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

It can be a bit like the GPU sellers releasing more models when they don't have any stock.

 

Yes I know, I was talking about a possible 17" model that would be more like an X170 but with a Ryzen CPU.

 

So I installed the water cooling block and this laptop runs amazing cool. What's stupid is even in performance mode it idles around 110F and the fans still kick up thinking they are trying to cool it down. Kind of a dumb logic. Anyway, I have purchased the tip adapter that can use dell 240W and 330W psu both they too trip off when gaming and it pulls around 265-278Watts. They charge fine and power the laptop fine but I am not getting the full potential. Anyone no how to mode the Delta 330Watt power supply to put out it's full rating? I still think it's pathetic they shipped this with a 230Watt power supply and without undervolting and gpu downclocking you cannot game with it. Lot's of 280watt power supplies out there that MSI, I don't know why Clevo/Sager cannot adopt a higher wattage psu.

 

2 reviews popped out when i was watching YouTube thru my TV.
One from the East, from MechRevo

(official subtitle not available, hence Auto-Translation to English is absent)
another from the West, from XMG

(subtitle available. Computer users may make use of auto translation to switch to your preferred language)

Aesthetically, MechRevo have that chunky, thick Clevo vibe. While the XMG CORE17 looks slim and modest like European lady... ehem, i mean GentleMan, very TongFang.​

 

Clevo has a 280W power supply - two of them come with the X170.

 

The Core 17 is not the desktop AMD model but the BGA 5800H and it *is* a Tongfang chassis. See http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/tongfang-models-2021.835122/

 

@94sportsedan

The system will shutdown with any PSU capacity. The shutdown is the boards Amp (EC) limit 98A~ breached for more than 30s and not a supply issue (Set a limit like 95A in Ryzen Master and it'll stop shutting down).

The system isn't really designed to run chips like the 3950X outside the EcoMode. Sadly the same is true for the delayed successor...

P.S.: Don't kill the messenger.

 

That will be to save the power circuitry.

 

Yeah, sad they cheaped out on this.

 

Has anyone had sucess with 3700x or 3900 and 64gb memory? I found a few reports of issues and wasn’t sure about this.

Is there anywhere that sells a 3900 CPU? I can’t seem to find these outside of ridiculous scalper prices on eBay.

I have a 3950X now but need to upgrade my homelab (current x58 workstation is starting to become compatibility problem). Lack of funds means best option at the moment looks like stealing the 3950X from my laptop and dropping it into one of Asrock rack x470 boards.

Anyways, I’m trying to figure out the best way to shuffle parts around and open to suggestions. I’ve got probably <$500 to work with and the Asrock board is going to be something like 200-250.

 

Been using a 3950x with 2x32 GB (samsung m471a4g43ab1-cwe) memory with no issues (both on all 16 cores and with 1 CCD disabled for light usage). It clocks to 3600 CL22 fairly easily, and has some room for undervolting on the SOC. It's much easier on less cores - disabling 1 CCD lets me run at 0.9V on the SOC stably.

 

Hey,
would you mind sharing some more info on thermals while using the water cooling block? How does it perform under load?

If you are on Windows you can control the fans with the Obsidian Fan Control app.

 

It's not a p model, this was designed for a specific level.

 

Any chance you could share your undervolt settings? I have a 3950x as well and I'm having a terrible time in getting this thing stable. Between the internal keyboard issue, my display just cuts off randomly, and my power brick seems to be tripping. It's been a very frustrating experience as a first time Clevo owner.

 

Did you order it with that CPU?

 

Yeah through HiDevolution

 

I run mine at 3.6 GHz at 0.975V. I have the 1660ti variant so it runs on a 180w power brick which seems fine ATM. However Ram is clocked at 2666, looking to improve that, but I would have yet to see an increase in performance for music production (so looking either for less latency or better capacity to load more instruments)

 

3.5Ghz 0.975V (YMMV depending on the lottery)
3.1Ghz 0.875V
SOC 1.025V, VDDP 0.85V, VDDG 0.9V
CL22, 3600 MHz, Geardown enabled
(or SOC 1.0V (maybe 0.975 stable?), CL20 3200 MHz)

on 1 CCD (8 cores)
3.5 Ghz 0.9V (might be able to go lower, but I never really tried)
3.1Ghz 0.85V -> 0.775V (have to set twice in RM to reach 0.775V, jumping straight there causes BSOD)
2.7Ghz 0.85V -> 0.7V
SOC drops to 0.9V for CL22 3600MHz

 

Might want to have a word with them then. It's not officially supported by Clevo.

