***Gigabyte P35X owner's lounge***

Good info, but there's no significant difference in scores between your -50mv and -70mv runs, it falls within the variance of your other test results. Best thing is to check your CPU stability with a CPU targeted app like Prime95, that way you can be sure it's stable.

 

Try no undervolt with the liquid ultra.

 

Just tried +135/+750, overall firestrike score 9014. graphics 10517, physics 9398, combined 4227.
Will try no undervolt now.

Knocking off the undervolting, but keeping the overclock in place at +135/+750 resulted in the score dropping to 8981 (10467, 9417, 4209)... max gpu temp was 78c, max cpu temp was 83c.

Edit: Have updated previous table to reflect tests done to date. Calling it a night. Having tried a +135/+1000 overclock of the gpu, am declaring that a fail as I spotted a dropped frame/visual artefact on gpu test 2. I do need to prove that the optimal setting to date (-50mV undervolt, +135/+750 gpu o/clock) is stable, will follow Robbo's suggestion of using Prime to prove cpu stability if I get some time tomorrow.

 

It will make your CPU really hot, and it will definitely throttle, but it's the go-to test for checking CPU overclock (undervolt) stability. You'll know if the test fails because the Prime95 icons turn red and tell you that one or more of your CPU cores (workers) have delivered an error - if the CPU is unstable it'll throw out that error. Run it for a couple of hours if you can to check stability, obviously if the test fails then reduce the undervolt & try again. Your -70mv undervolt might be stable, you haven't proved otherwise so far, so play about with the undervolt to see at which point it fails Prime95 & where it is stable.

 

So...

-The 1080p on the P650SE looks much crisper than the 1080p on the 3k screen of the p35x v3... Though only during windows. In game, it's virtually imperceptible.
-I love the trackpack of the P650SE, as it has such juicy and satisfying clicks and motions to it. Likewise, it's much better than the P35x's trackpad.
-Speakers are much better as well, but the battery life is like an hourish less (browsing at half brightness).
-When gaming at native I get much better FPS on the P650SE than I do at native with the P35x, but it's worth the sweet milky crispness of the 3k usually to suffer like 15fps.
-Keyboard on the p35x is much poorer than the clevo, and this trend continues with the overall build quality.
-Temps are much better than the p35x as well, but I've got to say that the screen on this thing absolutely sucks. SO BAD. It's so bad compared to the Gigabyte's 3k beast, but I plan to upgrade it soon.
-I also LOVE the lack of branding on the clevo/sager. They actually messed up my order and put the sager logo on it anyways, so I called Xotic and they told me that I could use a blow dryer/space heater to heat up the adhesive on the back panel to peel of the logo (which is actually just a sticker with crazy good adhesive, luckily heat sensitive adhesive). I just peeled it off like any other sticker.
-I also like the 32GB ram capacity and the choice to have no SSD's of the Sager. I have installed 24 more gigs of ram (up from 8 to 32), and have installed 2 m.2 512GB SSDs pretty effortlessly.
-Windows 7 sucks so much with scaling that I can't use it at all with the p35x, and 8.1 still is rather stupid too when it comes to scaling (like device manager is ALWAYS blurry, SO ANNOYING). Either way, I want windows 7 and didn't want to deal with scaling issues anymore. The 1080p is actually great now that I have it in my hands and it seems very fitting to 15.6. Obviously 3k on a 17'' needs to be made soon...

Thankfully though, my brother actually likes the p35x v3 more than the sager so we're both going to end up happy. To be fair, and I actually agree with all of these too, his favorite aspects of the p35x were:

-980m obviously, as compared to the 970m.
-Relatively thinner, and will be much thinner than the SG 980m sager.
-The 3k screen is absolutely gorgeous, so much so that it's almost the single biggest factor in his decision to keep that laptop as opposed to the sager.
-Speakers don't matter to him, and they aren't actually that bad, just compared to the sager they aren't the best.
-The trackpad doesn't bother him since he will be using a mouse mostly.
-He doesn't mind windows 8.1, but we both agreed that if you want to use windows 7 at all the p35x is a poor choice.
-He's willing to pay 1200 dollars more than me to get the 3k screen, the 980m, and the thinness. (Albeit, after getting more ram, 2 SSDs, and a new panel, the sager came up to be about $1850).
-We haven't had any BSOD issues or anything like some of the other p35x owners, so I can't comment on this front and everything seems great to me!

