Lenovo Legion 2023 discussion

[Talon]

1 hour ago, jlp0209 said:

I found the github page and set up the USB drive (FAT format) and disabled secure boot. I keep getting boot failure errors and can't boot into it. The "instructions" if you can call it that, are extremely unclear in my mind. I created the cfg file as well. 

 

There are some really nice prices / discounts now, I think I priced a 4090 config on Lenovo's site for $2750 before tax. I am tempted to go into Microcenter to see if they'll price match, but since coupon codes are added on Lenovo's site I don't think they will match. Oh well, not returning it regardless. Nice score for those who are getting this price. 

 

Did you download the right year version? Did you follow the Github instructions? 

 

You have to right click on the "Raw" area on github and click "save link as" and name it how it says in the instructions. Otherwise it won't boot the file. It took me awhile to figure this out as well, super annoying. 

 

The instructions aren't clear for a reason. They don't want people easily bricking their laptops. 

 

Also I tested 3000%+ coverage, over an hour of 6000 CL36 stable. Been having absolutely no errors or issues. Rock solid. Pretty good uplift over stock 5600 CL46. We paid for HX CPUs with unlock multis and memory OC. May as well use out laptops to full performance. 

[jlp0209]

55 minutes ago, Talon said:

 

Did you download the right year version? Did you follow the Github instructions? 

 

You have to right click on the "Raw" area on github and click "save link as" and name it how it says in the instructions. Otherwise it won't boot the file. It took me awhile to figure this out as well, super annoying. 

 

The instructions aren't clear for a reason. They don't want people easily bricking their laptops. 

 

Also I tested 3000%+ coverage, over an hour of 6000 CL36 stable. Been having absolutely no errors or issues. Rock solid. Pretty good uplift over stock 5600 CL46. We paid for HX CPUs with unlock multis and memory OC. May as well use out laptops to full performance. 

Yes, got it to work finally. I can see all of the advanced options but don't want to brick the laptop, so I am leaving as-is for now. 

[KING19]

Looks like the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro also been downgraded worse than the 7

 

 

The RTX 4070 is still a disappointment for the price..

[saturnotaku]

Lots of complaints about models equipped with the 4090 that are either less common or don't exist at all on those with the 4080.

 

 

[jlp0209]

On 4/26/2023 at 8:11 AM, saturnotaku said:

Lots of complaints about models equipped with the 4090 that are either less common or don't exist at all on those with the 4080.

 

 

It is strange. I'd been messaging privately with this person running various tests. I also get frametime spikes in Doom that didn't happen before and don't happen on the 4080 model. It is related to Advanced Optimus just like the screen flicker likely is. In Hybrid mode there are no frametime spikes nor is it as bad when using discrete GPU mode in BIOS. I'm curious whether the spikes are due to the Killer wireless card vs. Intel AX211, that's the only thing I haven't been able to test yet and will get to that later today finally. Unlikely, but never know. Years ago the Killer software suite caused terrible stuttering which was eliminated by switching to Intel. The fan noise is not common, the heatsinks are the same on 4080 and it's just the usual parts lottery from Lenovo. The WiFi card isn't a big deal to me, it's a $15 purchase on eBay for the Intel card. 

 

There is wild variance with paste job / CPU temps. My original model sustained 4.5ghz on the CPU during a 10 min CB run and didn't exceed 90 degrees. I should've just kept it. The last one I had thermal throttling even with undervolt and couldn't break 30,000. There was a 13 degree temp difference between cores. 

 

My new one from Lenovo direct arrives today. Based on the parts list for my serial it shipped with the Intel AX211 card. Assuming everything else checks out aside from poor CPU, I'll likely keep it and repaste myself rather than return it again. 

[saturnotaku]

You can install the Intel driver suite on a Killer card and it should show up in device manager as an AX211.

[jlp0209]

16 hours ago, saturnotaku said:

You can install the Intel driver suite on a Killer card and it should show up in device manager as an AX211.

 

Here's a screen shot of the one I am sending back to Lenovo. This is with an undervolt only 30 seconds into Cinebench. Mind you, simply opening Cinebench caused thermal throttle on the CPU. The fans would max when setting up or updating Windows so I knew something was very off from the beginning.

 

 

I decided to buy another one at Microcenter since it's down  to $2799 now and I kind of need a functioning laptop. Thankfully it's perfect re: screen, fans, build. Thermals are amazing as they were in my original system that I posted about here awhile back. So much variance in heatsink / LM application, it's ridiculous.