 

So, i just picked up a NH58AF1 and a pair of OlOy 32GB CL21 2933 sticks. anyone familiar with those and how they perform? the reviews were good on it, but none of them went into OC details.

 

Given the speed and latency they will be ok but nothing special. More about capacity than speed. So less faster ram would be a bit faster for things like games but if you need the extra ram you have little choice.

 

ya i do a lot of video editing so not much choice on the amount of ram needed. i'm hoping i can OC it a little, even if its only to 3100Mhz

 

That's a fair jump in speed for the higher capacity sticks.

 

Hello. I'm new here and I made an account specifically to address a problem some people in this thread seem to be experiencing. One of the first people to detail my problem was @Malkaven in reference to the keyboard freezing up or causing a hang.

Some people say it's an EC or Firmware related problem. I couldn't find an up to date or patched Firmware or BIOS from my retailer or any Clevo site. The best I could manage is the Chipset drivers from AMD which is dated **this year** dated 4th February 2021.

I've owned this laptop since January. So the chipset drivers from AMD are actually newer than what was installed on this computer. I can only hope it fixed my problem.

To further elaborate on my issue, I've played many games with this machine without any problems until **very recently** when I took up World of Warcraft Retail (Shadowlands) and experienced my first hard freeze. The keyboard remained illuminated and Obsidian PC Fan Control told me there was a system error. It stopped reading temperatures and the software hanged.

I couldn't do a reset via power button. I couldn't even do a proper shutdown. The mouse remained active and I could use the on-screen keyboard, but nothing else. I tried to do a shutdown and the screen went black, but the fans remained **full speed** and the keyboard was still illuminated. I unplugged the power cord and removed the battery to power off the machine. I know this isn't a good thing to do, but I couldn't shut it down any other way!

Has anyone further explored this issue and could possibly illuminate to me any of their methods of possibly fixing it? I haven't experienced another Freeze since installing the AMD Chipset Drivers from their site, but I don't know for sure whether the problem is **actually** fixed!

 

I run without the battery, but the symptoms you describe are identical to mine. I spent a good hour inspecting the windows event logs when I crashed but no smoking gun - although I have a few error messages regarding the EC. I'll try the AMD Chipset Drivers, thanks for the tip!

 

Are you both running Obsidian fan control?

 

Yes. It was recommended in this very thread by a user whose name I can't bother to look up at the moment, but it has worked very well for me. I purchased the license for the program and it has so many features. Many features I have no idea how to really use, but it has many profiles available. When gaming, I use the Extreme profile and when doing other work I simply switch it to EC Auto or Normal.

When I purchased this computer, my retailer offered the option of Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut thermal paste. I maxed out every option for this machine upon purchase with the exception of Ryzen 9 3900 processor that I left as default. I was torn between 3700x and the 3900. I decided upon the 3900 because I saw many great reviews of it.

I did as much research as I could prior to buying this machine, including reading this thread. I had hoped that because my purchase was in late December that any possible problems with Keyboard would've been fixed. I received my computer in January and I hadn't had any issues at all until very recently.

So I knew what to expect and what I was getting. I didn't like being blindsided by the Keyboard issue, but I was hoping there was a way to fix it. I have only experienced two freezes with the keyboard to date before updating the AMD Chipset and the only freezes I've experienced has been in Windows 10 which is completely up to date.

I have 3 drives in this computer. One for storage, one for Linux, and one for Windows 10 which I use exclusively for gaming. I have yet to experience any hangs or freezes in Linux. It initially led me to believe it was a purely software related issue with Windows. But reading through this thread has convinced me that it must be Firmware or something EC related -- which I've yet to find any solutions.

Reading this thread has also introduced me to other software that I use. Including: ZenStates, RyzenMaster, HWInfo64, and of course Obsidian PC Fan Control. I completely uninstalled the standard Clevo Control Center (no offense @Meaker@Sager) because while I do like the design I was merely following the advice of other users in this thread. What I do miss about the Clevo Control Center is the ability to FN+F1 to shut off my touchpad when I'm typing because sometimes my thumbs will rub over the mousepad. Windows, for some reason, doesn't quite do a good enough job with palm detection and will sometimes wind up clipping an entire sentence when I'm writing something thus forcing me to type it again.

On Linux I simply assign the F1 key to turn the mouse off and on without need of the FN key at all.

