Premium Thermal Compound Gimmick?

[Bootskii]

I've noticed boutique builders like Origin PC, Digital Storm, and even Sager (are they technically considered a boutique builder?) offer optional premium thermal compound on their laptops for the CPU and/or GPU for about $35 each. Is this a gimmick? It feels like a gimmick.

 

(Keep in mind I'm also a video editor, so my CPU temps go bonkersville on a regular basis.)

[19_blackie_73]

you may see a couple of degrees less, but overall not worth $35 tbh. Between average stuff and above average stuff is maybe 5°C. I highly doubt that they will do the most extreme things they can find like liquid metal or sth like that.

[mikat]

5 minutes ago, Bootskii said:

I've noticed boutique builders like Origin PC, Digital Storm, and even Sager (are they technically considered a boutique builder?) offer optional premium thermal compound on their laptops for the CPU and/or GPU for about $35 each. Is this a gimmick? It feels like a gimmick.

 

(Keep in mind I'm also a video editor, so my CPU temps go bonkersville on a regular basis.)

The good stuff like MX-4 makes a difference but idk what they use.

Buying it yourself and reapplying the cpu cooler would be the best option though

[manikyath]

i dont think it's a gimmick, as much as it is clever system integrators that usually use an "acceptable quality" bulk paste playing in on the market of people who must know the kind of TIM that's under the hood to not repaste the moment they get it in their hands.

 

i look at it like this: if my HP laptop that spent 4 years at 95°c (tjmax), has been trough some of the worst of physical abuse, and has spent another 6 years rotting on a shelf wins less than 5°c after a repaste, i'd take that no-name bulk paste isnt necessarily bad, and integrators have come to see the value of using a quality paste trough not having to deal with RMAs because their paste went shit within warranty.

[Bootskii]

10 minutes ago, mikat said:

The good stuff like MX-4 makes a difference but idk what they use.

Buying it yourself and reapplying the cpu cooler would be the best option though

That video was extremely helpful, thank you!

Sager uses IC Diamond, Digital Storm has a picture of IC Diamond but doesn't explicitly state what they use, and Origin PC uses GELID GC-Extreme.

[Galm]

2 hours ago, Bootskii said:

I've noticed boutique builders like Origin PC, Digital Storm, and even Sager (are they technically considered a boutique builder?) offer optional premium thermal compound on their laptops for the CPU and/or GPU for about $35 each. Is this a gimmick? It feels like a gimmick.

 

(Keep in mind I'm also a video editor, so my CPU temps go bonkersville on a regular basis.)

 

2 hours ago, 19_blackie_73 said:

you may see a couple of degrees less, but overall not worth $35 tbh. Between average stuff and above average stuff is maybe 5°C. I highly doubt that they will do the most extreme things they can find like liquid metal or sth like that.

There is quite a bit of misinformation here...  Paste does make a difference.  

 

That video on comparing thermal compound is lacking.  It's missing a lot of important points.

 

The most important thing I hope EVERYONE sees here is that those are desktop cpus.  So the thermal compound on laptops isn't being applied to the lid like on desktop, instead it's going on the actual cpu die.  This makes a difference, and different thermal compounds are better than others.  It's why people delid desktop cpus, it does help over a normal repasting.

 

IC Diamond is a good "repair" paste when contact is poor between the heatsink and cpu.  Liquid Ultra is probably the best overall because it's conductive (meaning screwing up could fry your stuff) so it's great at dissipating heat.  Kryonaut is a good paste as well.  MX-4 is actually pretty awful, it's not the good stuff.

 

So please pass it on, and help stop spreading misinformation.  As much as I love LTT and NCIX a ton of their videos accidentally mislead people.  (For example that cpu benchmark using 4K was completely useless...  the gpu was the bottleneck not the cpu).

 

@D2ultima can pitch in too he knows as well.

 

So OP, what laptop are you looking to get?  Laptops like Clevos in particular often come with crappy contact and poor stock paste.  When repasted with IC Diamond or liquid ultra temps drop a lot.  My own Clevo P650RS dropped nearly 15 degrees going from stock paste to liquid ultra.  (HIDEvolution and GenTechPC offer liquid ultra btw)

[19_blackie_73]

25 minutes ago, Galm said:

 

There is quite a bit of misinformation here...  Paste does make a difference.  

