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

Thanks for your answer, seems to be pretty normal then: nothing to worry about
Do you guys think a laptop cooler might be useful with this model if the bottom is hardly hot?

 

You can actually see vents under the "speaker" grills if you look closely.

@Xss I plan on re-pasting today. I bought a cooler but it came with the right fan broken so now I'm shopping for another. I think a decent cooler with enough airflow could help dissipate heat better/faster.

Since the motherboard and components are underneath the keyboard, I wonder if a small fan with air flowing across the top of the laptop might help as well.

 

Yeah I was really unlucky with this machine. Still not extremely convinced about the build quality. It is similar to my still in use Samsung Ativ Book 8. Only that one squeeks more where plastic parts meet. That laptop was fairly pricey as well and the build quality just was not great. I do not have the flex that Linus is talking about though. Also not in the keyboard. But I have heard this more with these laptop series that some have a lot of flex in the keyboard. The strange thing is he praises the Aorus X3 and praised the older P34 as well. While the Aorus X3 is notorious for being a very flexy machine. That was also the reason next to the price I would not buy one. I have heard far too many horror stories regarding the Aorus X3. The blade is simply not available in Europe but I have read ton of stories about clicking fan noise when the machine is used at an angle. Extremely annoying that current day laptops often have problems somewhere.

It is the same on mine and normal. The heat is mostly concentrated around the back above the keyboard. Well designed in my opinion because now I do not get sweaty handpalms while gaming. The right side gets armer though because of the harddisk underneath. But I have experienced much much worse on gaming laptops.

Mine is like this (Please see the attachment. Slightly recessed.

 

So I re-pasted with Gelid Extreme Thermal Compound and now I'm getting a consistent turbo boost speed of ~3.0GHz on all cores in BF4 and the GTX 970m averages its base core clock speed of 924MHz in BF4 with maximum temps the same as before.

Essentially, the system is still being thermally throttled but the CPU and GPU are running at higher clock speeds. I think this is what others have reported. So far I'm very happy with my re-paste.

 

Try it with limiting the CPU to 2.8ghz. and lsightly underclock it. I think you can maintain the GPU boost above 1ghz then. The GPU doesn't throttle with this configutarion for me.

 

What the temps you are getting? Sorry, I can't find that info on your previous posts (I quickly scanned, I'm at work!).

 

I definitely think they're lower because the GTX 970m is running higher than stock clocks and the CPU is turbo-ing to 3.0GHz full time in BF4. These temps were during a 1.5hour BF4 session with a mix of High/Ultra settings at 120% res scale. Ambient was about ~76F/24C. I have the turbo limited to x30 in XTU and undervolted by about ~50mV. MAX fan speed was used.

 

Thanks a lot! Max 95°C is what I would get pretty much most of the time while gaming on the P34W. I literally lowered all cores to x20/x25 with XTU. I barely notice any difference on some games, so if I can save some degrees, why not?

 

Why is your GPU Mem Clock only at 50 percent?

 

I think it's not being properly reported by the program. MSI Afterburner correctly reports 2500Mhz but it reports the incorrect core clock speed.

 

Ah makes sense. Same deal with the new clock monitors for gpu/cpu in HWMonitor, it shows my 970m core clock topping out at 540 mhz, but they are normal in afterburner.

 

For me it is the other way around. Afterburner often just shows 540mhz. I do not know if this is a bug or not. If you google it. a lot of Nvidia cards have this issue. Not sure if it actually throttles. Till now all games I threw at it (BF4, Titanfall, Thief 4, Shadow Of Mordor) ran great and both CPU & GPU remained at under 90c with my undervolting.

 

HWMonitor and GPU-Z seem to be the only ones that properly report and record core clock speeds for me.

I have a question, do you guys have your graphics cards set to Adaptive or Maximum Performance in your Nvidia Control Panels?

 

Hey all,
I uninstalled the Smart Manager and other smart programs when I got my laptop, then after I reset my laptop the max brightness is WAY lower. Are other people seeing this same problem?

 

That shouldn't be happening. Have you checked your Windows power setting profiles for max/min brightness? It should still go up to max if you use the Fn and F keys to raise it.

 

Yeah, I tried that and it didn't fix it. I re-installed the Smart Manager and got my full brightness back, so I guess I'll leave it installed for now.

 

That's strange, the included Gigabyte software does leave a lot to be desired.

 

It certainly does. I have the issue that the WIFI stops working after hibernation. Have to disable and enable wifi in Smart control for it to fix.

 

I don't use hibernate, only sleep, but that does sound quite frustrating. Have you tried this: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...ernation/e5c5c60a-5787-4963-84cd-1ada6317b617

 

Speaking about sleep, I have noticed my P34W goes into sleep, or hibernation (not entirely sure) after a moment (I am not sure after how long, I haven't measured that yet), even though sleep is set to "never" for all my power plans, whether the laptop is in battery or plugged in. It is a bit frustrating, mainly when I leave the laptop doing a rendering, downloading on steam, or uploading on youtube: every time I return I discover not even 1/3rd of the job had been done because the laptop turned off on its own.

