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

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles there, RMXO. I had no issues with my return. I couldn't fault them. I simply emailed them, stating my issues I had experienced with the unit, asking for a refund as I was still within the 14 day period. There were no questions asked, they immediately offered collection from my house using their courier. Courier arrived on time, they received it the very next day and immediately processed my refund. Couldn't have been any easier.

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

Its all good. Lesson learned in returning next time. Just gotta be specific so they cant deny me ever agsin. I believe I'm the only one that had issues in returning but it's been taken care of. I just got the email from Amazon Payments stating a refund has been issued.

-Sent from my Galaxy Note 4 using Tapatalk

 

Hi guys,

I'm thinking of buying the P35x v3 and this thread is getting very long to read, being over 166 pages. I've tried to browse through it and have noticed quite a few ppl are returning it (in some cases, opting for the Clevo P650SE/SG models).

What are the problems you have encountered? There doesn't seem to many reviews on the net (except for notebookcheck being the main one)

Thanks

 

IMHO, in a nutshell:

Pro's:

- 980m power and very good cooling
- 2 msata ssd and 2 2.5" HDD (1 ODD)
- thin and light weight under 6 lbs
- 3k screen so beautiful
- decent to good battery life

Con's:

- so much wasted bezel space
- congested keyboard layout
- CPU gets extremely hot and throttles
- driver issues
- Windows suck at upscaling @ 200%+

Recommended extra to get:

- TIM needs to be replaced with better paste: ICD, liguid ultra, etc....
- Coolermaster NotePal U3 laptop cooler (mod fans and fan controller for better cooling)





-Sent from my Galaxy Note 4 using Tapatalk

 

do not get this laptop with 4860hq, my 2 cents (p650se also suffered from similar fate, thanks to iris pro).

 

So if I get the IC Diamond upgrade would it be worth it to get this laptop? I really would prefer to get the most powerful graphics card available for laptops (980M) and the only two that offer it are the P35x and the cleov P651se. My only other choice other than those two would be the MSI GS60 Ghost Pro 3k (970M). I'm not sure which one to get as I've been reading a good amount of this thread and it seems like everyone is encountering problems. I'm not a tech guy so I wouldn't do all the modding you guys do, just get the IC Diamond and leave it at that. All I want to do is play League of Legends and BF4, plus normal everyday use like browse the internet, watch youtube videos, stream movies, etc.

 

Gelid GC Extreme wasnt enough. You would do better to use liquid ultra.

Of the overall build quality of the three PC's you opted for, the Clevo has better keyboard and screen and works well right out of the box.

 

The gigabyte has a better screen. And it works well out of the box, it's the upgrades that mess it up lol.

 

If I had to do it all over again, for 15", I would get the P35X but the 4710 CPU & 1080p version. I don't like the GS60 because of the back lit bleed and bad battery life. I don't like the Clevo because I had one and would never get one again.

For 17", I would get my GS70-099.

 

Talking about comparison, did anybody record vram usage especially while running console ports?

 

p35x v3 and gs60 3k have panasonic panel that is the best in the market atm apparently (brightness is better than the sharp 4k panel as per notebookcheck).

 

I might have tried a clevo myself if they wouldn't have put a 4 cell battery in it. Don't understand why they make these awesome laptops then skimp on the battery life. The gs60 064 that I had was almost perfect had it not been for the fact that I could only get 2.5 hrs no matter how low I had the settings and simply browsing. And the clevo cant be much better than that. Also even tho the clevo looks like it has great build quality something about its design just makes it look like a its a lot thicker than it really is.

 

Between the issues reported in this forum and the black Friday newegg deal on the Asus G751JY-DH72X 980m with 32gb of ram and a 512gb pcie m.2 ssd for $2700... I'm sad to admit I gave up on a lightweight laptop for hosting VMs/gaming.

Really hurt to get the 980m with 4gb vram as opposed to the 8gb, but the MSI gt72 with an IPS screen was just too much money and I'm not a fan of the storage subsystem layout.

I figured if I have to lug around a set of speakers and a cooling pad due to the p35x limitations how portable was it really in the end? The anemic power supply worried me too.

Got a Samsung 850 pro to replace the 2.5 inch drive for $550, so for 3250 total I pulled the trigger.

Thanks to everyone for their insights, advice, and benchmarks! I have to say I am very glad I found this site!

 

Enjoy the beast buddy, i am sure it will serve you well!!

 

Congrats bud. See if you can snag the free AC:Unity with your Pro.
Assassin’s Creed Unity

 

I played Guild Wars 2 for a couple of hours, Afterburner shows vRAM used about 700MB.

