Official Clevo X170SM-G Thread

[ssj92]

13 hours ago, electrosoft said:

 

Fn+D on power on should technically reset the CMOS/BIOS but sometimes you will need to remove the CMOS and battery.

When doing memory tuning I tend to remove both as I know I'm going to be doing a lot of note taking and experience a lot of blank screens requiring a reset. Then all you have to do is unplug the power cable(s) to auto reset the unit.

 

 

Did you loosen up the timings too? It can definitely be the kit just can't go any higher than 2667 but make sure to relax your timings and set your Vmem to ~1.35 at least.

I tried auto timings 1.35v 2800, 2933, 3200 and also tried 22-22-22 timings 2933, 3200 , none boot. 

 

So far I am at 2666. 

 

stock 8gb 3200mhz ram:

 

 

32gb (2x16gb) ddr4 2400 stock

 

 

2666mhz auto timings

 

 

2666mhz my timings

 

[MaxxD]

I was thinking about getting a more serious (H2O) heatsink, because I have an i9 processor and it would be good to use it at 5GHz (it would work without a problem now, only the factory cooling "340W" is not enough) and the Prema or dSanke BIOS is not available...

I would pay for it in vain I can't get it. 

I also wrote to Clevo (TW) and they didn't write much good about it.... At my own risk, at my own expense, why can't I buy or get it? 

X170 is no longer under warranty. 

PCS UK promised me that if the warranty expired, I could have Prema BIOS installed on my machine at my own risk (at my own expense) and when the warranty expired, they stopped doing it all. Joke!

 

I would appreciate it if anyone could help! 😉

[electrosoft]

7 hours ago, ssj92 said:

I tried auto timings 1.35v 2800, 2933, 3200 and also tried 22-22-22 timings 2933, 3200 , none boot. 

 

So far I am at 2666. 

 

stock 8gb 3200mhz ram:

 

 

32gb (2x16gb) ddr4 2400 stock

 

 

2666mhz auto timings

 

 

2666mhz my timings

 

 

Then it could very likely be the sticks. Only way to tell is to grab a pair of 3200 sticks for comparison at this point as you've done everything possible including throwing what is a sane amount of Vmem at it along with loosening up your timings to scale frequency.

 

One good thing about these Corsair 3800 sticks. You know they're not the limiter. It let me D2D scale my P870TM1 to 3466 while also realizing my X170SM was tapping out at 3200.

 

 

[Clamibot]

9 hours ago, electrosoft said:

 

Then it could very likely be the sticks. Only way to tell is to grab a pair of 3200 sticks for comparison at this point as you've done everything possible including throwing what is a sane amount of Vmem at it along with loosening up your timings to scale frequency.

 

One good thing about these Corsair 3800 sticks. You know they're not the limiter. It let me D2D scale my P870TM1 to 3466 while also realizing my X170SM was tapping out at 3200.

 

 

 

Are your sticks single rank or dual rank? I can only find a kit of that speed in a 4x8GB configuration, which would be 4 single rank sticks most likely. I went with my Crucial Ballistix kit specifically because it seemed like a good dual rank kit.

 

16 hours ago, ssj92 said:

I tried auto timings 1.35v 2800, 2933, 3200 and also tried 22-22-22 timings 2933, 3200 , none boot. 

 

So far I am at 2666. 

 

stock 8gb 3200mhz ram:

 

 

32gb (2x16gb) ddr4 2400 stock

 

 

2666mhz auto timings

 

 

2666mhz my timings

 

 

On 1/7/2023 at 2:14 PM, FTW_260 said:

2xF4-3200C22S-16GRS

 

The two of you may want to try a different kit. It looks to me like the RAM you two got just isn't that good. I personally went with this kit here: https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr4/bl2k16g32c16s4b

 

This Crucial Ballistix 32 GB 3200MHz kit is fully compatible with this laptop. Stock settings work great. I haven't taken the memory for a spin on overclocking just yet, but I'm planning to soon. I was planning to about 2 weeks ago, but you know life gets busy sometimes. 🤣

 

In any case, the binning of the RAM is really going to help with speeds. This kit has higher binned sticks and isn't overly expensive either.

