Clevo NH55AFW

Hi all,

I tried searching if there are any dedicated threads to this Ryzen-specific model, but couldn't find any, so here it goes:

As the title suggests, I purchased this laptop last week with a Ryzen 9 3900 and the RTX 2070 and I've hit a major roadblock: Virtualization comes disabled by default and there's no option in the BIOS to activate it.

BIOS is InsydeH2O ver. 1.07.01 and I'm actually amazed at how very little options it has. The "Advanced" part allows you to change options for smart battery management and little else.

Has anyone come across this? Short of a BIOS update from Clevo to fix this, I don't believe there's much to do about it.

Since I need to run 32 and 64 bit virtual machines, this may mean that I need to return this laptop.

Another reason for returning it is the fact that these laptops are sold as having 12 Cores / 24 Threads, but in reality this Ryzen 9 3900 comes with 6 Cores / 12 Threads, as you can see in the Image. I had never even heard about this processor even existing with 6 cores. The fact that the store is announcing them as 12C/24T should be enough grounds for returning it, right?

 

Try updating CPU-Z to 1.92

 

Maybe CCD1 is disabled? What do you see in Ryzen Master for Active CCD Mode? It should be 2. If it isn't try switching it to 2 in one of the profiles. It will have to reboot when making that change.

 

You're right. Even though the profile was set for 2 active CCDs, only CCD0 was active.

Switching Active CCD to 1 and then back to 2 and switching to Profile 2 with 2 active CCDs didn't change that. Ryzen Master restarted Windows on each occasion.

I then saw a thread elsewhere, where they suggested clearing the CMOS, which worked for the person having a similar problem as mine.

Clearing the CMOS seems to have resolved it. I can't help but wonder what the guys in the shop were tinkering with to have shipped it in that state.

 

If there was a 3900 6 core part out there it would have been all over the tech news that's for sure, glad to see it's all showing now.

 

That takes care of one part then.

@win32asmguy I see you have the NH58AF1, which should have a similar enough BIOS. Does yours come with Virtualization enabled?

 

Nope. I assume that is AMD-V. I don't see why they can't release an update to add the features. Have you contacted your reseller about it?

 

Yes, it's AMD-V.

That also baffles me. Virtualization is right there but they disabled it and suppressed the option to enable it in BIOS. They could at least have shipped it with Virtualization enabled by default and then the user either uses it or not. Nowadays AV software uses it and even Windows itself uses it for Core isolation to make the system safer. So even if the user doesn't require virtualization, it has its benefits.

I have contacted the reseller, but they were stumped. They apparently don't get asked about Virtualization that often and will forward the issue to Clevo and update me when there's news on that front.

@Meaker@Sager What about the Sager line? Do yours also have this issue?

 

I've not checked, I would have to email into the office but I would advise speaking to your reseller.

 

Can someone with one of these laptops post Cinebench 20 results? I've been debating ordering a NH58AF1 which comes with either a Ryzen 3600, 3700X, or 3900, I am curious to see how these cpus perform in laptops, since most benchmarks available for them online are with them in desktops.

 

Well, after a few emails back and forth with the Clevo people in Taiwan, they confirmed that AMD-V only comes factory-enabled by default from BIOS version 1.07.03 onward (I had 1.07.01).

I eventually managed to get version 1.07.05 and flashed it. Lo and behold, I now have AMD-V enabled and can finally resume work as usual (there still is no option in BIOS for it).

 

See below Cinebench R20 benchamrk for the NH55AFW with "Performance" mode enabled in Control Center (no additional tweaking done):

 

Yep we helped convince them to change the default value from that version on at least.

 

Well, looks like kudos go out to the Sager crew as well...

 

I don't think we were the only voice but it all helps