 

That video on comparing thermal compound is lacking.  It's missing a lot of important points.

 

The most important thing I hope EVERYONE sees here is that those are desktop cpus.  So the thermal compound on laptops isn't being applied to the lid like on desktop, instead it's going on the actual cpu die.  This makes a difference, and different thermal compounds are better than others.  It's why people delid desktop cpus, it does help over a normal repasting.

 

IC Diamond is a good "repair" paste when contact is poor between the heatsink and cpu.  Liquid Ultra is probably the best overall because it's conductive (meaning screwing up could fry your stuff) so it's great at dissipating heat.  Kryonaut is a good paste as well.  MX-4 is actually pretty awful, it's not the good stuff.

 

So please pass it on, and help stop spreading misinformation.  As much as I love LTT and NCIX a ton of their videos accidentally mislead people.  (For example that cpu benchmark using 4K was completely useless...  the gpu was the bottleneck not the cpu).

 

@D2ultima can pitch in too he knows as well.

 

So OP, what laptop are you looking to get?  Laptops like Clevos in particular often come with crappy contact and poor stock paste.  When repasted with IC Diamond or liquid ultra temps drop a lot.  My own Clevo P650RS dropped nearly 15 degrees going from stock paste to liquid ultra.  (HIDEvolution and GenTechPC offer liquid ultra btw)

the point i was trying to make is as long as you don't have any real info what is stock paste and what is "upgraded" paste, I wouldn't pay $35 for that. and most generic stuff gets the job done, repasting doesn't make any huge difference, EXCEPT u use sth like liquid metal or so, but I highly doubt that they'll do high end stuff as a replacement.

[Galm]

1 minute ago, 19_blackie_73 said:

the point i was trying to make is as long as you don't have any real info what is stock paste and what is "upgraded" paste, I wouldn't pay $35 for that. and most generic stuff gets the job done, repasting doesn't make any huge difference, EXCEPT u use sth like liquid metal or so, but I highly doubt that they'll do high end stuff as a replacement.

Stock paste is like 99% of the time worse than IC Diamond.  Usually like offbrand stuff or something.  Using Kryonaut over stock paste should improve it solidly, and again IC Diamond is very good on Clevos.  For 35 bucks on like a 1500+ machine I would say it is worth it.  

[D2ultima]

2 hours ago, mikat said:

The good stuff like MX-4 makes a difference but idk what they use.

Buying it yourself and reapplying the cpu cooler would be the best option though

> good stuff

> MX-4

 

LUL

 

No, it really is not the good stuff. AS5 and Arctic Ceramique 2 are better, far less GC Extreme and IC Diamond. MX-4 is trash-tier, but for some reason very popular. It also only works on high mounting pressure heatsinks, otherwise it pumps out/evaporates.

 

2 hours ago, Bootskii said:

I've noticed boutique builders like Origin PC, Digital Storm, and even Sager (are they technically considered a boutique builder?) offer optional premium thermal compound on their laptops for the CPU and/or GPU for about $35 each. Is this a gimmick? It feels like a gimmick.

 

(Keep in mind I'm also a video editor, so my CPU temps go bonkersville on a regular basis.)

Thermal paste is not a gimmick. But it may be depending on where you buy it from. $35 for ICD repaste is... less than optimal. You could buy yourself a tube of ICD, a decent multi-bit screwdriver set, and a bucket of KFC with that budget, and you'd be able to get the same paste on. But that requires taking the thing apart, so you're more paying for convenience. Of course, some places like Eurocom, Mythlogic, HID, etc use IC Diamond as a standard paste, so the extra payment isn't necessary (though their prices are higher than Sager).

 

If you're buying a Clevo socketed model (P7xxDM2, P870xMx), there's only two places you should be buying them from. HIDevolution (US & worldwide; has Prema mod) and OBSIDIAN-PC (EU/UK, no Prema mod). Yes, only those two places in the world. Because these places delid the CPUs with liquid ultra inbetween the IHS and die, and use optimal thermal pad placement for best cooling on the GPU heatsinks, have the best selection options, and give you the best out of box experience possible. You could of course get it from another place and do all the fixes manually (like I have had to do; still waiting on my thermal pads actually to finish the cooling upgrade process) but I suspect you aren't comfortable with delidding your CPU and whatnot.

