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

Im now using a 330W power adapter which I mod with the original cable, this has allow me to get up to 9100 in Cinebench R20. I can see the power brick to deliver up to 300W.

Only have one problem: if the computer is off and I turn it on when the 330W power brick connected, the power brick gets off...
Only on boot and all the times, I have to turn it on and then connect the adapter, it works outstanding...

Do you know what the problem can be?

Note:
I did an good job with soldering, so this is not the problem.

Thanks!

 

You are using 3950x?

 

Sounds like an inrush safety system? Could be the motherboard turning off the input?

 

Yes

 

Yes, looks like the Motherboard is turning off the input at post, only with 330W Power Supply...

 

It could be high current shutdown protection.

 

I found very useful CTR 1.1 Beta7 (not the 2.0), I have created two profiles:

1.- 2200Mhz for all CCX at 0.638V
2.- 3925Mhz CCX1, 3900 CCX2,3 and 4 at 1.113V

The first one as startup, and the second one when gaming or working on high demanding processor applications I switch to the second profile.


By default CTR does not allow you to go below 3000Mhz, so you have to open the config file and setup it manually.

I consider this very useful because you can have this as autostart and you can change from profile 1 to profile 2 in 2 clicks.

BTW:
I can see the Apex 15 is consuming 230 Watts running Cinebench and reaching and average of 9100.
I have tested the profiles manually on RM before using this tool.

 

It may be, honestly, I do not know how to address this problem, or how to diagnose it.

Thanks for your reply!

 

What profile are you running at start? Just stock?

 

Yes, but when it load the CTR it switch to the low voltage profile.

 

What processors are compatible with this motherboard?

I see it sold commonly with ryzen 5 3600, ryzen 7 3700x, and ryzen 9 3900.

Are all ryzen 5, 7, and 9s compatible as long as the tdp is 65w?

 

anything from the 3600 to 3950 is fine, although I would only recommend the 3950X if you have special needs/want the bragging rights.

 

The 3600 is good bang for the buck while still offering decent content creation performance.

 

I just mod the back cover, by replacing the ugly plastic with a grill, from an old toshiba laptop one...
What do you think?

By the way It is now giving me two to three degrees less, about the noise I dont have a metter, but I feel less noise by having this grill.

 

Kudos for the bravery; I wouldn't dare gamble with my warranty like that.

 

I already flash it with XMG BIOS and EC, so I dont have it anymore...

 

it can reduce the airflow around the VRM area

 

Im sorry but this does not make sense, the more airflow throught the heatsink reduce the thermal stress from the electronic components by removing the heat that is carried by the heatpipes.
The VRMs are down the Heatsink...

 

It's more just airflow through the chassis so any exposed devices on the motherboard will be warmer.

 

Meaker has Clevo said anything about a bios update for the 5k series processors for this laptop?

 

Nothing has changed from my previous post on that so far.

 

I also have a recent Clevo laptop with Linux, mine has the Ryzen 9 3900 inside. It also runs silent with EC fan setup. On the bright side idle CPU usage is less than 5%, but I came from Win10 as well and even after buying the Obsidian FanControl software (which is excellent, but did cost me $30) my laptop was either too noisy or too hot. I was ok with the EC fan, after all I could hear the fans come on from time to time. Even when they did kick in it was relatively quiet. What changed my mind was checking CPU temps through the terminal emulator and finding it at 70C. The EC might be ok with that, but I prefer a little more fan noise and cooler temps.

I hate Windows, and I graduated from my bachelor's degree program in December and am no longer required to use Windows. What I am doing for the moment is the FN + 1 shortcut to run fans at max manually, then when things cool down using the key combo to switch back to EC. This is not ideal, but I have yet to find a better solution that works for me.

I even installed Wine, then through Wine installed the Obsidian fancontrol package and ran it. The software starts up that way but doesn't get any readings from the motherboard and so is useless. I plan to contact Obsidian and see if they know of a workaround. I doubt they do, but if so I will share it here. I tried the git package for nbfc, but can't get it running correctly yet either. I used that package in Windows before getting frustrated and buying the Obsidian software, and while it isn't as good as the paid option I felt it would be better than manually managing temps.

All that said, it's a lot of work to learn how things work and get it all setup and controlled. My area is Information Systems, not Computer Science, and while I can program in some narrow and specific areas managing fan speeds for CPU temps wasn't a part of my education. My Insyde H2O BIOS doesn't have anywhere to set CPU temperature fan speeds, either. It seems like it would be fairly easy to do, I can see temps using the CLI in Linux, why couldn't those readings be connected to fan control? Unfortunately, it's a little beyond my ability to write my own code for this.

Manually managing fan speed to keep temps reasonable is still better than running Windows, but a better solution is definitely needed.

 

Would you mind sharing your settings?

