***Gigabyte P34W v3 "Phantasus" owner's lounge***

Hm, I don't seem to have any windows built-in firewall: is there any way to know if it is working?
I personally don't mind that much the keyboard: I will only be using it at work, right now I am using a USB one (laptop is in "desktop replacement mode", heh ).

 

It's not the worst thing and I have a desktop computer at home so I use that mostly, still, the devil is in the details and whatnot lol. If you hit the start button and type windows firewall it should come up and you can see if it's active. Oh, you can install classic shell too if you don't like the Windows 8 start screen.

 

Well, I don't seem to have windows firewall, since it doesn't come up after doing a search, but Zone Alarm seems to be working fine now.
As for classic shell, I will see if I can live with the Windows 8 start screen (but I think the answer will be "NO!!!"), so I'll probably end up installing it. I'd rather have microsoft include an option than using a third party software: is it quite stable or does it bug a bit?

 

How loud are the fans set to auto high during a typical gaming session compared to the P34g V2?

 

Tried to ask Gigabyte details about the battery. They wont say anything. Doesnt give me much confidence about the quality. Tomorrow I will receive my replacement. Hopefully it is not a lemon. But the amount of crap surrounding these laptops is not easing my feelings regarding this brand.

 

I've used it for over a year on my desktop and it works just fine.

 

Well, I guess I'll have to try games later: it's impossible to start Steam on my Windows 8.1, dunno why. After a successful try, Steam now freezes every time I try to launch it. I might have to reinstall windows only for that. I hope not, other that would mean hours of work to install programs for nothing.

 

Just in case anyone is wondering about what's going on with my case, I submitted an RMA request support ticket on Friday night. I received a reply today at noon asking me to update the BIOS firmware to see if that fixes the issue. I immediately replied that I already tried that Friday night, reflashing the current BIOS firmware since it was already up to date and that it didn't fix the issue. I then called the person who was assigned my support ticket and left a message asking him to call me back. I've yet to receive a reply and their office closes in 10 minutes so I expect I won't receive a reply till tomorrow. I was hoping to have my RMA approved and the laptop dropped off at USPS already so this is disappointing.

 

the keyboard in the original pic is an american layout. yours is a european layout as they have the enter button that shape...in fact a UK layout.

 

My new laptop is coming in the mail. In the meantime - does anyone know (and this sounds like a stupid question) if I'm restricted with monitor options?

I want to get a Dell UltraSharp 24" and hook it up through HDMI, will I be able to use the monitor at its native 1920x1200? And also, can the 970m handle 2 of these? Say if I were to use a HDMI splitter or something.

 

Ok, the experience with the P34W has been...Rather tedious so far, but things seem to be running more smoothly now.

1) The windows clock was totally wrong, I had to switch it to the Athens timezone to have my correct time in the US.
2) Beware if you use Zonealarm: you will need to reset all icon size to 100% (they are set to 150% by default by gigayte) to use it properly.
3) The laptop froze while installing 51 windows updates: it wouldn't go beyond update 20.
4) Steam totally bugged on me: it was IMPOSSIBLE to have it work. I had to reinstall the factory settings: I lost an entire afternoon of work (installing other programs, and so on).

But at least now, things seem to be working.
I played a little bit: the laptop gets hot very quickly. The top left part is literally burning if you touch it. I checked the temps with HWinfo, I was up to a max of 96°C after some minutes of gameplay with a cooling laptop (bear in mind I haven't undervolted it yet), does those temp seem normal?
I hesitate to check if GenTechPC did do the repaste...Problem is, if they did, removing the heatsking will create a lot of air bubbles, right? Does that mean I would need to do a repaste anyway?

Other than that, the bit of game I tried ran very smoothly. It was quite impressive not to see Grim Dawn lagging!