In conclusion, both of these laptops are just fabulous machines, and you honestly can't go wrong with either of them. That being said, if certain things bother you more than other things, take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each of these laptops before you buy. For example, if you don't want to open it up, go with the gigabyte (although I would definietly recommend a repaste, or at least get xotic to do it for you or something). If you want a beautiful screen and don't mind some quirks with scaling and don't mind windows 8.1, get the gigabyte. If you are short on cash, get the sager hands down. If you like the philosophy of brandlessness (which was actually a big factor for me in this decision), go with the sager. Etc etc

Hope the helps anyone, and if there are any questions don't hesitate to ask!

 

Great summary! I am still torn between the two though...

Which one is quieter under load? I am willing to sacrifice some performance by underclocking and undervolting and i would really like to know of that brings down the noise to a more living room friendly level.

Apparently the clevo has lower temperature overall, but the Gigabyte has a silent mode...

 

Our video review of P35X V3 CF4 is up, the narrator mistakenly said it's P35K but it's actually P35X:

 

The Sager is quieter by like 5db.. and Sager also comes with a program similar to gigabyte's that allows you to tweak the fan speeds/profiles. Hope this helps!

 

I ran Heaven Benchmark with +135/+500 MHz oc, which put it at 1173 MHz with 1262 boost as opposed to stock 1038 MHz with 1127 Mhz boost.

Not sure how important the settings are since it´s a stability/thermal-test but I went with 1080p, generally High settings, tessellation Normal, 4x AA. As per usual, the cpu was worse off than the gpu.


CPU

Alot of throttling, getting used to this kind of graph now.

Spoiler

GPU

Rarely reached boost speed of 1262 MHz but hovered around 1173 MHz, always above stock boost. GPU load aorund 98%, max temp 85.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Wow, that CPU graph is depressing.

 

I should note that for all my testing I also have Gpu-Z (logging), RivaTuner, Fraps, ThrottleStop, HWinfo (logging), Afterburner and often Shadowplay running behind the scene.

 

Did you do any undervolt / repaste for these tests?

 

No. Both would surely help as mine is struggling to cool the cpu.

 

If all your testing is done with the fan in stealth mode might it have some effect on performance? Kinda like the windows powers settings active and passive which cause the hardward to throttle before the fan revs up?

 

I agree with your point, but from what I understood (and read in the thread P650sx owner's lounge), the Optimus feature is forcing the video output through the igpu IrisPro of the i4860HQ, which makes it running hotter. I wonder if the igpu of the i4710HQ would fare better in that case? Or am I totally wrong on this?

For those who had a look at the internals of the P35 (I only saw the pictures posted here), do the fans look replaceable to you? Do you think there can be some "more efficient" fans to put in this laptop to squeeze a few degrees less out of it?

 

Replacing fans would void warranty, making the two year Gigabyte warranty obsolete.

Fans shouldnt be an issue either, its the thin form factor with higher end parts.

Not sure on thermals of i7-4710HQ as not many in this thread have it yet. May have to wait on DaiFeng or another CF2/CF4 owner to prove the claim.

Liquid Ultra seems to be a necessity here.

 

On Optimus laptops I learned recently that the output of the NVidia GPU does actually go through the iGPU of the Intel CPU, but as I understand all it does is send the pic to the screen, so I don't really see that creating a lot of extra heat regardless of if that is being done through 4860HQ or 4710HQ. For sure the most heat generation is coming from the normal computational tasks being run on the CPU (not related to the GPU sending the pic through the iGPU to the screen).

