Another round with HIDevolution (P870TM1)

I've been looking to upgrade starting February 2018, but told myself I should wait for next gen CPU + GPU. Boy... did that work! It worked for about 2 months... and here we are April 2018. Well... life is short and I decided I should enjoy now rather than later. If something better comes out -> sell laptop at a loss -> buy next big thing (if reasonable)

Anyways - I wanted to thank @Donald@HIDevolution & @Ted@HIDevolution for their help answering my questions along the way.

My uses for this laptop: I plan to move the majority of my work from my workstation desktop (see my signature) to this new laptop for code development purposes. The workstation desktop will now be used to host development servers while this new laptop will be for coding and development purposes (I travel a lot). I understand this will be an extra 5 lbs compared to my P870DM since P870TM1 is heavier with an extra AC adapter and heavier P870. The power of this new laptop will also be used for gaming of course

Timeline (MM/DD/YYYY):
04/22/2018 - Initial purchase - paid fully
04/23/2018 - Payment Review Complete
04/26/2018 - Parts/Product On Order
04/27/2018 - Pre-Production
05/03/2018 - In Production
05/03/2018 - Awaiting Shipment
05/04/2018 - Complete
05/09/2018 - Delivered by Fedex Ground

Laptop Specs:
LCD: 17.3" Full HD (1920x1080) 144Hz~9ms IPS-level 72% NTSC Matte Type Display - w/ nVIDIA® G-SYNC™ Technology
GPU: DUAL NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5 X 200W + Vapor Chamber Dual GPU Heat Sink - NVIDIA G-Sync Enabled
CPU: HIDevolution Delidded - Unlocked, Under Volted and Overclocked 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8700K 6 Core-12 Thread Processor, 4.7 GHz (HIDevolution Overclocked to 4.8GHz) - GUARANTEED Performance (Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut included)
RAM: No Memory (I already have 64GB of 2666MHz RAM to put into this)
SSD: None (I will be moving SSD from P870DM to this machine)
WIFI: Intel® Wireless-AC 9260 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n 2x2 NGFF w/ Bluetooth 5.0 - installed by HIDevolution
OS: None (I have my own Windows 10 license)

Now I bet some of you will wonder why I went for 1080p LCD???
Whenever I am away from home, I plan to only bring 1 power brick to keep the weight a little bit on the lighter side (-3 lbs) and disable SLI. Whenever I am at home, I use my external 1440p monitor and so game on that monitor instead (turn SLI on). Also 1440p is too small for my little eyes on a 17'' screen.


I'll be listing my P870DM on ebay or craigslist after testing this P870TM1. Would love to sell it here, but I don't meet post requirements

May also need to sell off some of my workstation server RAM to make up the cost of this beast too! I'll sell the 1080Ti on my desktop as well since it doesn't play well with my machine (not "officially" supported on this workstation and ran into some gaming issues due to my desktop). Good thing GPU prices are high so I may get my money back selling it.


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Screen Warranty: Zero Defective Pixel Warranty (perfect panel guarantee)
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My screen has a faint black dot located a little bit over an inch from the bottom left corner of the screen. Sent my laptop back for warranty repair since it's under the Zero Defective Pixel Warranty (perfect panel guarantee). Pictures of the defected pixel can be found in Post #6.

Warranty Timeline (MM/DD/YYYY):
05/31/2018 - Shipped
06/05/2018 - Delivered to HIDevolution
06/06/2018 - Laptop has been logged/acknowledged by HIDevolution
06/20/2018 - Laptop shipped from HIDevolution
06/25/2018 - Laptop has been delivered

Result: The screen looks perfect! Good thing the Zero Defective Pixel Warranty (perfect panel guarantee) was purchased.


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Benchmark: All tests were conducted with max fan (Fn + 1)
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RAM: Kingston HyperX Impact 64GB DDR4-2666MHz

AIDA64 Cache & Memory - 64GB DDR4-2666MHz by aznxwill posted May 10, 2018 at 10:00 PM

CPU: Intel i7-8700K @ 4.8GHz @ -120mv

Cinebench-CPU by aznxwill posted May 10, 2018 at 9:59 PM

CPU: Intel i7-8700K @ 4.8GHz @ -120mv

Prime95-Blend-AVX by aznxwill posted May 13, 2018 at 8:30 PM

CPU: Intel i7-8700K @ 4.8GHz @ -120mv

Prime95-Blend-noAVX by aznxwill posted May 13, 2018 at 8:31 PM

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X (SLI) @ 912mv at 1885MHz Core Clock
Nvidia Driver: 23.21.13.8875 (388.75)
Nvidia Settings: Prefer maximum performance + SLI Enabled + Gsync Disabled

3DMark FireStrike by aznxwill posted May 10, 2018 at 9:58 PM

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X (SLI) @ 912mv at 1885MHz Core Clock
Nvidia Driver: 23.21.13.8875 (388.75)
Nvidia Settings: Prefer maximum performance + SLI Enabled + Gsync Disabled

3DMark FireStrikeExtreme by aznxwill posted May 10, 2018 at 9:58 PM

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X (SLI) @ 912mv at 1885MHz Core Clock
Nvidia Driver: 23.21.13.8875 (388.75)
Nvidia Settings: Prefer maximum performance + SLI Enabled + Gsync Disabled