 

Have you tried this: http://superuser.com/questions/561145/windows-8-goes-into-sleep-even-if-its-deactivated

Sometimes Windows power settings are a little confusing.

 

Thank you for the link! I had a look at it and all the advanced sleep options were already set to never. Still, I turned off some options about hybernation, in case it was that.

Sorry about asking so many questions, but I have been having another issue since yesterday evening (thanks Win 8.1...at least the BSOD stoped!): half of the time pages won't load on my browsers (no matter which one I use), I will get connection errors messages, or pages half loaded. No problems with skype, steam, downloading or uploading : only pages (no problems on my clevo with Win 7, of course). My firewall is not blocking anything and I will check if I don't have a virus with anti-malware. And I haven't installed anything yesterday evening.
I don't use wireless, I directly plug the cable on the laptop: could the issue be coming from there? :/

 

Not a problem! That's what we're all here for. Furthermore, make sure your sleep options in the regular power menu (not advanced) are what you want (sleep set to 'never'). As far as the apparent network connectivity issue, it could be a problem with your network or ISP. It doesn't really sound like a laptop issue.

 

That's what I thought at first, but when I connect the Internet cable to my W110er everything works fine (I tested it this morning). I am going to some friend's tonight, so I will see if the problem persists there.
As for the "sleep" mode, it was disabled on all the power menu (both advanced and normal, for all the power plans), so crossing my fingers in here: we'll see how it goes!

 

Today I started my laptop after not using it for 2 days. It was going out of hibernating mode and during startup I noticed a flickering pattern of white dots in a line across the screen above the Gigabyte logo. First thing I thought "is my GPU already going bad?" But I only saw it at that time. Not in Windows, not after reboots and not while gaming. Did someone encounter a similar issue?

 

Hello,
Just got this laptop last week and so far I'm loving it!

I wanted to see if anyone has found any good options for a spare power adapter? Mine has the model number "ADP-150VB B" on it.

I found this one on amazon that I was thinking of trying, but I wanted to see if anyone else has found a good option...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OMGQ4DA/

Thanks!

 

My XoticPC exchange process for this laptop has been frustrating to say the least, but it seems anytime I post about it here I get some movement in the process so I'm posting the thread I created to hopefully get some visibility. http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/xoticpc-and-gigabyte-p34w-is-this-normal-service.773538/

 

Okay, my replacement unit after RMA got here so I'm back in business. Original unit had a defective GPU which would lock at the slowest clock speed (64.8 MHz) after a few seconds or few minutes of use. XoticPC evaluated it, came to the same conclusion, and shipped me a new unit which has been performing great so far (knock on wood). Best of all (for me since I do photo editing), this one has zero backlight bleed. Well, maybe a tiny bit, like 3-4 mm of barely-brighter triangles in a few spots in an absolutely dark room with the backlight turned up to 100%. But none in regular use.

This is a Windows 8 thing. No more install DVDs. I was a big critic of recovery partitions when they first came out, but I actually think Microsoft finally got this right.

First, you can backup the recovery partition to a USB drive. I'm not sure why Gigabyte includes their own utility for this, and I'm really confused why it's over 1.5 GB in size (current version on their website is 1.68 GB). Microsoft includes a utility for this in Windows 8.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-usb-recovery-drive

Next, what if you don't like the default state in the recovery partition? Maybe there's too much crapware, or you don't want to have to reinstall your favorite apps after a recovery? Well now you can create your own recovery images and add them to the recovery partition. (You will probably have to increase the size of the recovery partition with a partition manager. I moved it to the HDD. The new recovery image I made after installing programs is about 12 GB.)
http://www.howtogeek.com/167831/eve...creating-custom-recovery-images-for-windows-8

Finally, if you completely screw up, you didn't make a USB backup of the recovery partition, and the HDD dies, you can simply download a new copy of Win 8/8.1 from Microsoft.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

Additional instructions for systems with OEM keys if you want to use the above trick on other systems.
http://dellwindowsreinstallationgui...dows/download-windows-8-1-retail-and-oem-iso/

That's a Windows thing. I prep and set up a lot of new systems for clients (a little side-business I have) and some of the Windows updates are extremely problematic. The .NET updates in particular are extremely sensitive to the order they're installed in. And one of them seems to freeze the computer for about 15-25 min even with a SSD, but then finishes up normally. I've learned to let the update run while I go shopping or watch TV, and force-reboot only if it's still running after about an hour.