 

So far no one else but the (annoying) guys at OC UK sell the CF1 that I can see.
I'm about to give up and look for CF4.
Where can I buy CF1's aside from them ? they don't ship to my country (Israel) despite numerous explanations that there is a huge market here for high-end laptops.

Will the CPU make a big difference ?

 

The more CPU power, the more frames with the GTX 980M. Newegg is supposed to have CF1 possibly early December, but I dont know if they ship to Israel.

 

I won't have time to properly test it until end of this week, trying to rebuilt the system on my 1TB 2.5" SSD.

What do you want to to test anyway? I don't usually do benchmarking.

Regards

 

I thought the CPU doesn't pack and transmit frames to the HDMI port, I thought that's the sole responsibility of the GPU from rendering to transmitting frames.

 

Its not that. Supposedly the GPU performance scales with the CPU, in the case of the GTX970/980M. Was shown in one of HTWingNut's threads.

 

Hello,

Does GentechPC have any plans to post a video review of the Gigabyte p35W v3? I am curious as to how this model compares from a noise/temperature standpoint. Also, any chance you know the specs of the power supply for the p35W v3? A few sites list it at 120W, but that seems kind of low for the hardware in the laptop and I suspect it may just be a placeholder value.

Thanks!

 

It doesn't make a difference if you get the 4860HQ or the 4710HQ for the P35X v3 because all the CPUs in this system throttle due to getting too hot, you may as well get the slowest CPU (the 4710HQ) because performance would be the same. And also the 4710HQ is perfectly fine for 60Hz gaming, you don't need a better CPU than that unless you're gaming at 120Hz (aiming for 120fps).

 

Hello, can I ask when will P35X v3 CF2, the 1080P ver. be available on your site? I had send an e-mail to ask, but didn't get reply. I will go abroad on Dec 19, so I need to get it before I go, thank you.

 

Yes I will post video review of P35W V3 but shipment still hasn't arrive yet. I think it will have 180W adapter instead of 120W.

All P35 V3 first shipment should be arrive this week if no delay.

 

Only my first test of Mordor was in Stealth mode, the rest Auto High. I reran some of my Mordor-tests with Auto High and frankly didn't notice anything different. Maybe it reaches 90 degrees a little later but if it takes 2 minutes or 2.30 doesn't really matter.

 

I have the 4710HQ btw.

 

I see, weird that the 4710 runs so much hotter in the p35x than it does in the msi especially since the the gpu doesn't run very hot. Guess ill just have to hope that the p35w might run a bit cooler as that is what I have ordered. The msi gs60 970m I mean.

 

Alright I'm scratching my head: which screw is used for the keyboard? Short or medium? There are 4 of each, all fit in just fine...anyone made note of that when they take the laptop apart?

Regards

 

Short screws.

 

Damn I put the wrong ones in!

Much appreciated LoneSyndal.

Regards

 

Haha, I was careful and placed them all out how I removed them on the countertop. By the time I put the back on one last time (for good, unless I swap out my wireless card) they didn’t go back in correct because some were too short and some too long.

No idea how I got them mixed up, but it wasn’t clear which ones went where because there wasn’t a simple way to figure it out. (not as simple as 4 long ones in corners or into keyboard etc) No matter how I split them up I ended up with some that seemed out of place. I just put them where they held, if the short ones didn’t grab I used a long one. I think there were a couple middle length ones too.

 

There are four sets of screws.

Long ones are for corners and indicated locations for backplate. Medium is more towards center of edges. Short is for keyboard. Tiny for RAM slot.

 

Interesting....running torture test now on default settings. I was expecting thermal throttling, but no: almost instant power limit throttling - quite aggressive too - processor running @ a steady 2.55GHz and cpu seems to have stabilised at 58C... will keep it running for some time, but solid so far. Does that behaviour make sense to folk? There's a fair amount of thermal headroom...

