*** Official Clevo PB5xExx(-G) Owner's Lounge ***

Thank you both! Is this something you switch through the BIOS each time you want to swap or is it simply with a control panel on the desktop once the laptop is already running.

 

I believe you can do it on the control center, and there should also be an option in the BIOS. A reboot is required after each switch though.

 

This is correct. The bios option also reboots the machine you just tend to care less it's so the chip can change the electrical layout. This cant be done on the fly.

 

This seems like another good alternative to thin 2080 Max-q models since GPU performs nearly the same and the cooling seem to be better. And the price is much better than those models.

 

Where have you seen reviews of the cooling?

 

I haven't seen the reviews, but you don't need that to see, for example, how large the total surface area of heatsinks is (by looking at number of heatsink fins and how tall they are) and by looking at the size of exhaust vents. I'm sure this will be confirmed with numbers once someone will benchmark this system and compare the results with thinner systems with same CPU when, for example, only running CPU stress test.

 

I believe the previous generation ran hot. It’s not clear to me if there have been actual upgrades made to the cooling system, but I hope there have been.

 

Well pretty much all the previous gen laptops ran hot, regardless of model. From what I've seen the new generation is running cooler, low to mid 80s on the CPU. I wonder if it's just because the RTX don't run as hot so they can take some of the heat off the CPU.

 

I’m torn between this and the Lenovo y740. Can’t decide which one is better.

 

The Lenovo models with 2060 or 2070 max-q will definitely be slower in games since this Clevo uses a faster 2070 GPU.

 

Indeed, the performance is going to be up there for 2070 cards and tweaking options are going to be there due to more headroom.

 

Hi I am looking at purchasing this model after having some issues with the mech 17 tongfang rtx 2070. Any recommendations for contact info on this site for representatives for gentech, LPC digital, or prostar? Sorry I am pretty new here just saw that some of these companies have active members in these forums and have a few inquiries about the device.

Thanks

 

Finally!

 

Interesting video. Max CPU temps are kind of disappointing. I wonder if repasting would bring those down by few degrees.
On the other hand the temps are better than a thin laptop that they tested before with 2070 Max-q, MSI GS75.

 

I'm not too worried about the temps. In my experience they're lower in--game than benchmarks anyway. The noise level seems quite loud under load though. The Scar II was pretty loud at 60db, and this is slightly louder than that. Maybe the difference in fan profiles will compensate, the Scar 2 pretty much kicked the fans to 100% if you even looked at it.

Mine will (should) be here on Wednesday. Wait is taking even longer now that I have a date to look forward to.

 

Yea, this video did not show the speed of fans and the software which can adjust them.

 

A bit of tweaking always helps

 

I’m guessing a decent under volt should help with temps out of the box and repasting even more.
That paste looked like a mess.

 

That fan noise was insane. Does this ship with software out of the box that can adjust the fans?

 

Haven’t bought from this manufacturer in a while but in general they do, they did in the past anyway.
Yeah fan noise seems pretty crazy and the RTX 207o performed less than I expected, still good but I was hoping for more.

 

The scores were in line with the other 8750/2070 combinations. Seems to slightly outperform the 80w variant of the 2080mq. Having said that I really hope the 17” version I have coming doesn’t get that loud during gaming.

 

There should be fan control included, part of Control Center. Unfortunately Sager does not provide any downloads for this model on their site and none of the resellers do that now. You can download it from Clevo's website, though.

 

Prostar has all the downloads on their site, including the control software, and manual, which I was looking through last week. I know alot of them just redirect to sager for downloads, but a couple of them actually have them available themselves, Prostar being the only one I know off the top of my head.

Also Obsidian has a custom Clevo control package available also which I'm more than likely going to get.

 

Yes, there's a thread about Obsidian's utility, I looked at screenshots and it looks like a nice alternative to Clevo's own.

 

So I'm deciding between this (Sager NP8356) and the latest ASUS SCAR II (coming off a Sager NP8150). I like the port placement of the Sager more since it's similar to what it's replacing, but the ASUS is supposed to have a great screen with full sRGB coverage. The question remains how good the display on this laptop is. The video showed the screen ID AUO80ED which seems to be around the low 90% sRGB so is that the only option or will it be different by vendor?

 

This one is gsync, so I guess you have to decide what is more important to you. Color accuracy isn’t something I particularly care about I guess.

 

I got mine today. First thing I noticed was the nice matte black finish on the metal parts of the chassis. Whole thing has kind of a nice subtle Batman aesthetic to it. Build quality is nice, feels real sturdy. The bottom cover is plastic, but has alot of metal reinforcement you'll see in the pics.

EDIT: Pics are huge, so put the rest in a spoiler.

Spoiler

It took me longer than I'd like to admit to figure out how to get the bottom cover off. DO NOT BEND, BREAK, WARP, OR OTHERWISE JACK UP THE BOTTOM PANEL TRYING TO GET IT OFF. There are 2 screws underneath the keyboard that screw into the bottom panel from above. So you have to remove the bottom screws, open it up, stick a toothpick or something through the designated one to pop the keyboard, then remove the top two. Then the cover comes off fairly easy. Not entirely sure about the reasoning behind that, but whatever. The RAM is made by Goldkey, not any of the bigger brands. Model number is GKE160SO102408-3000A. You have to unscrew the 2.5" drives PCB to lift up and plug the drive in. Might be able to just squeeze it in, but it would start pretty diagonal so I didn't want to risk damaging the connectors. I also have 2 empty m.2 slots for upgrading later.



Also included in the box was the manual, drivers USB, a microfiber cloth, screws for the 2.5" drive bay, and two other things I have no idea what they are. There's some sort of adhesive square pad, and two hex shaped screws.