Generally, if the paste is new and gooey, it's ok to re-use it if you're careful. Just be sure it hasn't been contaminated by dirt, dust, hair, etc. - anything that could keep the heatsink apart from the CPU/GPU. Those need to be sitting flush with each other. Squish it around or collect and reapply to remove any air bubbles. It doesn't "go bad" just because it's been applied once. It's just contamination and air bubbles you have to worry about.

I ran into AC7260 lag spikes when I first unplugged the power and began using the unit on battery. I went through all the NIC power settings and to my surprise they were all the same between AC and battery. So in theory nothing should have changed when I unplugged. But obviously something did since the lag spikes began immediately after.

It hasn't repeated, but it's something I'm definitely keeping an eye out for.

That's normal. Seems to be an incomplete language port from the original Chinese (Gigabyte is Taiwanese). As I mentioned above, I'm not even sure why the program is necessary since the functionality is built into Win 8.

Try turning off secure boot in the BIOS/UEFI settings. It's one of the new ways they've come up with to protect users from boot CD/DVD malware posing as a generic disk.

Cyanoacrylate (super glue) is rather brittle and should not be used in areas which bend, or failures which were caused by flexing. It will just come apart again after more flexing. You'll need to repair it with epoxy.

Speaking of which, the guy who tore the corners off his bottom cover should be able to fix it with epoxy as well. Epoxy is basically liquid plastic which hardens. It won't be as strong as the original because the polymer chains obviously won't penetrate the original crack line, so you'll have to add a layer of epoxy on the inside of the lid to give it some strength beyond the crack. Being careful not to apply too much or the epoxy will bump up against something inside and the case won't sit flush when you close it.

If you've never used epoxy before, practice on something disposable a few times. It is messy and finicky, and once it sets it's forever (well I suppose you could chisel it out).

That's why the MSI GS60 had a funky flipped motherboard design with the RAM and M.2 SSDs on the "wrong" side and thus inaccessible when opening the bottom cover. The MSI design put the heatsink and heat pipes between the CPU/GPU and keyboard side of the laptop. The sides of the CPU/GPU which weren't cooled by the heatsink were thus facing down away from the user.

The P34W makes the opposite trade-off. The RAM and SSD slots are accessible when opening the bottom cover. But that means the heatsink and heat pipes face down when using the laptop. The sides of the CPU/GPU which aren't cooled face up, and thus really heat up the area you've described.

This is a common Intel AC7260 issue. And the fix you've described is the common fix.

Yeah, mine did that too out the box even though sleep was set to never in all the AC power profiles. I went through all the profiles, made sure sleep was disabled on AC, and disabled hibernate. And it hasn't done it again.

I received mine from XoticPC March 4.
Noticed the GPU problem that night and sent them an email.
Tech replied back to me March 5 with some other things to try.
I tried them that evening, reported no success.
Tech asked for full benchmark results on March 6 (Friday).
I ran the tests that evening, emailed results to them.
Tech processed my RMA and sent me a shipping label March 9 (Monday).
I got busy and didn't ship the laptop for a few days.
XoticPC received it March 16.
XoticPC informed me the unit was returned to Gigabyte on March 23, and they were shipping me a new unit.
New unit passed their burn-in tests and was shipped to me March 27. Actually I think the shipping label was just made on the 27th (Friday) and it wasn't shipped until the 30th (Monday).
Arrived at my house April 3rd.

All in all, I was happy with the process. It could've been faster, but most of the delays seem to have been caused by the weekends and time difference (and the UPS ground shipping). I'm in California so often my replies got to them after they'd closed and thus wouldn't be answered until the next day. The few times the tech and I were both online at the same time, I got responses within a few minutes or an hour.

 

You were given a label? I was told that since it wasn't XoticPC's fault that the laptop was defective, I had to cover shipping to them. And I retroactively have to pay for the first order's shipping since I used the free shipping promotion. So a month seems to be a normal turnaround time. Well that's kind of ridiuclous isn't it? Guess I'll continue waiting.

 

Hey, thanks for all the explanations, I appreciate it!

 

Thanks for the information. GOing to check for another wifi card maybe then. Uninstalled smartmanager. Curious if that will help.

 

I wanted to keep a list of things to look for when purchasing this laptop so that other users and future buyers can be cautious or aware... I ended up returning mine some time ago due to bad speakers and bleed, but I'm deciding to repurchase it again since the price dropped heavily.. but here goes:

1.) GPU not being detected
2.) Screen/Bezel clicking on bottom right
3.) Moderate to Heavy Screen Bleed
4.) 7260 WiFi Issues (More to do with the card)
5.) Touchpad clickers uneven and don't click properly
6.) Faulty Speakers (One side crackling/Distorted)
7.) Bending/Scraping near hinges when closing/opening lid
8.) Keyboard flexing and also some keys making clicking noise when held down
9.) Uneven Laptop/Doesn't sit perfectly Flat

If you guys have any more please let me know I'll edit them in..

