did some digging in event viewer. Razer engineering is taking a look at the logs, and it appears as though they're going to be replacing the unit. You have to understand, it's not an FPS issue [though I had my issues with that with the stock 369.X driver and 375.x driver. The hacked nvidia driver appeared flawless. . . but the machine still randomly shuts down.

It appears as though there's an issue that's causing the voltage to drop down to save power, which is causing either sudden spikes or unregulated voltage to drop TOO Far, causing the shutdown. I'm not a master of reading the event log errors, so that's more guesswork than fact, but Razer support has gone above and beyond to collect info to identify the issue and to RMA the unit [I'm guessing a replacement, though a new motherboard would constitute the same thing]

As for why anyone would spend that kind of money on this machine: The GPU appears capped around 70c. I SUSPECT that this is in a bid not to cross soak the CPU [which also stays in the 70c range with spikes up to 82ish]. The heat pipes are tied together to keep the temp uniform across the body, so they're doing their best to keep from having those 90+c spikes like on the pre 1060 14" razer blade.

As the Blade Pro's 1080 is still not Nvidia certified [at least you can't install the latest drivers without modifying them to accept the 1080 in the Pro] My guess is that we'll see a modest performance gain once Nvidia and Razer are playing nice on the most updated driver set. It DEFINITELY has the power, and in it's current config it's not overtaxing the cooling solution. . . but it's impossible to know how much cooling headroom it actually has. That's going to ultimately determine what you can get out of it, especially since it dynamically downlclocks like every other desktop and laptop Nvidia card to balance thermals and performance.

However, as a "desktop" GPU, it SHOULD play nice with afterburner or EVGAs overclocking tool. I never bothered, as I'm not running anything so strenuous to NEED the extra performance [except maybe Elite Dangerous in VR. . but I have a sim setup for that with my desktop] But I'm sure SOMEONE out there could try playing around with it.

I'd even maybe do it myself, except I'm boxed up waiting for my RMA paperwork, which should be here this morning.

 

tell us if you have restocking fee from razer

 

Pretty sure they legally can't charge a restocking fee if it's defective.

 

Don't think he is returning it.
Just getting a replacement.

 

Repair, replace. . about the same thing since they'd just swap mainboards chips and all. DEFINITELY not giving up on this machine. If I'd never heard of HoTS, I would be blissfully enjoying my new machine!

TBH, I don't care about the turnaround. as an RMA it'll be free shipping, no fees etc] just time lost.
What I want more than anything at this point is ANSWERS! I spent 5 days of reinstalls, driver swaps, driver hacks, log reading. . . and I couldn't find the source problem. There is NOTHING I HATE MORE than not getting my answer [Dr. House and I are both very adamant on that one]

I'll keep y'all posted as I know more. I was supposed to be "first on the list" for my Razer tech this morning but apparently he either got waylaid or they're holding until they get an answer from engineering. I'm fine either way as long as I get my answer

Of course it DOES help that I'm a complete tech addict with a well equipped desktop, a 1st gen stealth, and a razer core [equipped with a paltry GTX960 backup GPU] I have the luxury of being able to send the pro losing time or productivity. It's like owning a modified sports car. Modding is all well and good, but ALWAYS make sure you have a daily driver for backup o7

 

new nvidia driver dropped today and sadly still not compatible.

 

Updated instructions I used on 376.33 driver (FYI, these instructions got shorter as NVidia now included new sections up to and including 28, they just didn't include the device id lines)

Go to:
http://www.geforce.com/drivers

Fill out driver section:
GeForce
GeForce 10 Series (Notebooks)
GeForce GTX 1080
Windows 10 64-bit
English (US)
All

Click:
GeForce Game Ready Driver - WHQL
Version: 376.33 - Release Date: Wed Dec 14, 2016


Version 376.33 - WHQL
Release Date Wed Dec 14, 2016
Operating System Windows 10 64-bit
Language English (US)
File Size 375.14 MB
(Agree and download)

Download:
376.33-notebook-win10-64bit-international-whql.exe

Install and let the install fail. Will create directory c:\NVIDIA\...
Edit:
C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\376.09\Win10_64\International\Display.Driver\nvrzi.inf

Find:
%NVIDIA_DEV.1C20.674F.1A58% = Section022, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1C20&SUBSYS_674F1A58
(Should be last line in group: [NVIDIA_Devices.NTamd64.10.0...14310])
Add this line after:
%NVIDIA_DEV.1BE0.6750.1A58% = Section028, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1BE0&SUBSYS_67501A58

Find:
%NVIDIA_DEV.1C20.674F.1A58% = Section021, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1C20&SUBSYS_674F1A58
(Should be last line in group: [NVIDIA_Devices.NTamd64.10.0])
Add this line after:
%NVIDIA_DEV.1BE0.6750.1A58% = Section027, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1BE0&SUBSYS_67501A58

Find:
NVIDIA_DEV.1C20.674F.1A58 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060"
(Should be last line before REG_BINARY in group: [Strings])
Add this line after:
NVIDIA_DEV.1BE0.6750.1A58 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080"

Save.