 

Hi


Gentech P35X V3 review :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F_h3tn3Ek0

Thierry

 

Some of my older tests on this showed high power limit throttling as well. So to me, it is normal on this PC.

 

I'm not surprised that there's power throttling going on, Prime95 uses a lot of juice and the processor in your system is configured to only run at certain limits of Watts for a certain time before it downclocks. I'm surprised at how low the temperatures are while running it though. Can you run HWMonitor or HWInfo and check to see how many Watts are being consumed when it's at the steady 2.55GHz? I'm guessing it will be between 35 and 45W. You could try some undervolts to see where the limits of stability are, that was why you're doing the test right?

 

The tests are running with a -50mV undervolt, which was the voltage that appeared to yield the best performance results in prior tests. I've not attempted to flex this yet in either direction, but it gives a decent baseline, and the test is confirming stability at this level (thus far).

Here is a snapshot of XTU settings and HWMonitor

 

That's very good indeed, it's running just above 45W constantly according to that screenshot, that's a very good temperature for 45W constant consumption, I'm still surprised! The fact that it's pushing the CPU quite hard means that it should be good for checking out the stability of your undervolts. I'd lower the voltage until the Prime95 test fails & it throws up errors, just keep decreasing the voltage every couple of minutes until it fails, raise it a notch then test until it fails, then raise it a notch & test again until you've got 2 hours or more of stability of Prime95. That's how I'd do it to get to a stable undervolt quickly. Some people even go to the lengths of testing their stable undervolt for 24hrs of Prime95, but I think that's over the top.

 

@ sparkle999, what is your CPU, 4710 or 4860? I can see the max turbo speed of 3.6GHz so I am more inclined to say 4860, but I do not understand why the CPU stabilizes itself at 2.57 GHz then.

 

My P35X frequently became frozen/unresponsive when connect to external monitor (2560x1080) via HDMI. At same time, WiFi will became painfully slow, and everything seems to be lagging.

Anyone else encountered similar behaviour? It works fine on it's own, and I don't have a working mDP cable to see if the frozens were cause by video output.

Regards

Edit: as it turns out, it wasn't caused by HDMI output, nor was it the corrupted installation of smart update. This really is a head scratcher.

 

I've have neither issue with min-dp connected at 2880x1620

* I see you edit now. Caution to anyone having odd issues that don't appear to be hardware issues: I found the stock windows install and/or drivers updated by the smart update to be horrible. I basically fixed all the issues I was having by ditching the stock install completely and doing a fresh install, which I haven't had to do in the last couple dozen laptops I've had.

 

Sorry, pc noob here, but how to you do a fresh install on windows?

 

For Windows 8, Update and Recovery->Choose Refresh or Restart (restart better if wiping only OS drive)

 

I grabbed a Windows 8.1 OEM ISO and installed it from there, activated using the Gigabyte key just fine too.

 

What's the difference? Restart only wipes os and not your data?

 

Refresh only wipe the system settings, and don't touch your data, so all your programs will still be there.
Restart is basically factory reset, all your data will be gone.
I think that's how it goes, if my memories serves me right, can't really be sure, just finished an essay with half-done P35X, it's a gorram pain in the a$$ and I'm really tired.

Regards

 

My system is now running a little weird.
Background: OEM Win 8.1 installed on 2.5" SSD replaced default HDD.
Windows will from time to time became unresponsive: I can move the mouse and click things, but it won't open them; softwares already running will keep running but will not response to mouse click. The ClassicShell will not show the start menu, and click on the Win's top right corner menu will not bring up the sub menu.
Sometimes a prompt will appear and say I don't have the access to the windows path.
The only way to exit this state is to do a force shutdown, and this happens within 30 mins of power on.

Anyone have had experience the same? Did I mess up something during OS installation somehow?

Regards

 

It sounds like a corrupt Windows installation to me. Are you undervolting, did you test it's stability properly? You might need to reinstall the OS or backup from a stable system image that you have.