I found a table of overclocking values somewhere with Linux hex values but it only went down to 1.3V or so, I guess not enough people are interested in undervolting for a table to be created. In Windows I was setting 1.0375V and clock speed 3800GHz. I didn't see any real world difference in performance and temps went down 10 to 15 degrees C. I've installed ArcolinuxD and my terminal shows a Ryzen 9 3900 (24) @ 3.1GHz, which seems kind of strange to have the processor right and wrong all in one. Maybe I'm wrong and it's set to run at 3.1, but if so it's strange that it also runs at idle around 70C with a load of 2 - 5%.

I think I can extrapolate the needed hex values and set it using ZenStates (thanks for sharing that, I had forgotten and hadn't yet installed it) but having some working numbers to compare with would help me setting this up a great deal, I believe.

 

The first time I played a game on my NH58AC the power supply got too hot to touch and smelled like an electrical fire after about an hour playing Skyrim I think (not too demanding really, with a processor like this along with the 1660Ti.) I immediately searched for a higher watt replacement and got a 19.5V 12.3A power supply made for some other gaming laptop, a Dell or ROG machine or I forgot to be honest. Anyway that's 239.85W and works way better for me. I don't remember the original power supply numbers but I do know I stayed within 10% of the original voltage when I chose the replacement. I've been using the laptop for around 6 months now without another near catastrophe like the original unit caused. If I had it to do over again today I would try to find a unit with 280W or more with 19.5V output or closer to the original. Once in that time I was gaming all day and the power supply shut itself down, this time the game crashed to windows (something a little more needy than Skyrim I guess) when it switched to battery power. The power supply was pretty hot, but not crazy smoking hot like the OEM was.

If you do go this route, you probably will need a good quality adapter as the supply made for another laptop is almost certainly going to be equipped with a different connector.

 

I tried a search here and then went back to page 100 to find your mention of the lack of a 5000 series CPU at 65W. I just checked AMD's website and see several options at 65W now. Of interest in the 5900 at 65W with 12 cores, and they also offer an 8 core or 6 core option at 65W. I'm guessing that one of those would work. Personally, the 3900 in my laptop is serious overkill now that I use Linux almost exclusively, I feel like this processor will handle Linux on my laptop with 4TB SSD storage and 48GB RAM upgradeable to 64 for 5 or 10 more years without a hiccup if everything else survives (display, etc.) Maybe one day I would consider upgrading the processor, but most likely other components will be out of date first and force me to buy a new laptop instead.

 

I used a fork of the original: https://github.com/irusanov/ZenStates-Linux
which comes with a UI and is alive, unlike the original. It is still in python, so appears fairly easy to modify or to reverse it to see what it does.

You probably just want these two, although I never tried them without the GUI

--oc-frequency Set Overclock frequency (in MHz)
--oc-vid Set Overclock VID (in hex)

A quick look at the source code https://github.com/irusanov/ZenStates-Linux/blob/master/zenstates.py gives you the conversion function for hex to volts

def vidToVolts(vid):
return 1.55 - vid * 0.00625
def voltsToVid(volts):
return (1.55 - volts) / 0.00625

For fan control, the tuxedo control center works but you will have to build it yourself, from what I remember. It lets you choose fan and performance (useless if you are using ZenStates, which you should) profiles.

Assuming fan profile doesnt persist on boot you will want to setup tuxedo to run on boot followed by ZenStates

 

Hi there !
Really interested in your feedback here, thanks.
I have a 3900x inside my NH55ACQ, and currently set to 3.7Ghz with 1.075 manual OC. Temps are around 55. I don't want to harm my computer, but I would like to squeeze out more clock speed. How would you proceed ? Would it be possible to raise the frequency up to 4Ghz ? What voltage would you try ?
Thanks !

 

I bought a notepal U3 plus on the cheap (23 USD due to damaged box) and threw away the fans that came with it. Initially bought two Noctua 1300 redux (30 USD after adding a USB to 12V fan splitter cable) then traded the fans for two Noctua NF-F12 5Vs, which are slightly louder but give a much higher static pressure

The two fans attach to a USB hub which then plugs into the USB 2.0 port. With CPU/GPU fans pegged at 60/100 respectively, the laptop now runs basically noiselessly with slight humming from the Noctuas

For regular use, I undervolted to 3.1Ghz/0.875V; at idle, it runs 15-16C over ambient and roughly 20C-25C on light use (web browsing, spotify, youtube, etc.) . It's still powerful enough to support light gaming e.g. Shadow of War at medium settings, during which my temps do not exceed 35C over ambient.

 

That's my plan here soon! my ole raisin box is beat up lol but it's been a trooper

 

I am amazed at just how bad the fans on notebook coolers can be from the factory. I do wonder where they find them.

 

Picked my thicc 15 up a week ago, need something a little lighter. Don't know how it works here but mine is for sale. If anybody has a suggestion for a replacement help me out!

 

What are you looking for, GPU or CPU? If you're looking for GPU, I recommend the Mech-15 G3, it has the best 3080 I could find and is still pretty thin and light. If it's CPU, then I would recommend anything with a 5900HX. If you wait a few months though, the Mech-15 G3 will have a 5900HX as well (for an even higher price though).

