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The Gigabyte P34W v3 Owner's Lounge : The Phantasus !
Greetings! This is the thread for all who own, want to own, or would just like to discuss the P34W v3 from Gigabyte. Everyone is welcome!http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5325#kf
Specifications :
OS: Windows or Linux
CPI: 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-4720HQ (2.6GHz-3.6GHz)
Display: 14" Full HD 1920x1080 hi-Viewing angle LCD
Memory: 8GB DDRIIIL 1600, 2 slots(Max 16GB)
Chipset: Intel® HM87
Display Adapter: Intel® HD Graphics 4600
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970M GDDR5 3GB Discrete Graphics, NVIDIA® Optimus™ supported
Storage: 1 mSATA SSD + 1 Hdd 2,5
Keyboard: 2-stage back-lit keyboard
Optical Drive: None
I/O: USB(3.0)*4, HDMI, D-sub, RJ45, Headphone/Microphone jack, SD card reader, A/C in
Sound: 1.5 W Speaker*2, Integrated Dual mic, Dolby Digital Plus™ Home Theater
LAN: 10/100/1000 Ethernet
WLAN: 802.11ac/b/g/n
Bluetooth: Integrated V4.0
Camera: HD Camera
Security: Kensington Lock
Battery: Li-polymer, 15.2V, 61.25Wh
Dimensions: 340(W) x 239(D) x 20.9(H) mm
Weight: ~1.80kg (w/ Battery, m-SSD, HDD)
Review from Notebookcheck.net : http://www.notebookcheck.net/Gigabyte-P34W-v3-Notebook-Review.135573.0.html
Review from @fanchiuho here : http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...sions-and-tests-a-pretty-little-beast.770556/
Korean review with lot of pics and numbers
Main topics :
- Heat : As the P34w V3 is one of the slimmest and strongest laptop, the i7-4720 and the gtx 970m with 3gb make it a reliable heater while performing heavy tasks.
The CPU is the one getting the hottest for now, with a 91°c cap from the orginal bios. FB04 /F002 bios allows 95°C (and 96°C on my laptop at highest).
The GPU seems like it doesn't goes over 90°C (86°C for me).
Some greats people have already performed repasting and lowered pretty well those temps ( @fanchiuho and @bkvamme ). It doesn't seems like it void warranty as the heat sink can be removed without touching the "void warranty" stickers. No direct answer from Gigabyte as been provided on this forum for now.
- Throttling : Seems like it happens for two main reasons ! heat limit, and power supply limit.
- Noise : Fans are doing their best to keep the Phantasus cool, but it can sounds a bit too much from time to time. P34W v3 is equipped with a quick fan speed management button (in smart manager) which allows you 4 different mods : Stealth mode (very quiet with a cpu cap) auto-low (quiet but no cpu cap) auto high (easily audible, no cpu cap) Max fan speed (full speed of the fan, really audible). only the latter doesn't have an adaptive speed depending on the laptop needs). thanks to @Micaiah
Work in progress :
- Repasting test with different paste (AC5, IC7 and liquid pro)
- XTU profils modding
I am not a tester but I will try to aggregate all informations that are shared on this forum from those lovely testers ! So if you have anything to ad just share it (or pm for corrections). The first thread for this laptop (with real test on real machines) started here : http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...sions-and-tests-a-pretty-little-beast.770556/
Game is on
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Nice. I was just about to update my Afterburner log when this comes up. I don't have the mental capacity to handle a post long so thanks a lot! I'll edit my dropbox link here, after however long the session I could muster today.
EDIT: {Afterburner Log}, I had to restrain myself from turning on the beefy PC at home recently
Also not sure if I'm gonna continue using MSI AB, the logging sometimes turns itself off for no reason. Maybe GPU-Z?
On a side note here's what I found out when updating the Gigabyte Apps today: Turn off all processes with taskmgr before installing!
Installation files of SmartManager and the like do not feature a process kill feature, causing errors during install. End the following if you are installing SM:
Auto Calibration.exe,
ElevateService.exe,
GBSMV2.exe (or V3) ,
RunAP.exe,
ShowSM.exe
Do the same to SmartUpdate itself, both worked for me.
btw my grammar suxLast edited: Mar 6, 2015TheNightWolf likes this. -
Hi @fanchiuho ,
Thanks for the quick answer, and please don't rush yourself ! I wouldn't want you to stop contributing because you didn't take time for yourself
I will use this post to sum up some advice to those reading this thread :
Be polite saying hi, thanking people, using nice sentence always helps and motivate more than being rude
Write in understandable English : cz u wn't like it when you don't understand something that might be useful for you.