[Snowleopard]

5 hours ago, Clamibot said:

 

Are your sticks single rank or dual rank? I can only find a kit of that speed in a 4x8GB configuration, which would be 4 single rank sticks most likely. I went with my Crucial Ballistix kit specifically because it seemed like a good dual rank kit.

 

 

 

The two of you may want to try a different kit. It looks to me like the RAM you two got just isn't that good. I personally went with this kit here: https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr4/bl2k16g32c16s4b

 

This Crucial Ballistix 32 GB 3200MHz kit is fully compatible with this laptop. Stock settings work great. I haven't taken the memory for a spin on overclocking just yet, but I'm planning to soon. I was planning to about 2 weeks ago, but you know life gets busy sometimes. 🤣

 

In any case, the binning of the RAM is really going to help with speeds. This kit has higher binned sticks and isn't overly expensive either.

Is the other bios unlocker from Danske available still? I am running 4x32gb Crucial Ballistix ram but I don't have the ability to go to advanced memory settings for XMP.

[Clamibot]

@jcordero Do you have a link to the Dsanke unlocked BIOS still that @Snowleopard can use?

[IamTechknow]

6 minutes ago, Clamibot said:

@jcordero Do you have a link to the Dsanke unlocked BIOS still that @Snowleopard can use?

Not the person you pinged but his post from NBR is in the NBArchive, here's the juicy info (and yes I have the BIOS unlocker if anyone needs it)

 

  

On 12/12/2022 at 7:31 PM, IamTechknow said:

I don't own a X170SM, but I saved it when it was in NBR two years back, from this topic: https://www.nbrchive.net/xfa/sager-and-clevo.1017/X170SM Unlocked Bios Here Plus ALL drivers/

Is this one you're looking for? Too big to upload to attachment, but you can DM me. BTW the second file link in the archived post works if you want to try that.

 

[jcordero]

On 1/8/2023 at 11:30 PM, Clamibot said:

@jcordero Do you have a link to the Dsanke unlocked BIOS still that @Snowleopard can use?

I think I still do! I'll PM him/her once I look into my previous post history once I get the time to.

[MaxxD]

On 1/9/2023 at 6:38 AM, IamTechknow said:

Not the person you pinged but his post from NBR is in the NBArchive, here's the juicy info (and yes I have the BIOS unlocker if anyone needs it)

 

  

 

 

Is this only good for XMG machine or also for machine by PCS?

 

[electrosoft]

On 1/8/2023 at 4:33 PM, Clamibot said:

 

Are your sticks single rank or dual rank? I can only find a kit of that speed in a 4x8GB configuration, which would be 4 single rank sticks most likely. I went with my Crucial Ballistix kit specifically because it seemed like a good dual rank kit.

 

 

 

The two of you may want to try a different kit. It looks to me like the RAM you two got just isn't that good. I personally went with this kit here: https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr4/bl2k16g32c16s4b

 

This Crucial Ballistix 32 GB 3200MHz kit is fully compatible with this laptop. Stock settings work great. I haven't taken the memory for a spin on overclocking just yet, but I'm planning to soon. I was planning to about 2 weeks ago, but you know life gets busy sometimes. 🤣

 

In any case, the binning of the RAM is really going to help with speeds. This kit has higher binned sticks and isn't overly expensive either.

