*** Official Clevo P870DM/Sager NP9870-G Owner's Lounge - Phoenix has arisen! ***

I wanted to ask this here, as most people here do know about this, has the EC problem been solved?

I remember reading that the embedded controller had some problems and would throttle performance.

 

Thanks a lot bro! These are t3h $h!zn!+

 

Has anyone verified the effects of removing the bottom plastic vent shields on this device with i7-6700K / GTX 980? I ask as I assume there's a good reason why they're there in the first place - presumably to direct airflow over specific components?

Also, not being an overclocker or PC builder in the past myself, I'm unsure of the purpose of a couple of components that were included in the box from Eurocom. Unfortunately I don't have any photos with me at the moment, but from memory one set looked kinda like thin foam pads in a vaguely S-shaped form, and the others appear to be small black metal covers with a flexible plastic (I assume plastic, I haven't looked that closely) flap on the underside.

Thanks all.

 

I think that those are not for overclock but rather for fixing HDD in place. Especially if you did not fill up both HDD slots.

You should take some photos to see what exactly you are talking about.

On a note about removing that plastic on the bottom, I also just today seen the video made by @Mr. Fox . I too wondered for a while why that cover was there in the first place.

I kind of came to the conclusion that the air was supposed to enter from a bit further to travel and cool off all components in it's traveled road, then enter coolers, then cool off GPU and CPU.

But I do think that both CPU and GPU need more air and faster than all the other hardware components in that road.

 

Thanks Georgel, that makes sense as I don't have any HDDs installed.

 

I think they were fitted in the first place to prevent dust from entering the system when sitting at the factory or reseller for a long time. Either way, removing them causes no harm, only a slight improvement.

In such a beast of a machine, the last thing you'd want is to have any obstruction of airflow.

 

Has anyone been able to test installing bluestacks and if it'll run? Just trying to diagnose if something is wrong with my specific setup or if it's a fault with the desktop 980

 

Yes, with @Prema BIOS it's all better now. Cannot say if it is with a stock BIOS... no idea.

 

Great!

I will be getting from HIDevolution, which is Premamod partner, so I will not have the problem.

 

nope, your machine will arrive with the latest Prema BIOS v1.5 and latest EC Firmware v1.05.03EC and latest VBIOS v2 for whichever GPU you chose.

 

@phoenix sorry for all the basic questions but where can I find out which version of the Prema vBIOS is installed on my X9E? The various methods I've found by searching (adapter properties, GPU-Z, NVIDIA Inspector) just show it as "84.04.88.00.2E" so I'm unsure how this relates to the "V2" that you referred to in your previous post.

Thanks,

 

If you can install driver past 361.xx, then you have v2. v2 will not install any before that, and v1 will not install any after that

 

I've owned five 3rd Gen Pontiac Trans Ams (x3 '86 an '88 & an '89). Fox posted a Gen2 Smokey & the Bandit 'bird; for Gen3 the bird faces left &'s slightly different *wink* here's an '86 photo I found last year that I like:

*below's a Flame Red Metallic '86 I used to own: 5k original miles at purchase, factory hood bird & rare Lexan Bra*

here's a smokin' Bandit T/A

... the Fire Rises ...​

 

Firstly, you quoted the wrong user, I am Phoenix not Phoenix222

Secondly, your BIOS seems like the stock BIOS version to me, maybe @Prema can confirm

Here is how mine looks like, I have the GSYNC desktop 980 GTX though. I don't even know your system specs because you don't have it in your signature.

 

Well just got this beast this afternoon. it is amazing. already putting up some nice scores.

http://www.3dmark.com/sd/3950714

 

Jealous! getting mine back soon had a bum GPU thx nvidia! Great machine!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

Dad had the smokey T/A with custom eagle painted on it. Was beautiful!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

Congrats bro!

I wouldn't judge a high end system using Sky Diver though, this is from Futuremark Forums:

- Ice Storm for tablets and very low end laptops
- Cloud Gate for laptops without DX11 support and for very old desktops
- Sky Diver for laptops with DX11 support and low end desktop systems
- Fire Strike for Gaming laptops and desktops
- Fire Strike Extreme for multi-GPU gaming desktops
- Fire Strike Ultra for testing 4K gaming performance (very high end desktops)

Show us your Fire Strike scores

also, please update your sig with your laptop model/specs to jump on to the P870DM bandwagon

 

Ha, nice auto-complete fail

I've updated my sig, it's the same G-sync desktop 980 that you have. My vBIOS version looks almost the same as yours except the last two digits - mine .2E versus your .EC

 

Here's the Firestrike
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7974854


Also what does everyone use for GPU overclocks? Do you use the program that came with the system or do you use afterburner or PrecisionX? I tried the OEM program and i kept getting black screens after the skydiver demo finished before the testing started.

