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

It is his decision and since it is his talent and skills it is at his discretion how to do it. It was never about easy money. It was about a very kind and generous man's passion for making people happy and fixing broken crap laptop firmware. It used to be available publicly, and was for years, until dishonest bastards started stealing his work, calling it their own and reselling it. Before that happened it was available for free directly from the @Prema website for a voluntary donation of any amount (or nothing) until that started happening. So, as usual, evil people ruined it for the rest of us.

Edit: A little birdie just whispered in my ear that he is looking to offer trustworthy power users a path to accessing the PremaMod. But, that is going to be down the line a bit. Right now the focus is on getting the mod done right and making the X170, and the firmware support for it, the best it can be.

 

Thank you and of course all of that makes sense, his design, his decision. However remote install that thing will be done anyway to existing owners, so if he's kind enough maybe perhaps praying to all kinda gods he changes his mind and lets resellers remote install it to customers without the right reseller.

 

Yea I'd happily pay for it on my machine and let them remote in and install it. I had to order it through a vendor where the company I work for has NET30 and it's not on the list of Prema resellers. I understand why it's not publicly available because people suck but why limit it to only preferred vendors? That's the part that makes no sense to me unless they have some kind of contract where they pay for exclusive rights. I'm no power user so I guess I won't have a path to getting it

 

The thing is i dont even know whos a prema partner anymore.....@prema could you guys shine some light.im actually thinng of purchasing a X170sm tomorrow whos selling it with 300hz and prema partner

 

We are a Prema Partner

 

There used to be a list of official Prema partners. Does it not exist anymore?

 

Yes, but he took it offline as he is re-evaluating existing relationships and adding new ones. So the information that was posted is in a state of temporary flux.

Those who are PremaMod Partners will proudly declare it, as @Spartan@HIDevolution just did, as will zTecpc and LPC Digital.

The PC tech landscape really sucks right now, but good things are happening behind the scenes guys. There are people that care who are trying hard to change the suckiness and the paradigm of abject failure and mediocrity that some of us absolutely despise.

We do need things to improve on the hardware side of the house and fixing those messes is pretty difficult when those responsible for the failures are living in denial. Throw the incompetent losers at Micro$lop and the abortion they call an OS into the mix and it's a pretty tough row to hoe.

 

There is more to it than meets the eye. Some Clevo distribution channels (Sager/Schenker) will not allow anything that is not officially sanctioned by Clevo. There has to be minimum standards and a code of conduct that are strictly followed. You can't have that when you don't know for sure that you can really trust those you are partnering with. Some are unwilling to embrace the terms and conditions. Some Clevo resellers are better than others. Some just don't care. They sell a product and leave it up to the buyer to deal with any unresolved issues involving performance and function.

 

Since the place I bought from isn't a partner, I would absolutely pay for it to be installed on my machine if that were an option. No question.

And I am aware it has to be done remotely. I'd still do it.

 

Same here, I would be happy to separately purchase it with remote install. Years ago Prema even trusted me and sent bios and vBIOS for manual install.
Now however I heard that he stopped such conduct because someone betrayed his trust and tried to sell his work.

Prema got so angry that he even stopped helping people who he had no trouble before. For example when I did not know about this I PM'd him if he could give me a new bios like before however he did not even reply to my message and he does not even take the time to reply to any of my messages.

I imagine he made this bios into a profit now and he is getting money from resellers for his work and they even wrote a contract that neither Prema or the resellers can sell it separately.

It is a shame, instead of working out a new, better method so that people could not sell it, Prema just closed his doors to almost everyone.

He could get someone to code a program which can install the bios remotely after inputting a code which is given after purchase from a website, but no, he instead did almost the same as Willy Wonka did.

 

Latest windows store update for the LED controls apparently fixed the annoying bug of leaving the LEDs functioning unless you open up the app and disable them every time. Tested with both reboots and sleeps. Finally, now we just need a good bios wink wink Clevo

 

Looking good! Hows the memory OC looking on x170 with a proper bios?

Premamod is his IP, and what he choses to do with it is entirely up to him. The 'personal version' of the bios is his to give to people whom he trusts, and has a working relationship with. You understand that you're not the only one asking for an unlocked bios, his inbox is likely flooded each day by similar PMs and it's likely tiresome by now.