I haven't gotten around to testing the performance yet, due to some Windows activation hoops I had to jump through. I'll update on that tonight. Otherwise the fan noise isn't that bad. I turned them to max just to see how loud they were, and they are loud, but they're not high pitched so it's not that annoying really.

Also here's a cat.

 

Thanks for the write up. Not immediately finding that ram anywhere, is there a more popular brand that sells a compatible one? I ordered a 16x1 3000mhz so I want to add a second one.

 

Asus SCAR will have more accurate display. But it will be more expensive and from what I've seen in Asus forums - the CPU runs very hot on these units, making it a necessity to repaste and undervolt. Plus Asus quality control is not very best (you can find many examples of it in other forum section). It's up to you if you want to deal with that.

Nice. Would really like to see the temps and fan speeds before repaste and after if you're planning on doing that.

Also I dunno what games you have but would be interesting to see results for games like BF5 and Metro Exodus since they're the most demanding with RTX enabled.

 

That's because GenTech place their meter directly onto the output vents which is a terrible way to test. The force of the air pushing out and onto the mic will drastically blow out the reading. Think about the loud pops you hear when somebody talks into a microphone or on the phone to you on a very windy day. The wind doesn't make much noise, but the sheer pressure of air impacting the mic creates huge spikes.

Standard readings are taken something like 20-30 cm from the front of the laptop (to simulate the user's expected position). NBC has this documented for all their reviews and most manufacturer specifications are done in a similar manner (e.g. MaxQ spec is designed around similar positioning).

 

Plus you do it in an isolated chamber if doing it properly.

 

I mean the placement of the decibel reader was done pretty much the same for the y740 review and it registered like 20db quieter.

 

It's a measure of airflow at that point though.

 

That's reassuring - I'm looking for a replacement for my dying P650SG and it looks like this is the best candidate.

 

I'm interested in buying the PB51ED at a Dutch reseller (I'm living in Belgium), so without G-Sync. I don't feel the need as I don't play FPS games. Altough the per key illuminations is nice to have.

Anyone has this laptop and tested? Is the cooling solution good enough to keep everything from frying (the CPU will be hot anyway). I'm also tempted to try the thermal pads as they seems to cool almost as good as good paste and better than bad placed paste. It should last the lifetime of the laptop.

Do I understand correct that the bottem is plastic and the top is metal?

 

That's correct, the bottom is plastic, and the lid and palmrest are metal. It's very solid though, no flex. I wouldn't use thermal pads on the CPU. If you want to get the best cooling, get paste or liquid metal on the CPU and GPU, and then pads on the vRAM and other bits. I would also recommend having the the reseller do this. The stock cooling is already pretty decent for an 8750H though.

 

From reviews about graphit pads (not the stuff they place on VRM's) it looks like it does what it says.
It is 1-2 degrees warmer than good paste (not liquid metal) but you never have to put anything else.
It is the only option the reseller offers. Graphite pads or standard paste.

 

Has anyone been able to bench this laptop in dual channel ram yet stock vs. uv/oc? GentechPC review had a Fire Strike graphics score of 19,236.

 

Any thoughts about keyboard comfort and trackpad palm rest placement on 15” model? Most full sized keyboard boards are a little off center with the trackpad but this is very close to the left side as the 14” chassis leaves little space.

On the flip side the 17” has a larger chassis but it uses the same 14” condensed sized keyboard so you get more palm rest space but not a wider full sized keyboard overall (smaller shift keys).

 

The keyboard looks similar to my 14" ultrabook from work and that works good. It is not like a normal keyboard but I can work hours without pain.
The trackpad is placed a bit wierd, on the ultrabook it is dead center and that works fine. But most of the time I use a mouse anyway.

 

Thermal grizzly kryonaught works well and wont kill anything if it spills too.

 

I still have a big tube of kryonaugth from previous builds. But I might try it;
Currently I doubt between the P970 and the PB51, both with RTX2060; I want too order the one thats the coolest/ more quit.
Difficult choice...

 

I have the pb71. Haven’t yet seen the cpu reach 90. With the amount of heat that comes out of the exhaust I feel like it could heat up a room, but the fans seem really great at dissipating the heat from the chassis.

 

Is the cooling unit the same as the PB51?

 

Should be, I think the fans are the same. They're identical models aside from screen size. As for PB51 vs P960, a thicker chassis will generally cool better then a thinner one. The P960 does still do a good job at cooling as well from what I hear so you can't really go wrong with either one.

 

I would love to get my hands on one of these!

 

A lot of people would

 

Indeed. I'm doubting about P970 and PB51 (inspired by weight and the P960 is more expensive...).
i7-8750H, RTX2060, 16Gb Ram (2666MHz) and MX500 500Gb SSD cost for the P970 1512€ and the PB51 1562€ (which are 500€ less than regular brands).

There are not a lot of reviews and from the ones that are there is the CPU temp in the P960 and PB51 the same...

 

Pretty much all current gaming laptops are going to run hot on the CPU. Some more than others. If you looking for a 2060 both the P960/70 and PB51/71 are good choices.

 

I can vouch for the P970 having really good thermals, particularly for its form factor. 2060 GPU runs really cool under load (low to high 60's depending on fan speed), and can easily handle 45W on the CPU; based on some tests, if you were so inclined it could probably dissipate around 60W sustainably (and you do have the ability to set this if you want). It's not quiet under load, but with the thermal headroom you have got, you can lower the fan settings for a quieter experience. Having said all that, I would think that the PB51/71 will be at least as good given that they're also new models and have the added thickness. Maybe this therefore doesn't help all that much...