GT80S 6QF questions

Hello,

I'm considering getting the GT80S 6QF. I've been doing Clevo machines for years now and really love them. My laptops get put through a lot and they've stood the test of time for me. But I'm open to trying something new and I really want to go SLI for the first time, and this SLI desktop 980gtx seems incredible. I've read through the entire owners lounge thread for GT80S for answers and still have a few questions.

1. What does this thing really benchmark at? I mean overall 3dmark11 and firestrike. I think I've seen mostly 18,000 range for 3dmark score.

2. And what about when overclocked? What's a stable core/memory increase? And what score are you getting in 3dmark 11 overall and firestrike.

3. When overclocking gets taken into account, does this thing still reign King? I'm considering getting a clevo p870dm with SLI 980m. I know stock the gt80s 6qf will win, but how does it compare to a p870dm that has two 330w adapters? Will the p870dm win simply because there is a lot more room for overclocking? Or are 6qf owners already figuring using two AC adapters to max those desktop cards out?

4. How is the keyboard? I love the idea of a high quality mechanical keyboard in my laptop. But the layout looks like it's placed so far on the bottom left, seems like it will be akward to use with that placement. Plus that numpad looks terrible, and its something I normally use a lot. I'm willing to overlook it if the rest of the keyboard is good.

5. How much of a limiting factor is the BGA mobile CPU? I know it's still decent, but does it in anyway bottleneck gaming?

 

Wait for a p870dm-g with 980 SLI. There are rumors for it to be coming soon.
980m OCed normally is around 970 level. Heavily OCed 980m can be close to 980 desktop.

I would be a lot more worried about the 6920hq tbh. I just dislike BGA in general. If you can get the version with 6820hk, I would take it over the 6920hq. Unless someone where fan chime in on the OC abilities of the 6920hq.

FYI, the 870 keyboard is just plain garbage.

As a 870dm owner, I would say both choices are good, but you should wait for a 980 desktop sli 870dm before making your decision.

 

That thing is a beast of a machine.

The keyboard quality on the GT80 is awesome in my opinion. Very responsive and a full keyboard for the form factor which is really nice. It is not meant to use on your lap which is why it's so far in front of the screen. WIth that big of a screen you really need some space to take it all in so being that the keyboard isn't right under it is kind of a good thing. The touchpad/numpad does leave some desire there, not as easy to use as you would normally have with keys since you don't have any tactile feedback.

Gaming you shouldn't see any bottlenecks with the 6920HQ, main limiting factor on gaming is going to be the GPU's and you obviously won't be seeing bottlenecks from the dual 980's. If your using it for CPU intensive applications it could leave some desires for the desktop CPU in the P870, but i don't think much.

 

As an owner, I really can't recommend it until the battery boost "feature" is removed. Otherwise there's pretty much zero point getting it over the 980M model since the battery drains under full GPU load at stock while plugged in, and once it hits 30% after around 6 hours, it throttles each card to barely over stock 980M levels.

The CPU is more than adequate though, since it's not power limited to the TDP like older BGA CPUs and can OC to 4GHz easily... Unless your battery dips below 30%.

 

Thank you for the responses!

I would LOVE for Clevo to release a SLI desktop 980 p870. Thing is, will the desktop 980s be 120W like the gt80s 6qf, or will they be the 180w or 200w variants? Hopefully on the higher end, but of course that will mean dual power supplies or a new massive power supply. Speaking of, anyone know what kind of performance difference there is between the 120W/180W/200W variants of the MXM desktop 980s? I can't find any sort of comparison.

Why the 6820hk over the 6920hq? I think I read something about better overclocking with the 6820 and less throttling versus the 6920, but not sure...

As for the p870 keyboard, that's a bummer. Although the keyboards in Clevo machines have always been just okay. If it's anything like the keyboard in my p170em, I can live with it. I really wish they'd go the route of MSI and do a quality keyboard. Keyboards and speakers have always been kind of weak on Clevos, but I think the speaker situation has improved as of late, based on some of the more recent reviews I've read.

I really want that keyboard. Too bad we can't transplant it into a Clevo machine. I guess the layout makes sense now that you explain it. It's not too far off center anyways.

I read about this throttling issue in the owner lounge. It's a shame for such an awesome laptop to have this hidden drawback. I usually game for hours on end, and I would certainly run into throttling once the battery boost wasn't available anymore. I wish they'd just make a bigger power supply or offer to daisy chain like the Clevos. Do you know if anyone has tried a daisy chain? That throttling is silly. I would have been pissed if I spent over $4k on a laptop only to find out I have to time my gaming sessions to avoid throttling. Hopefully MSI addresses it.

