*** Official Clevo P65xSA/SE/SG / Sager NP8650/51/52 Owner´s Lounge ***

Check the thermals closely, make sure no thermal contacts were distrupted.

 

So far there are no problems. But i think my GTA 5 frame skipping sometimes. I dont know maybe im just noticing every details more than before because im worried. might also happened before I dropped it.

Well, it landed on my carpet. since it landed upside down, im worrying the screen part and the hinges.
And I dont have any idea how to open the component parts of my laptop.

I usually dont use my laptop on bed. Yesterday im just feeling lazy. And I regretted it

 

Hi all! I've had my P650SE for about a week now so I thought I would post a little review of my impressions so far. This is a review for people like me two weeks ago, who were browsing this thread on more clues if this machine is the one!

One reason for this is that I bought from an unknown brand - Eluktronics, as I was unable to use any advantages you guys here had used in purchasing the laptop, and had to buy online with fast delivery. I got the most basic version for $1250 with 4gb RAM, 128gb SSD and a TN panel ( which I promptly upped with another 8gb stick and my older 180gb Intel SSD ).

http://www.amazon.com/i7-4720HQ-Gra...pebp=1434645008128&perid=154ZDHAHTT2HEMG294YB

I was not sure about ordering from these guys - however the price was very favourable for me, as the XOTIC version came with 965M at the same price. I was upgrading from a HP DV6 with only HD display and Radeon 6770M, so this is a big big upgrade - 10x more GPU processing power.

The laptop itself is awesome and I can only recommend Eluktronics. They seem to sell cheap, own-branded hardware that is high quality. The laptop is as standard. The GTX 970M is a beast, and plays BF4 on Ultra ( with AA dialed down a bit ) on about 50+ FPS. Setting things a little lower provides almost unbelievable visual fidelity with the game working perfectly and glitch free. I can say that this laptop runs much faster than my desktop PC with AMD Phenom II X4/8GB RAM/GTX 750Ti. So far I've used it with several professional software/adobe etc. and it runs blazing fast with CUDA rendering enabled. Getting that performance is a bit of a hassle, you have to make sure you have all your dials set to high. The temps on this thing are AMAZING. And that's without any updates. I did not do any stress tests, but playing BF4 I can either have the 70-80C range with the fans being absolutely quiet, and 60-70C with them blazing.

The build quality itself is great and solid. No flex anywhere except the very thin display. The design is what brought me here also - in comparison to the MSIs. I game sometimes, but I feel no need for others to know that - or to ogle my obviously gaming laptop. I am predominantly multimedia artist/student, so I bring my machine to school, workshops and exhibitions. This machine does not look out of place anywhere. For me, I would describe the design as fitting for a highly mobile multimedia workstation.

Keyboard is sweet to write on. The sound and the feel of it just invites you to keep on pressing. Like right now during this review which I projected as very short. The complement of ports is brutal. 4x USB3, 2x mDP+HDMI, 5.1 audio out... VJ's and multimedia artist dream machine. Just get the connectors and you can run 3x monitors/projections with ease.

The battery lasts about 4-5 hours if you set things reasonably. Definitely possible to watch a full movie in transport.

My only gripes about this laptop are:

The TN screen that is possibly specific to the brand. Its fine for standard usage, however the vertical viewing angles will make you sad any time you see an IPS. The FHD resolution is as crisp as it needs. I definitely would not get this beast with a 4K display. I already have to squint...
However when home I use it with my beautiful 27' FHD Benq VA screen, so I don't mind it not being perfect.

It may be thin, bit it is BIG. Its much bigger than my old HP. Feels more like a 16 or 17 inch - and almost doesn't fit in my old sleeve.

Blue indicator led is a bit too bright.

The case is not all-metal. Not at all. The monitor lid is metal, the palmrest and the bottom panel. Everything else including the display hinges are plastic. A slight dissapointment - isn't that the place where metal would matter the most?

