*** Official Clevo PA70HS-G Owner's Lounge ***

PC Specialist Defiance IV (w/ Core i7 & GTX 1070)
https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/m...pc-specialist-defiance-iv-w-core-i7-gtx-1070/

 

That model is very familiar to my 1710 Only difference is that has the 120Hz TN screen vs my 100Hz IPS panel.

 

Pretty much nails the niche that Clevo was aiming for I think

 

Hey @Meaker@Sager , do you know that model number of the 1440p 120hz display that is Gsync compatible with this laptop?

 

Not off the top of my head no.

 

Okey dokey. Thanks.

 

So update on my Q7 order from Eurocom. Unfortunately it still hasn't shipped due to the proper 120hz 1440p panels not being available. They had some others, but they would not have supported GSync so I think extra wait time is worth the trade-off for sure. They were good enough to not charge me extra for the GSync panel, which I very much appreciate.
Hoping to get it in the next week or two. My desktop just bit the dust unfortunately so it will be nice to have something to tide me over until I can replace the parts in it/ Ryzen 2nd Gen comes out/maybe Ice Lake Z390 is released this year?

 

I'm interested in the new ryzen 2 chips too, if they can hit 4.4-4.5ghz they should do very well.

 

OK! I got my machine on Friday and have gotten a chance to use it pretty extensively so I will share my thoughts. Mine is a @Eurocom Support Q7 which is just their rebranding of the PA70HS-G
Special thanks to @woodzstack for all his help and for being very reasonable with his services!

My config is as follows:
i7 7820hk
GTX 1070
16GB DDR4 (I bought separate)
525GB Crucial mx300 m.2 SSD (I bought separate)
1TB Sandisk X400 M.2 SSD (I bought separate)
2TB Seagate Firecuda SSHD (I bought separate)
QHD (1440p) 120hz Gsync Screen

I/O
Left side: DC IN, 2 x Mini DP Out, HDMI Out, USB-C (with thunderbolt option, don't know if mine has it), 2x USB 3.1 Type A
Right Side: Mic in, Headphone out, SPDIF, Card Reader, 2x USB 3.1 Type A, Ethernet, and a Kensington Lock

Processor:
Boy, this thing runs hot. It works great and It doesn't hold me back in games I feel but I guess I'm just not used to my CPU running at about 80*C under gaming load lol. Haven't messed with overclocking too much yet but may in the future. I am using Throttlestop to undervolt by -125mv and that seems to be helping a bit with the temps.

GPU:
This thing surprised me with how well it performs. I have a 1080TI in my desktop and was expecting a huge step back but it's actually not *that* bad compared to it. It tuns everything I want at reasonable framerates and I can't complain at all. It has yet to break 80*C even after hours of gaming at a time so top marks there!

RAM: Simple 16GB 2133mhz. Nothing special. Whatever was cheapest online at the time.

Storage:
Again, not too much to say here. 2 SATA based SSDs and a 2TB SSHD. Not going to go too in depth of common components

Screen:
This thing is beaaaautiful! I've never owned a 1440p display (my desktop is 240hz 1080p) but I am in love. I don't know the exact model number as HWINFO 64 is not telling me and I don't really want to take off the bezel to check for sure.

Speakers:
I really like the speakers on this. They seemed quiet at first but once I installed the SoundBlaster X software, they seemed to be louder and sound better. May be just me but I dunno.

Trackpad:
No complaints here. The buttons are a little mushy but I'm use to it now. Love the fingerprint sensor on the top right. I love using the Windows Gestures for scrolling and whatnot on the trackpad.

Keyboard:
Keys feel nice and there is a nice travel distance between them. Keyboard seems off-centered (I go to hit C but will often hit X, often hit NUMLOCK instead of backspace), but maybe that's just because I am use to another one pretty often. It is getting better so I may just have to adjust. I do love how the backlight turns off after a certain amount of time without use. I have mine set to 15 seconds.

Aesthetics:
I love that it doesn't look like a gaming laptop. Other than the raised accents on the lid, you'd think it was just a regular 17" laptop. It is very professional looking

Weight/Size:
I know that 17" laptops aren't very popular due to their large size but I like them for gaming on. It weighs about 6.5 lbs and is about 1" thick. The weight is evenly spread so I never feel as though my legs or arms get tired supporting its weight. It is very well balanced.

