Essential Mods: Clevo X170KM-G Edition

DISCLAIMER: Some of these mods are NOT officially supported on the X170SM-G/KM-G laptops mentioned below and you are at risk of voiding your warranty! YOU assume all the risk and liability by attempting these mods on your own laptop. This thread was created merely to show that these mods are possible!


With that disclaimer out of the way, I just wanted to make this thread as some people are having trouble with memory clocks and timings, CPU overheating issues and general performance issues (mainly caused by the implementation of Nvidia's cancerous 'dynamic boost' which actually power limits the CPU!)

I'll be covering 4 main topics (the last topic being for more technical users) to improve general performance on the X170KM-G, but these mods will most likely work on the X170SM-G too so stay tuned!


1. Best plug and play memory compatible with the X170KM-G (most likely on the X170SM-G too!):

The award goes to OLOy! I know, your probably thinking what is this dodgy manufacturer, I've never heard of them!

Well it seems they make pretty good RAM lol with very good cas latency, which is surprisingly better than the competition I've tried and on top of that it's plug and play, no XMG bios needed, the bone stock Clevo 'Style Note' bios will run this at rated speeds!

The memory I'm specifically talking about is the:

OLOy DDR4 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) 3200 MHz CL18 1.2V 260-Pin Laptop SODIMM for intel (MD4S1632180IZ0DH)

This memory kit really is a speed demon! Paired with my i7-11700KF I've got the highest CPU benchmark scores on 3DMark TimeSpy, without an overclock or undervolt lol.

Here is the proof



I've got a guy who's trying everything to beat the score, but you ain't getting anywhere without this RAM, it is the best of the best!


2. Disabling NVIDIA Platform Controllers and Framework for extra CPU performance:

Intel Core i7 & i9 11th Gen K/KF Users:

This method is only advised if you have repasted your CPU with good quality thermal paste or liquid metal, if you haven't done so please do otherwise your CPU will be thermal throttling to oblivion on high multi-core loads!

So essentially what we are doing is disabling NVIDIA's cancerous firmware which limits CPU power under full GPU loads which can possibly be leaving performance on the table. They say it's for smart power management, I don't know what they were smoking but they forget we have 2 x 280w power adapters and an insanely huge heatsink to cool strenuous loads! This isn't the regular BGA slimbook lol, it can take an extra 50-100w on top of the 380W combined max load no problem

Anyway enough talking here's the mod:

So you want to go into Device manager and click the drop down arrow on 'Software Devices' like so:



Now right click 'NVIDIA Platform Controllers and Framework' and click 'Disable Device', now its going to prompt you with a warning dialog, if you accept the risks of disabling this click 'yes'.

Now your device manager should look something like this, with a down arrow on the 'NVIDIA Platform Controllers and Framework' icon:



Now I'd advise a restart and you should be good to go, your CPU should now be able to stretch it's legs, be warned though that the CPU will run hotter as will the GPU, which is why I strongly recommend the next topic as well as this one (if you have an 11th gen i7 or i9 K/KF CPU, they both go hand in hand)



3. Delidding your CPU (advised for i7 & i9 10th and 11th gen users):

So you may be wondering why I haven't included i5 CPU's in this, to be honest they don't output enough heat to soak the heatsink fully, even without a delid they should run cool unless you have a K variant running insane clocks, well cool enough for gaming at least

As you all may know that our CPU's have indium applied between the die and ihs, a nice THICC layer of indium, may I add, maybe a bit too much don't you think intel?

Delidding 10th gen CPU's is a piece of cake, as long as you have a delidding tool handy, any bog standard one will do, even a 3d printed one if your into that! It's doesn't have to be der8eur's one although that is the best in my opinion.

Delidding an 11th gen CPU though, oh man your in for a treat I would advise you follow what der8eur has done in delidding video for the 11900k.


4. Shunt Modding your GPU (Brute force more GPU power )

The last step to having the ultimate X170 laptop, shunt modding

I would HIGHLY ADVISE AGAINST THIS if you are not good with soldering!