 

I'm scoring 19,500 for CPU score in TimeSpy because I am able to increase ICC max with my undervolt to get more CPU performance. With a -125mv UV on the core and -100 UV on cache and e-cores, I got 33,360 on Cinebench 10 minute run and no throttle. 

 

This is what the laptop should perform like and what I expect. Anyone reading this who gets results like the POS in my screenshot, return it and demand better. 

 

[saturnotaku]

On 4/28/2023 at 9:12 AM, jlp0209 said:

 

This is what the laptop should perform like and what I expect. Anyone reading this who gets results like the POS in my screenshot, return it and demand better. 

 

 

I've been meaning to find out if you ended up achieving a resolution to your issue with the SlimQ 330W charger.

 

[jlp0209]

1 hour ago, saturnotaku said:

 

I've been meaning to find out if you ended up achieving a resolution to your issue with the SlimQ 330W charger.

 

 

Not yet, they have not responded further and I'm not supporting them anymore. They may have ignored my latest email to them because I was quite annoyed about the issue with the 330w charger having a loose connection. *(Edit) There's a defect (which they admit) with the gold prongs on the charger that connects power to the laptop. The prongs are too small. Their solution is to stick a pen tip into them to spread them out. I told them as a user I shouldn't need to stick a pen tip into the prongs to spread them out a bit every few days so that it sticks. They need to fix it and send replacements to everyone who experiences it. They told me that the pen tip is the solution and that was it. That's a crock of BS and a terrible response to the issue. 

 

 

I've been using the "slim" official 300w charger I got on sale at Microcenter which is fine for my office and travel. 

 

Speaking of Microcenter, the Pro 7i with 4080 is now $2299. They have some great discounts running at the moment, the 4090 is still at $2799 but sold out. 

 

@win32asmguy- added a photo + better explanation of this issue. 

[saturnotaku]

49 minutes ago, jlp0209 said:

 

Not yet, they have not responded further and I'm not supporting them anymore. They may have ignored my latest email to them because I was quite annoyed about the issue with the 330w charger having a loose connection. *(Edit) There's a defect (which they admit) with the gold prongs on the charger that connects power to the laptop. The prongs are too small. Their solution is to stick a pen tip into them to spread them out. I told them as a user I shouldn't need to stick a pen tip into the prongs to spread them out a bit every few days so that it sticks. They need to fix it and send replacements to everyone who experiences it. They told me that the pen tip is the solution and that was it. That's a crock of BS and a terrible response to the issue.

 

That is a crock. They'll never see another dime from me, nor will I recommend their products to anyone on /r/GamingLaptops who asks.

 

 

49 minutes ago, jlp0209 said:

I've been using the "slim" official 300w charger I got on sale at Microcenter which is fine for my office and travel.

 

Is that the same charger that came with 2021-2022 Legions? I'm using that one in my gaming nook and will be selling my old L5 with the slim 230W charger.

 

 

49 minutes ago, jlp0209 said:

 

Speaking of Microcenter, the Pro 7i with 4080 is now $2299.

 

[jlp0209]

1 hour ago, saturnotaku said:

 

That is a crock. They'll never see another dime from me, nor will I recommend their products to anyone on /r/GamingLaptops who asks.

 

 

 

Is that the same charger that came with 2021-2022 Legions? I'm using that one in my gaming nook and will be selling my old L5 with the slim 230W charger.

 

 

 

 

Yes it should be the same that came with the 2021-2021 Legions, I think. I checked the part number on Lenovo's site for compatibility, etc., it looks like the same one. 

 

Here's their 2nd reply to my email about the loose prongs in the charger, not exaggerating. They had better hope some kid or other unaware user trying the fix doesn't electrocute themselves. 

 

 

	Mon, Mar 20, 9:32 AM
to SlimQ

 

Hi,

I've tried to widen the circular prongs by using the pen several times, it always seems to revert back after awhile. I shouldn't need to do this repetitively on a power supply. 

 

 

 

SlimQ Support <info@slimq.life>	Thu, Mar 23, 12:32 AM
to me

 

Hi,

For now, that's the only option to fix the problem. Yes, it's far from ideal. From our test and feedback from others, the dirty fix works fine and they only need to do it once. Maybe you can push more into the prongs?

Regards,

--
 

[Talon]

2 hours ago, saturnotaku said:

 

That is a crock. They'll never see another dime from me, nor will I recommend their products to anyone on /r/GamingLaptops who asks.

 

 

 

Is that the same charger that came with 2021-2022 Legions? I'm using that one in my gaming nook and will be selling my old L5 with the slim 230W charger.