Battery Life:
Haven't fully tested yet. But writing this review, I am sitting at 83% currently with an estimated 4 hrs 37 mins remaining. I think this laptop should likely get ~5 hours during a normal day of use which I find more than enough. (Running in MSHYBRID mode. I would not suggest running in DISCRETE mode if battery life is of Concern.)

All in all, I would definitely suggest this laptop to anyone who wants a laptop that they can use in school or the office for note taking/work and wants to be able to play their favorite games as well!

 

it's a great laptop, we call it the Q7 as opposed to the Q5 which is 15" version instead.

Thanks for the mention, if you ever need anything you know where to find me.

 

Absolutely! Thanks very much once again!

Sent from my SM-N950W using Tapatalk

 

Can you post some more temperature readings. For example idle, standard low usage like web surfing or youtube, and than some real life gaming temps with awerage FPS achieved . I am above all interested in details like undervolt, fan speed settings, laptop position on desk (elevated) .....

Thanks in advance

 

Is that a TN panel or an IPS? If IPS, what's the name of it?

 

I believe it is TN, but can't confirm. HWINFO64 doesn't show model number or anything like that. But, based on viewing angles, I am inclined to say TN.

 

Idle temps just doing basic stuff can be anywhere between 45-60 Celcius for CPU. I do however, have a pretty quiet fan profile set so I'm sure it would be lower if I upped fan speed. Do note that these temps are running in MSHybrid mode.
Gaming temps are a bit of a mixed bag. I usually use VSync or Rivatuner to limit my fps so it's hard to compare. I can give examples though: (These are run in DISCRETE mode. The temps I am listing are the improved temps *see below*)

NOTE: MY CPU IS SET TO RUN AT 3.9 , 3.7 , 3.4 , and 3.2 Ghz DEPENDING ON SINGLE, DUAL, TRIPLE OR QUAD CORE TASKS, RESPECTIVELY.
The standard speeds are 3.9 , 3.7 , 3.6 , 3.5. I have found essentially no difference as far as performance goes in games and I value keeping my CPU cooler over say 5 FPS if that.

PUBG: 1080P medium/high settings CPU Speed: 3.2 to 3.4 Ghz
Running at about 85-100 FPS (Have it capped at 100, may be able to get more but not sure) CPU max temp is around 75*C. GPU about the same (never have even seen it hit 80*C in anything yet). Fan speed maxed.
Rocket League: Maxed settings 1440p: CPU Speed 3.4 to 3.7 Ghz.
Running at 130 fps. Have it capped there. No need to have it go higher if I can't display the frames anyway. CPU/GPU temps are about the same as PUBG, maybe about 5*C cooler. Max fan speed.

Undervolt is -125mv on cache and core and -15mv on Intel GPU. I run max fan speed while gaming pretty much all the time. Don't really care about noise.
As for laptop position... I have little rubber feet I put under the back of it. They are about 1" high at a guess. Don't know how much of a difference they make but I assume they make some difference.

I would also like to note that there are two grills on the back of the laptop and one on each side. The one on the left side of the laptop is the CPU exhaust, The one on the back but to the left is just a grill. It is not an exhaust (I believe it was put there for symmetry.) On the back to the right is the GPU exhaust. It is a much larger area compared to the CPU exhaust. On the right side of the laptop there is a grill but again it is just plastic and it there for symmetry I believe. It is where the Kensington lock is.

On to the point of all that. On the back of the laptop to the left, it was just blocked like I said. No exhaust or anything. So I opened up the laptop and saw that it was essentially just a piece of tape there in front of the vent. I took off the tape and I am noticing improvements of about 5-10*C to my CPU temps when gaming (GPU temps didn't really change). The only downside now is that since there isn't a grill or anything like that it could let dust in to the laptop.

 

Your panel is AUO B173QTN01.0 which is QHD TN 120Hz.