Respect those that contribute : you might not agree with somes, but if someone contribute you have to consider it and explain why you disagree ! Also we are only "normal" users (even if some people give you the feeling that they are IT Tech, or hidden salers for paste ), so please before asking something do consider that we have a real life, and are not your dear employees !
Give sources : if you want people to trust what you post you should consider using links to assure the truth behind what you write
Use the RTFWT concept : if you look for an information or an answer, please do use the "Read The F*cking Whole Thread" concept... It means than before posting anything you should ensure that your information as not been already given, or your question has already been answered ! If after that you find nothing good enough then you might post ! And if you find some people discussing the same topic, please link them in your post.
Might sound funny for now, but as most of those User's lounge easily go over 100 pages (some maybe over 9000 ! #troll), doing so will help keep it easy to read and as short as possible.
Shout out to :
@fanchiuho the quickest drawer of the "guinea pig community"
@Micaiah the "coolest" fans excel file writer
@bkvamme the "tastiest" paster tester. -
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FYI, the GPU memory clock is also throttled when in stealth mode. It is limited to 450MHz compared to 1250MHz when in any other mode. I will gather my findings in a post tomorrow, and keep that up to date instead of having multiple posts
TheNightWolf likes this. -
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Hi, having a great weather here today
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@vinny3 I have no news, but I think it is possible to buy it from the US, except if you look for some special version, keyboard ? I think we do have US buyers ! Let us know when you found some.
@usapatriot I have waited two month to get my hand on this computer, and I think the delay was mostly from the GPU chips was fresh from the first patch. If the GPU you are looking for is already sold in other laptop then it should be fast, I think. P.S. : some Gigabyte told us that the P34W should be available mid-January then came back to say mid-February, so I wish you the best but don't be too trustful for ETA (it is an Estimate time).
@bkvamme Thanks as usual, waiting for your great feedback. I try to be more specific on the throttling when I know a little bit more about this aspect
@HeardEmSay Thanks for the link, been updated ! No info on those too, but do you need to be so specific ? might be some new model, or just rename already sold under another brand name RAM. -
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Battery life is decent enough as long as I am not playing any games or doing any intensive tasks. Getting around 3-4 hours on normal office use (browsing, typing, spreadsheeting etc.). Could possibly extend this by putting the laptop in stealth mode and enabling battery saving mode in Windows.
I might possibly create a super power saving mode where I limit the processor to only operate at 10% capacity.
Hi,
Here is an image of the internals, including the battery.![[IMG]](images/storyImages/4b7966a99e6aa88dbd83e911e81c44e3.jpg)
Appears to be a rebranded battery. -
First off, love the laptop. Was dead set on 14 inch laptop and this was the only one with the 970m, so it was pretty much no brainer. Almost bought this one last year but when it only had the 860 in it, i thought the sacrifice in performance was too great, so i held off. Then this year 970 and all black, damn right. My only concern is the heat, and I want to repaste it.
I've built a computer recently, attached pic. I did not use the stock compound on the corsair block, I re-pasted with AS5. I've also replaced a keyboard and dead hard-drive in a 2007 macbook pro. I'd like to repaste the p34w cpu/gpu with IC Diamond 7 but seeing as how I don't have extensive experience I'm wondering if I should attempt it or not. Too be honest, I'll probably muster up the courage to do it anyway, the IC Diamond 7 gets here Wedneday, but I figured i'd make an account and post on here and hopefully land some moral support from someone who's done a repaste on the p34w.
Thanks to all previous posters, I've found the threads on this board concerning the p34w to be extremely helpful, which is another reason I wanted to post. Also I was tired of feeling like a stalker, lol.
TheNightWolf likes this. -
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Hi all,
About the battery, I do feel a big difference with an 2007 hp laptop... which is still running great and 2 hours long without A/C as at the beginning ! For now this computer goes through a whole afternoon from 1pm to 7pm with low gaming and while using it only two third of the time, so yes around 4 hours full usage at least, rest of the time I let it goes into sleep mode (might try hibernate). While gaming you know that after two hours you will have to plug it, but it gets you moving
No real data for now, but an heavy usage of the battery, if it deteriorate you will hear it from me ! As for the temp, I would be happy to share it as long as you explain how to easily monitor it @changt34x
@Kairnth happy to hear that, let us know if you do !