For the people that know, the general consensus is that NVIDIA gpu's have sensor resistors which can be modified to show lower power draw than what is actually being provided to the GPU. Hence, we trick the GPU into thinking it isn't being given enough power so it asks for more, but how much is too much?

Well, too much is when your card becomes voltage locked and doesn't move past 2d clocks, such as 210MHz ~ 310MHz which is a common frequency NVIDIA will limit GPU core clocks to as it detects an issue with power draw. This usually happens when there is too little resistance between the solder points of the initial resistor as you've most likely created a jumper or have used a 0.002 ohm or lower resistor (if you took the original off).

This is why you have to find a balance and use the correct resistor which is between 0.003 - 0.004 ohms, this will lead to great results as the GPU will pull more power and will in turn stay at boost clocks instead of clocking down on high loads.

I used liquid metal on my r005 resistors as I didn't have any spare 0.004 or 0.003 ohm resistors, I WOULD ADVISE AGAINST THIS, IT WILL EAT THE SOLDER AWAY!

As I am slightly insane lol I'll show how I did this, again do NOT follow this method unless you know the repercussions.

So I applied a thin layer of liquid metal on one side of each resistor, making sure there wasn't too much on an opposing side as this would act like a jumper wire:








This made the power draw go from the stock 150-165w to 230w, yes a big jump lol

I would recommend putting liquid metal on the GPU die as well as the CPU as the amount of heat the GPU will put it will be immensely greater than before (flashbacks to the GTX 1080 Clevo days )

Temps went up by a solid 10c and total combined power draw went up by around 130w!

GPU only power draw -65W idle wattage from the total shown (~ 265W TDP with heavy overclocking, 250W TDP with no overclocks):



Total power draw:



Total power draw is now around the 500w to 520w which is something I'd expect from something this bulky, it's finally been let off its power limit leash, a real DTR in the making!


I'll update the thread with more photos on power consumption and such, stay tuned!


If anyone would like any other mods added to this thread let me know and I'll add it in for you with credit given of course!

 

Can you link some bench results of the 3080 before and after the power mod?

My guess is OLOy probably uses Samsung memory chips, which typically are the best you can get for a notebook. All the high speed manufacturers throw their junk binned parts into laptops and just try to sell their name. With samsung there is no high performance line, so you can luck into some really good chips for notebooks.

 

Thank you for this!

Tip #2 is interesting, although it doesn't appear in Device Manager for my BGA Clevo. Just wondering if you noticed any difference in disabling the "NVIDIA Display Container LS" windows service in the Services app? I had to do it once because apparently it kept my GPU on for no real reason thus making my notebook hot, I like to think it was some dumb driver bug.

 

You know Nvidia requires that firmware to be put in place right? Not much we can do about that from stock.

 

Yep I figured that after more research, it actually wasn’t Clevo’s fault

@Khenglish will do soon

 

Still good for those in the know to have a guide like this

 

Interesting about the nVidia platform device. I recently had that appear in device manager after upgrading my M18xR2 to RTX 3000. I'm going to disable it and see if it helps CPU at all.

 

If the TDP has been dropping down then it likely will.

 

@Khenglish stock benchmark of the GPU without shunt mods:



After shunt mods and overclocking:



Didn't have timespy results before the shunt mod as I hadn't installed it yet. I literally bought the laptop and wasn't happy with GPU performance at all hence the shunt mod and big improvement

By the way this is Micron ram, yes micron, these must be some rare chips lol

 

Nice results and gains from the clocking

 

I don't know why but I have the I5-11600K and 3080 but I do not have NVIDIA Platform Controllers and Framework in my device manager and I use the Nvidia downloaded driver package. I just do not install the Geforce Experience bloatware.

 

Does your GPU boost TDP?

 

Under gaming load it's always around 165W-171W per GPU-Z

 

It's 165w ish stock and 180w with the TDP up.

 

I have reposted this thread on laptopforum.net here is the link: https://www.laptopforum.net/showthread.php?tid=33

I suggest you guys to join up if you need any help/support with this mod!