Now, something odd I noticed both on the P35W and P34W, only on windows (and internet), not while gaming. A lot of things, including text (both on the internet or on windows) is not very defined and seems a bit blurry compared with my W110er. Nothing too bad, but it can tire my eyes a bit.
It happens no matter which screen I am using, either the laptop one or another one (I have currently the p34W hooked up to another screen). Any ideas what might be creating this?

 

I see. Thanks for the info. I wonder why XoticPC has UK layout keyboards considering they're based in Nebraska.

 

Anyone can recommend a great cooler for this little monster?

Tried Notepal U3 and X3, doesn't really reduce the temp.
Should I go with SF-19?

 

Okay, I haven't been able to find this info: what is the latest bios for the P34W? And is it very useful to install it? I am rather reluctant at doing it: I have never flashed a bios in my life, and really don't want to break the laptop by doing something wrong.

 

I have the Notepal X-Slim and it helped my Lenovo Y510p but didn't seem to lower temps for the P34W so I can save you time if you were thinking about trying it. I suppose the best choice would be to find one of those coolers where you can adjust the fan position and then place them under the intake vents, but this is just speculation.

I would say if you're not having issues then just leave it be. I don't remember the latest BIOS version but you can get it from the Gigabyte website or alternatively you can open the Smart Update program and it should show you if you're up to date.

 

@Xss I know that old bios update are a pain but with this one it was really easy (as a classic update with reboot). Thanks to Microsoft for finally make them easy ! Currently using FB04 / F002 only one update so far. It has lower the higher limit from 96° to 91° for me. So I think it is a safety update more than a performance one.. for you to decide if you want to install it, at least it lowers the fans usage.
On the driver side, I am currently using nvidia 347.77 there is an update 347.88 that I didn't install for now. But if I look at smart update those drivers are called 13.4752 which is higher number than the official one 13.4442 or the beta one 13.4477. I am using them without issues for now ! Anyone who does apply the last one please share it.

 

Ok, thanks, where can you download that FB04/F002? If I understand correctly, it lower the temps: is it by cooling the laptop in some way, or does it limit more the CPU (by underclocking it a bit?).
Does it void your warranty if you break your laptop by flashing the bios? I might wait for a video tutorial of it before trying anything, I don't think I will take the risk.

 

@Xss
Shut every others programs down for safety, then click on the update it will launch the download then apply the update. I don't remember if it ask you before shutting down but I think so ... like I said it was pretty easy !

 

Disapointed in Gigabyte quality control. Very strong backlight bleeding. The screen border doesn't seem to be properly assembled. So it isn't really sticking as well.

Sending it back. Amazon UK doesn't have stock at the moment as well. So I have to wait for weeks to get a replacement.

This is really extremely annoying.

 

The clock issue I had on my p34wv3 as well. I ended up just manually updating the time and my problem was solved. As for checking the re paste Gentec did: I believe you have to repaste once you pull that heat sink off (I've still got to do that myself). I Haven't noticed any blurriness though. My screen has been fantastic.

 

The blurriness is something in windows, it happens when I plug another screen to the laptop.
And I am indeed using the FB04/F002 Bios, so I'm all set!

 

First Impressions:

I received my P34WV3-CF2 earlier today from Amazon.com. Everything about the notebook is better than expected, although I seemed to have overlooked the fact that it doesn't come with an ODD. Its weight and thinness are absolutely astounding! Who knew you could pack so much power in a 14" chassis. Its minimalist and understated looks are perfect to seem like an average notebook while packing a real punch inside with the i7 4720HQ and GTX 970m. Extremely discreet performance which I love. I played a bit of BF4 and everything is running smoothly at 1920x1080 with everything at Ultra. I haven't checked the temps or clocks yet for thermal throttling but I plan on re-pasting and buying a cooling pad for it anyways. I can't wait for Battlefront this fall.

So far I've just installed a couple of games and monitoring utilities as well as the latest Nvidia drivers. The screen is absolutely gorgeous, I was reminded daily of the crap screen on my Sony Vaio. The model screen on mine is the AUO B140HAN01.1.