@rinneh and @HeardEmSay Glad to count you in ! I hope will find good result on this battery part. Also glad to have some new feed back to learn from our dear Wifi !
@RebelGator Liquid Pro should only be used with copper which seems to be the case with our lovely P34W, if not It can transform your metal part into an easily breakable piece of glass (see at the end of this page). And don't worry I was stalker there before too !
@bkvamme So glad to hear you so motivated for so many tests ! Thanks to your information I think I will try it next week with the help of friend who already repast desktop ! My last question would be of how much paste is needed. I can see people apply it as a little drop or sometimes more. Is there no measurement on the past stick ? What is the risk if there is to few, how can you see it ? There is a video of guy spreading the Liquid pro with a swap, did you do the same ? do you think it is possible do to the same with the IC7 or the Artic5 ? Surely I won't put as much as they did in the factory
About opening the laptop, it's like pandora's box ... you will never know where you it will lead you to !
P.S. : Should I use the second post to keep the "hot" topics on the front page (like Repasting, Battery capability, Ram brand,...) ? -
@Xss Come to the thin side of the laptop Gamer !
More seriously thank for the info about those ghosts 970m, never heard of it for now on our P34W !
Seems like you are not the patient style, same here so please if you do give a try to this laptop you're more than welcome !
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Comparision between thermal pastes
Summary:
The stock thermal paste used on the P34W is not good compared to other third-party compounds. Thermal throttling occurs during CPU/GPU stress-tests on all fan-modes except Max-Speed. A repaste to IC7 Diamond lowered the average temperatures of the CPU with 10C for all fan-speed modes during stress-testing. For GPU stress-testing, the results were more complex, as the thermal paste increased the transfer of heat, making it possible for the GPU to reach higher clockspeeds. This resulted in a negligable temperature difference, but clockspeeds were higher. This resulted in a increase in the 3DMark scores, although I have no idea how much 1000 points here or 500 points there really matter in the end.
Overall, the most interesting result for me was the Furmark result. This illustrates clearly the benefits and disadvantages of having a shared heatsink for both CPU and GPU. The CPU thermal throttles during this test, and reaches the maximum temperature of 95 degrees frequently eventhough it is only under ~20% load. As they share the same heatsinks, when the GPU is running at full load, the CPU is also throttled as it is not able to transfer the heat.
The Furmark test also demonstrates that the biggest problem with this laptop is heat (as expected), but that the GPU is also limited in terms of power. It is able to reach the turbo clock speeds, but I do suspect that the 150W powersupply (or maybe the motherboard itself) is not able to supply sufficient power at full load on both the CPU and GPU simulaniously. The CPU draws around 47W at full load, and the 970M is rated at 90-100W (according to some reviews). Obviously other components also draw power, most noticably the screen.
Not that this is of any big concern, as this is only apparent in unrealistic benchmarking, which will not be affecting the real life performance for most users, as games do not cause this type of load. If they do, the heat sink won't be able to remove all of the heat anyways, so there's really nothing to do about this, nor should it be a major source of concern.
Summary of the summary:
In short, the P34W does not have sufficient cooling to run without some degree of throttling under benchmarking for a longer period of time (Furmark tests were ran for 30 minutes). It does not have excess capacity for disappating heat, and using IC7 or Liquid Pro will cause you to hit that dissapation capacity. Using stock TIM, you will hit that limit earlier, but now because the TIM is not capable of transfering the heat to the heatsink fast enough.
The stock thermal compound is not very good, and is applied in abundant amounts. I strongly reccomend repasting the thermal compound if you are somewhat familiar with laptop hardware. It is not a particulary difficult job, and there are several videos on YouTube, as well as written guides on how to do this.
The Liquid Pro is definitely the superior TIM, and I can strongly recommend the repaste. It is a different way of application compared to normal paste, but it is not tricky at all, and given the results. I paid €12 for the Liquid Pro w/ cleaning kit including shipping. I do believe that this is worldwide shipping, so it is definitly worth the cost and effort.