 

Thanks! I wouldn't have known unless I took it out lol

 

Only one panel out there at the moment IIRC

 

@ Zeke777
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your detailed answer. I only wish you got your laptop a bit sooner. LOL. I was searching all over net for few simple temperature readouts with undervolt and/or other parameters, but I had no luck. I was going for a 7820HK+GTX1060 combo at first but I scaled down to 7700HQ+1060. I see now based on your "improved" temps that I maybe made a mistake.
Elevating the laptop most certainly makes a difference + opening the gril + undervolting + quality paste and you have a laptop that operates at comfortable 75C on full throttle !!
It is exactly becuse of my concern with high CPU temps that I scaled down and went for 7700HQ CPU. My PA71 should arrive any day now and as soon I set it up I will get back to you with my results.

 

You're most welcome.

I am very happy with the laptop. Battery life is good too in MSHybrid mode so I find it to be a great all around laptop.

Like I said before, I did get @woodzstack to repaste with Kryonaut on CPU and GPU so I'm sure that's making quite a difference over the stock paste as well.

You won't be disappointed when you get it!

Sent from my SM-N950W using Tapatalk

 

I usually aim for a 15-20C better temps than stock, takes few tries sometimes, every laptop is literally a different game unto itself even when model to model they are compared.
I find Alienware' have the least amount of variation in ther CPU heatsinks though, and usually doing it once is all that is needed.

But with Clevo and MSI and also thier desktop variations, you could have to do things twice because contact is not always perfect.

 

UPDATE ON TEMPS:
I bought two OPOLAR LC-06 ( https://www.amazon.ca/OPOLAR-LC05-Cooling-Powered-Compatible/dp/B01E3Q7FS6?th=1 ) one for GPU and one for CPU.
Playing PUBG on same settings as before (refer to last post) my GPU hit 70*C/71*C max but mostly sits in high 60s. Overall success there.
The second OPOLAR went to my CPU exhaust. I can now OC to 3.6 GHZ all cores (standard is 3.5 but I had to set it to 3.2 before) with temps maxing at like 85 while playing PUBG. They mostly sit high 70s/ very low 80s though. Overall very happy with this. Just bought a cooling pad for the laptop as well ( https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0713PHFRW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) which will be here tomorrow so I will update again with those results.

I do find it strange that GPU temps have never really been a problem but CPU seems to be the stickler, considering that the GPU uses a lot more power. This is pretty common in laptops from what I've read though.

 

Thanks for the update.
I am still setting up my PA 71 which arrived a few days ago. (I hate win10).

First impressions:

This thing is sooooooooo compact!!!! It is a 17 inch very slim laptop, but when you hold it in your hands it feels like a solid metal flat brick. Never seen this in laptops before and I like it so much.
It is heavy-ish which for me is a good thing, much heavier than you would think from the slim look.

For initial setup, loading and instaling files and software, downloading stuff .... Never heard the fans!
My CPU reached 50C - that is the max in 2 days of constant loading and erasing files and few system restores!
Average is 36 - 38 C
Ambient temp is cca 20C (winter-indoors) and the laptop is on the table without adittional support.

As for the CPU vs GPU temps it is natural for this laptop since GPU has 2 fans and 1 cooling pipe even goes to CPU fan, so there is a bit of heat transfer from GPU to CPU.

WIll keep you posted.

 

Nice choice! The cooling pad with 5 fans is my choice too, but havent ordered one yet. With this you have 2 fans exactly under laptop fans and a central one uner GPU I think.
Please post results from cooling pad too.

Kind regards

 

Better 2 good fans rather than 5 cheap ones.

 

Cheap fans can still have decent static air pressure, especially if they line up with air intakes. However, it's hit or miss until you actually use it to know for sure.

 

Test Schenker Technologies XMG Pro 17 (Clevo PA71HS-G) Laptop
https://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-...MG-Pro-17-Clevo-PA71HS-G-Laptop.281414.0.html

 

ANOTHER UPDATE ON TEMPS!