I have one question so far, does anyone know how to disable the on screen popup when turning capslock on/off?

 

The only problems I've ran into with this laptop is screen bleeding. (Trust me I've purchased and replaced 4 and all of them bled) but if you are happy with it generally as long as it isn't very bad. Keep it because secondly if you replace it you are likely to get random quality with the touchpad buttons. Not flush. Clickier than others. I had one bent upwards too
After all the hassle of buying else where etc I wish I stuck with the initial one I had because it was my 1st experience with gigabyte. I thought I just got a bad screen. But I see all units will have different flaws we Nick pick. I can take the bleeding. But not flush touchpad buttons with one clicking louder than the other is annoying for me.
So I'll buy everywhere until I'm happy lol


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The initial P34WV3 that i received had non flush mousebuttons, and an uneven base.

Second one have enormous backlight bleeding, non flush buttons and still a mild uneven base. The frame where the backlight bleed is the most present (bottom right corner) also clicks when I press it. It is gone when I put my finger on it. But clicks out of place when I remove my finger.

It is just really annoying that there arent other alternatives in Europe. No Razer Blade and the Aorus X3 V3 has a ridiculous price when importing from the UK.

 

Well, I just checked my P34W for all of the aforementioned problems and am happy to report that the touch pad button are flush and both make the same amount of clicky noise. There is no clicking around the LCD frame when pressed and backlight bleeding doesn't seem bad at all. There is one stuck green pixel, but it's hardly noticeable and only on a black background. All in all, I'm satisfied with the build of my P34W.

 

Okay, so I checked my temps with Intel extreme tuning and the results were somewhat odd.
With the laptop set to "high performances", I didn't go beyond 75°C, 0% throttling during the stress test. I undervolted the CPU by -60mv, ran the stress test again, no differences.

I launched a game, played for a bit, and reached 96°C with the CPU: same temps as yesterday when the CPU was undervolted.
Soooo, what does that mean? The undervolting has no effect? The GPU is overheating too much?

 

I have been experimenting with the Intel ETU and have found similar results to what you have. I think the GPU is taxing the cooling system as well when you play a game, so it's forced to dump the heat of both the CPU and GPU. When doing the stress test in ETU, it only taxes the CPU and doesn't turn on the Nvidia card. If your results are like mine, you'll see that there is still quite a bit of temperature throttling going on during games.

When I tested Far Cry 4, I found that when I undervolted -.70mV and then turned my 4 core multiplier to 28, I got no thermal throttling and the temp dropped to like 85-89C range. Since most games don't really care about the CPU, I am theorizing that the best performance comes from underclocking the CPU and keeping the GPU running full speed. I have more testing to do, but if anyone with more experience has anything to share I'd appreciate hearing it.

I am also having a problem were the Intel ETU keeps getting reset. Does anyone know if there is a reset feature on the bios that won't allow it to keep the ETU settings?

 

So you do not have similar clicking noises on the frame as on mine?

Why I worry about this, is because it would not be my first laptop on which the bezel comes apart during normal use.

 

Appreciate that. Almost bought the X-Slim after seeing good review on Amazon.
Btw, my U3 fan can be adjusted to whatever position, so I've tried pointing it to the dual fan and the middle back part, still no good, coz the fan is too weak.

Maybe I need to get those with Non-USB powered Fan Laptop Cooler or Mod the U3.

Or maybe, no cooler can help at all.

 

Mine will click on the left side in the same spot with a fair amount of pressure but is otherwise flush and solid. I do not think it's anything to worry about. There's always gonna be some flexing when plastic is involved, but if it makes you feel uncomfortable then do what you have to do.

 

Its just something that I had to add to the list. Not only that. There was heavy screen distortion when closing and opening the lid. Like a ripple originating from the same spot. This could end up in LCD bruising. The enormous amount of backlight bleeding that was noticeable even at lower brightness, the rubbing between the lid and the laptop base when opening and closing. Last but not least the right mouse button floating 1mm above the palmrest itself.

