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

Free mouse pad? Seriously?? This is a performance machine, I don't think a free mouse pad would matter. Maybe buy an e-machine and get a free mouse pad and a pair of Genius Speakers

 

I saw that pro star was doing a special with some discounts on certain accessories or build items already. I would not expect a big black Friday or cyber sale on these honestly.

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I suppose you may see some sales on other components like drives, RAM, and laptop accessories. Though I can not attest to it personally.

 

Given the popularity of the new GT80S / PM870, I am happy to see no one in the US/CA price gouging, maintaining retail pricing.

This is kinda like AAA first run movies not honoring discount passes in the theaters, there are enough butt's in seats to keep the price solid at retail release.

 

actually something i'd like to point out, its not so much of the cooling rather its the silicon in desktop chip uses much less voltage than mobile gpu. 4ghz at 1.25 to 1.3v is a joke really and that holds true for *decent* mobile cpu LOL. so as you can see the junk ones of course temp are damn high.

BGA garbage really =/

 

Clevo has been using 15" keyboards in 17" machines since forever. I've complained about it for years, but it hasn't changed and likely will not change. It is a waste, really. There's room for more space between number pad and main keyboard to put full size shift key and separate the arrow keys out a bit. Maybe even a column of macro keys as someone mentioned. It could be a great selling point, but usually the only difference between the 15" and 17" variants is the 17" sometimes can handle one extra drive. But even now, usually the only benefit is a larger screen, since all the guts are the same.

 

There can be an extra speaker too, but it's amazingly expensive to make good keyboards.

 

I think we all would like a keyboard in the Clevo 17" models that would make full use of the extra space.
It most certainly is a cost reason that they do not up to now. That said, I would pay $75.00 more for the higher end 17" model that had a "full size" one for it....

 

When might we see the 4Ks come in to xotic?

 

we need 18 inch and dual screen, thanks in advance clevo. i can wait years for it and it'll prob not come out, kinda sad =C

 

A fold out display would be cool

 

Spoiler Alert! Gathering info for the last part of the review over on @Prema's web site...
[parsehtml]<div id="fb-root"></div><script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/weyland.yutani.79/posts/562001927286946" data-width="500"><div class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/weyland.yutani.79/posts/562001927286946"><p>EUROCOM SKY X9 - ÜBER BEAST DESKTOP LAPTOP! CPU @ 4.7GHz; GPU @ 1400/4000/1.200V; DDR4-2400 @ 2666; CPU Core Max 66°C; GPU Core Max 71°C - &quot;Annihilating the Competition&quot;</p>Posted by <a href="#" role="button">Weyland Yutani</a> on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/weyland.yutani.79/posts/562001927286946">Friday, November 13, 2015</a></blockquote></div></div>[/parsehtml]
Here's one with the DDR4-2400 @ 2800 - Memory bus @ 100x14 (versus 133x10 for 2666)
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10521723

 

Exactly. They need to price for it. If you added more features like that that took advantage of the extra space, users may be more inclined to upgrade to the 17" over the 15". I understand it's expensive, and money may be spent better elsewhere, but they use the same keyboard for years, one would think at a slightly higher price point that they recover their investment dollars in they keyboard.

 

Any else who tests a P870DM-G (980m SLI) with a benchmark or GPU intensive game review XTU (Core TDP, Current Limit Thottle), during a review I notice XTU showing Current limit throttling at stock clocks and reducing Clock speed when TDP is less than 40 watts.

During a CPU stress test or with SLI disabled there is no throttling but as soon as SLI is enabled slamo with current throttling.

 

why do you think this is happening? Crappy nVIDIA Drivers or something else?

 

Exactly this. When you have someone spending $6K USD on a machine, you'd think there's enough money in that to cover a nice keyboard custom-built for that machine. Heck, in my neck of the woods, this particular machine STARTS at $3K CAD. An Alienware machine that costs half as much has a specially-designed keyboard for that particular model.

I completely understand their logic when dealing with low/mid-range machines, to save costs in order to provide the best price/performance ratio possible. But when you get to machines like the P770/P870, I think the base cost of these machines easily justify adding $50 in costs in order to get a really nice keyboard designed for a high-end 17" gaming machine.

I know I'd gladly pay extra. It's especially striking since I'm currently using both the P770DM and an Alienware 18 - the difference in the keyboards is quite noticeable.

And this isn't complaining for the sake of complaining - Clevo should view it as users giving feedback/constructive criticism on how to improve an already great machine.

 

yeah my Clevo P870DM-G cost me 6K USD exactly! Kinda disappointed that I'm getting a tiny keyboard from a 15" machine.

Heck I don't even like the keyboard on my previous Alienware 18, no matter what I did, I just couldn't get used to it. As much as I hate ASUS laptops for their unreliability and they simply don't work as advertised, I like the keyboards they put on the ROG laptops more than the Alienware 18, it was very easy to type on.

 

Well, glad I got the 980 Desktop. Maybe a single 330W PSU is not enough?


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I measured the psu and it's under 300

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is that overclocked?

 

No all stock everything

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See I'm the opposite, I prefer the keyboard on the AW18 to the ASUS ROG G751. The key travel on the G751 was nice, but beyond that my personal preference is for the AW.