 

I used to have both the 2x8 and 2x16 version of those Ballistix sticks but I ended up sticking with 2x8GB from the Corsair kit since they could handle extreme primary and secondary tuning the Ballistix sticks could not and produced better benchmarks and fps even in single rank formation but if I didn't have the Corsair sticks I would have definitely stuck with those. If your machine has XMP access, the Ballistix sticks are a worthy set (2x16GB).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jaybee83]

On 1/5/2023 at 6:30 PM, electrosoft said:

 

System is on its way as I type. Didn't get it out till 1/3/2023. I asked Zoltan to let the techs know to not use K5 Pro but standard thermal pads and clean up all that mess as that stuff was a moist, weird, degrading mess that seemed to start oozing an oil type substance.

 

When I get it back, I'll clean up the VRMs too and just use standard thermal pads there too if they don't clean that up and use thermal pads.

 

 

 

yeah thats always the issue with K5 pro, its awesome for bridging uneven gaps and less hassle in terms of not having to measure out pad thicknesses, but in the end it all becomes a total sticky oily mess 😅 welp i guess theres always tradeoffs!

 

On 1/6/2023 at 7:56 PM, ssj92 said:

What about the timings? Do I put everything to 0 (auto) and only change the frequency and voltage? I see a option for 100mhz or 133mhz and then there is a multiplier. 

 

I assume 133mhz with a 18x multi is 2400mhz? 

 

On 1/7/2023 at 4:51 AM, ssj92 said:

2666Mhz auto timing worked but when I tried 2933mhz auto timing it’s not booting. 
 

is there a hardware key combo to reset bios while booting or how does one reset it on this laptop? 
 

i wanted to push it as far as it can go on stock 1.2v with ok timings. 

 

yeah that can be tricky, getting the voltage too high OR too low can introduce instabilities, same goes for timings. if u choose them TOO loose itll not boot either. also be sure to give it some time for training before u give up on a setting, say 20 min or so. sometimes it only boots after several failed attempts.

 

and yep, as mentioned before, Prema bios has the FN+D combo for resetting Bios without having to pull CMOS battery every single time.

[Clamibot]

1 hour ago, electrosoft said:

 

I used to have both the 2x8 and 2x16 version of those Ballistix sticks but I ended up sticking with 2x8GB from the Corsair kit since they could handle extreme primary and secondary tuning the Ballistix sticks could not and produced better benchmarks and fps even in single rank formation but if I didn't have the Corsair sticks I would have definitely stuck with those. If your machine has XMP access, the Ballistix sticks are a worthy set (2x16GB).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh nice really? I thought for sure that dual rank kits always outperformed single rank kits at the same speed, even with tightened timings on the single rank kit.

 

14 minutes ago, jaybee83 said:

 

yeah thats always the issue with K5 pro, its awesome for bridging uneven gaps and less hassle in terms of not having to measure out pad thicknesses, but in the end it all becomes a total sticky oily mess 😅 welp i guess theres always tradeoffs!

 

 

 

yeah that can be tricky, getting the voltage too high OR too high can introduce instabilities, same goes for timings. if u choose them TOO loose itll not boot either. also be sure to give it some time for training before u give up on a setting, say 20 min or so. sometimes it only boots after several failed attempts.

 

and yep, as mentioned before, Prema bios has the FN+D combo for resetting Bios without having to pull CMOS battery every single time.

 

That's gonna make my RAM tuning a lot more enjoyable. Part of the reason I was procrastinating with my RAM tuning was because I was not looking forward to having to constantly be pulling the CMOS battery. It's good to know there's a keyboard combination for this.

[Snowleopard]

Ok, I have the bios unlocked and wow there are so many options now. I think I found where to update the XMP settings but then couldn't find it again.  I want to use XMP to get the full speed of my Ballistix sticks.

 

How do I get to the menu to update the XMP settings again?

[electrosoft]

1 hour ago, jaybee83 said:

 

yeah thats always the issue with K5 pro, its awesome for bridging uneven gaps and less hassle in terms of not having to measure out pad thicknesses, but in the end it all becomes a total sticky oily mess 😅 welp i guess theres always tradeoffs!

