IdeaPad Y700-15ACZ Review

My monitor is: LG Display LP156WF6-SPK1. I think it's growing on me, the mid range of colors feels very warm and neutral (something you don't see on glossy) and the blacks are so black, it almost looks cheap... but I'm getting use to it. Driver version 15.300.1025.1001 seems the most responsive so far and even feels like it has helped with the color display. My FPS in games shot through the roof with this version as I can play those games on ultra settings with nice FPS...

Regarding which gpu is working, is a great question. Why dont they put big fat on/off switch on the igpu. I have to guess based on which GPU is hotter. Problem is, the igpu is on the cpu so.... it's almost always the same temp as CPU, I just know the dGPU is working when its hotter than both. Pretty ridiculous I have to resort to this. Also, this driver version has my DXDIAG as 11.3. Kind of frustrating since I want to take advantage of 12, but my performance on this driver version blows away a few others ive tested. I can't get 16.3 'hotfix' drivers to work, as after install when you try to open the radeon settings I just get an error. Does this happen to you?

I bought this machine for gaming alone (budget), traded a i72360qm with 460m for it, did I make a mistake? I thought this processor was the best AMD had to offer. I only have a few days to return it, but I wouldn't mind waiting until the summer if something entirely better would be available. Could you elaborate on what's coming?

Thanks for the insight. I am undervolted btw, but forgot to mention my AMDMsrTweaker Pstate 0 read 1.15 instead of your 1.1. Are all laptops different or is mine off a little?

edit* just read about arctic islands.... It looks game changing, but will laptops around this price point feature these mobile gpu for similar prices or will these be high end only?

 

You can use GPU-Z or HWINFO to check whether the dedicated GPU is running or not, just track the utilization and / or core clock speeds. To benefit from DirectX 12 games have to be implemented with this API and there are just a few yet (Hitman or AoS f.e.), probably some games like LoL will be patched sooner or later but i would not count on it. The Lenovo driver does work fine on Windows 10 but is rather old, everything else i did not test. But i heard similar problems from other Y700 users so i would say yes, this might be a common issue.

No, you did not make a mistake... supporting the underdog is always a good idea. In case of this notebook there are a few "design failes" and you have to decide if you can live with them or not. I can only tell you what i think: right now is a bad time to buy a new notebook. I am not sure what is coming this summer and if there is a budget machine or just high end, we will have to wait until the new mobile GPU lineup is released.

I assume Lenovo did set higher core voltages in the new BIOS versions, on version CECN26WW it is definitely 1.1V on P0. You can flash back after activating an option in BIOS but as long as you are setting your own voltage i dont think this is necessary.

 

Hello guys, i have a new y700 with 512 ssd and 1Tb hdd and i wonder what tool should i use to monitor the ssd. I tried Samsung Magician but it only shows the capacity, SSD Life crashes and it's not able to find the ssd. The only thing that worked is CrystalDiskInfo and shows a few more details like read/writes.
Since the ssd is a NVMe SAMSUNG MZVLV512 why wouldnt be compatible with Magician ?

 

People, I have "jumps" in performance due to the GPU going down to 300MHZ suddenly, even though the power consumption doesn't go above 38W. This results in a problematic experience. Any clues? does it happen to others too?

 

I am not familiar with Samsung SSDs, but this model is OEM version right ? I guess that might be the reason or some driver / BIOS support is missing so the tool wont show all functions.

There are only two possible reasons for that:

1. As mentioned before, GPU and/or CPU are hitting the temp. target of 85 ° celsius

2. The overall power consumption limit is reached. The system can consume far more than 135W (max. output of the PS) on constant heavy load. At this point usually the battery starts to discharge, but even here is a limit on how much the system can drain.

I strongly recommend to downclock CPU and/or GPU, for latter you can use MSI Afterburner to reduce the max. turbo clock and set a fixed value.

 

Anyone installed the new BIOS version (CECN48WW) that has been released this month ? The changelog indicates just some "security" fixes, but maybe they finally implement proper usage of the CPU power states ....

 

No i was hoping you might know what it does.

 

I did not dare to install it, as it seems the Lenovo BIOS just getting worse not better

 

so is removing the filter worth voiding the warranty?
And, is the new bios any good?

 

I just bought one of these laptops on eBay and it came preinstalled with the new(ish) BIOS. Lenovo says they only offer the latest bios so they wont give me the old one. I tried installing the newest one, but all that did was change the Lenovo logo. I'm getting awful microstuttering in games even though the temps are low (using cooling pad to be safe) and the FPS numbers seems good. Any chance you could shoot me the file for the old BIOS. I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank You
-Chris

 

You can still download the old BIOS, just go to the download page of the newest version and copy the link of the download, then paste it into the address bar of your browser and replace cecn48ww.exe in the link with cecn26ww.exe (just tested it). But the old firmware will not resolve any throttling issues, for that follow the link in my signature to undervolt and/or underclock the CPU. Removing the dust filter or using a cooling pad does not help much in my experience.