3DMark FireStrikeUltra by aznxwill posted May 10, 2018 at 9:58 PM

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X (SLI) @ 912mv at 1885MHz Core Clock
Nvidia Driver: 23.21.13.8875 (388.75)
Nvidia Settings: Prefer maximum performance + SLI Enabled + Gsync Disabled

3DMark TimeSpy by aznxwill posted May 10, 2018 at 9:59 PM

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X (SLI) @ 912mv at 1885MHz Core Clock
Nvidia Driver: 23.21.13.8875 (388.75)
Nvidia Settings: Prefer maximum performance + SLI Enabled + Gsync Disabled

3DMark FireStrikeExtremeST by aznxwill posted May 10, 2018 at 9:58 PM

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X (SLI) @ 912mv at 1885MHz Core Clock
Nvidia Driver: 23.21.13.8875 (388.75)
Nvidia Settings: Prefer maximum performance + SLI Enabled + Gsync Disabled

3DMark FireStrikeUltraST by aznxwill posted May 10, 2018 at 9:59 PM

 

Awesome man! Congrats on the new beast! Lemme know when you get it if you want me to help you tweak it.

These are the Phoenix Tweaks:

1- Uninstallation of all the Windows Store Garbage Apps like 3D Paint, Print 3D, Alarms & Clock, Feedback Hub, Maps, Groove Music, News, Weather, etc.
2- Removing all Windows 10 Privacy Invasion stuff like Telemetry, sending your keystrokes to Microsoft, automatically installing suggested apps in the background, allowing Microsoft to conduct experiments on your laptop, disabling automatic driver updates through Windows updates, disabling Windows 10 ads, disabling Cortana, Cloud Search etc.
3- Removal of nVIDIA and Intel Telemetry
4- Adjusting a lot of options in PC Settings like disabling Windows Tablet Mode (you have a laptop not a tablet), disabling suggestions appearing in the start menu, disabling automatically connecting to Paid WiFi Hotspots, disabling Game DVR which reduced performance in games, and a lot more.
5- Replacing Cortana with a much better search tool that finds results instantly called Everything which finds any file you want as soon as you start typing even a few letters of its name and it doesn't even rely on the Windows Indexing Service to do this!
6- Restoring the classic Windows Photo Viewer
7- Restoring the Classic Windows 7 Start Menu
8- Removal of the new and useless 3D Objects Folder that appears when you open "Computer"
9- Completely disabling Windows Defender from its roots (including all scheduled tasks and startup files) for those who want to install their own AV. ESET NOD32 Antivirus is highly recommended if you want the utmost security with the least system performance impact.
10- Updating all drivers to the latest versions in case they weren't up to date.
11- Disabling the performance hit that is caused by the Meltdown and Spectre patches recently released by Microsoft (optional, only if you don't mind having this security vulnerability and would rather have your CPU's full performance back)
12- Overprovisioning your SSD anywhere between 10-20% depending on how much space you can spare to ensure optimal and consistent performance at all times.
13- Blocking the Google Chrome Software Reporter Tool (which causes a high system load when it is scanning files)
14- Updating all drivers
15- Creating a system restoration image using Macrium Reflect

 

Well my order has gone through all statuses:

Timeline (MM/DD/YYYY):
04/22/2018 - Initial purchase - paid fully
04/23/2018 - Payment Review Complete
04/26/2018 - Parts/Product On Order
04/27/2018 - Pre-Production
05/03/2018 - In Production
05/03/2018 - Awaiting Shipment
05/04/2018 - Complete

Should be here on Wednesday (May 9). Will post some benchmarks after receiving it

 

Seems like FEDEX isn't playing nice with laptop. According to the tracking number, the laptop has been chilling at Schertz, TX for days. The final destination (my place) is about 3 hours away. COME ON FEDEX!!! The delivery is originally scheduled for May 09, but looks like possible delay..

 

Added some benchmark on the 1st post

 

My screen has a faint black dot located a little bit over an inch from the bottom left corner of the screen. Sent my laptop back for warranty repair since it's under the Zero Defective Pixel Warranty (perfect panel guarantee).

Warranty Timeline (MM/DD/YYYY):
05/31/2018 - Shipped
06/05/2018 - Delivered to HIDevolution
06/06/2018 - Laptop has been logged/acknowledged by HIDevolution
06/20/2018 - Laptop shipped from HIDevolution
06/25/2018 - Laptop has been delivered

 

Update: As of Jun. 14, 2018, it looks like the screen is out of stock so screen replacement is delayed. I'm expecting to receive the laptop maybe in 2 weeks since shipping takes a week to ship from HIDevolution (CA) to TX. Not expecting to wait this long, but it is what it is. Sad face.

 

Got my laptop back! Screen looks perfect!

Don't forget the Zero Defective Pixel Warranty (perfect panel guarantee) from HIDevolution guys!

The BIOS was reset and so I lost the HIDevolution 4.8GHz overclock. Talked to @Zoltan@HIDevolution about it via chat and he should get back to me shortly with the BIOS settings. Then will tune the BIOS settings even further