*** Official Clevo X170SM-G/Sager NP9670M Owner's Lounge ***

Anyone know of a comparison done between the x170 and the AW 51 r2?
Some in depth stuff where they just glance over things. Sometimes it´s the daily stuff that makes a laptop
better for you:removable battery, duration of the battery, how the chargers work, etc)

 

Hi all, I received my shipment of the X170SM-G a few days back and have just been able to start exploring it. Specs are listed below -- let me know if there's any info or any tests you'd like to see done and I'll start compiling the results to post back!

* 2080 Super, 200W
* i9-10900K, 125W
* 4K UHD panel, 100% AdobeRGB
* 32gb RAM,
* Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201
* 500GB Western Digital Blue SN550 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
* 32GB Dual Channel DDR4 SDRAM at 3200MHz (Unknown type for now)

@Frr That bend is definitely not normal, it's not on my system and it sits mostly flush with the keyboard deck. Backlight bleed is pretty minimal on my system, just a tiny bit in the bottom right corner.

 

Not a comparison video but I made a review of the Alienware Area-51m R2:



And here is the X170 review by Linus Tech:

 

Hi! I would be interested in a compilation of temperatures while performing different benchmarks / stress tests.
Some benchmarks such as 3DMark Time SPy, Firestrike but also some stress tests like Prime95 and Furmark including temperatures would be great! Also temperatures during gaming would be awesome. Don't know if you have games available such as Warhammer Total War 2 or World of Warcraft.

 

https://www.3dmark.com/compare/spy/13700492/spy/13078036

Area-52M is almost as rest of the Alienware lineup. Not upgradeable but you can replace parts as the Cpu/Gpu (With the thin Aw models you have to replace the motherboard). Dell don't offer upgrade paths. Not even within same gen hardware...


With X170, you have in theory a chance for 3000 series graphics upgrade (in same way as previous Clevo LGA books). Coming Rocket lake is still on 1200 socket.

 

To that guy that asked if it can be used with one charger only .. the answer is yes however the pc will be in battery performance mode so its very limited

"
5 August 2020: Unfortunately, operating XMG ULTRA 17 on a single 280W will be very limited.

• The CPU and GPU performance will drop down to Battery Mode performance, but without actually depleting the battery.
• In this mode, the system will draw only up to a maximum of 110W out of the wall socket, despite having a 280W adapter
• This will limit the CPU Package Power to around 30W. Enough for simple tasks, but surely not enough for serious CPU rendering
• The system will require the Li-Ion battery to be present and to have at least 10% charge
• With a single power supply, it won't be possible to charge the battery, even when the system is powered off"

 

Furmark puts stress on the GPU that is in no way close to real life scenarios and is NOT a metric one should judge a laptops cooling system with.


How can i fry my video card?


Can FurMark kill your GPU ? Actually, yes


Can't boot after stress test - GPU fried?


Is FurMark supposed to turn your gpu into a cooking surface?


will furmark kill my gpu??

 

In order:

1. Not yet. I’m hoping to get it by the middle of this month.
2. 300Hz FHD, 2080S GPU, i7 10700K delidded, 64GB RAM, 1+1+2 TB SSD. That’s the hardware side, ignoring extra services like extended warranty and liquid metal.
3. I ordered through HID. When I specced both laptops out and ignored the extended warranty, the Clevo comes out just under $1000 cheaper. Yes, it is quite high, but in my circumstances, the Alienware comes out cheaper because I live in the UAE, so getting HID to service the laptop in case something goes wrong is a logistical headache (no fault of HID, mind you). I’d need to pay upwards of $300 to express ship it one way - there is no way I would want to ship a laptop via ship or some other slower route. And I can transfer the US warranty to the UAE and get Dell UAE to tackle problems.

 

Is that so? Won't Dell block you out and redirect you to HID? Delidding kills regular warranty afaik

I remember this thread ..
https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/...need/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

 

Usually if a reseller is offering a customised product they will have to support it.