Another gripe ( and definitely a thing I had to think about ) for many can be the Haswell processor as the Broadwell i7 Quad is here, and the Skylake is coming September. However as I see it ( and MSI set the example recently - they upgraded the GE62 with i7 5700HQ, and downgraded the 965m to 960M. So you get +3% CPU power and -30-40% GPU power for the same price. Worth it? Not really. The same thing might happen with Skylake - and also with the U chips spilling in to the middle range ). Personally, this was a great purchase for me, as where I live I could only get the V17 Nitro with 960M for this price. Which was also a high limit for me - 970M here starts at $1700.

If you can get this with IPS, then I say it might be the best-balanced laptop I've seen on the market.

 

Hey guys. Just got my P651SE from mySN, all good except that HWinfo tells me that the display is the AUO B156HW01 V1. Most places I've checked this is a TN panel... Device Manager tells me the display is an AUO11ED.

According to mySN, the display should be the AU B156HAN01.2. Am I missing something here?

Otherwise, I am extremely happy with the laptop. I tried a similarly spec'ed MSI Ghost Pro for a couple of weeks. The disappointing battery life (2.5 hours on power saver), the constantly on CPU fan (MSI made it impossible to take fan speed lower than 42% of max even if CPU was not doing much) the almost unusable touchpad and the bloody flashing dragon on the back of the screen made me switch to the XMG - helped by the fact that I got it for £150 less than the MSI, with a larger SSD (240 GB vs 120 on the MSI) and faster RAM (1866 vs 1600).

Just ran a Firestrike test and I am getting 6611 points. Quite good for a mobile PC!

I have to say I am amazed by how quiet this laptop is. With light browsing and office work on battery the loudest component is the mechanical HDD (usually off luckily!).

 

How are the viewing angles? If they shift a lot, you do indeed have a TN panel.

I would call up mySN and get the proper panel for you.

 

I believe there is a TN and an IPS with the exact same model number.

 

It should be fairly obvious if it is TN of IPS by looking at the vertical viewing angles.

 

I did some tests last night and the panel does indeed appear to be IPS and not the standard TN. However, that model number is very strange. I might contact MySN to enquire, it might be that they are aware of the issue. Will keep you posted

 

Hi

We have never sold the P505 with a TN panel so I can guarantee that you have an IPS model!!! As for HWinfo, I'm not sure if maybe they use a database from the HW code which is not correct.

 

Thanks for the reply XMG. It makes sense and I am quite sure the panel is IPS, it's just a bit strange. I know that you guys only sell the IPS as "standard" on the P505 but the Clevo P650SE does seem to come with a TN panel (if not otherwise specified by the re-seller) and mix-ups can happen - most likely at the factory.

Could anyone else with the AUO IPS full HD panel check what HWinfo gives them for the panel model number? I'm willing to contact the HWinfo developer and get to the bottom of this but need a bit more data beforehand

 

From what I know the AUO panel is not IPS but similar called AHVA or advance hyper viewing angle. It's like TN but with the color and viewing angles of IPS.

 

Last Update: problem solved! I flashed Prema BIOS first, then flashed the EC 06 from mySN site and my Bluetooth has not disappeared since then, even when I shut down and unplug the PC. Thank you for all the help. Hope this update will save anyone with the same problem from trouble. Cheers!

 

Does anyone know a third party fan controller that works? because i hate it that i cant really adjust the fan profile, which results in fans ramping up on my p650 while the temps are just at 60 c and sometimes when i adjust the setting the fans just go really slow and let my hardware get 100 c and throttle.

 

You mean that the cpu fan will ramp up? I got the same problem, gpu fan is fine.

 

IPS is to LG as AHVA is to AUO. TN panels are different to both of these, so for the sake of simplicy IPS and AHVA produce the same type of experience, the technology is owned/licensed by different companies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPS_panel

 

Yeah, it only seems to happen with the cpu fan, but i would like to havr a custom fancurve like i had with my asus dasktop.

 

No third party program will work as notebook ECs are all custom.

