Official Clevo X170SM-G Thread

[Bidelloman]

6 hours ago, MaxxD said:

I assigned such an extra fan party to the water block. Whoever used this has a good opinion? Better than factory fans?

 

been using them for the past 1 2 year, they are excellent on stock heatsink, not so much on hybrid heatsink ( air only)

[Bidelloman]

By the way, how do you flash a .bin EC firmware for our smg via EFI shell? is there a package to download somewhere?

[chih]

2 hours ago, Bidelloman said:

By the way, how do you flash a .bin EC firmware for our smg via EFI shell? is there a package to download somewhere?

 

EN-English_EFI-Shell-for-USB+(1).zip

[chih]

2 hours ago, Bidelloman said:

By the way, how do you flash a .bin EC firmware for our smg via EFI shell? is there a package to download somewhere?

 

EN-English_BIOS Update via EFI Shell.pdf

[MaxxD]

6 hours ago, Bidelloman said:

been using them for the past 1 2 year, they are excellent on stock heatsink, not so much on hybrid heatsink ( air only)

 

Then did I buy this completely unnecessarily for water cooling?🤔😔

[Bidelloman]

21 minutes ago, MaxxD said:

 

Then did I buy this completely unnecessarily for water cooling?🤔😔

I do not know how they would behave in your case, you should take my experience therefore with a grain of salt. In my case fans were not only better, but also far less noisy and whiny

[MaxxD]

9 hours ago, Bidelloman said:

I do not know how they would behave in your case, you should take my experience therefore with a grain of salt. In my case fans were not only better, but also far less noisy and whiny

 

FTW_260 If I remember correctly, he used it for the wet heatsin and worked very well.☝️🤗🤔

Edited May 27 by MaxxD
User name correctly

[Bidelloman]

does anyone have a picture of the hardware cooling mods that were done by zTecpc? If I remember correctly, 3 CPU screws instead of 4 and LM + foam barriers, would really like the last bit especially, since space is tight and would like to see how they did it.

[Clamibot]

@Mr. Fox Would you be ok showing those hardware mods to @Bidelloman if you still have that content?

[Mr. Fox]

59 minutes ago, Clamibot said:

@Mr. Fox Would you be ok showing those hardware mods to @Bidelloman if you still have that content?

I was not sure if I still had it or deleted it. It is in this folder on my Google Drive @Bidelloman.

[Bidelloman]

45 minutes ago, Mr. Fox said:

I was not sure if I still had it or deleted it. It is in this folder on my Google Drive @Bidelloman.

Most impressive. I've done a similar shape foam barrier but to be honest require better materials. However it had been years and I have not used any barrier in both cpu and gpu, without problems. I just clean around with alcohol and double check each application.

That LM baking process is interesting and so is the removal of the fourth cpu screw mount, I know it is offset but still find it a bit surprising it is more detrimental that not because of contact patch with the cpu.

Will likely do the same thing myself in the future, just gotta get the right material ( tape, foam and another round of polish, I only have car polish and wax which I do not think are applicable here)

 

Thanks a lot!

[MaxxD]

11 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

I was not sure if I still had it or deleted it. It is in this folder on my Google Drive @Bidelloman.

 

Hi,

 

The Prema zTecpc X170SM-G BIOS How much user friend and stupid is sure?

If, for example, CPU voltage value is too low, is it easy to repair or do you have to have a lot of fun?

I would like to know that.

I wonder what you say. Thanks! 🙂

[Mr. Fox]

35 minutes ago, MaxxD said:

 

Hi,

 

The Prema zTecpc X170SM-G BIOS How much user friend and stupid is sure?

If, for example, CPU voltage value is too low, is it easy to repair or do you have to have a lot of fun?

I would like to know that.

I wonder what you say. Thanks! 🙂

Hello. I am not sure what you are asking. I think you are asking if you can adjust CPU voltage in the BIOS with the @Prema firmware and the answer is yes. You can adjust almost everything you could with a desktop BIOS. I cannot answer any questions specific to this laptop because I only had it for development purposes for a few month and that was almost four years ago, so I would not be able to respond with the accuracy anyone's questions would deserve.

[MaxxD]

7 minutes ago, Mr. Fox said:

Hello. I am not sure what you are asking. I think you are asking if you can adjust CPU voltage in the BIOS with the @Prema firmware and the answer is yes. You can adjust almost everything you could with a desktop BIOS. I cannot answer any questions specific to this laptop because I only had it for development purposes for a few month and that was almost four years ago, so I would not be able to respond with the accuracy anyone's questions would deserve.