 

yeah I guess that's a personal preference, even after owning the Alienware 18 for a year I always make mistakes when I type without looking at the keyboard, but with the G751JY I had and the G750JX and the G75VW, I can type blindly and the tactile feedback from the keys is just perfect, the Alienware 18 seems like someone had spilled tea on it and had it dry up, if that makes any sense, it's not so clicky and nice like the ASUS. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

It makes perfect sense. The AW18 keyboard is great for touch typists, and the ASUS keyboards require more deliberate and forceful typing.

 

330W is enough. Look at the benchmarks I posted on the previous page. Both runs pulled less than 330W, and that's with @Prema BIOS and vBIOS mods. It will be probably be a fair amount less using stock firmware.

That can be addressed with @Prema BIOS. The stock BIOS defaults are not quite perfect and there is no way to access those settings with XTU. What you can do that helps is not use default voltage. Default voltage is too high unless you are up to like 4.5GHz or higher. (That's why you can overclock the CPU pretty decent with XTU on this beast.) Change it to static voltage with XTU and set the voltage around 1.175V or 1.150V with no offset and that may be enough. If you get a 0x124 WHEA error, you will know you went too low with the voltage and need to bump it back up a bit.

 

Oh yeah no doubt about that, but I was just replying in relation to the 980m SLI.


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Whoops, my bad. Yeah, 980M SLI is going to need 330W x 2 for any kind of meaningful overclocking, that's for darned sure. I've pulled close to 700W on my UPS digital meter with the Panther running an extreme CPU and GPU overclock, and gulping down 600W is not hard with something less insane. The 6700K doesn't pull as much as a hexacore, but an overclocked pair of 980M cards in SLI will more than max out a single 330W adapter with no CPU overclock at all.

 

This is so funny because it's true. In order for me to even benchmark the AW18 overclocked I have to have the battery at 100% because if it's charging the battery then it won't draw power from it. To compensate the machine throttles the GPUs and all efforts are lost. NVCP starts giving a fit and I have to reboot.

Imagine having to load modern guns with 1 bullet each time, just to kill the enemy. That's how I feel in 2015 .

 

You will need to use the Mod (v)BIOS or it'll throttle.
Stock system can't even hold stock clocks, sadly that's normal.

 

So the modded vbios will correct the CPU current limit throttle?

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Any idea for when the 4K screen will arrive

 

Both, actually. NVIDIA vBIOS always sucks on laptops. They wouldn't/couldn't make a decent vBIOS if their lives depended on it. Has been that way since at least Fermi.

Just having the modded sBIOS will help, but you'll have to take control of things and use it to tune things up to suit the CPU in your machine and the clock speed you want to run it at. It will vary a little for each CPU and vary more as clock speeds increase. But, the great thing is with @Prema sBIOS you will actually be able to tune it up. With the stock sBIOS, you can only do what XTU allows, which is not very much. You can overclock with XTU, but no fine tuning is possible and it will not perform at full potential with the stock sBIOS. About 2,000 points higher on 3DMark 11 physics score using exactly the same core clock ratio is a good example of the value Prema BIOS brings.

The new machines with stock sBIOS and vBIOS behave almost exactly the same way as everything I have complained about the with Alienware 18. Voltage too high, power limits too low, and a multitude of important settings that are hidden and inaccessible. The Haswell 4930MX is a wicked CPU that is castrated with messed up firmware on nearly every platform it shipped with. All laptops, all brands, either suck or under-perform with stock firmware... that's just how it goes. Having a locked down BIOS with no access to menus to adjust things to run well is an Achilles' Heel for any laptop, just as it was and continues to be for the Alienware 18 because of Alienware blocking us with Secure Flash cancer. Having the fully unlocked BIOS is one major reason why the Alienware M18xR1 and M18xR2 have been a holy terror that stomps the daylights out of most laptops 4 or 5 years newer. It makes no sense to take amazing CPUs and GPUs and hobble them with crippled firmware, but that is status quo. If it were not for talented people like @svl7 and @Prema and @johnksss and a few rare vendors like Eurocom that are able and willing to change that dynamic, all high performance laptops would be the sucky turd machines that all of the laptop-hater trolls say they are.

Edit:

Sorry, sort of off-topic, but since were are mentioning NVIDIA... am I alone in my hate for this new GeForce Experience flith? OMG, update to the latest drivers and GFE and I was instantly offended by the balloon notification toaster pop-up from the side of my screen prompting me to "share" LOL. I figured out how to disable it, but good Lord... Somebody, or a group of somebodies, at NVIDIA need to spend less time with the preppy yuppy Turdbook gamers on Facebook and snuggle up to the enthusiasts that keep their brand relevant.

 

@Prema @Mr. Fox

So my Phoenix will arrive tomorrow, can y'all hook me up with the PREMA BIOS and VBIOS that I need to flash those two 980Ms in SLI?

Also if you can tell me the exact settings that I need to do to achieve a stable 4.4 GHz on all cores it would be highly appreciated.

The 6700K has liquid ultra on it and has an advanced copper heatsink as well while the 980Ms have the stock IC Diamond.