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

 

There is a members market.

 

Oof, I wish I had seen this earlier - I spent quite a while months ago trying to push my all-core clock past 4Ghz and despite temps below 90, kept running into hard shutdowns on C20.

 

One of the hazards of purchasing laptops is that you can't get too excited about specs. Results are what matter, not effort or optics. You can acknowledge effort, but you should only reward results. The greatest specs known to man are worthless when a system has secretly had a vasectomy. Shooting blanks creates a lot of noise and some find it intimidating because of the noise. Some enjoy the noise so much they don't even notice that there are no bullets leaving the barrel.

 

I got this for a 'portable' multicore muscle beast, and (thanks to the undervolting capabilities of AMD desktop processors) it nearly delivers on that promise. Its certainly the most powerful at the job, but the system was clearly designed for the 65W processors, and it shows once you cram the 3950X or even the 3900X into it.

Still, I wouldn't quite call the 95A limit a 'vasectomy' - being able to run all core 4GHz (or sustain 3.9Ghz for long compile tasks) without liquid metal or nitrogen is still quite the feat in a 'laptop' form, and I had expected a lot less when I purchased it.

The biggest castration of this laptop is the locked BIOS, which forces us to use software solutions like ZenStates and Ryzen Master to even do a simple undervolt. These were just enough to keep me from returning the machine, but still, pretty ridiculous to have a baby BIOS (with actually stupid settings like a default 1.4V when 1.1 is plenty to reach 3.9Ghz, leading to the fans bouncing up and down on stock) in a machine built for tinkerers.

 

Yeah, but that is castrated by definition. I've been running laptops with CPUs that pull more than 200W when overclocked for years now. 4.0GHz was impressive maybe back in 2008 or 2010. There is no excuse for this being so badly limited unless Clevo half-assed the motherboard and now they have to do that to keep it from catching on fire. That kind of stupid crap is a totally a Dell move on Clevo's part and they should be ashamed of themselves for doing it.

 

Much truth to this statement. Case in point, I still use my ancient HP 8770w daily. It is such a good experience to use, a testament to meticulous overengineering of most of the components. By comparison, my NH58AF1 is so much faster in raw numbers, but manages to feel significantly less "premium" than the near decade-old 8770w.

It was designed as a 15" notebook that inherently has compromises between muscle and form-factor. That's fine, I accepted all these compromises (though I would have preferred a 17" system with better cooling, higher power limits, and an mxm gpu). The item that is difficult to accept, and the true castration of this system, was giving us only a limited BIOS. Owners should never have been required to use something akin to zenstates just to make their laptop fully functional.

 

It's a cost balance on a non p system. This was testing the waters. It's like expecting a main stream motherboard to clock as well under extreme conditions as the top end boards.

 

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the correct place to ask (but I did verify that the model I wanted to is this particular model which was dubbed "Ares V", and the retailer was Illegear, in Malaysia).
I asked a question about if they were going to restock this model, and the answer that I got was somewhat surprising. So basically they said along the lines of

1) this model will be updated with 5000 series CPU (no mention how much load it'll allow, I think current generation is locked to 65w?)
2) will come with a new motherboard socket [I have no idea what that even mean])
3) should be sometime in Q2 this year

Has anyone heard of any refresh for this model? If it is, I am tempted to wait for the refresh.

If this is the wrong place, please tell me so that I will post it somewhere else.

 

I was able to go from 3200 MHz 20-20-20-20-40 to 3600 MHz 22-22-22-22-52 while keeping the SOC voltage at 1.0 on the 32gbx2 sticks, although not sure if its actually an improvement

 

For your infinity clock it will make a difference.

 

AfterShock Singapore, as well as Level51 Malaysia should be preparing a replacement model to take over the position of the NH5#@@ Clevo/Sager build for the 5000series CPUs and 30## Nvidia GPUs. However, to date, we have yet to see any prototypes leaked in the net yet...

 

the latest review on the Intel variant
with RTX3K series GPU

...the updated Ryzen5K coming soon may look to be the same if there isn't any changes to key Innards.​

 

XMG staff posted an update on Reddit early this week saying that release date for the new version is being pushed back to summer due to component shortages. He also said their contacts have not given any updates regarding Zen 3 bios update for the existing systems.

 

The component pinches are impacting every industry.

 

So much for a socketed Ryzen with an MXM module and a 17+" screen - that will have to wait...

 

w...what? there's a bigger screen version in plan?

 

It was said that this model was a test case for Clevo and if sales went well bigger and better things could follow meaning both a combination with mxm modules and a bigger screen would have been an option.
Not sure how well sales really went but obviously with Clevo having a hard time to scrape together the parts for this one it would not seem likely we will see anything more substantial with a Ryzen desktop processor anytime soon.

 

It sounds like there is a delay rather than a cancellation. I think the zen 3 model is already designed and they just don’t have the components to produce them yet.