If you know that you need the Premamod bios, then buy from a partner shop. Otherwise be patient, give it time and you might have a change of luck

 

"If you know that you need the Premamod bios, then buy from a partner shop"
Unfortunately there are regions where no Prema partner is available and buying fro ma Prema partner would cause inconveniece in case an RMA and besides it would be significantly more expensive.

 

Extremely limited by a less than ideal air cooling solution. I have made a number of mods to mitigate that to make it a fully usable product, but AC cooling is needed for any kind of meaningful overclocking. You can game all day at 50x10, but Cinebench and wPrime push the capability of the heat sink at 49x10. A vapor chamber on the CPU would have been a smart approach, but even that probably wouldn't be adequate for more than 50x10 under a severe long-term CPU stress situation.

Air cooling is not an ideal solution for 10900K even on a desktop if you enjoy anything more than modest overclocking.

It is a very nice laptop and the best current DTR, but it has lots of room for improvement like most things being sold today. Typical 21st Century approach... sell it and let somebody else figure out how to make it closer to what it should have been. A great starting point for those that enjoy fixing messes. Nice that it is not perma-broken like an Alienware.

Edit: @jc_denton - Sorry, I missed the word "memory" when I replied. I apologize that my response did not make sense.

Too early to tell right now on the memory. The mod is still very beta-ish. I cannot get this one to boot above 3200 with more than one stick of RAM, but @Prema is having more luck with that. He has managed at least 3500 CL18-18-18-39 2T. I have 8GB*2 G.SKILL sticks with Samsung C-die and I have tightened the 3200 timings to CL15-17-17-32 2T. So, not terrible by any means, but not particularly impressive if you are used to a minimum of 4000 @ CL16 on a desktop. Laptops like this should be called a DTS instead of a DTR (substitute versus replacement). Close, but not quite.

 

do any one know if the x170sm would benefit from the eurocom 780w power adapter? in terms of extra power and such? they now have the one specific for the x170sm

Also would this machine benefit from direct die cooling and modding the cpu slot screws?

@Mr. Fox @PremaMod @Papusan

 

Probably not on the AC adapter. Although more is always better in my mind, but I doubt you would realize a benefit other than being more convenient to have only one brick and power cord. The power handling capacity of the dual adapter setup is not exhausted, and the thermal impediments to extreme CPU overclocking are such that the CPU cannot be clocked high enough for that to become an issue. This might change with RTX 3080 if they don't gimp the snot out of it (which I expect will be the case). That much remains to be seen.

Direct die, probably so. The challenge will be the attachment point. The heat sink is designed to use the screws that attach the ILM to the motherboard. The screws that bolt the ILM to the motherboard are stand-offs with female threads that the heat sink screws thread into. That actually works well enough, and I am sure with some ingenuity that bare die would be doable. But not as simple as it would be if the heat sink were attached in the traditional manner. The more challenging part would be how to fill the gap created by the missing IHS without creating more thermal resistance that diminishes the transfer of heat from the die to the thermal unit. If one were to use a vapor chamber it would be very tiny because of the non-traditional manner of attachment using the ILM fastener approach. There is not enough space between those screws for a vapor chamber of any size. Probably the only realistic way of doing it would be to solder a shim to the heat plate that is thick enough to fill the void left by the IHS removal.

 

Oooh. I may have to see if I can get one of those high wattage, single brick PSU's. Will make it much easier to take the laptop out once lockdown has buggered off.

 

DAMN Eurocom!!!! LOL....

 

Here is another alternative to consider as an option. You'd have to make your own power cables to fit the X170 unless the vendor has them available for purchase.

https://www.bonanza.com/items/like/...upply-4-Hole-For-Clevo-MSI-GT83-Terrans-Force

 

Being totally honest with you, I dont think I'd trust myself to make the cables and not blow it up.

 

Finding he cables to buy them would likely be an even greater challenge. I have never seen any like these. It would be a shame to ruin two otherwise good AC adapters just to steal the cables from them for a mod.

 

Wait that was Eurocom

For years I thought it was Malibal that misrepresented the bios

 

Er...both maybe!