So, after getting the cooling pad last night and putting on top of the laptop... I noticed no difference

But in all seriousness, I was playing PUBG again. GPU temps stayed pretty much the same (hovering around 68-71), idle temps were better tho so bonus?
CPU temps went down a few degrees. 3.6ghz all 4 cores can now sit around 75-80 while playing PUBG (which is the most intensive/unoptimized game I have right now). So, overall an improvement and I am quite happy. Pretty jealous of my brother though. He has one of the Dell Gaming 7567 (1050 ti, 7700hq ) and his temps with two opolars and a cooling pad are like mid 60s max lol.
My current core ratios are 40 , 40 , 36 , 36 for single, dual, etc. I may change that but I don't know. With the temps I got, don't know if there is much reason to

 

The 1050 ti uses a smaller, easier to cool chip.

 

are there PA70 with gtx1050ti?

 

I don't think so, why do you ask?

 

So I am having a slight technical issue. Nothing wrong with laptop itself, and maybe what I want to do is impossible but IDK.

So I am trying to run a dual boot with Windows and Lubuntu. The idea is that I will use Lubuntu when just web browsing or whatever to save battery life.

However, Lubuntu refuses to see my Intel integrated graphics. I made sure I was in Hybrid mode but it will only run on my 1070, which is a definite problem if battery life is the concern in the first place.

Anyone got any suggestions?
Thanks!

 

Did you follow the online guides for setting up Optimus/Bumblebee on Ubuntu?

 

No. This is my first time hearing of this. I will follow a guide and report back. thank you

 

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo... Couldn't get Linux set up due to my having little patience.
However, I did take off a bunch of start up programs until I found out what was killing my battery life in W10. Turns out it was Afterburner/RTSS running in the background. All good now. Back up to 4-5 hours of use (Youtube, Spotify, etc..)

Bit of an Update on Temps as well:
Since the Opolar the was attached to my GPU exhaust was only lowering my temps by like 2*C if that, I decided to move it to the back vent on CPU side I was talking about earlier. MAN, WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Like 10*C lower CPU temps. CPU barely hits 70*C in PUBG now! Really happy with the lappy.

 

Any kind of monitoring program pings the GPU so wakes it from optimus sleep and powers up the card each ping.

 

Makes sense. Thanks!

 

You can use the nvidia usage indicator if you notice something in future. Go to the nvidia driver panel, on the top bar select desktop and tick GPU usage notification. It will appear at the bottom right.

 

Mine PA70 has a 7700 HQ, CPU temp hovers around 90*C (max 99*C), GPU around 80*C (max 85*C) when playing Overwatch at ultra, no FPS cap. I use HWiNFO to monitor, and it marks CPU values red with thermal throttling (no throttling for the GPU).
I use the OPOLAR but no luck, everything stays the same. I do put the laptop on top of a cooling pad for better airflow. Also, I've already repasted with NT-H1.
Any suggestions? Did you undervolt yours?

 

Have you undervolted yet? That makes a huge difference

Sent from my SM-N950W using Tapatalk

 

Not yet, I want to test if the cooling solution is capable of keeping the temps down without any tweaking and everything default. What's your temp before undervolting?

 

Couldn't tell ya. Was like the first thing I did lol

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what's your undervolting value? I did -110mV and it freezed while playing Overwatch (sometimes when I tab in and out, sometimes when the game ended)

 

I believe my undervolt is -125 MV with my 7820hk. It's different for every CPU tho

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Not only will the ultimate value vary from chip to chip but the base value you are placing that offset on.

That's why I don't give out guides on what the best voltage is as it needs testing on each chip.

 

I know that there's a silicon lottery. Also I read somewhere else in this forum that Clevo bios already applied -100mV undervolt ?? So how do you know what the base value is?

 

On the desktop CPU series they apply that offset.

 

Can someone help me? I have the PA71HS-G, which uses the same service manual as the PA70HS-G http://s472165864.onlinehome.fr/anyware/manuels/PA70HS.pdf
And I am trying to install a SSD. I have removed the keyboard, the screw in the lower area below the keyboard, and all the screws on the back. But I am having trouble getting the back cover off. I am clear of the snaps, but it is sticking in the back middle area. Is there a special trick, or did I miss something?

 

Does it look like this in my post a while ago?

 

Yes, it looks just like that, and I am having the same problem. Not sure what the reversed screw means, but I did pull out the keyboard, and the screw in the lower right under the keyboard. What trick am I missing?