Clevo X580 TBA at CES 2025 - 18", 4+4 drives and memory, 2xTB5

[VEGGIM]

1 hour ago, SACbomber said:

Googled "Zero 18 laptop" and went from there.

 

Maybe, except that third fan isn't blowing towards anything meaningful. At least the third fan in the Tongfang blows across one RAM stick and what looks like an M.2 heat shield/spreader.

Since i'll add here's lenovo's. While it does the same 3rd fan over the GPU, Lenovo instead Covered the SSD and ram with a giant heatsink.

As for airflow differences:

[SACbomber]

24 minutes ago, VEGGIM said:

As for airflow differences:

Doubting there's any meaningful airflow over the CPU/GPU dies and VRMs/VRAMs. All the thermal putty/pads/paste would cut off the airflow.

[1610ftw]

18 hours ago, SACbomber said:

Doubting there's any meaningful airflow over the CPU/GPU dies and VRMs/VRAMs. All the thermal putty/pads/paste would cut off the airflow.

 

This is all still pretty new so I would simply check temps and performance, they should be easy to check. Plus for workstation use I will mostly use the CPU in my laptops so that already helps with temps.

 

[1610ftw]

So this week after some more testing I wanted to pull the trigger on the 5070Ti version of the X580 from Schenker and along comes this:

 

https://news.lenovo.com/pressroom/press-releases/forge-tomorrow-the-new-lenovo-legion-9i-18-10-brings-games-to-life-for-gamers-and-developers-from-vision-to-victory/

 

 

• 18"
• 4 drives
• 4 memory slots
• 2 TB5

 

So same as in the Clevo which is pretty unbelieveable coming from Lenovo!

 

Crazy specs, and some things that I have been missing in the Clevo:

• undervolting
• vapor chamber cooling rated at up to 280W
• 400W power supply
• TB5 with 140W power delivery
• unless something changes dramatically a very nice keyboard with a good cursor key section

 

Not so great and potential downsides:

• possibly no QHD display which could be a dealbreaker
• dual sided SSDs are not confirmed as being supported
• no subwoofer but supposedly a 6 chassis speaker system
• looks less understated than the Clevo

 

[SACbomber]

1 hour ago, 1610ftw said:

So this week after some more testing I wanted to pull the trigger on the 5070Ti version of the X580 from Schenker and along comes this:

 

https://news.lenovo.com/pressroom/press-releases/forge-tomorrow-the-new-lenovo-legion-9i-18-10-brings-games-to-life-for-gamers-and-developers-from-vision-to-victory/

 

 

• 18"
• 4 drives
• 4 memory slots
• 2 TB5

 

So same as in the Clevo which is pretty unbelieveable coming from Lenovo!

 

Crazy specs, and some things that I have been missing in the Clevo:

• undervolting
• vapor chamber cooling rated at up to 280W
• 400W power supply
• TB5 with 140W power delivery
• unless something changes dramatically a very nice keyboard with a good cursor key section

 

Not so great and potential downsides:

• possibly no QHD display which could be a dealbreaker
• dual sided SSDs are not confirmed as being supported
• no subwoofer but supposedly a 6 chassis speaker system
• looks less understated than the Clevo

 

Titan killer? 4 RAM slots certainly won't be as fast as 2, though...

 

Also no HDR1000 display or mechanical keyboard.

[1610ftw]

5 hours ago, SACbomber said:

Titan killer? 4 RAM slots certainly won't be as fast as 2, though...

 

Also no HDR1000 display or mechanical keyboard.

 

Not really - only MSI offers the combo of 4 drives, vapor chamber, UHD LED screen and mechanical keyboard.

 

I have asked Schenker about the option to undervolt the X580 as I have done this with all my main laptops for a long time now and there is always some improvement to be had by undervolting.

[the jg89]

Decided to bite the bullet and get it myself from here https://www.scan.co.uk/products/18-3xs-vengeance-5090-240hz-qhdplus-1610-24gb-nvidia-rtx-5090-core-ultra-9-275hx-64gb-ddr5-2tb-m2-wi

 

One thing to note is that the preorder thing right there is misleading, had to get in touch with customer sevice to realize that it's made to order and build, you have to go here to do it https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/custom/gaming/laptop#anc

lol

[1610ftw]

6 hours ago, the jg89 said:

Decided to bite the bullet and get it myself from here https://www.scan.co.uk/products/18-3xs-vengeance-5090-240hz-qhdplus-1610-24gb-nvidia-rtx-5090-core-ultra-9-275hx-64gb-ddr5-2tb-m2-wi

 

One thing to note is that the preorder thing right there is misleading, had to get in touch with customer sevice to realize that it's made to order and build, you have to go here to do it https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/custom/gaming/laptop#anc

lol

 

Cool 🙂

Let us know how things work out with your SSDs!