 

 

 

 

Trust me I feel it too. I thought I got an amazing deal at $2500 after tax/and 3 year accidental warranty extension with coupons and cashback. I do wish I had a 4090 version now that I love the laptop. The 13900HX is such a beast of a mobile chip and that MC deal on the 4090 would have sealed the deal. O well. I will wait for next gen lol and 4090 Ti with 24gb VRAM. 

 

Something else is that my memory controller on my 13900HX is cherry. My unit runs 6000 CL36 1.1v stable with default SA and obviously default MC voltage. The Kingstons are A-Dies and absolute units. In something like Warzone II, I am beating 4090 laptops lol with that setup. 

[jlp0209]

1 hour ago, Talon said:

 

Trust me I feel it too. I thought I got an amazing deal at $2500 after tax/and 3 year accidental warranty extension with coupons and cashback. I do wish I had a 4090 version now that I love the laptop. The 13900HX is such a beast of a mobile chip and that MC deal on the 4090 would have sealed the deal. O well. I will wait for next gen lol and 4090 Ti with 24gb VRAM. 

 

Something else is that my memory controller on my 13900HX is cherry. My unit runs 6000 CL36 1.1v stable with default SA and obviously default MC voltage. The Kingstons are A-Dies and absolute units. In something like Warzone II, I am beating 4090 laptops lol with that setup. 

 

I have the SREP tool and boot drive all set up but can't bring myself to do it. Knowing me if I even adjust a core clock ratio or voltage setting it'll brick the laptop, let alone RAM. The last laptop I bricked but didn't brick was a Legion 7 Gen 6. I just swapped the RAM and for the life of me couldn't understand why I couldn't boot and got the rainbow keyboard over and over again. Only after returning it and swapping RAM again on a replacement did I realize it was that stupid metal RAM cover shorting the laptop 🤣. I didn't notice that you need to fit the cover in between the tiny clips on the motherboard. I do notice the same setup on my Gen 8 haha. That aside, in my case what could go wrong will go wrong when it comes to laptops. I will continue to live vicariously through all of you on the Discord who post these incredible results 🤣.

[Talon]

42 minutes ago, jlp0209 said:

 

I have the SREP tool and boot drive all set up but can't bring myself to do it. Knowing me if I even adjust a core clock ratio or voltage setting it'll brick the laptop, let alone RAM. The last laptop I bricked but didn't brick was a Legion 7 Gen 6. I just swapped the RAM and for the life of me couldn't understand why I couldn't boot and got the rainbow keyboard over and over again. Only after returning it and swapping RAM again on a replacement did I realize it was that stupid metal RAM cover shorting the laptop 🤣. I didn't notice that you need to fit the cover in between the tiny clips on the motherboard. I do notice the same setup on my Gen 8 haha. That aside, in my case what could go wrong will go wrong when it comes to laptops. I will continue to live vicariously through all of you on the Discord who post these incredible results 🤣.

 

Yes and definitely disconnect the battery before swapping ram because of that. 

 

I actually just tested 6400MTs CL44 but got a no post. The laptop auto recovered to 5600 CL40 which are the Kingston DIMM defaults. Nice to see some protections built in. I'll stick with 6000 CL36 for awhile before I decide to push 6200 CL40 or similar. 

[jlp0209]

8 minutes ago, Talon said:

 

Yes and definitely disconnect the battery before swapping ram because of that. 

 

I actually just tested 6400MTs CL44 but got a no post. The laptop auto recovered to 5600 CL40 which are the Kingston DIMM defaults. Nice to see some protections built in. I'll stick with 6000 CL36 for awhile before I decide to push 6200 CL40 or similar. 

 

Still, 6000 CL36 is pretty great!

[jlp0209]

@saturnotaku - I just got an email confirmation from SlimQ, they just shipped me the updated Lenovo adapter free of charge. 

[jlp0209]

FYI, people have commented on the Lenovo support forum re: idle power consumption. There's a bios update to version 35 that seems to address power draw, and also you can enable RC6 (render standby) in bios settings. This greatly reduced my idle power consumption and should help battery life. I just applied it to mine so no estimate yet of how it'll impact, but my idle power draw is now down to 1.8 - 2.4w compared to over 10w before. Typing this post with one window open in Edge CPU power is 5w now. 

 

This is for the Legion Pro 7i. 

[Talon]

On 5/2/2023 at 9:24 AM, jlp0209 said:

@saturnotaku - I just got an email confirmation from SlimQ, they just shipped me the updated Lenovo adapter free of charge. 

