*** XMG Apex 15 with Ryzen 3950X / Clevo NH58AF1 Owner's Lounge ***

I guess overall capacity if I had to choose one. I only mention the 2.5" because of that reason and I have a number of larger 2.5" SSDs that can be repurposed from my workstation and server.

As-is, the amount of possible storage is fine for the other given restraints of the laptop. I'm using a Samsung pm863 3.84tb dedicated to the VMs and misc work needs currently with programs and general stuff (documents, photos, games, etc) on the nvme boot drive. That said... if I had the ability to run 128gb of memory on this particular system, I would copy over clones of some of my heavier servers to have on the go - larger Windows 2016 / 2019 servers and some running DBs. In that scenario I would probably be bottlenecked on both storage and I/O with everything on one drive.

Anyway, I know I'm the edge case of an already small subset of users and "beggars can't be choosers" so to speak. What I'm searching for is more like a mobile server with a screen. Until the day comes when I glue a KVM console to the top of a 1U and call it a day, I suppose this is a reasonable substitute.

 

Initially... I would like to take out those 2.5" HDDs from my expired lappies(both XP DELL Inspiron 1501 and Win7 Fujitsu LH520), reformat those, and use it as secondary drive to my incoming order, the Lenovo Ryzen Legion 5. However, after some consideration that mechanical drives produces heat that may reach the level of CPU temperature and more power consuming, i opted dual NVME SSD configuration to the incoming gear. Well... to recycle those 2 2.5" HDDs, i guess i'll have to get somekind of enclosure that supports USB-C connections...

 

I feel like you are not alone. I'm sure there is an untapped market for people wanting essentially a scaled down server that is "mostly portable" with a decent screen. It's not a big enough market for any of the big brands to make dedicated products but I feel like it's enough to push Clevo into adopting minor tweaks for their already niche products.

A 17" version of this laptop with more cooling, 4 sodimm slots, and a second drive bay or a third NVME should be able to grab a following.

I would buy it to use for my video editing. 64gb is enough RAM for me right now but more drives are ALWAYS appreciated.

 

The most awesome thing about the 3800X is it`s binning. It can run higher frequency at lower voltages than all other ryzen 3000-series.

https://i.redd.it/rcj824srl9e31.jpg

Up to 4.3GHz there is very little voltage increase required to improve clocks. Have you tried playing with Ryzen master and testing fixed voltage vs frequency?

 

Yeah, in laptops due the Apple move. Thinner chassis design means the batteries must be in bigger footprint. Not much space for normal sized MB anymore. We see it also in the move to Apple designed heatsink form factor (unified heatsink with less screws). The small MB haven’t the space for proper 8 screws attachment. Same with the move to 2 ram slots. Next will be soldered ram. And we already have soldered WiFi. Of course it’s not space for 2.5 slots in notebooks anymore. Not that they are dying now. The move to thin notebook design killed the 2.5” options for notebooks!

 

Recently came across a review where there's a laptop comes with a 2.5" slot for storage where if the empty slot is not used for 2.5" HDD/SSD drive, that area can accommodate 2 M.2 storage drives... Hmmm... i just couldn't recall what's that model again...

 

That Reddit mentioned memory compatibility being detailed in an FAQ somewhere....but I cannot for the life of me find that FAQ. Can someone point me specifically to a memory compatibility list? I think I may have to return what I ordered yesterday.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/XMG_gg/comments/fsbsr0/megathread_xmg_apex_15_with_amd_ryzen_desktop_cpu/

 

Wanting 2.5" bays is like wanting an optical drive, it's a total waste of space that can be used for something else.

 

Depends. Without use of the 2.5” bay you get the bigger rated capacity battery in Alienware’s etc. But nothing more. Only less storage.

 

A compromised design that has the capability wont have much flexibility with the space no, either you can have a more portable design or you can have extra cooling.

 

All I have seen is thinner design with less useful features. Only thinner all over. Thinner doesn’t always mean better portability. Again check Alienware. Bigger footprint vs before. You need bigger bag as well. Outside format.

 

Bringing socketed GPU and CPU to a thinner chassis with broader appeal is not a bad thing.

 

I agree in that More people should see the advantages of socketed GPU and CPU.

But thicker chassis would mean better cooling and more features. Sad people can’t see that.

 

People can see it but they might not need it or portability might be more important to them.

 

I added 0.5mm copper shims ( custom size ) to both GPU and CPU and temperatures are so much better.

Still stupid hot but way below thermal cut off now

 

Do you use liquid metal or paste?

 

Wait, how does that work? Is it basically just a way to increase mounting pressures?

 

Reduce any gaps and even out pressure as much as increasing it.

Adjusting thermal pads to the nearest 0.5mm can have similar impact.

 

Wow, with this idea in mind, I found a similar improvement using a different implementation.