Regards

 

Is there any evidence that one runs hotter than the other, beyond mere speculation?

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

hi together,

well i've nearly read the whole thread, but at the end i cannot get an decision, maybe you guys can help me. I would like to buy the p35x but here in Germany there is no chance to get a repaste from the supplier, so ihave to do it by myself... unfortunately I have 2 left hands (SO repasting is not an option--> I want to use it out of the box)
So what if I buy the I7 4710 version with FHD Panel. Will this throttling and the high CPU temperatures influence my "normal" gaming? for example playing BF4 or Far Cry 4 means the latest games? I mean if this situation (with the throttling) is just created through benchmarks I could live with it as long as I don't have any influence during gaming???
please guys help me

@scriptabit:
I had the Asus G751JY for a few days. But I send it back due to the miserable service/support of Asus. The unit itself is very good conecrning power, build quality, display etc. But it is too much money for a really miserable support (at least here in germany). But really keep in mind: the thing is build very solid but is really very heavy and big, I was a little bit suprised when I hold it in my hands

 

I did - thank you!

 

@Thrall:
I know it is unfortunately huge (like the alienware and MSI gt72). I plan to augment it with a chromebook or an ultrabook for remoting into work when I am on the go. Really I would build a desktop if I still had a home office, but it will probably be 2 years before we move into a bigger home. Lost the home office, gained a daughter .

What kind of service/support issue did you have? My experience in the US has been that most laptop manufacturers offer poor support unfortunately. I am in IT though, so I really only need the warranty for hardware failure.

 

well I actually just had a small question about the additional Assasins Creed Unity, as it was not delivered with the laptop. But at the german ASUS ROG Facebook was posted that you get one free. However, it was not a big deal, I just wanted to ask Asus if they can send me a key or whatsoever. But when I tried to write an E mail to the support the german Asus support site was down, so I called at the Asus support and "tried" to ask them. First of all the guy there couldn't really speak german so it was nearly impossible to explain to him what I wanted (I also tried in English, but he didn't speak English as well)--> However first call ended like this: The guy told me to write an e mail from ther support side. I told him that the site seem to be down. But he said it should work now. --> It didn't work. So I called again, the other guy (same problem with the language) told me at the end (because he didn't understand what I wanted) Quote:" äähhee We don't sell any Software" then he hang up!!!
So in a nutshell, this was just a really small issue, what will happen if I have some technical problems....

 

double post...

 

The only option xoticpc has is IC Diamond, not sure what you mean by liquid ultra. I've been browsing the Clevo thread and it seems pretty bulky. I have an Alienware M14x now and definitely want something slimmer.

What upgrades mess it up, personally done ones or ones off xoticpc's site?

Why not the 3K screen? I know there are some scaling issues but it seems like it is a great screen from all the reviews I've read. What didn't you like about the Clevo? I don't want to get a 17" laptop as I would be traveling with this one at times and also don't like having a laptop that big, 15.6" is the biggest I want to go.

That's what I thought as well, which is why I'm questioning getting a 1080p version.

So you didn't try out the gigabyte and got the Asus instead? $2.7K is too much for me, not to mention the laptop size is too big. I really want to get the gigabyte as it seems promising from the specs but some of the reviews here have been disheartening. Why would you lug around a set of speakers and a cooling pad for the p35x? My understanding is that the GS 60 runs hotter than it, and speakers are not really needed unless you want the extra sound power, no?

 

@jbgolf52 it's usually the driver update cause the laptop BSoD, and the reason for not buy 3k screen is because the horrible scaling of Windows. I'm using mine (1080P) at 100% scaling intead of 150%, it's tinier, but much more comfortable to read.

Regards

 

There was/is a free game promotion run by Nvidia when you purchase a laptop with 9xx series card. However it's the retailer that you bought your laptop from that you need to contact. In my case, I bought my laptop from OcUK, then contacted their support team via email to enquire. They then sent me a code which I could redeem online. The manufacturer of the laptop isn't involved as far as I can see.

 

I can't comment on driver issues, I never upgraded and it worked out of the box. My issue was the cooling and throttling of the cpu. It can be kept at bay with a repaste, cooling pad, undervolt and underclock. But imo you shouldn't have to undervolt to run at stock, in this case even underclocked. Basically you need to gimp it to have it running stable and that's not good enough imo.