 

A throttling is caused by H/W limitation such as AC adapter. The power boost feature has always been part of MSI feature sets on Gaming NBs which is used to boost performance of your gaming system, otherwise the stock performance is just not going to be enough. One way or another, MSI systems generally outperform other competitions not only in performance but also audio quality, and keyboard design.
Please note, 980M is in fact a better choice than SLI because no one makes AC adapter exceeding 330W.

 

I'm sorry, but if I hear that it's a feature again I'm going to scream. My test had the CPU running at 30W, and 130W + 130W + 30W leaves 40W for the remaining components, which should be more than enough without pulling another 15+W from the battery. And really, anything advertised as a feature should have an option to disable it. The throttling is also incredibly aggressive. Each GPU gets 25-30W cut from its power limit, and the CPU is also TDP locked. The battery wasn't supplying anywhere near 50W, so why is it crippled so badly?

 

If you disable the power boost then you won't have performance boost, how is that going to be better?

By the way, we can make this suggestion (to disable power boost) to MSI so hopefully they can open up this option in the BIOS in the future.

 

How about a functional system that can hold clock using 2 x 330w adapter? Lets admit it, at this point, no one cares about paying an extra 200 USD and having 1.2kg on a beast system. I thought about the 980 SLI system but I just didnt want to deal with any of this throttle non sense imo.

Rumor has it that they are the 180w SLI versions found in P775DM-G. It will pretty much require 2 x 330w adapters. I dont believe there would be too much performance decrease compared with the hypothetical 200w MXM SLI.

 

You shouldn't need it to get stock or minimally below stock performance, given that it's only using 15-20W from the battery. Even if you make the crazy assumption that MSI didn't set the power limit way, way too low, if you cut 5-10W from each GPU, that completely eliminates the need for it.
Or (super crazy idea!) be more open to letting the end user disable or increase the limit to a point at their own risk so that people can use dual adapters. I guarantee you that any money they may or may not lose from people burning out their adapters because they don't know what they're doing will be far outweighed by an increase in sales from people who don't want a throttled system.

 

We just want it to run like every single other 330w notebook we have ever owned. Every single other one, can pull a full 330w and a little extra even from the adapter. The GT80S can pull less than 300w. The adapter is clearly rated to OUPUT a full 330w yet the MSI is programmed to only use 300w.

Also regardless of all of the above, the battery boost has to be optional. Some users need the battery to be ready to use on a moments notice. It doesn't work for everyone to have a nearly dead battery after playing games for a period of time. Even worse the battery boost feature is never mentioned in any MSI documents, including their own web pages. Clearly it was either a mistake (I hope) or very bad choice to not mention it at all. From what I understand the GT80 users with 980m can use 330w and even more, with zero issues, and no battery drain. How can they use even more power from the same adapter, and still not use any battery? Something is not right and we are hoping MSI does the right thing and fixes it.

We have been promised a resolution from MSI, and we are patiently awaiting the fix. They responded in the MSI Rep thread.

[Official] Questions for the MSI Rep!

 

We all knew that the dual GPU is lacking.
No matter what, MSI systems (single GPU ones) outperforms competitions in the same class without comparison.
They probably will never unlock the EC, but perhaps they can release one to allow more power draw to go through hopefully. Warranty aftermath is always a concern whether a customer says that he doesn't care about it or not, because in the end MSI is still obligated to provide warranty services to their customers.

Where did they mention it? All of you who wanted this feature as an optional item (like in BIOS) then please post here so we can send your voice to MSI directly, thank you.

 

Here:
[Official] Questions for the MSI Rep!

It's irritating because it is absolutely zero risk to let the notebook use all 330w just like the GT80 with 980m can, and most notebooks aren't limited and can actually use everything the adapter can put out (a 330w adapter can put out more than 330w). Some notebooks can even use the dual adapters like I have on my GT80S now.

This isn't that difficult, notebooks have been doing this for years. I'm not sure why MSI thinks that the "battery boost" is a needed or wanted feature, and does anyone any good. In reality they could take it away completely while unlocking the EC (like Sagers are) and then you could have more performance and no battery drain. It's a win-win.

 

I didn't see anything on the post, can you copy and paste the link from the post number (eg #13)?

 

"MSIGeno said: ↑
Hey guys, i have an answer from our HQ team about the power draw issue.

They have acknowledged this problem and have been doing some analysis and safety testing to find a new way to re-arrange the power plan of the laptop and improve the drop of performance. Once the new plan has been fine tuned and fully tested, we'll make those versions of the firmware files available for download. "

Post # 1168

 

Ok, so it is WIP then and will be beneficial to all single GPU models.

 

It is a WIP but no idea on single GPU models I think everyone was only discussing the GT80S with SLI 980s. I wouldn't think the single GPU models would have any power issues at all.

 

The extra 30W will definitely help on SLI model, hopefully they can tune this up.

 

From his wording I'm a little pessimistic about whether or not their idea of a fix is the same as mine, but we'll see.

 

Let's hope for the best.