 

I can add another one. Battery already worn when receiving the laptop. Mine is on 3.1 percent at this moment already.

 

That's normal, it's how Gigabyte reserves a portion of the max charge capacity to increase battery life by preventing full charging. So far I'm very happy with my P34W.

 

Where did this price drop happen?

 

I bought it for 1700...they released a model without an ssd for 1500 can get it for about 1400 with the HDD removed:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...gclid=COnR_crB6MQCFY-EaQodhTUAIg&gclsrc=aw.ds

and

http://www.xoticpc.com/gigabyte-p34wv3cf1-p-8128.html

 

Oh ok. I always thought the pricing started at $1599 for some reason.

 

Are you sure about that? I sure hope it will me last at least 2 years. I do not discharge a lot though. On my previous laptop I had less than 100 cycles.

Very strange that I cannot check the cycles of this battery in HWinfo. Does Gigabyte hide those data?

a day after it is suddenly 4.8 by the way. I hope it will go back to more healthy or it will be worrisome.

 

@HeardEmSay
Those notebooks don't have the 120gb msata just the 1 tb hard drive.

 

Well I finally motivated myself and did the repaste on my Gigagyte p34w v3. I Installed 8 gig of ram at the same time. The factory paste job on mine didn't seem to be as bad as others I've seen but still it wasn't stellar. Only about half the Gpu had paste on itand the cpu was a mess. Sorry didn't take a picture. It was a pretty simple easy repaste. The paste hadn't hardened so it came off easily. The last time I did a repaste ( on a different computer) the paste was hard and much more difficult to remove. I Used IC Diamond 7 ,I've had good luck with that in the past. I had done some benchmarking a few days ago for comparison. Before the repaste the coy temperature

 

Cpu temperature was going up to 96c all the time. On games, benchmarks everything.
After the repaste it's staying below 96c which keeps it from throttleing. It allows me to play games like Cod aw without setting the fan at maximum. Strangely as others have noted the Gpu temps are higher by a couple of degrees, probably due to better heat dispersion from the cpu. These pads work great for taking off the old paste way better tan Qtips.

 

FYI - If you want to upgrade the ram in your p34w to 16gb, amazon has a good deal on Transcend TS1GSKw6h 8gb stick to match the one that came in your laptop. $77 U.S.D. plus shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-TS1GSK64W6H-DDR3L-1600-SO-DIMM/dp/B008JIVN3I

 

@HeardEmSay , I updated the second post of this thread where you can already see a list of the reported problem... just saying

 

Memory bandwidth Q

Everywhere I look in CPUZ it says 800 Mhz, yet the ram chip both as supplied by Gigabyte and in a 2x 8GB Kingston kit I bought are supposedly 1600 MHz.

Dont have much experience in the Laptop realm but my Desktop has 8GB DDR2 1066 Mhz - which runs at 1066 Mhz. Granted my desktop bios is much more flexible in terms of settings but was wondering.

Is this a "throttling" thing?

Have gigabyte limited it ?

Is CPUZ reading it wrong ?

Or is it just showing that as minimum because I am not pushing the system (only on youtube atm, relatively idle)

 

The included RAM runs at 800Mhz but is effectively 1600Mhz because it's dual-channel. So it's running at its normal speed, no problem there.

 

Ah thats it, thanks. Did wonder if it was something like that.

 

Anyone here play BF4 on their P34? Let's add each other on Origin. I'm having a blast playing BF4 on mine. I'm chewie_77 on Origin.

 

I have just added you. I do not play super often though.

 

Guys, trying lifting up the backs of your laptops like in the picture below. It seems to lower temps a bit and prevent throttling to some extent. I think the air is able to exhaust more freely/effectively.

 

damn you super unlucky if your only unit had all those flaws LOL.

At the moment im not havign luck with my purchases. just purchased two units and they both got the uneven clickers on the left side for both of them like a ski slope (ok thats exaggerated lol). very disappointing to say the least. that makes me possess this laptop 9 times and im determined to get a good one (2 of those 9 was the c405 from xmg, nothing really wrong with those units besides the throttling very noticeable in stealth mode compared to the p34w and the fan noise was louder too. i wasnt having that lol).

im going to reorder somewhere else (again) and send these ones back. prob go with a regular unit and one with ssd. as im trending all you lot that have it appear to be happy with it. this is annoying because the aorus x3 has pam fading problems and i though im given in to the idea of having to spend £500 more for the same hardware as the p34w. the only REAL poroblem for me is this uneven touchpad. but i have had it perfect so i know it dont come like that.
GTA V is out in 2 days and i bought this laptop for that mainly to play it in glorius detail. now ill be late playing it up until i get a unit thats correct