 

Thanks!

I would be particularly interested in how much BIOS is protected against the low voltage settings. If you have too little value, can you easily repair it, or do it repair it? 😔

[Mr. Fox]

6 minutes ago, MaxxD said:

 

Thanks!

I would be particularly interested in how much BIOS is protected against the low voltage settings. If you have too little value, can you easily repair it, or do it repair it? 😔

Should be able to clear CMOS to restore BIOS defaults. Maybe @Clamibot or @electrosoft can comment more accurately. As I mentioned, I only had this machine a few months for development work. I never owned it or used it beyond that task. The last performance laptop I owned was P870DM3.

[MaxxD]

46 minutes ago, Mr. Fox said:

Should be able to clear CMOS to restore BIOS defaults. Maybe @Clamibot or @electrosoft can comment more accurately. As I mentioned, I only had this machine a few months for development work. I never owned it or used it beyond that task. The last performance laptop I owned was P870DM3.

 

Thank you!😉

Then if I get home and smooth the zTecpc X170, I will look at it and there will be a question. 🤗☺️

[1610ftw]

On 5/28/2024 at 8:08 PM, MaxxD said:

 

Thank you!😉

Then if I get home and smooth the zTecpc X170, I will look at it and there will be a question. 🤗☺️

 

Congrats on the SM-G with Prema bios!

 

We have had multiple issues of users having to restore their bios with a programmer so I would be careful with the bios settings and even more so when you have the Prema bios as you may not be able to reflash the Prema bios if something goes wrong and Prema is very hard to get hold of.

 

As for undervolting better to check optimal settings with something like Throttlestop or Intel XTU as changes will be reversible if they are not set to start automatically. I had a bunch of close calls with undervolts being too extreme and since then I only activate Throttlestop manually after booting up. It is safer that way and I only have to switch it on once every one or two weeks as I do not power down that often.

 

[MaxxD]

5 hours ago, 1610ftw said:

 

Congrats on a KM-G with Prema bios!

 

We have had multiple issues of users having to restore their bios with a programmer so I would be careful with the bios settings and even more so when you have the Prema bios as you may not be able to reflash the Prema bios if something goes wrong and Prema is very hard to get hold of.

 

As for undervolting better to check optimal settings with something like Throttlestop or Intel XTU as changes will be reversible if they are not set to start automatically. I had a bunch of close calls with undervolts being too extreme and since then I only activate Throttlestop manually after booting up. It is safer that way and I only have to switch it on once every one or two weeks as I do not power down that often.

 

 

Thanks! The SM-G (Prema) version and not KM-G. ☺

I guess you wrote it.

 

Do I know the Prema Bios for the full tuning of the machine or do I don't know it?

[1610ftw]

Yes of course stupid typo as there is no KM-G with Prema bios 🙂

 

You will have to check with others as I never had the pleasure to have a unit with Prema bios. Never managed to get hold of him even though I got the zTecpc SM-G but with a replacement mobo.

[Clamibot]

On 5/28/2024 at 11:28 AM, MaxxD said:

 

Hi,

 

The Prema zTecpc X170SM-G BIOS How much user friend and stupid is sure?

If, for example, CPU voltage value is too low, is it easy to repair or do you have to have a lot of fun?

I would like to know that.

I wonder what you say. Thanks! 🙂

 

For user friendliness, the Prema BIOS is mainly for advanced users, but I don't think it should be that hard to navigate for more novice users. I have Premamod on my SM-G and I think it's pretty neat, and it also eliminates the need for Clevo Control Center as you can adjust the power profiles directly in the BIOS. I have mine set to hyperperformance.

 

My personal recommendation though is that regardless of if you are using a laptop or desktop, ALWAYS apply settings through Intel XTU first when you want to mess with voltages and overclocking. I know people swear by BIOS overclocking, but I think that's very bad advice as applying bad settings will brick your system, and unbricking it isn't fun no matter the system you're using. Sure it's easy to recover from bad settings on a desktop, but still annoyng nonetheless. On a laptop, it's a nightmare to deal with.

 

Once you've fiddled around a bit and find stable settings through Intel XTU, then you can apply them in the BIOS if you wish. Personally though, I keep performance and power saving profiles on hand and apply them on demand through XTU.

