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

They “Want” them too. But it’s not required. As far as I know Asus is the only one that follows that rule.

Well I heard 150w awhile ago and now I’m hearing 165w. Until they have official specs I’m definitely waiting.

 

I thought all configs came with the dual 280 watt power adapters.

 

Has anyone here built one of these from a barebones? I've been using my 870DMG from R&J Tech for years without an issue.

 

Has there been a PREMA bios release for this beast yet? I wanna get the most of my RAM...

 

Yes. Things have probably changed a lot since the last time you saw this thread.

Premamod has been available for this laptop for a while now. Where did you buy your X170SM-G from?

 

150W + 15W Dynamic Throttle Boost 2.0.

 

Great to hear! I bought from HIDEvolution. It came with 2 16 GB sticks at 3200 MHz but I believe they can only run at 2666 or something. I would like to get them near 3200 MHz and boost the RAM to 128 GB.

 

There are two 230w slots on the little adapter holder. So I’m guessing lower end configurations could probably only need 460w. Would be nice if they just used the 280w though you didn’t need to buy those when you upgraded.

 

I got mine from Eluktronics and they just started offering the Prema Bios so they installed it in mine. They have two "bare ones" x170s. I got mine with no RAM and no SSD with a 10900k and 2080 Super for a little under $3000 after shipping and taxes. They have another bare bones system with nothing but the GPU. No SSD, no RAM, no CPU for like $2,300 before shipping and taxes.

Sent from my OnePlus 7 Pro using Tapatalk

 

Does anyone know if the Prema bios has issues running dual-boot Win10 and Ubuntu?

 

I could not get Linux Mint to install on the developer unit from @Donald@zTecpc but I have since figured out how to circumvent that, as I ran into the same problems on both Z490 desktops. I had to manually configure my partitions using MSDOS partition tables instead of EFI verus allowing Linux to automatically configure them. I use POP_OS! and then install Cinnamon DE because it seems to have better overall native driver support than Mint (thanks to System76's efforts to make everything work on the Clevos and desktops that they sell with Linux preinstalled). POP_OS! should install without any effort on the X170.

@S.K is dual-booting Linux if I am not mistaken.

 

Since you got it from HIDEvolution, you should ask them to remote flash the BIOS for you.

 

If anyone is offering it then it will be them still, just got to look at the cost of it.

 

Mine is running both windows and Linux without any problem with grub as my main bootloader.

@Mr. Fox Still running the Linux Mint/Windows 10 dual boot with GRUB as primary boot loader with Prema bios; having no issues thus far.

 

Thanks, I am aware of this one but I just wanted a single power supply solution that would work on the go and for that anything that would give me at least 280W (a single brick) would be fine.

The Eurocom is an actively cooled solution that I am sure would be nice to have for benchmarking and other uses with a bigger than 280W power draw as it is easier to drag around than two separate power supplies plus cabling but for me it would not fit my needs. I am looking at this kind of laptop because I want a quiet mobile workstation with lots of RAM and lots of cores, plenty of potential storage and a big screen and I do not want it to be heavier and more difficult to use than necessary when I take it on a trip.

So please Clevo allow us to at least use the X170KM with a single brick and without artificial limitations!

 

Can confirm this. Running POP_OS! and Windows 10 dual boot with no issues on mine.

 

Honestly, you're gonna want a different laptop then. How are you going to power the CPU and GPU with a single PSU under a workstation scenario? Those components could EASILY go above 230/280W.

 

If you haven't already figured it out, Lutris works well for running Cinebench (identified as Windows 7).

 

I legit only use linux for testing my game dev stuff. I bloody hate it.

 

I have 2060 in mine and I have 280 watt power supplies.

 

Thats cool, the 780w power supply really isn't that heavy, it is less weight than carrying 2 of the 280w power bricks and less bulk to carry around. I love it and 780w is more than enough power for a loaded x170.

 

It is an excellent invention. I loved mine. It was much better than the clumsy dual brick adapter with the idiotically short pigtail. I also modded that and replaced the short pigtail with a full-length AC adapter cable.

Actually, two. The more severe flaw is the lack of CSM support. In fact, that is precisely why I do not own one. I cannot accept that flaw in an otherwise fantastic product. When I discovered the inability to support W7 it got scratched off of my shopping list.

I would prefer a single power jack with the old school adapter. I do like the square plug better than the old Clevo 4-pin DIN style connection that was easily dislodged by accident.

Nice. That almost makes up for the inability to run Windows 7, but the absence of CSM limits Linux installation options as well. Both of my desktops are quad-booting a cancer version of W10, LTSC, W7 and Linux. I have no intention of giving up W7. It is still the best OS by far. Excluding ME and W8.X any build of W10 is the worst version.

 

This model has been pulled from their website. I'll just have to bide my time and wait for it's return. It is a better deal for me in some ways because I can get CPUs from work and I enjoy the doing the build.

 

I'd love a single psu solution too, how do you account for the 2 plugs though? A splitter?

 

This is sort of what I do. I've got a single power lead to dual plugs and that way the PSU's only use 1 plug.

 

Does anyone know the maximum RAM clock frequency allowed (specifically: used) with the Prema bios? Right now I have 3200 MHz but it is only running at around 2666.