 

Here you go, what I get from HWinfo is - "Monitor Name (Manuf): AUO B156HAN01.2 " and "AUO12ED" in device manager.

You know...I don't know what to say here. Unless HWinfo is giving you the wrong info, panelook does designate yours a TN. If you've done the quick viewing angle test and it's holding up right then it's likely HWinfo is just acting up for you. Strange. If it is an IPS/AHVA, I'll venture a guess that you have the same model as I do (like XMG indicated).

 

Yes, I have the XMG P505.

It's odd that both HWinfo and device manager give different panel numbers than you get. The panel on my notebook does have all the traits of an IPS though - very good vertical viewing angles (no colour inversion at extreme angles), great colours all round, back light bleed around the edges (I have never seen a TN panel with this problem)...

L.E. I have found someone with a similar problem on a screen replacement for a Lenovo Y50 - http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/y50-replacement-displays-compendium.755626/page-39

At any rate, if I am to go after what they say in that thread, it looks like the display in my notebook is the AUO B156HAN01.1, which seems to be pretty much identical to the B156HAN01.2

 

I have a question regarding the 970M and it's overclocking capabilities.
I'm using it stock and I replaced the cooling paste and made sure everything is running smooth. I play GTA 5 on 2560x1440 27" with high settings, but it tends to stutter a little some times.
Temperature according to hwmonitor max during extensive gaming hits 80 degrees on the GPU and the usual 95-98 on the CPU.
How much success would I have with overcloking the dGPU? Is there any thermal room left?

 

There may be an issue with your repasting, your temps are really high! Maybe it is gtaV at 2560 but not likely, do you have measured temps during some benchmarks, to do more accurate comparison?

 

If I lift the back up a little it settles at 75 in FurMark, but when standing it ends at 79. Only did 5 minutes, but that should be enough.
What is yours?

 

Modern graphics cards (especially mobile ones) throttle automatically when they sense Furmark is being used. You should do a test with 3D mark to get a more accurate feel of what temperatures your GPU is reaching during gaming.

 

Furmark ran on 820-830 mhz core clock as you said.
Found TessMarkX64 used with GPUtest0.7 went up to 1037.4 mhz core and 1252.8 mhz memory
And with 95% load it is now on 74 degrees. WTF?

 

Bah, anyway the gpu temps is fine in my opinion, I was talking about the cpu one! It is really high, close to the throttling limit, and it is weird that it happens during gaming

 

Oh I just stated the max temps, which I think is pretty normal? Of course this is a peak value, pretty sure it's lower otherwise. I'm also pretty sure everyone has thermal problems with their 47xxHQ on P65xSE's

 

Some undervolting a good paste job can help. In games rather than a pure stress test it will turbo up more often.

 

I have some question about the Sager Np8651 from XoticPC. This might be off-topic so please accept my apology. Is it worth upgrading to IC Diamond? I know I can paste it myself and it's cheaper but since I've never do it before (never open a laptop before) so I'm a bit worried. Also this model has M.2 slot so as long as it's M.2 SSD, it will fit right? And is this one good?
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-850-E...id=1434853321&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+850+m.2

Another question is TN and IPS panel. I know the pros and cons of them but is it worth upgrading to IPS? I actually do some photoshop so color accuracy is important but how about gaming? Does IPS really affect that much? I plan to play some game like LoL, DotA 2, Skyrim and some RTS games.

Ok, last question, quite unrelated to this thread. When you buy a PC and it comes with Windows and activate code on the back, is it possible to use that on another PC or that code can only use on the PC that it comes with?

 

If you can brave up to buy and apply the paste yourself, the system's service manual guides pretty well. Always a first time for everything and the NP8651 is designed with easy access in mind. Otherwise, if you're that worried just let Sager do it for you. One good application of IC Diamond can supposedly last the entire device lifetime without it drying out. If you go with the upgrade, Sager applies the paste from factory so like all human endeavors, they are prone to errors and may apply it poorly. Just something to keep in mind.