 

If you're buying the BGA (soldered) models (P6xxHx) then the place you buy them from matters much less; the machines don't need delidding or any special thermal pad placements to keep themselves cool. I'd still suggest liquid metal on the CPU, which you can get from GentechPC or HIDevolution, though HID will offer the Prema mod and Gentech will not.

 

Prema mods are jesus. You want them if you like even a little control over a system at the BIOS level and for it to be nice and up to date with all the latest fixes from intel etc.

 

MSI and Alienware need repastes done manually. Don't bother getting them from sellers.

 

ASUS needs repastes BADLY. I've heard of 10c drops just repasting with normal paste there. The problem is most of their laptops take so much effort to take apart that it's often a 2-hour endeavour. I'd suggest taking it from a reseller site like XoticPC or HIDevolution or Pro-Star computing if you see it as an option, because you DAMN WELL DON'T WANT TO DO IT.

 

If you thought ASUS was bad, Gigabyte is worse. 20c drops reported from adjusting paste. I would also only buy Gigabyte's Aorus models if you had to buy a gigabyte, and they're only useful if you need something to be thin and function at stock clocks. I would take them from GentechPC and get the Liquid Ultra upgrade (it's $0.01 for it, at least as of now) and they'll function decently. Just don't overclock them.

 

Everyone else makes too weak machines to make sense buying for a serious video editor.

 

Also, since I mentioned "clevo" throughout this, I should clarify. Clevo is the ODM that makes the machines that places like OriginPC, Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest, iBuyPower, Sager, Mythlogic, HIDevolution (EVOC systems), Eurocom, etc buy and rebrand. So the EON17-X 10 from OriginPC IS the NP9172/NP9173 from Sager, which IS the 17.3" Harker from Digital Storm, etc. Same system. As I said before, I would only buy the socketed CPU models from HIDevolution and OBSIDIAN-PC, however I want to specifically state that it's an especially bad idea to get them from Origin PC or Digital Storm or iBuyPower. If you must go a cheaper route, then Sager (through LPC-Digital) or Eurocom (with student discount) is a much better idea.

[Bootskii]

2 hours ago, D2ultima said:

> good stuff

> MX-4

 

LUL

 

No, it really is not the good stuff. AS5 and Arctic Ceramique 2 are better, far less GC Extreme and IC Diamond. MX-4 is trash-tier, but for some reason very popular. It also only works on high mounting pressure heatsinks, otherwise it pumps out/evaporates.

 

Thermal paste is not a gimmick. But it may be depending on where you buy it from. $35 for ICD repaste is... less than optimal. You could buy yourself a tube of ICD, a decent multi-bit screwdriver set, and a bucket of KFC with that budget, and you'd be able to get the same paste on. But that requires taking the thing apart, so you're more paying for convenience. Of course, some places like Eurocom, Mythlogic, HID, etc use IC Diamond as a standard paste, so the extra payment isn't necessary (though their prices are higher than Sager).

 

If you're buying a Clevo socketed model (P7xxDM2, P870xMx), there's only two places you should be buying them from. HIDevolution (US & worldwide; has Prema mod) and OBSIDIAN-PC (EU/UK, no Prema mod). Yes, only those two places in the world. Because these places delid the CPUs with liquid ultra inbetween the IHS and die, and use optimal thermal pad placement for best cooling on the GPU heatsinks, have the best selection options, and give you the best out of box experience possible. You could of course get it from another place and do all the fixes manually (like I have had to do; still waiting on my thermal pads actually to finish the cooling upgrade process) but I suspect you aren't comfortable with delidding your CPU and whatnot.

 

If you're buying the BGA (soldered) models (P6xxHx) then the place you buy them from matters much less; the machines don't need delidding or any special thermal pad placements to keep themselves cool. I'd still suggest liquid metal on the CPU, which you can get from GentechPC or HIDevolution, though HID will offer the Prema mod and Gentech will not.

