*** Official Clevo N870HP6 / Sager NP7870 Owner´s Lounge ***

Noticed that it is scarce of information on that model, so it is time to share!

I bought my Sager last summer from @Larry@LPC-Digital , and it's working OK for the price, but there is might be some troubles with overheating, as usual Not a surprise, bearing in mind a lot more massive and advanced cooling systems on some other models with same 7700hq and gtx1060.

So, maybe someone can share their experience and thoughts about this laptop?

Personnaly, i undervolted mine for -142 mv for CPU and -60 for intel GPU using throttlestop and it holds it well! It helped a lot, but did not save from noise in idle (was 90 degrees "ot of the box", and now 80 when using Furmark CPU burner in auto fan mode (not using dat CCC cancer)).
I'm using some modified curves for GTX1060 as well, but didn't measured it effectiveness yet.
Plus, i repasted CPU and GPU with Gelid gc-extreme, but it didn't help a bit (thinking about liquid metal, but afraid leaking).

Now i'm lurking for some BIOS with unlocked options, but did not succeed (there was a guy @YardSnake asking for Prema here, maybe he found something?)

Anyway, i would be glad if someone can give any information on BIOS, temps, cooling modifications and other experience! I hope @Meaker@Sager or my russian comrade @tanzmeister (привет из Москвы!) will be able to participate too.

 

My go to is always the pads. What thickness are they?

 

What, you mean like thermal pads? Aren't those always perform worse than thermal grease and more useful on less hot components, like memory chips, etc? Correct if I'm wrong..
For thickness - heat sink is sitting on the chip very-very tight, so i assume minimal possible for that kind of thing

 

As in if there are pads on the heatsink then slimming them if possible. Usually between video ram/VRM chips and the heatsink.

 

hi! I actually have these systems under 80C In GPU stress(no curve, stock), 80C for 1060 in Furmark is pretty much ok, btw. CPU cooling maintains under 75 though in XTU memory

for fan noise in idle you need to update EC to .06

 

can you send a photo of TIM residual after you take the heatsink off? both DIE and HS photos?

also check the CPU and GPU fan uptake grid at the bottom, as they are covered(glued) up by manufacturer by default. take that cover off!

 

Hi tanzmeister,

What do you mean by update the ec?

 

flash the Embedded Controller firmware to .06 version

 

Any idea how/where you obtain the files to flash it?
Does this help with cpu fan noise?
Thanks.

 

Oh, i get it! Didn't ever think of that, actually. Guess i'll try to buy some more thinner pads and replace the stock ones. Thanks for the tip!

 

As far as i remember, GPU in stress was always under 80 for me too, in stock. But i was surprised when remarked a week ago that after a two hours of game in Fortnite (game with a very simple graphics and not high system requirements) GPU warmed up to 80, and was in hight 70 during the game! I tried Valley just now, on DX11 and high quality with no undervolt, it shows 76 max after like 10 mins, so i guess it's ok? I also read somewhere that N-Vidia chips are prevented by manufacturer to perform for 100% in some stress tests , to avoid chip damage. Don't know if that is true.
But for CPU i didnt try XTU, just CPU burner in Furmark and in Thottlestop, and it shows aroud 80 only with undervolting for -90mv and further.


And yes, could you please help with EC update? Didn't heard about it, i thought about fan manual settings through unlocked BIOS...

 

I'll do it a bit later, want to buy thinner thermal pads and some iso alcohol before dissassembly. But it was, like, "OK", very thin layer and 100% contact. I think maybe there could be better results if i'll use a different method of TIM application (X-cross, line or bead), because i used just spreading compound all over the chip with plastic card.

And for covered uptake grid: i noticed that first when opened the back cover cover and took off the stickers. Why would they even do that?

 

You don't need thinner pads for this model!

 

Power viruses like furmark won't run at full pelt but that's about it for serious throttle.

 

Just contacted with Sager support, they said that the last version of EC/KBC firmware is 1.05.03, i have .02 installed. U sure that there is .06?