That M.2 is a good one and it should work fine. There are good TN panels but the stock TN that comes in this model seems to be generally frowned upon. Save yourself the trouble and go for the IPS screen. Many would say the AUO or LG "IPS" provided in this system are worth it (myself included). As for Windows, it's possible to use the code elsewhere.

 

many thanks, E.D.U. I sorta want to apply thermal paste myself too so I guess I will do it. It's a shame that I can't find any youtube video of this model.

 

Try searching for the Clevo model no. instead. There are tons of videos.

 

It is possible, but not legal. OEM software is only licenced on the computer it came with.

 

Can you undervolt the GPU?

 

still can't find any applying thermal paste video for the Clevo P650SE or any of the disassembling video but I found video for other model tho maybe it can be reference.

oh, I guess I just install windows 8.1 then but cannot activate it until school year starts since I'm transferring to another uni.

 

It's the same for P65xSA/SE/SG

 

Not easily, the bios does not let you go below the base voltage. The only way to do it is to manually edit the stock voltage.

 

it's a 13" Clevo tho, still can't find anything for P65xSA/SE/SG. But maybe it's fine. Thank you anyway.

Also, personally, what application method do you guys use? It's just a matter of preference anyway but I would like to have many opinions.

 

For the CPU a thin line centred on the middle running length ways about 2/3 of the length of the chip. For the GPU a large rice grain sized blob in the middle with maybe just a TINY amount on the corners gave me good results.

 

Just dont use too much or too little. Once you have temps you're happy with call it good instead of trying to shave off another 1C.

 

lol, I don't know which temp I should be happy with since this would be my first gaming PC. But I read some people paste and repaste many times because they fail the first few times so it relieves me a bit.

 

Well exact temperatures will depend on heatsink finish and chip quality as well as paste job so it's hard to say.

 

I do a thin coat smeared on with plastic wrap on my finger. I like to see that the die surface is evenly covered and not too thick. Excessive thermal paste is worse at conducting heat not better...

 

Well.... as application methods go that's one of the less effective ones.

Normally recommendede method for IC diamond is small line on rectangular chips and small dot on square chips.

 

Well, no it depends on the paste. If you're talking IC diamond then the correct application is a pea sized amount with even HS clamping pressure to spread evenly, it will not spread evenly with a manual spread method. IC diamond likes to trap air if you apply it any other way... even in if you apply it in a straight line it can create fingers that trap air.

Wow, love my old sig... I've built and sold several desktops and laptops since I last checked in here...

 

Laplacian growth(aka fingers) happens on all pastes that are thicker than normal.

Even spread method will always(on any paste) create air pockets.

 

I always do the pea size method as it is the least messy way to do it. I find temperature differences to be negligible. Also I prefer Shin Etsu paste than any other brand. On my P650SG, I usually get 67C average on GTAV. But it can get to 80C if I play Diablo 3. I think it's acceptable.

 

See the amazingly fluctu-astic result when I play Diablo 3. This is the only game that does this to the P650SG.
No problem on my desktop though.

 

I used the brush and thin layer method for Liquid Ultra. Never went back.

I don't think my laptop ever exceeded 75C on Diablo 3. I will have to re-test that later on.

ARK: Survival Evolved is proving to be one huge unoptimized nightmare for me...

 

Is your power setting on High Performance? I've seen similar graphs when its on other settings.

 

I'm trying to use the custom fan speed option in Hotkey v3.19.32 and it don't seems to work at all. Even the stock v3.09.21 hotkey that came with my P650SE wasn't applying custom fan speed. The custom fan speed option have my laptop running quietly with no sudden burst of sound, but it ignores what fan speed I set it too and run at it's lowest rpm speed it seems. I tested to see if it will rump up the rpm speed if the CPU was stressed and had the max fan speed set at 80%, CPU quickly jumped to 80-92C and fans stayed running at lowest speed. Fn+1 max speed and automatic works fine.