I've been running on an IC Graphite thermal pad for the last month, with my original hope that it would work better than the paste my supplier applied. It actually ended up being a bit worse... until I doubled up the pad tonight. Wow, that extra thickness / mounting pressure really transformed my temps tonight. My GPU is running a full 10 degrees cooler (!!) than it was in the same game last night - it hasn't exceeded 75C despite being at 100% usage. And the CPU is much less jumpy - heating up slower and dissipating heat faster than before. Previously, if my vcore ever went above 1.1v I was always getting spikes and high temps, even in single core scenarios. That isn't happening anymore, so I can push my voltages/clocks more. Really great results for my system.

Also, I'm finding that the automatic EC fan control in the updated XMG EC bios is better than anything I can do with the Obsidian PC Fan Control. It ramps much more smoothly and reacts over a rolling average, but the best part is that it doesn't blow to full capacity and still somehow enables me to get similar performance as max fans during all core. Anyone else impressed by the XMG EC?

 

We have another user of the Clevo NH5#A variants manage to tone down the heat to 60~70 degree celcius range... By which seems the utilization of 2 softwares, one for CPU another for GPU... without repaste of the thermals.

 

It is with ryzen 9 3900. But still I believe it'll do the job done.
The bios is a bit of an issue since I don't have OC capabilities. I'll talk with the reseller if he can provide me with a different bios. (amd ryzen master is mostly for testing your OC profiles until you hit the sweet spot of thermals - performance - system stability, then change your bios to your preferences).

 

Does anyone know if a keyboard cover that fits is available for this model?

 

I'm not really familiar with MSI afterburner how would I replicate these settings?

 

Like my fiancée. She uses her computer constantly for work and play but she doesn't play games or do anything else taxing to the system. We got her a super slim mainstream laptop from a big company and the battery lasts her 8-9 hours with tweaks....

But she's never going to be the market for Clevo/Sager. I believe trying to compete with the slim and fashionable market for laptops is a mistake for smaller companies. Power users and hardcore gamers want the best performance and typically don't mind an extra half inch of thickness. Holding my new NH58 barebones.... It's a little chunky but I wouldn't mind it being slightly bigger if it had better cooling and an extra drive option (nvme, please...2.5 is over).

 

Well... one thing that i can say about most female laptop computing users... it may sound sexist, but frankly, most of them are not HardWare enthusiasts and they would prefer portable. aesthetically comfortable, and usable products.
Clevo N141 have it's better chance if there's a refresh design with Ryzen heart today. However, TongFang made that jump thru MechRevo Code01 and Schenker(XMG) VIA15Pro...

 

Eh, my ex-wife was a hardcore gamer and went for big specs and didn't much care for the look, so it's hard to generalize. People just have different priorities. If I didn't edit video then I would have the same laptop I picked for Rachel. It's slim and sexy and solid and I do enjoy using her touchscreen. Once you start using it, you miss it when it's not there.
It's a huge market and it makes sense every manufacturer wants a little piece of that huge pie, but I think it makes more sense to go for a huge slice of the smaller pie that is power enthusiasts.

 

I hv not use it myself as my order of a Lenovo Legion 5 with GTX1650+4600H is yet to arrive. As according to AfterBurner download page, the software works with different builds from different OEM makers.

That certainly got my interest and makes me would like to try that!

 

It's a balance, certainly.

 

Has anyone tried to directly contact Insyde (the company who made the UEFI for Clevo) and get a license for their BIOS editing tools, there's a lot of dev tools they have that would solve the issues of this "locked down" BIOS

 

Usually not that cheap to do.

Anyone thinking of testing something like the 3600XT? Looks like that chip could really do quite well.

 

Did anyone figure out how to undervolt the CPU without setting it at a fixed clocked speed?
Currently I'm using Zenstates.

I use auto settings so that the cpu doesn't always run at 3.8ghz but still do not have the option to manually undervolt it.




I managed to undervolt the CPU at manual mode 1.038v @3,9ghz. So i know that working at auto mode with 3.8ghz and 1.150v is higher than it could be.

It is still undervolted since the stock settings threw a 1,450v on the CPU @4,3ghz, but still I'd like to have higher clocks(than 3,8 and 3,9) but not fixed and still be undervolted.

Help anyone?

 

So the 2 main problems with this laptop are locked Bios and Rushed heat sink design. One can be easily fixed. Give the unlocked Bios.

 

Pads will always be worse than a good paste job.

 

Prior to the NH58AF1, I had owned four Clevos over 15 years.

The new format is great, love the new keyboard and the lighter and thinner chassis. Super fast, am able to push software a whole lot further than the 8700k I was on before.

Only thing I don't like is the fan noise. It just doesn't stop, even at idle, and it isn't quiet. So loud that I have to shut it off when I am on Teams meetings for work. Get any CPU going and it is even worse. Feel bad for my girlfriend since she has to hear it while I work on my art in bed.