[Developer79]

It's a real shame that Clevo no longer manufactures high-end laptops like the P870xx. It's unfortunate.
It seems that the only option is to build one generation and then purchase a new laptop.

[1610ftw]

16 hours ago, Developer79 said:

It's a real shame that Clevo no longer manufactures high-end laptops like the P870xx. It's unfortunate.
It seems that the only option is to build one generation and then purchase a new laptop.

 

The X580 is kind of a return to form after the lackluster X270 and X370 but they did not go all the way like with the X170 that in many aspects was a very good design.

[Developer79]

6 hours ago, 1610ftw said:

 

The X580 is kind of a return to form after the lackluster X270 and X370 but they did not go all the way like with the X170 that in many aspects was a very good design.

From a technical point of view, the P870xx is the best Clevo has ever produced. The X170xx was already a departure from high-end, and although it had some good features, overall I am only convinced by the P870xx model series from a technical point of view! If I were a developer at Clevo, I would update the motherboard of the P870xx to the latest Intel 14/15/16 Gen. and no longer use MXM, but simply Flat PCIe x16 5.0 with an extra vapor chamber. In other words, a normal desktop graphics card. My development shows that it works!!!

[1610ftw]

5 minutes ago, Developer79 said:

From a technical point of view, the P870xx is the best Clevo has ever produced. The X170xx was already a departure from high-end, and although it had some good features, overall I am only convinced by the P870xx model series from a technical point of view! If I were a developer at Clevo, I would update the motherboard of the P870xx to the latest Intel 14/15/16 Gen. and no longer use MXM, but simply Flat PCIe x16 5.0 with an extra vapor chamber. In other words, a normal desktop graphics card. My development shows that it works!!!

 

The P870 is a better desktop but it had issues cooling the 9th gen CPUs. The X170 was the better laptop except for the stupid dual power supply construction:

• much better sound
• better keyboard
• better fans 
• unified heatsink

I would also have preferred to see those improvements in a slightly bigger chassis with even better cooling but Clevo probably thought it would be overkill. Looking at the size of 5080 and 5090 desktop cards minus the cooler it is indeed a shame that nobody puts them in a laptop. We know it is possible to cool up to 400W of GPU in a laptop as has been shown by SLI designs from Clevo and MSI.

[Developer79]

44 minutes ago, 1610ftw said:

 

The P870 is a better desktop but it had issues cooling the 9th gen CPUs. The X170 was the better laptop except for the stupid dual power supply construction:

• much better sound
• better keyboard
• better fans 
• unified heatsink

I would also have preferred to see those improvements in a slightly bigger chassis with even better cooling but Clevo probably thought it would be overkill. Looking at the size of 5080 and 5090 desktop cards minus the cooler it is indeed a shame that nobody puts them in a laptop. We know it is possible to cool up to 400W of GPU in a laptop as has been shown by SLI designs from Clevo and MSI.

That's debatable; all the points you mentioned also apply to the P870xx. The cooling for the P870xx is the best cooling available for a laptop. Take a look at the P870TM thread. My development in the P870xx with RTX30xx MXM does not exceed 60 degrees compared to the X170xx. Apart from that, I have made it possible to integrate the RTX30xx MXM into the P870xx. And yes, my electrical development for the P870xx makes it possible to run desktop cards integrated. With x16 connection. The RTX5070 FE fits very well into the P870xx. My latest development makes it possible to run resolutions in UHD up to 144Hz on the laptop display. Yes, the developers at Clevo could design everything the way I do, but unfortunately there are always obstacles due to the monetary system!!!!

[1610ftw]

1 hour ago, Developer79 said:

That's debatable; all the points you mentioned also apply to the P870xx. The cooling for the P870xx is the best cooling available for a laptop. Take a look at the P870TM thread. My development in the P870xx with RTX30xx MXM does not exceed 60 degrees compared to the X170xx. Apart from that, I have made it possible to integrate the RTX30xx MXM into the P870xx. And yes, my electrical development for the P870xx makes it possible to run desktop cards integrated. With x16 connection. The RTX5070 FE fits very well into the P870xx. My latest development makes it possible to run resolutions in UHD up to 144Hz on the laptop display. Yes, the developers at Clevo could design everything the way I do, but unfortunately there are always obstacles due to the monetary system!!!!