 

 

 

yeah that can be tricky, getting the voltage too high OR too high can introduce instabilities, same goes for timings. if u choose them TOO loose itll not boot either. also be sure to give it some time for training before u give up on a setting, say 20 min or so. sometimes it only boots after several failed attempts.

 

and yep, as mentioned before, Prema bios has the FN+D combo for resetting Bios without having to pull CMOS battery every single time.

 

Yeah, they offered K5 Pro and it was on there but once it started to fail and I got in there and took a look it was a weird stiffened like mess with oils clearly separating. I re-iterated when they do the GPU replacement to please use standard thermal pads. I hope they clean it up off the VRMs too and everywhere else because it is not pretty.

 

I spent a lot of time when I got it tracking down tons of errant liquid metal from their initial sale setup that had gotten loose. When Terreos (I was going to tag him but it seems he deleted his account here) sent it in for a repair they switched to stock thermal paste but left K5 as the thermal solution everywhere.

 

I have no experience with K5 Pro except in this scenario but after seeing its instability and the way it pumps out and moves too much, I would not recommend it as a thermal solution except for places where normal thermal pads would not work.

 

As for DDR4 SODIMMS, Across numerous brands and modules, Vmem 1.35 + 22-22-22 or 20-20-20 and stock terts have yet to fail me for initial testing thank goodness.

 

 

1 hour ago, Clamibot said:

 

Oh nice really? I thought for sure that dual rank kits always outperformed single rank kits at the same speed, even with tightened timings on the single rank kit.

 

 

That's gonna make my RAM tuning a lot more enjoyable. Part of the reason I was procrastinating with my RAM tuning was because I was not looking forward to having to constantly be pulling the CMOS battery. It's good to know there's a keyboard combination for this.

 

Nope, I tested them extensively because I really wanted the 2x16GB kit to win but it didn't in game both highs and .01 and 1 % lows.  These Corsair sticks I was able to dial in primary and secondary timings B-die style on desktops which was nice. Ballistix sticks are still really nice though. Once I get time to dig back into my X170KM-G and unlock the BIOS to the point of XMP timings access I plan on retesting the Corsair sticks in there along with the Corsair 2x32GB 3200 sticks in there now which are also Samsung modules. I thought it was 4x16GB but it is 2x32GB instead.

 

 

[Clamibot]

4 hours ago, electrosoft said:

 

Yeah, they offered K5 Pro and it was on there but once it started to fail and I got in there and took a look it was a weird stiffened like mess with oils clearly separating. I re-iterated when they do the GPU replacement to please use standard thermal pads. I hope they clean it up off the VRMs too and everywhere else because it is not pretty.

 

I spent a lot of time when I got it tracking down tons of errant liquid metal from their initial sale setup that had gotten loose. When Terreos (I was going to tag him but it seems he deleted his account here) sent it in for a repair they switched to stock thermal paste but left K5 as the thermal solution everywhere.

 

I have no experience with K5 Pro except in this scenario but after seeing its instability and the way it pumps out and moves too much, I would not recommend it as a thermal solution except for places where normal thermal pads would not work.

 

As for DDR4 SODIMMS, Across numerous brands and modules, Vmem 1.35 + 22-22-22 or 20-20-20 and stock terts have yet to fail me for initial testing thank goodness.

 

 

 

Nope, I tested them extensively because I really wanted the 2x16GB kit to win but it didn't in game both highs and .01 and 1 % lows.  These Corsair sticks I was able to dial in primary and secondary timings B-die style on desktops which was nice. Ballistix sticks are still really nice though. Once I get time to dig back into my X170KM-G and unlock the BIOS to the point of XMP timings access I plan on retesting the Corsair sticks in there along with the Corsair 2x32GB 3200 sticks in there now which are also Samsung modules. I thought it was 4x16GB but it is 2x32GB instead.

 

 

 

Nice, so basically dual rank RAM is faster than single rank at the same clock speed and timings, but single rank is more tunable and therefore ends up being faster in an absolute sense? If so, that means I don't have to be disappointed with the RAM I bought for my desktop as those are single rank DIMMs that I currently have running at 4200 MHz and it seems to still have headroom for higher speeds.