Regarding vram usage I saw just under 6GB in Shadow of Mordor at Ultra. I've posted graphs for. Shadow of Mordor, Planetside 2 and Battlefield 4 with vram usage at different settings. check my previous posts ( I'm on a phone). Keep in mind my first two tests have the core clock for the igpu so ignore those (those with constant 1200 KHz).

 

So as long as I don't update the driver I'll be fine? Is this an automatic update like the Windows ones that I have to disable? I'm assuming you have a gigabyte as you said you have the 1080p version, how do you like it?

 

can anybody tell me something about this:
So what if I buy the I7 4710 version with FHD Panel. Will this throttling and the high CPU temperatures influence my "normal" gaming? for example playing BF4 or Far Cry 4 means the latest games? I mean if this situation (with the throttling) is just created through benchmarks I could live with it as long as I don't have any influence during gaming???
please guys help me?

 

Throttle will not be as often during "normal" gaming. It's only more obvious when you push the machine to its limit.

Regards

 

Thanks DelFang,
what do you mean by "as often" so will it have influence during gaming?

 

Hope you don't mind me chipping in!

It's just another paste which has high thermal conductivity. It happens to be electrically conductive too. I applied this myself, wasn't too difficult, not something I do regularly (once every 5 years or so!). The only reason it has been mentioned is because it is efficient at transferring the heat from the CPU and GPU to the heatsinks- but other pastes are good too and have the advantage of not conducting eletricity...

There have been problems people getting a stable set of drivers. Some of us, including myself, have experienced blue screens - however I don't believe these have been caused by hardware problems but driver and software versions. Mine has been stable for quite a while now, and I've not rebuilt windows, have stuck with the original image and the gigabyte smart update utility and their recommended driver versions - with the exception of the gpu driver which I've upgraded via geforce experience software.

Indeed. Depends on your requirements I guess, but I find it superb. I play games @1080p though, no issues with visuals and such like. Very bright, great range of colours, love the partial matte finish. Usual challenge with windows scaling @3K but that cuts across all devices, not just this one - and in any event doesn't bother me.

This all boils down to what you intend to use the machine for I guess. The attraction of this device is its portability, so if the intention is to strap a cooling pad to it then why buy this machine, go and get something bulkier that has better cooling. However, I would argue that it is not necessary to have a cooling pad with this laptop. Whilst I'm not a *hardcore* gamer (and I guess that point should not be dismissed), I do play games and I just use the laptop as-is, flat on a surface (not even propped up). It's fine. In fact it's more than fine, it's really really good. Yes, if you benchmark the cpu and gpu you can get the cpu to thermally throttle. But in real life, I can run any game I want @1080p, have the settings cranked up high and have a decent, playable experience (including ACU). I might pack some headphones, but a cooling pad I'd skip.

 

To be honest, updating driver did not cause me trouble when I'm boot from the mSARA SSD, all my problems occurs when I try to use the OS installed on 2.5" drives.

Also, if you're going to use the touchpad a lot, you'll want to update the driver for touchpad, otherwise it will be too sensitive and "jumps" all the time.

The "Smart Update" (Gigabyte's driver manager) is not useful and it won't even open in mine now. Just download the drivers from Gigabyte's site, and download the latest "Smart Manager-or-whatever" from the link somewhere in this thread.

As for I think of P35X: it's so thin compare to other laptop with equivalent hardware, and the display is fantastic, battery life is top-notch (least 4-5 hours under casual usage). It's so quiet when not plugged in: I run 3DMark in my lecture (muted), and I can't hear the fans at all. Of course it only give half as high scores compare to when pluged in. Fan noise and heat can be bothersome when plugged in and gaming, the db level can be seem in the GentechPC review, and the heat only stays on the back-end of laptop (along the stripe between the exhaust vents) but egg-frying high, the rest of the top of the laptop is very cool (did not check under the laptop).

Regards

 

But were you pushing the laptop to its max settings with a high demanding game concerning the cooling and throttling? I'm just using mine for League of Legends and BF4 and have no clue how to undervolt or underclock. I did see your tests but I honestly have to learn more via google what all that means, I'm not a tech guy, just looking for a solid laptop to handle the two previously mentioned games and that's 15.6" or less.

Thanks for the personal experience and tips! Really nice to hear someone with good things to say about this laptop. Good to hear IC Diamond repaste would work as well. I'll stick with the original software if I decide to go with this laptop. So you have the 3K screen and adjust the resolution whenever you game? I agree with you that there's no point in strapping a cooling pad if you want to travel with it. My uses for the laptop would be League of Legends and BF4, along with normal tasks such as internet browsing, watching videos via youtube, and streaming movies from amazon. So given that, you think the 3K version would be good for me if I don't plan on modding it at all (since I have no idea how to lol)?