Recommendations for use:
Based on the results I have obtained, I would recommend that only the battery saver and balanced power mode is used, even when gaming. The P34W does not have sufficiant heat dissapation capacity nor power to operate both the CPU and GPU at full throttle, no matter what compound you use, and usually the GPU needs the most beef, so it is better to let the CPU throttle down when not needed.
Alternatively, you could change the High Performance power mode to not have a minimum processor state to 100%, but rather 5% when plugged in. I have defined the profiles so that the balanced mode does not allow turbo clocking of the CPU, while the High Performance mode does allow this, but doesn't keep it at 100% frequency at all times.
![[IMG]](images/storyImages/dMLFkfD.png)
![[IMG]](images/storyImages/cdqBRfD.png)
Feel free to permalink to this post in the OP.
For all the charts, obviously lower temperatures are better, while higher clockspeeds are better.
CPU
When operating in stealth mode, switching to either IC7 or LP will yield almost the same results. Temps are lowered with 10C in both cases, and the LP actually gains 10MHz aswell.
When operating in Auto-Low mode, LP decreases the temps with 16C, and increases the clockspeed with 28MHz compared to stock. IC7 lowered temps with 10C, with marginal difference in clock speed.
When operating in Auto-High mode, LP decreases the temps with 16C, and increases the clockspeed with 24MHz compared to stock. IC7 lowered temps with 12C,with marginal difference in clock speed.
When operating in Max-Speed mode, LP decreases the temps with 16C, and increases the clockspeed with 34MHz compared to stock. IC7 lowered temps with 13C,with 14MHz increase in clock speed.
Link to charts:
http://imgur.com/a/TxTOB
3DMark & 3DMark 11 Benchmarks
Overall, there is a consistant increase in score where the LP scores highest in most cases. The scores in stealth mode is almost consistant throughout the board, as the CPU/GPU is underclocked in this mode.
For the Max Speed benchmark in 3DMark, the scores for all categories are higher for LP, except the Ice Storm. This was the first benchmark I ran, so there could be some background processes interfering.
Link to charts:
http://imgur.com/a/WeJHs
Furmark Stress Test results
I have not compared the results here to the stock TIM, as I did not log the CPU temp/frequencies on stock TIM when running the Furmark tests. This is a real shame, as the Furmark test turned out to be the test where I really was able to push the heatsink/TIM to its limits, and see how this affected the performance of the CPU/GPU together.
When reading the charts, please make sure that you observe the scales, as they are scaled to enhance the difference between the two. For example, on the CPU core clock speed in stealth mode, the difference appear to be massive, while it really is only <0.1 MHz difference.
The Liquid Pro is superior to the IC7. This becomes especially clear in the first four graphs, where all the speeds are shown in the same chart. While the GPU clockspeed is almost identical both TIMs, the real difference shows in the CPU frequency. Using the LP in Auto-Low mode, the CPU is able to operate at over 3000MHz, while using the IC7, it quickly drops down to around 2000-2500MHz. The GPU core clock operates roughly 40MHz higher compared to the IC7.
When operating in Max-Speed fan mode, the results start to get a bit weird. The core clock of the GPU is actually lower than the IC7, and temperatures are higher. However, the CPU clock speeds are higher.
It is however clear that when the PC is in High Performance mode and you are pushing the PC to the limits, it is essentially a tug of war between the CPU and GPU in terms of who gets power, and who gets to disappate the heat. If I had run the benchmarks in balanced mode where the CPU does not try to operate in 100% frequency, I do very much believe that the GPU clocks would have improved, as the CPU load was relatively low, but operating the CPU at 100% frequency draws a lot more power than if you could downclock when it's not needed.
Link to charts:
http://imgur.com/a/uyMa6
For more detailed info, you can download all the Excel files from here:
https://owncloud.valhall.onl:50000/index.php/s/e880BCIC693AV9t
Around 10MB in total.
Notice: This post was written at night. Typos will occur.Last edited: Mar 12, 2015TheNightWolf and HeardEmSay like this. -
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I would recommend the Liquid Pro if you don't already have the IC7 diamond. I have great results on the CPU especially, but my results for the GPU on Max-Speed is weird.
Graphs to come today. All benchmarking completed
vinny3 likes this.
***Gigabyte P34W v3 "Phantasus" owner's lounge***
Discussion in 'Gigabyte and Aorus' started by TheNightWolf, Mar 6, 2015.