 

Nope. With Dell lapops, you are allowed to upgrade ANYTHNG as long as you don't do any phsyical damage to the hardware in the process. I have personally checked this with their technical manager even before me working for HIDevolution. The upgraded parts or services like thermal upgrades will obviously need to be honored by us if needed otherwise Dell will just install the stock parts (ie. if you wanted them to send a technician to re-paste or perhaps change a CPU. We offer a pre-paid shipping service which covers the shipping costs back and forth for international customers although me personally, I don't need that with Dell as I can re-paste the laptop myself if I needed to.

With Dell, you are able to transfer the warranty to any country that Dell operates free of charge of even transfer the warranty ownership to someone else if you wanted to sell the laptop. See: Dell Ownership Transfer

PS: On my previous Alienware Area-51m R1 one of the RAM slots got fried after a few months as some Liquid Metal seeped there (it was my fault as I applied the Liquid Metal myself and this was a laptop that I bought locally from Dubai). I celled Dell, they made me do a few tests then sent a technician the next day with a new motherboard. He didn't check anything, he just removed the old motherboard and installed the new one as per Dell's instructions then he was out.

 

You got lucky on that one I guess. For most people I recommend putting in a foam barrier to stop leakage as the amount you need is usually much less than you think.

 

Indeed, very lucky. This time round I ordered my lapotp with GELID GC Extreme Thermal compound which is one of the best non-metal thermal compounds out there.

 

Plus you need to pair liquid metal with perfect contact but it is the final step people should be thinking about when tweaking cooling.

 

If more people were educated about the prep that should go into LM build, there would be a lesser stigma about it. And the fact that naked copper needs to be treated for LM before you get optimal results also plays a role it.

 

Certainly you will get bare copper on the vapor chamber.

 

I thought gallium still reacted to copper but at a very slower rate, so wouldn't nickel plating be best on a vapor chamber.

Sent from my SNE-LX1 using Tapatalk

 

I believe there's a small oxidation layer that can occur in gallium based liquid metal products. Some have said it does not impact thermal conductivity and others have said they've seen a 1 degree penalty over a long period of time. If you can live with the discoloration, it's usually OK to leave alone.

But if you have a really bad case of OCD, the discoloration comes off witha bit of polishing sand paper or a bit of diluted sulfuric acid (brick cleaner) you can get at most hardware stores (Pls use proper handling of any material like this, as it is after all an acid which can burn skin, clothing, etc.)

 

It's more making it.

 

To get back to topic here.. HID is offering the 300hz panel now, see here
https://www.hidevolution.com/evoc-h...0600k-i7-10700k-i9-10900k-rtx-2080-super.html
@XMG when will be your turn?

 

Thank you so much. Very useful. But wow it´s a kick in the pants. That thing is crippled.

 

Thanks.
Those results are improving. Unfortunately I don´t think I have an option for Prema Bios. I´m in Europe. I´m not aware of any company that works with them on this model. Anyone know of any?

 

Apparently @XMG is in talk with PREMA but they not sure if he will even release a BIOS

 

Ok thanks. Enjoy it. Would like to have them ship it to me. But I think I would get crushed with taxes and import duties as I¨m in europe. Might clobber me with more than 30% on the price of the laptop. Don´t know if there is anyone that knows a little about this or has had some experience with this.
I don´t know of anyone here that does the delidding, liquid metal work on an Alienware. Please let me know if anyone knows someone in europe.
Thanks

 

Yeah I seem to remember some post about it from them. But it was kind of a "it would be nice to have post" iirc.

 

The pre-paid shipping service is interesting. I still don´t know how the tariffs, duties, taxes would workout.

 

To germany theres only 19% tax no duties + shipping cost

 

Have to look this up for spain

 

ok definitely higher in spain. I was pretty sure that when you start adding this that and the other. You´d have to add about 30% to the laptop.

 

Not the best way to test I know, but could you share some of the sound the laptop is able to produce?

 

That's the concern I had with importing to the UK. We get +20% on the full price (so laptop and shipping) + about £10 customs handling fee.