[Bidelloman]

11 minutes ago, Clamibot said:

 

For user friendliness, the Prema BIOS is mainly for advanced users, but I don't think it should be that hard to navigate for more novice users. I have Premamod on my SM-G and I think it's pretty neat, and it also eliminates the need for Clevo Control Center as you can adjust the power profiles directly in the BIOS. I have mine set to hyperperformance.

 

My personal recommendation though is that regardless of if you are using a laptop or desktop, ALWAYS apply settings through Intel XTU first when you want to mess with voltages and overclocking. I know people swear by BIOS overclocking, but I think that's very bad advice as applying bad settings will brick your system, and unbricking it isn't fun no matter the system you're using. Sure it's easy to recover from bad settings on a desktop, but still annoyng nonetheless. On a laptop, it's a nightmare to deal with.

 

Once you've fiddled around a bit and find stable settings through Intel XTU, then you can apply them in the BIOS if you wish. Personally though, I keep performance and power saving profiles on hand and apply them on demand through XTU.

No throttlestop then? So you always sit on high power limits..I also considered this but I occasionally like changing profiles ( power saving, quiet) and not in the bios which is slower.

[MaxxD]

1 hour ago, Clamibot said:

 

For user friendliness, the Prema BIOS is mainly for advanced users, but I don't think it should be that hard to navigate for more novice users. I have Premamod on my SM-G and I think it's pretty neat, and it also eliminates the need for Clevo Control Center as you can adjust the power profiles directly in the BIOS. I have mine set to hyperperformance.

 

My personal recommendation though is that regardless of if you are using a laptop or desktop, ALWAYS apply settings through Intel XTU first when you want to mess with voltages and overclocking. I know people swear by BIOS overclocking, but I think that's very bad advice as applying bad settings will brick your system, and unbricking it isn't fun no matter the system you're using. Sure it's easy to recover from bad settings on a desktop, but still annoyng nonetheless. On a laptop, it's a nightmare to deal with.

 

Once you've fiddled around a bit and find stable settings through Intel XTU, then you can apply them in the BIOS if you wish. Personally though, I keep performance and power saving profiles on hand and apply them on demand through XTU.

 

I completely agree!☝️

On one machine, the obsidian remains fully and the Control panel. Taking advantage of BIOS on a Prema machine, the full fine tuning is the target water cooling. The only problem now is that during the delivery, the zTecpc X170 is the fixed screw (non spring) heatsink fixation with one heel of 2080 Super) is broken and the other corner is cracked, so it cannot be used.😔

 

/I made the pictures myself with the help of a digital microscope/

The broken corner is visible to the naked eye! I'm a repair technician, so it wasn't difficult to find out the error. The GPU chip is available with eBay and can be replaced with a fineplacer or free hand. (It's not worth it for me!)😌

 

 

 

I have RTX 3080 cards, but I need to transfer the whole water to cool from the other machine so I can use the zTecpc machine. CPU, RAM, SSD, will be loaded, the PCS X170 will also be appropriate with the I5 CPU with RTX 2080 Super. It's good that the PCS machine is not a basic RTX 20xx card.🙂 This will not be a small operation and it is planned next week. Did others have a similar problem with zTecpc X170 during the (long, nearly 2,000 kilometers) transport? 🤔

[Bidelloman]

On 5/19/2024 at 9:38 AM, MaxxD said:

 

Then it's perfectly good and worth the upgrade to 3080. I read this, thank you! 👏

 

Although the 2080 Super will be suitable for many years, it will have to make up to a maximum of minor compromises later. ☺

yeah, well if it wasn't for lack of gsync, dynamic boost, funky driver install and, apparently, black screen problems with windows 10 sleep, then sure, it's great. @win32asmguydo you have the same black screen issue? dumps driver power state failure pointing to the gpu driver

[MaxxD]

2 hours ago, Bidelloman said:

yeah, well if it wasn't for lack of gsync, dynamic boost, funky driver install and, apparently, black screen problems with windows 10 sleep, then sure, it's great. @win32asmguydo you have the same black screen issue? dumps driver power state failure pointing to the gpu driver

 

As far as I know, the Prema zTecpc X170 version handles the RTX 3080 MXM card without any problems. I hope I get there to try this. ✌️😋

[Bidelloman]

48 minutes ago, MaxxD said:

 

As far as I know, the Prema zTecpc X170 version handles the RTX 3080 MXM card without any problems. I hope I get there to try this. ✌️😋

yes, apparently that is pretty much the only one.