 

Prema mods are jesus. You want them if you like even a little control over a system at the BIOS level and for it to be nice and up to date with all the latest fixes from intel etc.

 

MSI and Alienware need repastes done manually. Don't bother getting them from sellers.

 

ASUS needs repastes BADLY. I've heard of 10c drops just repasting with normal paste there. The problem is most of their laptops take so much effort to take apart that it's often a 2-hour endeavour. I'd suggest taking it from a reseller site like XoticPC or HIDevolution or Pro-Star computing if you see it as an option, because you DAMN WELL DON'T WANT TO DO IT.

 

If you thought ASUS was bad, Gigabyte is worse. 20c drops reported from adjusting paste. I would also only buy Gigabyte's Aorus models if you had to buy a gigabyte, and they're only useful if you need something to be thin and function at stock clocks. I would take them from GentechPC and get the Liquid Ultra upgrade (it's $0.01 for it, at least as of now) and they'll function decently. Just don't overclock them.

 

Everyone else makes too weak machines to make sense buying for a serious video editor.

 

Also, since I mentioned "clevo" throughout this, I should clarify. Clevo is the ODM that makes the machines that places like OriginPC, Digital Storm, Falcon Northwest, iBuyPower, Sager, Mythlogic, HIDevolution (EVOC systems), Eurocom, etc buy and rebrand. So the EON17-X 10 from OriginPC IS the NP9172/NP9173 from Sager, which IS the 17.3" Harker from Digital Storm, etc. Same system. As I said before, I would only buy the socketed CPU models from HIDevolution and OBSIDIAN-PC, however I want to specifically state that it's an especially bad idea to get them from Origin PC or Digital Storm or iBuyPower. If you must go a cheaper route, then Sager (through LPC-Digital) or Eurocom (with student discount) is a much better idea.

Thanks! I've actually never heard of HIDevolution or OBSIDIAN-PC, so I'm definitely going to check them out. Very helpful knowing about who actually de-lids. 

 

3 hours ago, Galm said:

So OP, what laptop are you looking to get?

In a nutshell, I want a fat 15", the most reliable one I can find, with great support. Finding the right specs really isn't hard anymore. i7 7820HK or 7700K or respective Skylake versions. GTX 1060 or 1070 (I'd love a 1080, but I'm having a hard time justifying the $400 price hike). SD card reader is a must, and Thunderbolt3 is highly preferred. No thin & lights; I had one once and the motherboard blew up (I'm only half-joking here).

    So that Clevo model that matches Origin's EON15-X is great. I half considered Alienware until I discovered they ditched SD card readers  Basically I'm incredibly cheesed at my 3 RMAs in 1.5 years for my current MSI Dominator model and I'm really looking for something I can count on. My Dominator really dominates at f*cking up at the worst possible moments, like the day before a shoot. It's the little things I'm trying to find out, the idiosyncrasies of owning a certain brand that you won't find on any spreadsheets. I've pretty much given up on major brands like ASUS, MSI, Alienware, Dell, etc., and I'm committing to a boutique builder. So far I'm getting a lot of great help finding the right one on these LTT forums  

Edited March 20, 2017 by Bootskii
Those 15" models don't support a 1080. I knew that, but said it anyway for some reason..

[Galm]

16 minutes ago, Bootskii said:

Thanks! I've actually never heard of HIDevolution or OBSIDIAN-PC, so I'm definitely going to check them out. Very helpful knowing about who actually de-lids. 

 

In a nutshell, I want a fat 15", the most reliable one I can find, with great support. Finding the right specs really isn't hard anymore. i7 7820HK or 7700K or respective Skylake versions. GTX 1060 or 1070 (I'd love a 1080, but I'm having a hard time justifying the $400 price hike). SD card reader is a must, and Thunderbolt3 is highly preferred. No thin & lights; I had one once and the motherboard blew up (I'm only half-joking here).