 

I'm in the UAE, and the stuff that's available locally is not always the latest and greatest. Most big-box shops still feature a lot of laptops with 8th and 9th generation Intel CPUs, but charge them as if they were fresh off the assembly line after a product unveil. So it was a choice of either paying new prices for older laptops, or trying my hand at importing.

 

Yeah I see. It seems that in spain for this product it would be similar. 2,5%+21%+pay to get it out of customs warehouse to your door.
Lovely really.

 

Inside the Schengen commercial space there aren't any customs, you guyrs are being robbed by the private transport companies.

Yes, you have to pay your country VAT rate, but there isn't any customs involved when buying a laptop from Germany to Spain or the UK.

 

? HID is in USA

Small side question, if you had both i9 10980hk (mobile chip) vs i7 10700k (desktop) but the mobile chip can maintain 4.6ghz while the i7 4.4ghz, which is better and why?

This is regarding the aorus 17 with 2080super vs x170 2080super, both 200w

 

Wouldn't the i9 be more held back by subpar thermal controls in comparison to the i7, thereby reining in a chunk of the performance potential? (Subpar compared to desktops, that is).

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aorus-17-x-2080-super-intel-gen-10.832432/page-7

Going by this thermals are almost equal

 

The thermal density is the same so as long as the heatsink does not reach soak it wont be that different.

 

Screenshot_20200908-194414676 by Entropytwo posted Sep 8, 2020 at 7:50 PM

Screenshot_20200908-194444649 by Entropytwo posted Sep 8, 2020 at 7:50 PM

So you suggest that both cpu would perform the same as seen on this?

 

I said the thermals per core could be similar, nothing about performance. I've not personally played with the x170, with how much power the 10900k can draw from the wall you are probably going to need to know what you are doing to get the most out of it.

 

Indeed. Performance should be the same for the 2 processors since a laptop i9 is essentially a desktop i7.

 

Didn't notice that, but I understand now, you want a 300Hz display, just wait for XMG to also have it, because buying from the US will indeed net you with VAT, import taxes and expensive shipping, you will only have 1 year warranty by default, while warranty in EU is 2 years by default.
And I would never buy a brand new laptop from the US, the chance of it getting damaged during shipping and the burocratic hell that comes with that, less warranty, and any warranty work will leave you without laptop for months on end while paying for shipping back and forth..

 

You can also upgrade the panel yourself if you wish, its literally the same panel but 300hz, found here for example https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001005156949.html , its the 5.1 version

 

Don't know how easy or hard it is, i returned mine within 14days already, so dont need to void warranty if i wanted that panel

 

Yeah that's why I find very strange that alienware offers 1 year warranty where I live. If you're in europe could you confirm that on their web they offer 2 years?

 

Afaik in europe theres 2 yrs assurance and any type of warranty is addional

 

I would recommend changing on your own as a last resort.
It was easy to change panels in previous laptops, however with the x170 the "Hey, let's lock our bios!" was not the only stupid decision that Clevo took from other manufacturers.
The x170 is using a slim edge display and the plastic covering the panel and even the panel itself is held in place with adhesive.
This means that you need to be really careful when disassembling to avoid any damage .

 

I expect we won't see the same improvement from "Worlds most powerful gaming laptop" from Dell.

Spoiler

First gen "Worlds most Powerful" gamingbook is now unusable for gaming...

Probably a good idea to avoid a possible second round of Fire?

3DMark Fire Strike search for 2080 Super

 

Hopefully those settings will be rolled out actually and XMG will be part of it

 

Yes agreed. I even checked up on this. And also looked it up on their website. And it specifically says they follow the guarantee followed the eupean directive which specifically states 2 years on new products. However for the 51m they offer 1 year as the base warranty. Shrug.
Going to call them and see if this is an unintentional typo.
But I have seen in many times, so I have my doubts.

Your going to have to brush up on your spanish. But here's a screenshot from the alienware website.mobile version.