For a 1199 pound laptop that is kinda bad I think. Really bummed out. Because Amazon is out of stock as well.

 

There's no screen distortion on mine when closing the lid and even when I try to flex the LCD bezel with a good amount of pressure there is no distortion and minimal flex. Most laptop LCD 's that I've seen have some bleeding, but on mine it doesn't seem bad at all. I think you just got a lemon @rinneh and I understand why you would feel those issues you're having to be unacceptable especially when you've paid that much for a laptop.

 

It is unfortunate, hopefully the third time is a charm. Will receive a new one early from Amazon. How is your clickpad right mousebutton?

 

Okay, my P34W wobbles, the N, M and Space (right in the middle) keys click, and the corners of the frame click as well.
...
You know what, I can live with all of that (but clevo really have better quality build IMO).

 

@rinneh My right trackpad button is fine and sounds just like the left one.

@Xss I don't know if I've just gotten lucky with my P34W, but mine doesn't wobble and doesn't make weird "clicky" noises with the keyboard of LCD bezel.

I'm happy to answer any more questions. BTW does anyone know how to turn off the caps lock on/off popup at the top of the screen every time I press the key? It's driving me nuts and so unnecessary,

EDIT: NVM, I disabled the Gigabyte OSD program.

 

Ok after buying the xmg variants. I bought two. And was going to send back the worst built one. Was going ok till I used it in stealth mode. Two things I noticed was lag spikes in performance. I thought odd the gigabyte versions never did for this game. And secondly. It was louder. I think their fan profiles are programmed faster which is good for heat etc but I'm not use to that now. So I ended up sending both models back rather than the planned one.

I've decided to buy two more units of p34w and trying the same method of selecting the best one if there is one.

Also going back to the xmg models. I configured it with killer 1202 wireless. It was FLAWLESS no stupid lag spikes like the ac 7260 during gaming. So I will be upgrading when found.


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Does killer 1525 works with p34w? Was thinking of Upgrading to that...

 

I haven't had any problem with lag spikes so far on my P34W and Intel AC 7260. I've played a few hours of BF4 and Team Fortress 2. Driver version is 17.13.0.9

 

Ok, I am really having an odd issue with the temps here. I undervolted the CPU by -60mv on XTU, set the multipliers on 3 and 4 active cores to 29 (from 34, hence underclocking it) and I still get 96°C while gaming. Only difference: this time I was recording with fraps, but that tends to lower a bit the temperatures (when I was having heat issues with my W110er, recording with fraps or action! was the only way to cool it down so it wouldn't shut down: go figure).
Is there anything I am missing on XTU?

 

I just tried lowing the multipliers for the 3rd and 4th core to 29 as you did. I noticed that it also seemingly lowered the multiplier to 29 for the 1st and 2nd core even though they were still at their default settings in XTU (36x and 35x respectively). When I tested it, the max turbo frequency was 2.9GHz for all cores. I don't know why the 1st and 2nd core were limited to 2.9Ghz when their multipliers were higher.

 

Yes, I double checked. When I do the stress test I do have low temps and a lower frequency, but it still heats up the same when gaming, up to 96°C.

EDIT: Well, the 970m is not heating up that much. I installed MSI Afterburner and I didn't go over 85°C with it. I have been testing with a few games, this time at 2.5ghz: Grim Dawn and Shadow of Mordor. With the first one, it didn't seem to heat up that much, so I increased the frequency to 2.9 Ghz. Then with SOM it reached 94°C at some point. I lowered it to 2.5Ghz and I was back around 88°C or so. I didn't notice any performance loss when playing, at least that is a good news.