 

Yes, drop me a PM

 

Speaking of EC/BIOS stuff, anyone have any info on getting a Spectre-proof BIOS update?

 

No such thing as spectre proof.

 

@polosatiy123 I actually do have some questions regarding this laptop if you can answer them

You mentioned you undervolted the CPU and iGPU, how's the system noise and temperatures ever since? How about GPU temperatures? Did you ever find that special firmware that lowered fan noise?

Do you mind loading up HWiNFO and telling me the exact display panel model?

@Meaker@Sager I'm looking to get the Eluktronics N870HP6 model, it's basically the same thing isn't it? Is the overheating issue on this laptop really as bad as people say it is?

What about BIOS updates? I can't find a single download link regarding anything about spectre, meltdown, etc

These are basically the last questions keeping me from buying this laptop, thanks!

 

Intel have been having fun developing a BIOS microcode that does not cause blue screens so lets hold off on that until they stop having fun.

 

Heyyyyyyyy

After undervolting cpu temps are very nice in high load, reaching 74-75 max even with stock thermal compound. With gelid extreme it was 71, and experimenting with liquid metal gave me like 67-68 after like 15 mins of cpu benchmark, so i assume it's relativelly good. BUT there is some potential for improvement, because that ****ty tripod heatsink mounting design on the cpu leads to uneven pressure on the chip. I'm planning to experiment and slightly bend that small copper piece on the side where it's just one pressure "arm" to align pressure a bit.
As for fan noise - coolers won't spin on lower than 50% of speed even in low load, and they are very small fans, even if there is A LOT of free space inside.Tthat is creating some unnecessary noise. And i haven't find any way to change it Auto fan proffile is even worse in terms of noise, manual control in the CCC makes it a bit better.
For the GPU - maximum temps are like 82-83, and nor undervoling, nor another thermal compound (even LM) changed it, it's just takes a bit longer to reach it (maybe 10 mins of high load in some game), still experimenting with pressure.
HWinfo screenshot attached.
Personally, i thing it's better for you to save some more money and get another model.

 

Yeah, good call. It's a nice laptop with too many corners cut honestly, I was just about to buy it and then I decided to check the internet one more time to see what I could find. Ended up finding a GS73VR225 for $999, snagged it immediately. Eluktronics/Sager/Clevo are good companies though, I'd recommend them to anyone looking to buy a new laptop, they have sick prices and their customer service/sales departments are ****ing awesome. But the N870HP6/N870HK1 are just very good laptops with lots of corners cut and need to be re-thought (Why is there an exhaust on the right side? Why do you have two bottom firing speakers with no sub on a 17" laptop?, etc)

 

Yeah, you got the point. Othervise that notebook is good in everything for me: there is good hardware specs and no unnecessary things which i don't need, like g-sync screen, sub, etc., and, сonsequently, it has a very good price. But those crappy cooling and fan profiles ruins everything. Constantly nosises like ****ing Boeign taking off, and there is not much you can do about it. I will try to expreriment with some possible solutions, but i'm very dissapointed with the fact that Clevo managed to create a very good and coplex technical devices and **** them up with not able to install some adequate cooling, which is simple in terms of technology and not so expensive (****ing pieces of copper and fans!!!!). I am maybe wrong, because i'm not actually familiar with technological process of notebook assembly, but instinctively it looks totaly like that.

 

Hello guys,

I have a problem with this notebook, branded from sager. No matter what I do, there is always current limit and power limit throttling, I mean, literally always which in turn decreases my performance in pretty much everywhere. I have undervolted both cpu and gpu so temps are about 68 degrees celcius while gaming, fans are full speed and got external fan anyway. Assumingly a bios update might solve my problem, anyone got recent bios firmware or anything that can help with this throttling issue?

Thanks in advance.

 

The way the new chips work they will always hit a max ceiling at some point or they would keep turbo speeds even higher. What kind of clocks are you seeing? What voltages? What performance are you getting?

 

Hello, big thanks for fast response here!