Tried to do the undervolting with Ryzen Master as described in a post on the previous page and everything went blank so gave that up. Was just happy the thing restarted.

This is with the super duper thermal treatment from HID too. I'm going to be paying attention here, looking for solutions. I'm going to be spending at least a couple years with this machine and the fan noise is going to dry me mad.

 

If it's noise on the microphone RTX voice would filter it out.

 

Strangely n Surprisingly... I saw lots of comments relating the NH5# build to chubby ladies that's too heavy to lug along daily, and a little hedious too hot to handle because of the hot air it dispels. Are u sure u're on the right model?

 

No, it's fan noise. The noise the fans make to keep cpu and gpu from overheating.

Whoever said all that must have not have had Clevos before. I just measured, it's over a pound lighter and 1/4" thinner than the P775TM1-G I was using before, which may not sound like much but it does make a difference. And it is cooler to the touch. But damn, the fan noise! I still can't believe they can improve so much and not get that right. I've had Clevos get this loud but usually if I hadn't cleaned it out for a bit of time. Clean it out, goes back to being quiet. This machine STARTED there.

In the Ryzentosh thread you started, what is this registry hack you mention?

 

The registry hack so far is effective in Windows OS. That's why I make that thread asking for encounters and solutions from those who had alternative OS installation...

 

Unfortunately, you're running into the limits of the current software solutions that we're forced to use because there are no BIOS options. There's no way on the current ZenStates to have a dynamic auto-boost based on a desired voltage. Either you set it to auto with a ceiling for boosting, with voltage chosen automatically, or you set the voltage and the ceiling manually, which risks going beyond PPT and temp limits if you set it too high.

I think that ZenStates is our best set-it-and-forget-it solution right now, except when it forgets to re-initialize itself after waking from sleep. Thankfully the dev for ZenStates is working on a version 2.0, but it isn't released yet.

Have you uninstalled the Clevo Control Software yet? I don't suggest using Ryzen Master, because you have to manually set it after every reboot. Try using ZenStates here. On the "Auto" page, if you set "Max Boost All Cores" to 35x, you should not have any problems with idle noise. If you do, make sure you check your core parking settings using ParkControl.

I do a lot of Teams, and I have a nice and quiet system during all my meetings!

 

Is there a consensus on what the "best" UEFI version is to be using right now? Is it XMGs version? That has to be specifically requested?

 

I'm on Windows. I'm asking what is this Windows registry hack? Do you have a link? Multiples searches have turned up nothing.

I was using Ryzen Master to duplicate the results from the other poster who had used it successfully to undervolt. But I will look at ZenStates and report back, thanks!

Edit: Bitdefender does not like it

 

Go to Own and Disown channel in YouTube, watch the step by step guide on finding the registry to do the hack. Bob Of All Trades review on the Zephyrus G14 also mentioned this hack, but his pace can be too fast to catch up...

 

Thank you! That has actually helped, a lot. The machine is at a relatively normal ambient sound level. What a relief. Thanks again!

 

Ouch! I just realize that i had forgotten to add in that specific review model which OoD reviewed on that gives that step by step guide...
It's the review of the DELL G5SE which u're supposedly to look out for!

 

I went by the other one but since then, the machine has frozen up three times so I'm rolling back to the state I was at. Going to check out that other vid, see if it is any different.

 

RTX voice will filter fan noise coming down the microphone. If that's drowning out the voices then yes that's getting noisy.

 

I'm sorry, I'm not really understanding. What does the microphone have to do with it? What voices? I'm sorry, I'm confused.

Another thing about this machine: It is using the very basic Insyder bios which only shows two ports for the hard drives: One is for the SSD and the other is for the two NVMEs. When I first tried to set this machineup , I pulled two NVMEs from my previous machine that are both the exact same make, model and size. It took me quite awhile to figure out that the reason I could not get the machine to boot was because both NVMEs were connected. Now if I took out the non-boot nvme and replaced it with a different make and model, no problem. But the moment I put the exact make, model and size NVME back in, couldn't boot. My theory is that it is because there is only one port for the NVMEs in the bios, and thus, when it goes to boot, it is looking for a particular NVME based on Make, Model and Size and then when it sees both, it does not know what to do. I don't know, just a theory.

 

Does anyone have a line on where I can buy compatible (Samsung chip) SODIMMs in 32gb perfper stick this model? I bought 2x32 Crucial 3200 CL22 and it didn't work. It boots but it crashes with any kind of stress at all.
Oddly, it seemed stable with one stick, just not both.

I may have to give up and settle for 2*16

 

If u had explored other resellers webpage, u'll notice that not all of them offer 3200mhz RAMs as default in base configuration. Some are base configuration comes with 2666mhz RAMs, which seems to be working well with the 3k series desktop CPUs.
So, if u have 2666mhz RAMs lying around, u may try to see if it works with ur system.
Should 2666mhz RAM works, then it's up to u to whether get a new pair of RAMs.