 

I've finally started my RAM overclocking adventure, but on my desktop first before I do the same thing on my X170. The verdict I'm seeing here is go with dual rank kits if your motherboard can't handle high memory frequencies and / or low timings, and go with single rank kits if your motherboard can handle high frequencies and / or low timings.

[MaxxD]

19 hours ago, Snowleopard said:

Ok, I have the bios unlocked and wow there are so many options now. I think I found where to update the XMP settings but then couldn't find it again.  I want to use XMP to get the full speed of my Ballistix sticks.

 

How do I get to the menu to update the XMP settings again?

 

Do you have an XMG machine? Can the factory BIOS be unlocked on a PCS machine?🙄

 

 

[jaybee83]

22 hours ago, Snowleopard said:

Ok, I have the bios unlocked and wow there are so many options now. I think I found where to update the XMP settings but then couldn't find it again.  I want to use XMP to get the full speed of my Ballistix sticks.

 

How do I get to the menu to update the XMP settings again?

 

haha one can easily get overwhelmed at first when looking at the Prema goodness 😄 should be two different menus, one in the overclocking section, the other in the cpu config section. however, each model's bios is slightly different, they dont all match up exactly. best thing is to get to know ur bios intimately to properly use everything it has to offer! 🙂 

 

3 hours ago, MaxxD said:

 

Do you have an XMG machine? Can the factory BIOS be unlocked on a PCS machine?🙄

 

 

 

as long as its the same Clevo base model, different vendor bioses dont really matter.

[MaxxD]

54 minutes ago, jaybee83 said:

 

haha one can easily get overwhelmed at first when looking at the Prema goodness 😄 should be two different menus, one in the overclocking section, the other in the cpu config section. however, each model's bios is slightly different, they dont all match up exactly. best thing is to get to know ur bios intimately to properly use everything it has to offer! 🙂 

 

 

as long as its the same Clevo base model, different vendor bioses dont really matter.

 

I calmed down then, thank you! I'll look into it.

[Snowleopard]

11 hours ago, MaxxD said:

 

Do you have an XMG machine? Can the factory BIOS be unlocked on a PCS machine?🙄

 

 

No, I don't have an XMG machine 😞

[Snowleopard]

7 hours ago, jaybee83 said:

 

haha one can easily get overwhelmed at first when looking at the Prema goodness 😄 should be two different menus, one in the overclocking section, the other in the cpu config section. however, each model's bios is slightly different, they dont all match up exactly. best thing is to get to know ur bios intimately to properly use everything it has to offer! 🙂 

 

 

as long as its the same Clevo base model, different vendor bioses dont really matter.

I went rogue and bought a laptop before checking Notebook Review and went with the Eurocom Sky Z7 so unfortunately I am not allowed to have PREMA Bios, it is sad that customers have to deal with that because of a falling out with a distributor of Clevo Laptops.

I do have the single 780w power supply though 😄

I found the menu, apparently with the unlocked BIOS there is a menu to display and hide specific menus too so when I treid some settings the Memory overclocking menu disappeared. I don't know why you would want to hide certain menus if you just lock or unlock the BIOS.

However I am running 32gb Ballisticks sticks and using the XMP Profile the laptop doesn't boot up so I had to "Fn-D" to reset it and boot back up.

[MaxxD]

3 hours ago, Snowleopard said:

No, I don't have an XMG machine 😞

 

I thought you had an X170 machine.😊

[MaxxD]

3 hours ago, Snowleopard said:

I went rogue and bought a laptop before checking Notebook Review and went with the Eurocom Sky Z7 so unfortunately I am not allowed to have PREMA Bios, it is sad that customers have to deal with that because of a falling out with a distributor of Clevo Laptops.