Run:
C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\375.95\Win10_64\International\setup.exe

This will initiate an auto reboot in 60s.
Hold down shift and restart your computer or (Win-R and 'shutdown/r/o')
This will boot into a menu. Choose Troubleshoot,Startup Settings then hit restart.
Once booted into the startup settings menu, hit 7 or F7 to boot with Driver signature enforcement disabled.

Run:
C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\375.95\Win10_64\International\setup.exe
(Uncheck GeForce Experience 3, unless you like logging in for driver updates, etc)

As the install continues, click "Install this driver software anyway" when the windows security popup comes up.

 

Disabled gsync this time and got 13,356 on firestrike
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/16689477

Next, I disabled vsync (setting was deeper in nvcpl gui) and followed this ( http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-...ows.html?_ga=1.160726137.597771316.1480085088) to disable core parking and ran firestrike again. This time I got 13,505:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/16689959

Also, is there any way to run firestrike ultra without paying? I have the Steam version of 3dmark and when I try to select FireStrike Ultra, it says advanced edition only. Is there some way like going and downloading 3dmark off their website or registering on their website?

 

Also, when I was having issues with my GT80 a while back, I wrote a quick little powershell script to better narrow down the nvidia driver installs and graphical crashes in event viewer. Here it is if it is of any use
NVDriverHistory.ps1:

Code:

$Query = @"
  <QueryList>
    <Query Id="0" Path="System">
      <Select Path="System">
        *[System[(EventID=20001)] and UserData[InstallDeviceID[(SetupClass='{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}')]]]
          or
        *[System[(EventID=6008)]]
          or
        *[System[(EventID=4104)]]
          or
        *[System[(EventID=41)]]
          or
        *[System[(EventID=14)]]
<!--
          or
        *[System[(EventID=1074)]]
          or
        *[System[(EventID=131)]]
          or
        *[System[(EventID=42)]]
          or
        *[System[(EventID=30)]]
          or
        *[System[(EventID=27)]]  
          or
        *[System[(EventID=20)]]
          or
        *[System[(EventID=12) and Provider[@Name='Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-General']]]
          or
        *[System[(EventID=2)]]
          or
        *[System[(EventID=1) and Provider[@Name='Microsoft-Windows-Power-Troubleshooter']]]
-->
      </Select>
    </Query>
  </QueryList>
"@

$events = Get-WinEvent -FilterXml $Query
ForEach ($Event in $Events) {
    # Convert the event to XML
    $eventXML = [xml]$Event.ToXml()
    Add-Member -InputObject $Event -MemberType NoteProperty -Force -Name  DriverVersion -Value $eventXML.Event.UserData.InstallDeviceID.DriverVersion
    Add-Member -InputObject $Event -MemberType NoteProperty -Force -Name  DriverDescription -Value $eventXML.Event.UserData.InstallDeviceID.DriverDescription
    Add-Member -InputObject $Event -MemberType NoteProperty -Force -Name  Data -Value $eventXML.Event.EventData.Data
}

$Events `
| Select TimeCreated `
    , @{Name="EventID"
      ; Expression = {
          switch ($_.Id) {
            default {"$_"}
       }}} `
    , @{Name="MessageData"
      ; Expression = {
          $DriverVersion = $_.DriverVersion;
          $DriverDescription = $_.DriverDescription;
          $Data = $_.Data;
          $Message = $_.Message;
          switch ($_.Id) {
            20001 {$s ="Install $DriverDescription $DriverVersion"}
            14    {$s = $Data}
            default {$s = $Message}
          }
          $s -replace "\r\n", " "
       }} `
| Out-GridView

cmd /c pause | out-null

NVDriverHistory.bat

Code:

@echo off
powershell.exe -executionpolicy bypass "& '.\NVDriverHistory.ps1'"

 

*pmed this part*

Installer is affected from a known bug which would fail cause of too high privileges, so just try different versions.

Ultra verion is for paid versions only and the free one actually heats up your CPU and GPU through the demo during other benchmarks, so scores are a few 100s lower compared to paid versions anyway.

 

Just came across this -

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/11089950/fs/11090155

Seems like Razer has limited the 1080 by a lot, if the notebook 1070 is out performing it .

 

Stock 1080 vs 3rd in place (OC wise) 1070 doesn't look like something really fair.

I hope someone with a perfect RBP actually tries OCing and tweaking his unit a bit to see what the real limit of the notebook is.