 

Hey @Prema sorry to drag you into this but would you mind telling me please what the vBIOS version that I have is and why it would be different to Phoenix's for the same GTX980 G-Sync - is it just an older version?

Given I bought this from Eurocom as the unlocked/PremaMod Sky X9E I would assume it should be your unlocked vBIOS? Also do you keep a version-/change-log published anywhere for you system and video BIOSs?

My vBIOS: 84.04.88.00.2E
Phoenix's: 84.04.88.00.EC

Thanks for your help,

 

Yeah that's not the Prema Mod...

 

I'll wait for him to answer but if my memory serves right, that is the stock VBIOS so you might have the Sky X9E like me, but they might have forgotten to install the Prema VBIOS and only installed the Prema BIOS.

 

Excellent score, I just use the basic built in tool to overclock to +125 MHz Core and +150 Mhz mem

 

Interesting.

 

So I've reformatted just to see if perhaps something messed up with the last windows install.

I did the exact procedure on both an alienware M17x R3 and the P870DM-G, exact same order of installing, updating, then installing bluestacks.

The M17x R3 runs perfectly, but the P870DM-G still does not run it. It will open it but will freeze at a certain point. Sometimes it's early, sometimes it's ~30 seconds in.

Has anyone here tested bluestacks yet? This is incredibly frustrating

 

So, what is bluestacks? Maybe it is a Skylake compatibility problem, or maybe something with NVMe, since both are new tech. Are there any release notes or known issues published? The M17xR3 is really old, so almost anything should have the bugs ironed out by now and work fine with it.

 

Have you checked the Bluestacks log for errors? You can upload the logs to Bluestacks support for help. File a bug report on the failure as well.

BlueStacks Support - Select the FAQ you wish to view
Welcome to BlueStacks 2 Help Center Troubleshooting common issues
How to Upload latest MSI Logs
http://support.bluestacks.com/hc/en-us/articles/206965346-How-to-Upload-latest-MSI-Logs

"...Logs will be analyzed and our support team shall respond with the possible solution."

It's possible it needs to be recompiled for Skylake to run correctly - are you running the latest build - is there a Beta you can try?

 

Hmm, so I emailed Eurocom and they told me that they don't support "O/C vBIOS" as they encountered stability issues during their testing. Said that installing the OC vBIOS would void the hardware warranty. Not what I was expecting to be honest, I thought that the point of the @Prema Mod partners, and especially Eurocom and the Sky X9E, was that they provide and support Prema Mod. Wasn't expecting that to be limited to system BIOS only.

 

It's an android emulator for windows, just creates a window with an android OS, so I can use android apps in a sense. I've had this problem with one other machine, exact same symptoms, which was an HP envy with a 3630qm.

I just wanted to check if any users have tested it on the P870DM to see if it will run for them, that way I can narrow down whether it's either my laptop specifically, or this model in general

 

Remember 3DM Sky Diver push the whole hardware more than Firestrike. Firestrike is not so demanding as 3DM11 and Sky Diver. I crippled one of my Psu's for my Aw17 with this benchmark My power supply couldn't hold up power in an OC' bench run and become damaged.

 

I can buy the 4k panel with cable for 695 Euro. I think the price is fair.

I have a Full HD G-Sync panel on my P870DM mith two g-sync 980m cards in sli at the moment.

Unfortunately I have no Prema-Bios as in Germany there are no Prema-Partners up to now.

So IF I switch the panel my understanding is that the 4k panel should work now with g-sync because it is now white listed by nvidia and I have g-sync cards, even WITHOUT the Prema-Bios, right?

 

Whoever told you that is not up to task...
@Phoenix was told the same thing a while ago...I then contacted them and they said that the reply was a mistake on their end and he then received the Prema Mod BIOS & vBIOS.
Write to them again and make that service guy aware of the problem!!!

G-sync needs proper BIOS support. PM me once you get the screen and I'll help you directly...

 

@Prema After you install G-sync on the 4K display, what is the highest rate it goes up to?

I am confused, and I have a feeling you experimented with this a bit.

 

60Hz @ stock something like 63Hz when OCed.

 

Thanks a lot!

Actually, I think that the actual refresh rate can be capped to 60Hz without a problem, as the actual G2G (Grey to Grey) is not low enough to take it much higher. This is data taken from AUO's own data book for this display.

Is the 4K display phenomenal with 100% adobe RGB and all? I know that there have been users complaining about windows + 4K scaling, and other users complaining that 4K would result in distorted images if this laptop goes to sleep.

 

Since I have never seen any of these new systems in real life I could't tell...but brother @victorwol has all the juicy 4K AUO details, just dig through his posts.

 

Could it be the 63 HZ what is causing the issue I detected? How I cap it to 60? Not sure my BIOS is working at 63 though.