I would be using a mouse all the time so no problem with the touchpad. My Alienware M14x gets horrible battery life, around an hour max unplugged when gaming and barely any longer when browsing, so the long battery life would be great. I don't mind the laptop getting that hot in the back, I plan on having it on a kitchen table so it *should* be fine. My Alienware already throttles a lot and I'm used to a lot of sound so if anything the p35x would be an improvement from what I've read. I'll be sure to only stick to Gigabyte's site for drivers if I plan on updating them, thanks for all the info. Regarding the booting issues, what do you boot from if you just power up the laptop normally? Sorry, I'm not a laptop savvy guy.

 

Well from the signatures from some of the guys who posted here it seems like a lot of people has send back the laptop... but if you don't have any issues during game then why send it back?
Well i don't know, maybe I want to hear that this laptop is not as bad as it seems like after reading this whole thread...

 

Well, some of them don't like the amount of work it requires to make the laptop work to exactly how they like; some (Cakefish) got a faulty hardware; some doesn't like the CPU throttle; and the rest just want to see how good other laptop in their list is.

Regards

 

If you use the factory OS and don't install from your own disc, then it will boot straight to the Windows 8.1; if you install your own system is the 2.5 HDD bay or ODD bay, then it will have a selection screen after BIOS prompt to choose the OS to boot from.

I couldn't get the Windows 8.1 to work from 2.5" SSD in HDD bay, but the OS label got left behind even after I wipe the 2.5" SSD, so I always get the selection screen during boot up with 3 installed OS, but only 1 have the volume number (Windows 8.1 on the mSATA SSD) for 5 seconds.

I don't reboot my computer very often, but people who move about and turning their laptop on and off a lot might find it annoying.

Regards

 

Lets make a survey:
To whoever has bought this laptop:
Would you buy it again?

 

Ah ok, thanks for the info. I don't reboot mine often either, normally just hibernate.

I agree with making a survey, but you would also have to specify what their intention is for the laptop too. Some want to test it to the max and are hardcore gamers whereas even though I game a lot I don't do extremely demanding games.

 

There is 20-25C difference between notebookcheck's review sample and WingNut's, only difference is the CPU (bunch of people in Clevo forum has came to this conclusion, just check WingNut's threads) Problem with laptops (especially darned hq chips) is that you just cannot check if that is the case as you cannot slap the HQ chip on the same computer, though 20-25C difference on both CPU and GPU is kinda confusing on the same laptop with different CPUs, I guess we will know for certain when a lot of people get their hands on these machines and make some comparison on average (trusting our beloved central limit theorem )

 

As far as how portable this laptop is- Imho, its alittle different having to throw a 2 lb laptop cooler in your bag when you plan on doing long gaming sessions, than being stuck lugging around a 8-10 lb laptop everytime you need a laptop away from the house, be it at work, school, or on the couch web browsing. And instead of hauling speakers probably best to just get some head phones lol.

 

You said not to get the 4860hq like two pages ago, but on xoticpc's website this is the only option:
4th Generation Intel® Haswell Core™ i7-4710HQ (2.5GHz - 3.5GHz, 6MB Intel® Smart Cache)

So did you install that yourself or what?

 

No, there's a model of P35X that come with 4869HQ and 3k display. The HQ version of i7 is not upgradable.


Regards

 

I would go for GT72 if it has IPS display and 980m at price of 1600 GBP.

Regards

 

Ah ok. I guess xoticpc doesn't offer that then. So if I get the 4710 it *should* be good then?

 

No you cannot replace the HQ version of i7, there is a model of P35X with 4860HQ and 3k display, which is what he refer to, and also are the model Cakefish and others owned and/or returned.

Regards

 

Are there people here who have the 4710?

 

It shouldn't make much differences. 4860 may use slightly more power and produce more heat due to the higher clock and iGPU, the most objection I have on the 4860 is that it's not worth the higher price for the 100MHz higher clock and the Iris GPU that you'll NEVER use for gaming.

Regards

 

Oh ok, sounds good, thanks.

 

I do, and the it has very similar behaves as the 4860.

I didn't push it as hard as others, so I can't really comment about the throttling. As for the tempture, it does goes up to 90 degrees during intensive gaming.

Regards

Edit: note that I have not yet repaste my P35X, and the factory pasting is usually too excessive and horrible.

 

Thanks for the info. My Alienware gets pretty hot, not sure how hot since I don't have a way to measure it, but I can't imagine the p35x getting hotter than it.