 

might be game dependant, in fifa it ALWAYS lag. i have to edit the registry files to help it run much more smoothly. but i had test the 1202 on same game and it never had even light lag. other games is not so noticeable but dont know what it is with fifa. but this is not every match there be a problem it be random people or even local friends online. i have 70meg and he has 100meg so i no its not our connection because the 1202 killer wifi proved it was fine. then the ac 7260 just wrecked our experience lol.

 

This is really getting ridiculous. I am encountering more and more problems with this laptop:

First, I have started getting A LOT of driver power state failure. From my understanding, those are Windows 8.1 BSOD. Why? How? Absolutely no clues in there, but it doesn't happen when I am gaming, rather randomly when I am on the desktop. I just went through 15 minutes of driver power failure, reboot, driver power failure, reboot, etc. I couldn't launch any single program. Is it the SSD, already broken? Is it Windows? Or something else (it all started after I installed many windows updates...I never trusted those updates)? Sometimes it does that when I simply unplug something. Now I am even having strange characters showing up when I open Smart USB backup, like if it was written in Chinese or Japanese. No idea if it is related or not.



Also, I did a backup image using Macrium Reflect, a program I have been using for years. To install a backup, you need to boot on the Macrium CD. Guess what? It's impossible to boot on the CD: while my external drive is recognized under windows (I can play DVDs and CDs just fine, but no blurays...Might be because of the PowerDVD10 coming with windows: I am installing my own version now), it doesn't show up on the Bios, only the windows drive. I mean, what the €{@]%£?!!

 

The app has both English and Chinese at the same time. I had this too. It might be your undervolting that causes the BSODS? Are you using Zonealarm by the way? That firewall is notorious for causing BSODS.

 

That is strange, because when I launched the app for the first time (it automatically pop-up the first time I turned on the laptop) it was only in English...
I have been using Zonealarm for years and I've never have any problems with it.
As for the undervolting, could be, I didn't think of that: I am using an -60mv undervolt, is it too much? I just checked in XTU and all the default settings were on...So I don't know if the laptop was using the custom settings before (I just had another BSOD).

Any ideas about having the CD player recognized by the Bios for booting?

 

@Xss Any time you change CPU performance variables whether it be the voltages or multipliers system instability can be induced. That's why you usually want to stress test for a period of time after making such changes to ensure a stable system. Since you lowered the multipliers, they shouldn't be the cause, but as suggested, try undervolting less.

Furthermore, make sure you use Windows Update to get all of the latest updates. Then update your graphics driver from the Nvidia website and update your BIOS using the Smart Update tool. What does the event log say for the BSOD occurrence?

 

Ok, I checked the event log: thanks a lot, I didn't even know windows had something like that. It shows a lot of "kernel-power" and other errors, right from Monday when I first received the laptop (I only started playing with the undervolt yesterday)...The thing is I wasn't getting BSOD back then.
I did run the stress test, and played for an hour with the undervolt and nothing happened. It is mainly when I am simply using windows. It seems to be having issues with recovering from sleep: I left today for some hours, the laptop was left with the "put the computer on sleep" option set to "never" while downloading a game from steam. Yet, when I arrived the laptop seemed shut down, and I had to press the power button twice to go back in my session (it didn't reboot windows though).
As far as drivers go, I have the last Bios. I am updating with windows almost all the time. I'll update the graphic drivers, just in case, but I would be surprised if those created the BSOD :/

 

@Xss Try running a memory test using MemTest86. Afterwards, trying scanning your system files using Windows built-in system file checker. If you still experiences crashes, I would try doing a repair install of Windows. Make sure you're using the latest BIOS from Gigabyte and have all the latest Windows updates.

 

I'll try the windows built-in system file checker, thanks. As for MemTest86, I can't boot on a CD as mentioned on an earlier post: I am trying to solve that issue, but the Bios will not recognize my CD drive...And I don't have a spare USB for that, but as soon as I have one I'll try.

 

edit: because I still receive likes on this post. In the end this laptop was a nightmare for me which and had a lot of build quality issues. I hope Gigabyte can resolve them because the concept is nice.