3.2 GHz capped for all cores(underclocked once and it refuses to go up now, even for 1 core it's 3.2 GHz, performance was same before this) -140mV on core/cache and -60mV on intel GPU. Roughly +88 to freq curve, overlapping the original curve at 1911 MHz on Nvidia GPU. Gaming fps drops significantly after any kind of throttling, which isn't thermal hence temps are sitting at 62-68 for every components. Usually I am looking at 55-58 fps at rainbow six siege (everything low-off, shadows at medium) when throttling, otherwise 90-110 fps. At world of tanks (pretty much maxed out) I get 100 fps without throttling, 48 with throttling. Ring of Elysium 117 fps without throttling, 42 with throttling, same with PUBG. It is kind of hard to enjoy gaming, while specs suppose there wouldn't be any problem at all. Is there anything I can do?

Edit: I have tried windows 10 home/pro/education/enterprise/LTSB editions. Apperantly LTSB helps a little bit, which I am using right now, with pro for example, I got around 5-15 fps less at same config. Also I have just formatted a week ago so there can't be any malware bugging the performance.Using Samsung EVO 960 SSD as hard drive, which shouldn't hinder performance, at all.

Edit 2: Okay, after a lot more testing and failures, here is what I came up with. The main reason of current throttling is not actually CPU, but intel GPU. When on default graphics ratio limit, it hits current throttling in XTU and goes down to 688 MHz, tried to overclock it to x13 to check what would happen, still 688 MHz with current throttling, tried to underclock it to x9, something magical happened and it keeps running at 899 MHz with no current throttling. Now current throttling is off the board, I am alone with power throttling, but at current state my FPS on Ring of Elysium goes down to 58, opposed to 42 before this tweak, which in all honesty completely bearable. Still I would welcome any bios or low level firmware update if it could let that one go too.

 

Are you gaming off the IGP or the dedicated chip?

 

Is this a real question or a filler to buy some more time? Of course I am using dedicated gtx 1060, I would get rid of intel gpu completely if you guys put an option(I know it is not so cheap, not judging the master/slave decision on graphic unit), why wouldn't I? Apart from windows aero or whatever it is called, nvidia is used for everything that can be used on. GPU has its own flaws too tho, rarely sees usage above 30%, even when it can't pump out 60 fps. Fps gets momentarily skyrocket when it decides to run at 95+%, then throttlings and low usage kicks back in.

 

I can't send PM's somehow but is it possible for you to send me one too? EC is responsible for fan speeds and checking throttling values/what to do in those conditions, right? Maybe helps with my problem too. It's not like support is bothered to share any bios/ec updates with me anyway.

Sent from my MI 6 using Tapatalk

 

The IGP is not doing much in a game when the dGPU is in use. So I would expect the clocks to be restricted with the CPU under heavy use to give as much of the TDP as possible to the CPU cores.

As for the question being filled, you are a new user and I have no basis to judge your technical expertise. It's pretty common in tech support to start on the obvious and work out from there. Don't take it personally.

Since you seem up to speed:

Could you share clock/power/usage graphs over time in xtu and afterburner with the throttle reasons enabled in XTU. This is the best way to isolate which parts are and causing the bottleneck as something seems to be going on.

 

I got a Sager NP7870 today, and I'm having trouble with linux. I'd read that linux was largely fine with clevo laptops, mostly troubles with optimus or fingerprint readers and the like. However, so far, I'm not even able to install or get a live cd to run stably.

I've tried several distros, and when I can boot I can sometimes launch a program... but then everything freezes, or the keyboard/trackpad just stops responding. Anyone have experience/resources with something like this?

 

This particular model is optimus only, so if that causes issues with your distro then it will have problems.

 

My brother owns this machine (from HIDevolution) and a while ago it stopped charging. It kept running on battery power though (until the battery ran out). Then we opened it up and found a burnt chip on the motherboard, close to the power jack. Anyone know what could have caused this? Only the original charger was used.

And I'm thinking of replacing the burnt IC (if I can get my hands on a schematic to find the part number) - is it worth it though? or could other components be damaged?

 

The part will likely match the one beside it which will also want replacing. It may be different to the others if it's a high side/low side config. Part numbers of the other two will tell you.