Gigabyte p34w v4 thoughts?

So I found out that there is new version of the p34w being sold on xotic pc
http://www.xoticpc.com/gigabyte-p34wv4bw3k1-p-8248.html?wconfigure=yes

Has the new broadwell i7 5700hq processor and resolution is now 1620p but has the same storage as the v3-cf2 (128 SSD+ 1TB 5400rpm HDD) and same dgpu GeForce GTX 970m. The V3-CF2 is $1550 while the new V4 is $1799. Is the difference in price worth it for the new processor and resolution? With Skylake coming out in August, would it be better to wait? I'm hoping they'll release a 14"with broadwell or skylake and gtx 980m =P

 

hmm interesting. would it be possible to swap out the 4720 for a 5700hq oneself?

 

Should be possible as they use the same socket although it might require a BIOS update from Gigabyte. Although, I don't think it would be worth the expense to upgrade as the 4720HQ is already a heavy weight.

 

The new processor is nice but I'm not sure about the higher resolution panel. The 970m is a good GPU but I don't think it can push games at that resolution and playing at non native resolution isn't ideal.

 

I was thinking it would be more power efficient. Lowering temps would be the only real reason I would do it.

 

The CPU is soldered to the motherboard. You cant remove it.

 

Has anyone seen a review out there yet of the V4?

 

Not really a review, but according to a Gigabyte rep talking about the P37X which is getting a similar makeover :"Yes the new generation of cpu will have better performance with regards to heat, and therefore the overall TDP. From the numbers we have seen the difference is not huge, we are talking about 7% improvement on various measurements Vs the current Haswell generation".

They said P37X units should arrive in the UK at the end of this month, hopefully the P34's will land at the same time.

 

Sorry to jump in on this, but I tweeted Gigabyte's UK Twitter feed today asking when the p34w v4 would be available in the UK and they replied that they were not going to stock it in the UK market

 

Bummer. That probably means that Canada is out of luck as well since we never even got the P34W V3 at a reasonable price.

 

Actually, not sure if you'd call it reasonable but Memory Express has the v3 for a some what reasonable price.

http://goo.gl/WfyY48

Of course I'm waiting for the v4 to become available...

 

*Sigh* What have they got against the UK market? That's two of their laptops I've been waiting for now only for them to casually go "Hmm what? Oh no, not in the UK!"

 

I like how Canada's clearance price is the same as America's launch price. Oh well, at least the border isn't too far. Definitely more complicated for the UK.

 

In the UK Overclockers stock the P34w v3 as that's where I got mine - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=KB-047-GI

Seems I got a good specimen as I have none of the issues that have been mentioned (screen, keyboard, wobbling etc..)

Put a Samsung Evo 850 SSD in there and I'm running the Windows 10 Tech Preview and its a monster, will be trying Arkham Knight this evening!

 

Debating the v3 vs the v4. Aside from $300 or so, I'm concerned if the higher res screen on the v4 makes for more thermal issues than the v3, in spite of the newer and presumably cooler running processor?

Also, can it still do most/all recent games on high settings at the 1660p native resolution? Would hate to have to set it to non-native when I'm on the road to enjoy games at high settings, i'll have a 1080p monitor that it will plug into when I'm home (dont sit close enough to my tv for more than 1080p to matter at home). The extra resolution would be nice for work tasks, but i don't have much use for it at this point for gaming.

 

Personally I'm not sure the higher res is a good idea. I mean seriously, do you need it on a 14" screen? And driving games at that res would surely undo any thermal performance gains by using a more efficient CPU as the GPU would be working like crazy and then throttling due to thermal constraints. I may be completely wrong here but I wouldn't go for the higher res as on the Gigabyte site they offer the 1080 model of the V4 which in my opinion is already a damn good screen (assuming its the same panel as used in the V3) and then any thermal performance gains from the CPU would actually prove useful as thermal throttling is already an issue in the V3 (granted, better thermal paste should have been used).

Am I wrong here?!

 

Didn't realize there was a 1080p version of the V4, that sounds like a winner to me, I'm pretty much in agreement with all the points you make about the higher res screen.

 

And, there doesn't appear to be anyone with the 1080p version of the V4 in stock. V3 here I come, prolly not a huge difference anyway.

 

I just hope they fixed most of the build quality issues this time around.

 

I doubt it if they didnt change the chassis of the laptop.

 

Hey guys, Any other comments or updates to how this performs. I just ordered mine from Xotic PC.
I upgraded the thermal paste, along with a 500G SSD.

Really hoping this works for me. I was looking for a great gaming laptop that had some good battery life when using it for work. my only concern is the fans at this point. Hopefully while working on office applications they wont be too loud in meetings.

 

The repaste will do wonders for temps. I also highly recommend you undervolt/underclock the CPU.

 

The fans should be acceptable as long as you're not gaming during meetings.

 

Thats good to hear! Ill be sure to toss up a review once i recieve it.

 

Please do. I'm excited to see how hot the new broadwell CPU gets.