I do have the single 780w power supply though 😄

I found the menu, apparently with the unlocked BIOS there is a menu to display and hide specific menus too so when I treid some settings the Memory overclocking menu disappeared. I don't know why you would want to hide certain menus if you just lock or unlock the BIOS.

However I am running 32gb Ballisticks sticks and using the XMP Profile the laptop doesn't boot up so I had to "Fn-D" to reset it and boot back up.

 

Yes, I have this problem too! Prema has closed herself off from the outside world from all sides, she cannot be reached. Prema BIOS for my X170SM-G would be great! This will remain just a dream...I contacted (equally) Clevo (Taiwan) and many (World) representatives and no one could help, the policy of the Clevo store they referred to...😒🙄

[Clamibot]

2 hours ago, Snowleopard said:

I went rogue and bought a laptop before checking Notebook Review and went with the Eurocom Sky Z7 so unfortunately I am not allowed to have PREMA Bios, it is sad that customers have to deal with that because of a falling out with a distributor of Clevo Laptops.

I do have the single 780w power supply though 😄

I found the menu, apparently with the unlocked BIOS there is a menu to display and hide specific menus too so when I treid some settings the Memory overclocking menu disappeared. I don't know why you would want to hide certain menus if you just lock or unlock the BIOS.

However I am running 32gb Ballisticks sticks and using the XMP Profile the laptop doesn't boot up so I had to "Fn-D" to reset it and boot back up.

 

The stability of your RAM speed is affected by the motherboard, the memory itself, and also the CPU. For example, I have one 10900K in which my RAM only runs at its rated XMP profile speeds when installed in slots 1 and 3, and another better binned 10900K where my RAM only runs at its rated XMP profile speeds when installed in slots 2 and 4.

 

You can also try loosening the timings a little or raise the memory voltage and see if that helps.

[jaybee83]

7 hours ago, Snowleopard said:

I went rogue and bought a laptop before checking Notebook Review and went with the Eurocom Sky Z7 so unfortunately I am not allowed to have PREMA Bios, it is sad that customers have to deal with that because of a falling out with a distributor of Clevo Laptops.

I do have the single 780w power supply though 😄

I found the menu, apparently with the unlocked BIOS there is a menu to display and hide specific menus too so when I treid some settings the Memory overclocking menu disappeared. I don't know why you would want to hide certain menus if you just lock or unlock the BIOS.

However I am running 32gb Ballisticks sticks and using the XMP Profile the laptop doesn't boot up so I had to "Fn-D" to reset it and boot back up.

 

iirc Eurocom does offer "unlocked" bios versions. theyre not as good as Prema Magic, of course, but still offer more than full stock. do you sport one of those?

 

4 hours ago, MaxxD said:

 

Yes, I have this problem too! Prema has closed herself off from the outside world from all sides, she cannot be reached. Prema BIOS for my X170SM-G would be great! This will remain just a dream...I contacted (equally) Clevo (Taiwan) and many (World) representatives and no one could help, the policy of the Clevo store they referred to...😒🙄

 

her? 😄 

 

4 hours ago, Clamibot said:

 

The stability of your RAM speed is affected by the motherboard, the memory itself, and also the CPU. For example, I have one 10900K in which my RAM only runs at its rated XMP profile speeds when installed in slots 1 and 3, and another better binned 10900K where my RAM only runs at its rated XMP profile speeds when installed in slots 2 and 4.

 

You can also try loosening the timings a little or raise the memory voltage and see if that helps.

 

if one cannot change anything about the hardware, i.e. getting new RAM sticks / new CPU, then u might wanna look into RAM temps, as well. reducing RAM temps under load can help a ton with stability under OC conditions. would involve some modding though, i.e. drilling holes into the bottom cover, using a cooler stand or implementing an additional fan for extra airflow across the modules.

[ryan]

35 minutes ago, jaybee83 said:

her? 😄 

 

lol

 

i dont know maybe he thinks girl because of the girly logo/avatar