 

Not sure what the argument is here. Clearly an desktop GPU board would only fit in the P870 but for using it as is the X170 is a better laptop because the added capability of the P870 to use a second GPU is not of much use any more and does not outweigh the keyboard, sound and lesser CPU cooling. In any case what is holding the P870 back the most is by now the CPU unless maybe you manage to put a 5080 in there for 4K gaming where frame rates will be affected the least.

[Clamibot]

6 hours ago, 1610ftw said:

 

Not sure what the argument is here. Clearly an desktop GPU board would only fit in the P870 but for using it as is the X170 is a better laptop because the added capability of the P870 to use a second GPU is not of much use any more and does not outweigh the keyboard, sound and lesser CPU cooling. In any case what is holding the P870 back the most is by now the CPU unless maybe you manage to put a 5080 in there for 4K gaming where frame rates will be affected the least.

 

I'd have to argue against your assertion that the P870's second GPU slot is not of much use nowadays, as dual GPU configs are having quite the revival right now due to Lossless Scaling being able to utilize 2 GPUs to render any game. The caveat is that this pseudo SLI/Crossfire revival is only amongst technical users, not the general public.

 

Additionally, there are productivity workflows that benefit from multi GPU configs such as lightmap baking, scientific computing, and video rendering just to list a few. Admittedly, these tasks are better performed on multi GPU desktops, but a multi GPU laptop is a boon for people like me who want or need all our compute power everywhere we go.

 

For the general public though, your statement does in fact hold true. I'm making an argument on a great degree of technicality here, and it really only applies to a niche set of users. I don't think the general public has really ever been interested in multi GPU configs due to the cost. However, the P870 is definitely a laptop oriented towards more technical users, so I think the multi GPU capability is still very much useful. I believe a dual RTX 3080 MXM laptop would have a little more GPU compute or similar GPU compute to the current top dog RTX 5090 laptop.

 

Having said that, I like the X170 a lot as well. It has the best speakers I've ever heard in a laptop and has VERY good CPU side cooling capabilities.

 

I'd really like multi GPU laptops to make a return to the market. They're awesome. Apparently it may even be possible to get a 40 series core working on a 30 series MXM board according to Khenglish, so it'll be interesting to see where that goes. Dual RTX 4090 P870? That would be a sight to see.

[Maro97]

That’s absolutely true, and the P870TM has indeed been tested with dual RTX 3080 in SLI, and the results were higher than a single RTX 4090 mobile (175W). However, it’s absolutely impossible to solder and install an RTX 4090 GPU chipset onto an RTX 3090 MXM board, as this has already been tested and the chip does not work on that board. This is because the circuit designs of the 3080 and 4090 are different. The 30 series graphics cards operate at 1.8V, whereas the 4090 operates at 1.2V.

[Maro97]

Look this is 4090 ..

But Did not succeed.

 

[win32asmguy]

2 hours ago, Maro97 said:

That’s absolutely true, and the P870TM has indeed been tested with dual RTX 3080 in SLI, and the results were higher than a single RTX 4090 mobile (175W). However, it’s absolutely impossible to solder and install an RTX 4090 GPU chipset onto an RTX 3090 MXM board, as this has already been tested and the chip does not work on that board. This is because the circuit designs of the 3080 and 4090 are different. The 30 series graphics cards operate at 1.8V, whereas the 4090 operates at 1.2V.

 

Well, the new Uniwill IDY now has a modular, full wattage 5070ti - 5090 mobile. Probably the first I have seen since the X170 as a full wattage modular part. No guarantees of upgrades but I am sure someone with a 5070ti + Intel could switch to 5090 if desired.

 

Its kind of funny that Uniwill is now producing more modular products than Clevo. I am not interested in their watercooling addons but I do appreciate everything else they are doing engineering-wise.

[1610ftw]

9 hours ago, win32asmguy said:

Its kind of funny that Uniwill is now producing more modular products than Clevo. I am not interested in their watercooling addons but I do appreciate everything else they are doing engineering-wise.

 

It is very impressive that for high performance laptops Uniwill / Tongfang are leading the way in several areas:

• modularity
• cooling 
• bios customizeability thanks to working with Prema
• Intel and AMD option for the CPU

To be fair to Clevo they are not exceptionally bad with regard to modularity but they have fallen in line with everybody else with regard to modularity and they are still not back at the top when it comes to cooling capacity. Luckily the combination of improved cooling over last gen and a CPU that needs less power will give a lot better results but the 330W power supply already shows that they are not quite serious about performance.