 

Just like @Prema said. Thinner the worse. You can't have both(max performance and Apple design)

 

Yeah really interested seeing that as well.
But it won't quite be there, because the TDP is limited. There is no way to provide extra juice to the GPU.
Have a friend really hell bent on getting one, but is holding back because of the gimped 1080.

 

250 W should be enough too power it, GTX 1080 TDP is around 180W, while CPU one is 45W.

Turbo boost might require a bit more, but it's probably going to be enough for let's say 90%.

I think heat will be the most limiting factor, just as expected from such a thin notebook, but it will surely require some tweak to squeeze the best out of it; I wouldn't be so negative about this notebook performance.

p.s. Dave Lee review is out:

 

The Clevo ones easily max out at 200W. Since they are currently locked. (AFAIK)

This one however is locked at 160W. Anything over and the temperatures will be out of hand. Which in turn will result in even lower clocks . (THANK ****ing GPU boost 3 BS).

I won't be negative about its performance if it didn't cost $4k, and then gets outperformed by every other notebook with a 1080 in it.
Mind you I myself have the RBP 2015 and I love it for what it is, but back then it's cost was slightly over what it was worth, but not ludicrously high like the current one.

Edit : Notice how he has not touched any GPU benchmarks? ( Or mention the scores)
I used to like his videos, but this feels really biased or shady, if I have to be extreme about it.

Please don't get me wrong, sure the laptop will play games at 4k just fine, but is it really worth that cost. At this point, no ****ing way .

 

I have probably missed the posts in which it's said that the thing is hardware locked @160 W, nothing else to say then.

The notebook still stand a chance for those looking for a slick and awesome built 17 inch powerhouse, who'd probably go for it even if it had a 1070 since they are buying it for different reasons than the sole aim to play on it.

Regarding Dave Lee, yea, I thought the same thing while vid had finished and I hadn't seen a single bench..

 

Can't disagree with that, definitely has a place. And I'm sure it makes sense for people who just care about baseline performance in games with something well built and portable.
I tried it at launch in SF, and the keyboard is amazing to type on. Might even be more than worth it for some to get it just for that.

 

I just saw this video, and felt the same way. He conveniently left out the GTX 1070 in the render comparison, and then decided not to show any more GPU benchmarks.

 

gonna try oc on blade pro. will update you the ultra score.

 

well first oc score on firestrike ultra 4728

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/16697208

should i increase the core clock and memory clock? please advice me.. and also advice me if i should tweak any other thing.

 

Only push one value at a time. First find the max stable poimt for the core clock and once that is established start pushing the memory clock.
Both in small increments.

 

disabling gsync gave me a large bump

 

how do i know if its stable ?

 

Games / Firestrike will start crashing.
Just don't push it too much. You don't want to damage it.

 

whats the ideal limit?

 

Depends from GPU to GPU it self and the temperatures.

 

dave2d just released his review, with actual numbers for fan noises compared to mine which made it sound like a jet engine

 

You can also undervolt the CPU to help lower the heat

 

You have more than a gpu and cpu in a laptop, pch, drives, memory, screen etc. It needed at least 330watt.

 

Their power consumption requires two hands top to count, where did you ear about a screen or a memory taking more than a Watt or two?

Any standard ultrabook's got a 50 W adapater to power even 4k displays, ram and HD, over a 30ish W CPU, for example, and this applies even to TN displays which are known to draw more energy than IGZO.

 

They us low power ram, slower ssd, extreme low power cpu. Not a 30watt etc. Screen takes about 15watt average by the way. Nvme drives are not power frugal etc. It really should have a larger psu.

 

What are you talking about?

There was a bug early on with Skylake that Intel was supposed to have fixed with firmware updates long ago.

You should never hit it unless you are looking for it, and even then your laptop is new enough to have had the Intel patch included in the motherboard BIOS firmware.

Intel Skylake processors crash at specific Prime number calculations
by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 01/11/2016 11:30 AM
https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/i...sh-at-specific-prime-number-calculations.html

"Intel is soon to issue a big-fix through BIOS firmware updates. The Skylake architecture has a hardware error in which it'll crash the processor and system once it reaches a specific Prime number.

The problem only shows itself with very specific prime numbers, in a respons in their forums Intel stated that they are aware of the big and are working on a fix that is soon to be released with the help of a BIOS update.

The big was detected by users of Prime95, a program developped by the Mersenne Research group. If Prime is used to test the number 14942209 then the system will simply crash.

You could test this yourself:

• Download and install Prime95 for Windows on a Skylake system from the website.
• In the menu go to 'Advanced | Test' and fill in the number 14942209 in the box labeled 'Exponent to test'
• Let the program run for some time and at some point, minutes or hours, the system will freeze."

You should have no trouble using Prime95 for stress and stability testing