EDIT...CORRECTION. Malibal did not ever have access to the Custom Prema BIOS, so they are not a culprit in this case.

 

Do you guys offer the x170sm with the 300hz screen and delid service?

 

We have not released it yet, but yes, it will be offered with delidded CPUs, once released. We will not have the 300Hz screen when released, but that may come later.

The thermal upgrade we will offer will include much more than just delidding...stand by for its release, and you will see outstanding performance, with small temperature differences between Cores, producing exceptionally cooler temps than stock, or even LM upgrades made by others.

Once released, we will have a couple of 3rd party reviews detailing performance, temps, and all the usual benchmarks, among other things.

 

sorry i couldnt wait. someone actually was gonna pay for the whole machine for me today as a Christmas gift and they went and pulled the trigger (unmentionable) shame they bought there to save alot of money. they got it with a 2080s 144hz panel for close to 2200 shipping included. they purchased a 10850k seperately for 300 bucks. i wanted the 300hz panel and prema bios and delid but i cant beat getting the machine free. if you guys offer upgrade services and would welcome me lol id definitely would send my machine your way or id purchase the parts from you guys and install myself. NOWWWW im gonna go cry in a corner because im sure i got 0000000.00000001% chance of getting premabios installed in my machine. @Spartan@HIDevolution

 

Well, I'm from Europe (Denmark) and I ordered my machine from HID, so I know the feeling all too well. Brother Prema hasn't singled you out, since he hasn't been active since January.

No worries brother, I was going to ask how it faired with the stock cooler eventually Looks like brother Johnksss will hold onto the 3800Mhz crown for a little while more!

 

Yeah I'm less involved in this generation at the moment personally. Yet still he's at it again, that guy is a star.

Ah if only we got the chance a few years back this kind of thing could have been more common.

 

I am anticipating and waiting for Prema, MrFox and the PremaMod team to finish his BIOS to see what power they unlock for this notebook. I hope zTec will be offering liquid metal on the CPU and GPU to help maintain that power with good temperatures. With the arrival of the 3000 series at the beginning of the year it will be just in time to realize the potential of the x170SMG. It will probably the only notebook worth upgrading to IMHO.

 

This is one of the major things that makes laptops so sucky. This nonsense is out of control and it is like cancer spreading across all brands. Reliance on a virus update from Micro$lop Store to fix broken UWP filth that should not even exist in the first place. Absolute bull crap, and the idiots that manufacture laptops are all about kissing the buttocks of the Redmond Mafia. There is nothing good about this and anyone that thinks so needs emergency psychiatric attention.

 

Perfection in written form, wonder who started the LED trend in the first place.

 

I don't mind LED so much. I kind of like a backlit keyboard with white. I can certainly live without all the colors and flashing lights going on. I don't care too much for that. But the garbage software that it seems like the OEMs find so popular to control the LEDs is pretty disgusting. Anything that comes from Microsoft store is pretty disgusting in my personal opinion. Just absolute trash.

 

I just love how much we can't stand microshyt

 

Could somebody with the 10700K processor and XTU tell me what values you have for the following entries, assuming you have never modified them?

Turbo Boost Power Max
Turbo Boost Short Power Max
Turbo Boost Power Time Window
Processor Core IccMax
Processor Cache IccMax

 

I saved the defaults...

Turbo Boost Power Max - 100w
Turbo Boost Short Power Max - 200w
Turbo Boost Power Time Window - 96 seconds
Processor Core IccMax - 245A
Processor Cache IccMax - 245A

That's what XTU says for my 10700K

 

Interesting... that's not what I was expecting... I'm kinda confused even more now. Should same processors on same chassis have identical default values in XTU?

But anyways thanks a lot for checking. If anyone else's got their values, please tell me.

 

Yes.
They would or should if Clevo Cancer Center has not been installed. Once that happens everything changes.

 

It's as an update tool really as a lot would never download the next version.