 

With Eurocom it is a matter of luck to get a good / reliable answer. There is one muppet there that is spoiling the reputation of their customer service with these kind of assumptions/answers. The Eurocom Sky x9 was my first EUROCOM system and my last due to their appalling customer service.

 

I think that the refresh clock should not affect gamma ramps, but it could be possible. You could try going to Nvidia control panel and apply custom resolutions and refresh rates, and try to apply a bit lower refresh rate. (I cannot guarantee what happens if you apply a bit higher resolution)

Actually, what happens? I am really curious about this now

 

@Phoenix if you get a chance, could you try installing bluestacks to see if you get the same problem as I did?

 

Thanks @Prema. Just to get my ducks in a row before I call them, can you tell me if the X9E is SUPPOSED to have the unlocked vBIOS installed from the factory?

Cheers,

 

It won't run above 60Hz unless you force it to do it.

Yes that's the way we prepared and @Mr. Fox reviewed the X9E.
So that's also the way people can expect it when they order and receive it from Eurocom.

BTW, did you guys check out @HTWingNut 's review of the "WINGMAN": https://biosmods.wordpress.com/2016/02/14/sky-dlx7/

 

Since you're around, I understand the prema bios for the phoenix is limited to resellers, but is the desktop GTX 980 also limited to those same resellers?

 

Right, there is no public version of (v)BIOS, yet.
I made a handful of people "private versions", but doing that always depends on the time I have to do so.

 

I have worked with a few laptops with 4K screens and I honestly don't like having 4K on any laptop. That said, there is nothing about this 4K screen that is better or worse than the others I have used before. It's a beautiful screen and everything run full screen on it looks gorgeous except for text scaling. Games looks really nice on it in spite of the huge hit on FPS. I do hate the low refresh rate and the inability to increase it without the screen going black, but the real problem is 4K text scaling is absolutely horrible (my personal opinion) and ruins the experience on any screen small enough to fit on a laptop. This is true with Windows 7, 8 and 10. Out of the three, I think the text scaling looks best with Windows 7, using a custom scaling value of 175%. Manually setting 175% with Windows 10 causes explorer.exe to crash for some reason. And, some software that was never intended to be used with 4K does not work well at all. One example is Adobe CS3. It's borderline unusable due to scaling problems and a messed up (poorly rendered and duplicated) mouse cursor.

 

I really hope I will find a way to cope with this. Besides reduction in actual resolution, is there any downside to running a 4K display in FHD?

On the other hand, the idea of UHD is amazing, considering that up mid 2015 I was still using a crippled 1366x768 display on a DELL N5010.

I hope that as soon as I get my hands on this performance monster I will be able to create my software for music playback faster, as it seems that 4K display owners might really appreciate very crisp text.

 

It does not look great downscaled to FHD. That makes the text blurry the same as increasing the scaling at 4K. The FHD screen looks fantastic at 100% scaling. The 4K screen looks beyond fantastic--freaking amazing--at 100% scaling. The only problem with the 4K is anything less than 175% the text is uncomfortably small or impossible to read, and I have good eyesight. At 100% scaling 4K is only good for imaging viewing. Trying to read email, web browse, and using most software applications is almost impossible at 100% unless you have a 24" or larger screen.

Maybe later tonight or tomorrow I will post some screen shots showing what I mean.

I can run the FHD G-SYNC display at 100Hz and the Panther FHD at 95Hz. Pushing the 4K screen more than a few Hz past the 60Hz default causes the screen to go black. I cannot even get an extra 5Hz out of it. This is the same regardless of single GPU or SLI, so I'm guessing the screen is already set to run as fast as it is capable of running at the native refresh rate. That's not a huge problem because using high quality graphics settings for games run at 4K is never going to hit a steady 60 FPS in most games anyway. You're lucky to stay above 40 FPS unless you cut corners on the quality settings. Running the display settings I normally run at 1080p for gaming (at or near maxed out) is like a slide show at 4K... generally unplayable and sometimes even in single digits, LOL.

 

I can't imagine using 4k on a laptop. I had an alienware 14 with 1920x1080 and everything was so small on that. I've also had a dell 24" 4k screen, and wow everything was even smaller

 

Dell/Alienware sets all of their 1080p laptops to 125% scaling by default, 4K to 200%. I always have to change from 125% to 100% on their 1080p machines as part of my new system setup process. Your external screen would use whatever the default is, which is typically 100% and that would produce very small text at 4K even on a 24" screen... but it should still be fairly readable on a 24" screen if not ideal. My personal preference for any screen resolution is 100% scaling because everything is flawless with no scaling involved. At 100% nothing is ever skewed or distorted, or hard to read, unless the screen is poor quality or too small for the resolution.

@ssj92 posted some screen shots earlier in the thread. I think those were Windows 10, but do not remember for sure. When I have time I will post some for each OS. (This Sky X9E is triple-booting 7, 8.1 and 10, so I can give examples for all 3 OSes.)