I've also learned that Fedora Linux does a fantastic job with all of the hardware. The fans are mostly silent and keep the temperatures under 80C by itself. Also, Linux seems to run the processor automatically at .9v @ 2200mhz and will automatically ramp up to 3100 as needed. I've seen no reason to adjust those settings because it's plenty for what I do on Linux anyway. Fedora has also done wonderfully with the Wireless and installing the NVIDIA drivers from the nvidia website was a breeze.

 

not sure if anyone brought this up but there is a 4K panel thats compatible with the NH58AF1. its the AUO30EB panel. i am thinking about picking it up.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4K-15-6-UH...UO30EB-3840X2160-40pin-NON-TOUCH/193098529473

 

I also had issues with sudden freezes with a totally different clevo model. I decided to uninstall Obsidian tools (which is eol now) and I haven't experienced any freezes since then. It might be a coincidence of course, but that was the only thing I could think of that might be messing with the EC.

 

I might consider giving up Obsidian PC Fan Control if it means stability and no more freezes. But from what @Malkaven described as his issue is the same as mine. I believe he runs Obsidian PC Fan Control as well and experienced freezes despite closing out the program.

If uninstalling works? I'm willing to try it. But then I would need to find some other way to control my fans to manage temperatures besides undervolting and downclocking.

 

If you only use the Extreme preset for gaming and EC auto for the rest you could as well use max fans and EC auto. It might be louder but the noise is also constant, which is often less distracting imho.

 

Yes, I use Obsidian PC Fan Control as well. I really like it and paired with @ MyHandsAreBurning undervolt settings I've been stable except for the keyboard issue. I uninstalled the Clevo fan control. Sorry it's just a mess. My fans were throttling like a jet engine and the PC was burning up. I can try testing without the Obsidian Fan Control but I'll need an alternative other than the Clevo fan control. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Abide, do you have an y issues using an external keyboard?

 

@Meaker@Sager do you know where i can pickup another battery for this beast and how much it would cost?

 

This is CCC 3.0 right? Can't you set an acceptable fan curve? There's also an experimental fan control WIP thread in the clevo general forum, but it's still early stages.

 

Use our sales link, they should give you a cost.

 

thanks @Meaker@Sager ill reach out to your sales team.

 

Hello I'm happy owner of barebone & 3950x.
This is how I modified it for better cooling:

the full story http://dmitrysamoylenko.com/2021/04/01/choose-right-tool.html

I'm also installed arch linux on it.

 

Just don't spill anything on it or have it in a moist environment lol.

 

i could picture the carnage right now. a cup of milk spills on the laptop and hits the fans which spreads it all over the inside of the laptop and surrounding desk.

 

I'm imaging more *slip* *splash* *sizzle* *dead*

 

I will totally need to take this into a consideration.

Is anybody having also THICC and managed to write more customizable BIOS? How did you do this?

 

@Malkaven No. But I don't own an external keyboard anyway. It's the whole reason I purchased this laptop besides the gaming performance.

I've ran the voltages as low as 4000mhz @ 1.15v. I manage the heat okay thanks to Obsidian PC Fan Control. But when I play WoW Retail, I close out of PC Fan Control and use FN+F1 to max fans. I run the game around the 70C range when I underclock to 3700 @ 1.1v. I'm afraid of going any lower than 1.1v.

 

im running the XMG bios, which is really nice.

 

Please where can I find the guide to install it?

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/XMG_gg/comments/ib9fve/new_bios_and_control_center_for_xmg_apex_15/

^that link has everything you need

 

if anyone is looking, Eluktronics has the battery for sale on their site for the NH5xAFx.

https://www.eluktronics.com/thicc-15-battery/

 

Does anyone know of a place where I can purchase replacement fans for the NH58AF1? I'm starting to hear a bit of odd noise from the CPU fan in particular, but having replacement fans might be a good idea.

Also, I have yet to have a Keyboard freeze situation since updating the AMD chipset drivers.

*knock on wood*

 

RJTech has them. Most resellers should be able to sell it as a spare part I think because it is a common thing to replace.

 

Or your own reseller at least.

 

If you cannot find by your reseller. you could check on the fan type and look for it online: you could find those especially with Chinese online vendors.
About the freezes: I had four different BIOSes and all gave me the same issue. This problem was present before installing the Obsidian PC fan control, and frankly I am not using it everyday and it had freezes even when Obsidian Tools was inactive. I will try to update the AMD chipset drivers, and I will let you know if it changes something or not.