 

Hey does anybody the simplix for windows 10 or is that just for windows 7? i would like to have a clean windows 10 install without microcrap stuff i dont need for my new x170 when it gets here. Does anybody have any suggestions on what to install and what not to as far as from clevo? i had a clean install from major geeks but its uber old. also if anybody has any mods that would benefit temps or overclock ability i would appreciate it? i know mr fox once did a screw change on the cpu bracket before on previous clevo can it be done with this one? if so what type of screws and measurements

Spec for new machine will be as follows:

10850k
CL16 3000mhz corsair memory (64GB)
144hz but i already purchased the 300hz panel and will install it myself B173HAN05.1
2080S
2X W550 2TB (1 Media and the other windows)
2X Crucial 1TB P1000 NVME (Raid 0) Games
1X Toshiba 1TB NVME (Other Stuff)

 

Where are you putting the 5th drive with only 4 bays? Or is there a secret slot that I haven't noticed yet?

It seems like a good idea at first blush. That is likely the rationale behind it and without a lot of thought going into the process I can see where some might think it's a great idea even though it is not.

I think the biggest issue with that is that some may never want an update. If what they have now is working properly the best plan is to never update it. Just leave it alone if it is not malfunctioning and enjoy having something that works right for a change. When you have something that is not working correctly, then you can see if there is an update to fix it.

Second problem is, you go to the trouble of blocking Windows Updates and block feature changes and version updates, then the nitwits pushing out Micro$lop Store crap updates an app and suddenly it doesn't work because it needs a newer strain of virus OS and no longer supports the virus OS you decided that you are sticking with. (Thus happens with the UWP cancer games all the time.)

Third problem is the UWP app crap is not available for download and local storage to reinstall if you find the latest (and only) version found in the Store is crappier than what you had before. The only choice available is the newest one that you don't want.

This is what happens when we allow stupid dolts to use a cookie-cutter "Store" approach to manage an unlimited variety of PCs like a zombie smartphone.

 

i thought i read in spec sheet from the internet it has 4 nvme slot and 1 msata slot unless its incorrect? if i read wrong id minus the toshiba as i need the space more then the speed. The drives and memory im installing myself from previous p375sm i had and other drives i had laying around

 

Unless there is a 5th M.2 bay under the keyboard that I did not notice, you have one SATA-only M.2 off to one side and a trio of M.2 slots on the other side.

 

Thank you for the heads up. Its lets me plan better what im gonna put and where. did you do the cpu screw mod this time with the x170 to get closer heatsink

 

Don't look you blind on specs from the internet. 5 slots included the Wifi I advise all to read the User's manual.


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Proprietary design is never a good idea. eGPU just works vs. bad design.

 

Getting closer... https://www.3dmark.com/fs/23773225


https://hwbot.org/submission/458029...geforce_rtx_2080_super_(notebook)_12623_marks

 

Amazing

 

By the way, LED app still broken, as if you have to load it manually every time for it to work. Sad.

 

Here is a better one...

https://www.3dmark.com/fs/23773625

 

Wow. Just wow. Thats god tier hardware. 2145mhz on a laptop card??? How did you manage that?? What are your temps?

 

Room temperature (artificially low) thermal throttling has been a problem since Pascal. Clevo did a really nice job with the thermals for the video card with the vapor chamber. It's probably the coolest running video card I've seen since the Maxwell days.

The benchmarks that I posted last night and the early into the wee hours of the morning are with my portable air conditioning system underneath the laptop. The video card clock speeds never would have held up at room temperature and they would have been down close to like 1950 or so. This applies to all of them including desktop video cards. The room temperature thermal throttling thing that NVIDIA has done to them is extremely stupid. They shouldn't start throttling until like 80C. They start throttling at normal ambient temperatures for most people.

This is probably why the advertised boost clock is always much lower than the real boost clock on GeForce cards. The numbers are going to be all over the board and very widely based upon the environment the person is using their video card in. It would be impossible to be consistent with the boost clock value the way their spastic thermal throttling algorithms are set up. It's like having an automatic transmission with no ability to select a lower gear ratio. Just forwards and backwards and that's it LOL.

I wish we could go back to the old way of just having a critical throttle point rather than tiered dropping of clock speeds in 5 degree steps the way it is now. I really hate that. It worked that way for years and it's still that way on CPUs. No reason it can't be that way for GPUs like it used to be.