If you can hook me up it'll be great so when I do my review I'm actually @ 4.4ghz on all cores

PS: does flashing the BIOS/VBIOS with the PREMA BIOS leave any kind of splash screen or anything? The last time I updated the VBIOS on my Alienware 18 it causes a 2 sec delay because of an annoying splash screen the the BIOS creator put in the VBIOS

 

@Prema will have to respond about his sBIOS availability. I will not distribute bootleg copies of it. (I know you don't expect that, just saving myself from having to respond to a lot of people saying so right here.) My guess is you will have to wait for it to be available to the public if it came from a vendor he is not a partner with. You can already find his excellent 980M vBIOS at PremaMod.com.

As far as overclocking, you're going to need to tinker to find out what tickles your CPU. First thing is to open XTU. Set all 4 multipliers to 44 and see what happens. In fact, set them all to 45. If it does not overheat or throttle, have fun. You may be able to run 45x4 stable changing nothing except multipliers. You may want to dial back the voltage manually to help with CPU temps, but check that way first.

If it throttles, change the voltage to static, set it to 1.200V to start with, set process Core ICCMax to about 160.00A and both Turbo Boost Power Max values to 175.00 or 200.00W. You may have to enable the Turbo Short Power Max in XTU if it is disabled (grayed out) by default. If that is stable, run Cinebench R11.5 and confirm it completes. Try lowering the voltage a few clicks at a time unless the machine crashes, then go back up two or three clicks. You should be able to bump the Cache Ratio to 43 with the same voltage and power settings as the core. If that is stable, push the Cache Ratio to 45 and check temps and stability. If it's all good, lock it down there with a profile you can apply. Like Haswell, you will most likely have to reapply the settings after shutdown. Wait about 60 to 90 seconds for XTU to apply the settings after Windows logon. If it stays at BIOS defaults after waiting, just launching XTU will likely re-implement the setting for you. Not sure if it is UEFI or write-protected registers that does that, but it's not uncommon. And, having the special BIOS will not change that silly behavior.

Edit: if you set to 45x4 and it does not run that speed, change core #1 to one step higher (46) and apply. That is sometimes necessary on Haswell and Ivy-E, and I found the same to be true with Skylake for some reason.

 

Thanks bro, you didn't answer the last bit though, does flashing the VBIOS with the PREMA BIOS have any kind of splash screen or whatnot? Even when installing the OS in legacy ROM mode (for Windows 7)?

 

For the sBIOS, Prema is most likely part of exclusivity contract. If so, you must provide proof of purchase from a partner (not just say you bought it from a partner). Further, depending on the contract, you may still need to request it from your vendor. Finally, you were warned in this thread or others that the exclusivity period is longer now than previously seen. For these reasons, you are most likely boned!

 

I am indeed, I was so excited at first to be able to have the PREMA BIOS but heck, I'll have to use the laptop as it is for now.

 

Yes, there is a 3-minute video on the atrocities of Windoze OS X poo-poo OS between POST and Windows Logon in the @Prema BIOS.

Spoiler: Read This...

Just kidding. Nothing in the beta vBIOS like that. SVL7 and John did that to stop thieves in Asian forum from stealing their work, claiming they did it and selling it. If you mod the vBIOS to remove the splash screen or change it to your own name it is booby-trapped to brick the GPU LOL. Prema locks his down so it cannot be edited instead.

 

Right that's good then at least I may be able to install the VBIOS without having those annoying splash screens upon every bootup

 

Unfortunately it looks as if the vBios mod is a timed exclusive as well, I asked in the comment section on the page linked below....at least for the g-sync 980m DM series vBios.

Current one won't work (new chipset, i.d mismatch with current version).

https://biosmods.wordpress.com/gtx9-g/

Don't mind waiting though!

 

No

 

Maybe not the G-SYNC part, but you should be able to use the vBIOS if you're willing to mod the driver INF.

 

@Prema How long do the Prema mods plan to be exclusive for the Phoenix?


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Cross-flashing g-sync/regular GPUs is sometimes being rewarded by the ZM/DM system BIOS with no screen out-put (blind).

It really depends as it is on a case to case basis, but usually ≦ a month.
Also its nothing new, it has been "Prema Mod Partner first" for the past year for all (v)BIOS.

 

Decisions. Decisions...

I'm trying to get stuff lined up ahead of any of order.

For a TIM, I was leaning toward Coolaboratory LU, but I have some other hardware I'd like to use it on as well, but I believe there are some aluminum pieces involved.

Being that CLU is not recommended for AL, is Gelid GC-Extreme my next best option? Note, I'm not positive, but I thought I read GC Extreme is safe for almost all heatsink materials.

Any advice?

TIA

 

CLU is a no go on aluminum. The three acceptable for aluminum is ic diamond, thermal grizzly kryonaut, and gelid extreme.

 

@Mr. Fox Haha, what an alternative to delidding

 

Sitting at the Eurocom order page with an ideal X9 for me. I do not want the RAM from Eurocom though. I'm curious if I can just get it without the RAM.

 

Email them!

 

They are closed for the weekend, I could just call them on Monday.