 

Same as for the Dell burningbook.

 

Not my experience with not much GPU usage and this scenario would be with only two screens and on the go. I would obviously have two power bricks in the office where at times power draw might be higher.

 

I love Linux and Windows 7. I do not like Windows 10. It is a terrible mess. I only use it because it supports software that I want to use, not because I think Windows 10 is a good product. If Linux would support all the software I want to run I would immediately discontinue using Windows 10 altogether.

 

What programs it supports does kind of make up part of what an OS is good.

 

You can use an IEC splitter cable like this so you only take up 1 outlet even with the dual PSUs: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Leader...+x2+16awg&qid=1605058991&s=electronics&sr=1-2

 

I honestly miss Win 7. Win 10 isn't bad... it's better than 8/8.1, but god I miss 7.

Also, XP is still the king.

 

is there such a splitter for the x170 as well?

 

The 780W adapter is unisex. One fit all but with the splitter X170 need power for both inlets to charge and to provide enough power. Make a custom 780W for a single model is stupid. Nor profitable.

 

I'm running mine at 3467 MHz.

 

The cable for the X170 splits right at where it connects to the Power Brick, it does not have a box in the middle where it splits like the picture for the Alienware laptop. I will take a picture tomorrow.

 

Dell/Alienware crapbooks use an ID chip that talks to the motherboard and blacklists AC adapters that are not the proprietary version made and sold my Dell. There are hacks and workarounds to that stupidity that people have been using for a while that involved using a chip with copied firmware or transplanting one from a "genuine" AC adapter. My guess is that the box in the middle is for a chip that has been added to lie to the motherboard so that it believes a 'genuine' Dell/Alienware AC adapter is plugged in. Otherwse, the laptop will not work correctly if it believes a third-party product is plugged in.

HP has been known to do the same over the years and I think some older IBM laptops might have included some similar Nazi magic. The underhanded bullcrap some notebook OEMs do to try to force consumers into relying on them for everything is truly deplorable and despicable.

 

I considered buying that adapter in the past but backed out after looking at the peak to peak ripple voltage rating. That Eurocom PSU has 200mV peak to peak output ripple which is a huge noise signal. It will reduce longevity of the system components in the long run and probably create other problems along the way that are not obvious since high ripple can unleash all kinds of havocs inside a machine running several high frequency precision electrical components. Good power supply units have less than 10 mV peak to peak ripple at the output. I wonder why Eurocom do not have a lambda filter at the output terminal to get rid of the output signal noise caused by this humongous ripple. Personally I would stay away from it unless absolutely needed, especially with a Prema modded system like mine that now has no warranty.

 

I'd stay away from the Eurocom 780 watt PSU just because of the price alone. It's not worth it. The addon cables also cost a ridiculous amount of money.

You're better served with the stock PSUs that come with the system. They will last you a long time.

 

Well, I know a few qualified electricians that are into this sort of thing, and there is a great electrical engineering college close by. I will have them take a look at the 780w power supply when I get a chance cause I can only believe half of what I hear on this site when it comes to Eurocom.

 

Do ask them to compare the output ripple voltage of both the EUROCOM unit (factory rated at 200mV p to p which is ridiculously high) and the stock unit Chicony A18-280P1A. The stock unit has nothing specified as output ripple voltage rating but based on other units from the same manufacturer, their values are usually not this high.

 

...but...

After I asked the question here I looked into the motherboard and it only supports a max of 3200 so how are you achieving greater speeds than that?!

 

With a stock BIOS there are artificial limitations because you cannot manually apply custom settings or override the wimpy stock 1.200V cap. It says that in the published specs because that is what the stock Clevo BIOS allows with sloppy loose timings and 1.200V. He has a PremaMod BIOS.

The Z490 chipset and 10900K can handle up to around 5000 MHz if the CPU and memory silicon are of sufficient quality and the motherboard is built up to snuff in terms of power delivery and traces. I am running my desktop RAM at 4600 CL19 with 1.500V as "daily driver" memory speed.

 

Power delivery in terms of ram speed is not too important. It's always down to trace layout and the number of layers. Sodimms will always have a disadvantage due to the slot having lower signal integrity.

 

That’s what I did. Bought a second pair of psu’s from ZTecPC for travel and I’m good to go.

 

That is true. At any rate, even when the hardware is done right in every way, if the firmware imposes limitations then you're totally screwed in terms of what you can do.

 

I am in the process of creating a barebone version of Windows 10 that has absolutely no junk from Microsoft and does not install anything junk upon Windows update either since the unwanted packages have been removed from the ISO at the stage of creation instead of getting stripped down after installation. I am testing it out currently. If anyone is interested to test it out, kindly ping me. So far the performance is off the charts and it is SUPER clean! If my testing goes well then I will make it public and share the ISO directly in a forum post so that everyone can use it.

 

I'd be down to try though I use ltsc

 

Get a notebook equivalent to the apex and have two slots with ideal tracing and see if you can make a high integrity slot. Might start seeing the higher speeds then but a harder sell than 4 slots.

 

Sure, I have extra drives that are not currently used on one of my desktops that I can drop it onto for testing.