 

Stealth mode keeps it quiet

 

I mean the heat underload, curious to see if it throttles without undervolting. You can roast a chicken with Haswell CPUs.

 

Sorry I didn't mean to quote you, that was about the meeting room comment.

 

No worries man. Hope to see your comparison review up soon

 

I haven't decided yet if I should do a detailed review of the blade or a more subjective "which do I think is the better buy" video pitting the Razer and P34 against each other. I think that would be more fun to write, but it depends what people are interested in. The P34 is not the newest laptop anymore!

 

A little of both?

 

I pulled the trigger on the v4 with the 1080 screen. Should be here in a week or two, gonna follow most of the advice from the v3 owners thread in terms of managing the CPU to keep it below 95, will see how much is needed with the new cpu. In theory the die shrink should make it more economical/cooler, but have no idea how much. I did have Xotic do a repaste on it before they send it my way, will let you know how it turns out.

Here's the v3 thread, which some of you already know well: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...us-owners-lounge.772517/page-57#post-10055171

 

Hey guys,

i've got the rebranded version of the p34w v4, XMG C405.
This are my specs:

Display: 1080p - AUO Panel, non-glare
CPU: i7 5700HQ
GPU: GTX 970M 3gb ddr5
RAM: 8gb ddr3 1866mhz
HDD: 500gb WD Blue
Additions: AC 7260 Wifi-Card

Gifts: Carry Bag, Metal Gear Solid-Phantom Pain

If someone wishes a benchmark, some pictures or something else, just tell it.


My first impression:

I recieved my XMG C405 today and i am suprised. It is lighter then i thougt and it has very well build quality. There are some dissapointments like not perfect Keyboard, but it isnt as bad as i heard it. I think it is very easy to write on it and i start to get warm with it. Moreover it is WAY quieter then i expected! I've heard that the fans are incredibile loud which isnt true. Ive done some basic stuff and installed win 10 with the free key included as gift and i am very happy till' now. Ive also tested the CPU with INTEL XTU and got a temperature of 72crad max.

I am going to play now some heavy stuff like Witcher 3 and Dragon Age:Inquisition and will add my temperatures and fan behaviour.

 

That's awesome! Did you get a repaste done? It would be great to see the temps at different fan speeds while playing the witcher 3.

 

Unfortunatley after ordering through Xotic, i was told that there was no ETA on when they would get more P34W models. So i can either switch or cancel. The only other laptop i was wanting to even consider was the Razer Blade which is such a hike in price b/c i would want to get 512Gb of space atleast

 

There's also the Aorus x3.

 

wassup wasjapupkin!

I'd love to hear about the temperatures on this one - considering it has the new broadwell cpu in it. how did it fare with the witcher 3? any throttling noticeable?

 

The P34W have been very tough to get from Gigabyte. However this morning we did get an ETA of middle of this month, which isn't too far away now. We won't know 100% until they are physically on hand though.

 

I will try it today and no, i had no extra repaste!

But my first Impression is that the best combination of fan behaviour, power consumption and gaming is "stealth mode"!

It changes your processor to 1,7ghz max and let enjoy you the work of your graphic Card.

Btw i am trying a own configuration with INTEL XTU (-100 mV, and Multipliers at 28x) and maximum processor activity of 80% ( own-windows energy Management "High Perfomance" and will add the results!

Gaming test is coming.

 

Test is coming my friend! ))

 

Just took the dive and have the new p34 v4 and will be switching out the harddrives, requested repasting, and maxed the ram. Will be looking to buy the razer adapter, and basically looking to max out the performance of this beast!

 

I'm doing the same. Just about to purchase the new 2TB SSD from Samsung. Newegg has it on sale today for $150 off. Still $650 but it's a good deal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

How did it go?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

re-paste is definitely the most significant improvement one can do. i used liquid ultra and my v4 went from 8980 to 9500 points in 3dmark11 and heat from 95° with throttling down to 89° with no throttling at all. i could even increase the multipliers to 37x which makes a 3,7 GHz turbo mode with the same heat production...

so who gets over 9554? http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10209596

 

also overclocking works quite well, with Intel XTU 37x multiplier and GPU +130 MHz and VRAM +650 MHz it got up to 10369 in 3dmark11: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10211830

this is the area where bigger MSI laptops with the 6GB version of the GTX 970M are scoring.

 

Is that a day to day setup or was that just for benchmarking?

 

the system runs stable with these settings, at least it did for about 45 minutes with the heaven 4.0 benchmark. for daily use i do not overclock the GPU, only the 37x CPU multiplier is a fixed setting. temperatures are pretty good after the liquid ultra re-paste. but no long time experience with it yet.

EDIT: changed liquid pro to ultra

 

razer adapter?

 

I noticed you started with Liquid Ultra but sounds like you are repasting with Liquid Pro? Did you see better thermal advantage with Liquid Pro? I had heard liquid ultra is better but curious of how it affected your testing.


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my bad, only did one re-paste with liquid ultra... corrected.

thinking about it, but its pretty expensive... any alternatives?