 

Is the SlimQ 330w adapter with Lenovo tip significantly smaller/lighter than the 330w it ships with? I am looking to purchase it. 

[saturnotaku]

8 hours ago, jlp0209 said:

FYI, people have commented on the Lenovo support forum re: idle power consumption. There's a bios update to version 35 that seems to address power draw, and also you can enable RC6 (render standby) in bios settings. This greatly reduced my idle power consumption and should help battery life. I just applied it to mine so no estimate yet of how it'll impact, but my idle power draw is now down to 1.8 - 2.4w compared to over 10w before. Typing this post with one window open in Edge CPU power is 5w now. 

 

This is for the Legion Pro 7i. 

 

Did you set render standby to enabled or disabled in the BIOS? The wording in the menu makes it sound like you need to set it to disabled in order to have it enabled.

[jlp0209]

1 hour ago, saturnotaku said:

 

Did you set render standby to enabled or disabled in the BIOS? The wording in the menu makes it sound like you need to set it to disabled in order to have it enabled.

 

I set it to enabled, it was disabled by default. 

[ryan]

has anyone done a shunt mod yet? also is this the top laptop to get as im thinking of buying a legion 5 or 7i. I'm just curious what your overall impressions are? curious about the 4090 as I'd keep it for 2 generations then sell.

[jlp0209]

On 5/4/2023 at 10:08 PM, ryan said:

has anyone done a shunt mod yet? also is this the top laptop to get as im thinking of buying a legion 5 or 7i. I'm just curious what your overall impressions are? curious about the 4090 as I'd keep it for 2 generations then sell.

Check out the Discord, there are a few people working on shunt mods. The general consensus at least for the Pro 7 is that it's fantastic. It doesn't have the bells and whistles such as more RGB, glass trackpad, lit icons on the rear ports, non 2.5G ethernet. None of that matters to me, it may matter to you. The only feature I miss is Windows Hello. That should be standard for a "flagship" in 2023. I took it to a work conference last week and it didn't stand out at all, just another business laptop...that also outperforms a full-size 3090 desktop setup. 

 

QC has been very suspect so far in terms of heatsink and LM application. So watch out for that. 

 

The Pro 5 has inferior cooling and only goes up to a 4070. 

 

Is the Pro 7 the top laptop to get? That's subjective. I love mine but wouldn't call it top end. I'd call the Asus Strix Scar top end with its fantastic MiniLED screen. I hate Razer but the Blade 18 looks to be top end. The Alienware M18 can apparently sustain 300w combined CPU+GPU load which is really nice. 

[saturnotaku]

3 hours ago, jlp0209 said:

Is the Pro 7 the top laptop to get? That's subjective. I love mine but wouldn't call it top end. I'd call the Asus Strix Scar top end with its fantastic MiniLED screen. I hate Razer but the Blade 18 looks to be top end. The Alienware M18 can apparently sustain 300w combined CPU+GPU load which is really nice. 

 

The top end is going to come in the form of the much rumored Legion 9, which I expect will be revealed some time this summer.

[jlp0209]

1 hour ago, saturnotaku said:

 

The top end is going to come in the form of the much rumored Legion 9, which I expect will be revealed some time this summer.

I assume it'll include the i9 13980HX, maybe DDR5 6000 RAM, 4K display option, Windows Hello, glass trackpad and aluminum deck, lit ports, better ethernet, MiniLED, and more RGB. That should cover the issues with the Pro 7. Will be interesting to see what the cost will be. For me, the only attractive feature would be MiniLED.  

[saturnotaku]

4 hours ago, jlp0209 said:

I assume it'll include the i9 13980HX, maybe DDR5 6000 RAM, 4K display option, Windows Hello, glass trackpad and aluminum deck, lit ports, better ethernet, MiniLED, and more RGB. That should cover the issues with the Pro 7. Will be interesting to see what the cost will be. For me, the only attractive feature would be MiniLED.  

 

I'd love a display like Razer's where you can switch between 4K/144 Hz and 1080p/240. Even then, that's still not likely to be enough to get me to switch from the Pro 7i. 

 

Side note: Lenovo has released an updated GaN charger that supports 140W on 2023 Legions via 20V/7A. It also apparently supports the proper PD3.1 standard via 28V/5A. No idea why Lenovo didn't implement the latter on the laptop itself, but whatever. I just received the 135W 20V/6.75A charger, but I'm probably going to grab the 140W one this week, too.

 

Buy Lenovo Legion 140W GaN Adapter for Gaming Laptops-Voptronics