    So that Clevo model that matches Origin's EON15-X is great. I half considered Alienware until I discovered they ditched SD card readers  Basically I'm incredibly cheesed at my 3 RMAs in 1.5 years for my current MSI Dominator model and I'm really looking for something I can count on. My Dominator really dominates at f*cking up at the worst possible moments, like the day before a shoot. It's the little things I'm trying to find out, the idiosyncrasies of owning a certain brand that you won't find on any spreadsheets. I've pretty much given up on major brands like ASUS, MSI, Alienware, Dell, etc., and I'm committing to a boutique builder. So far I'm getting a lot of great help finding the right one on these LTT forums  

Well the Clevo P650s are fairly thin but are not overheaters.  However, the coolest combo is like an MSI GT62.  Mobile cpu + 1070.  Getting a desktop cpu will add heat.  My Clevo P650RS is cooler than a lot of Clevo P750 (which is what that origin thing is, also don't buy from them if you want actual good support).

[D2ultima]

10 minutes ago, Bootskii said:

Thanks! I've actually never heard of HIDevolution or OBSIDIAN-PC, so I'm definitely going to check them out. Very helpful knowing about who actually de-lids. 

 

In a nutshell, I want a fat 15", the most reliable one I can find, with great support. Finding the right specs really isn't hard anymore. i7 7820HK or 7700K or respective Skylake versions. GTX 1060 or 1070 (I'd love a 1080, but I'm having a hard time justifying the $400 price hike). SD card reader is a must, and Thunderbolt3 is highly preferred. No thin & lights; I had one once and the motherboard blew up (I'm only half-joking here).

    So that Clevo model that matches Origin's EON15-X is great. I half considered Alienware until I discovered they ditched SD card readers  Basically I'm incredibly cheesed at my 3 RMAs in 1.5 years for my current MSI Dominator model and I'm really looking for something I can count on. My Dominator really dominates at f*cking up at the worst possible moments, like the day before a shoot. It's the little things I'm trying to find out, the idiosyncrasies of owning a certain brand that you won't find on any spreadsheets. I've pretty much given up on major brands like ASUS, MSI, Alienware, Dell, etc., and I'm committing to a boutique builder. So far I'm getting a lot of great help finding the right one on these LTT forums  

To be fair, OBSIDIAN-PC is the best around. Standard operation for them is:

- Thermal pad redone according to notebook enthusiasts on the Notebookreview forums for best temperatures

- Shim soldered to CPU heatsink on P870xMx models to bridge gap for best contact between IHS and Heatsink

- Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut on GPU and CPU

- CPUs delidded with Liquid Metal inbetween IHS and Bare Die

 

This is "stock". This is not anything you pay extra for. If you purchase from them, this is a STANDARD machine. They're extremely fantastic, I can't recommend them more highly, except for one very small caveat: They are legally not allowed to be a Prema Partner (yet). This means they cannot sell you the Prema mod, and the Prema Mod is almost completely necessary for these machines. They are, however, trying to get their own personal unlocked/updated BIOSes out, so that relying on Prema isn't necessary, since they cannot rely on him (they want to be a Prema Partner, I just want to make that clear, they just can't).

 

HIDevolution is closely second best. Standard operation for them is:

- Thermal pad redone according to notebook enthusiasts on the Notebookreview forums for best temperatures

- Shim experimented; unsure of exact method used right now for P870xMx models. P7xxxMx models should not need one, to be fair.

- IC Diamond on CPU & GPU

- CPUs delidded with Liquid Metal inbetween IHS and Bare Die

- Prema Mod

- All desktop i5 CPUs overclocked to 4.3GHz out of the box as you receive them.

- All desktop i7 CPUs overclocked to 4.7GHz out of the box as you receive them.

 

They are fantastic, and also highly recommended, but they simply are not as thorough as OBSIDIAN-PC is. It's not that they are by any stretch of the imagination bad, but there must be a "best" and a "second best", and HIDevolution takes "second best". They are a Prema Partner, and that's an insane selling point. If you are in the US, these are the people to buy from.

 

Do note, the P750DM2 can theoretically hold a 1080N in it. It's essentially the same machine as the P775DM3, which sells with a 1080N. But I don't know if you can convince HIDevolution to sell you one in it =D. I'd say if GPU power is what you care about when not rendering, 1080N is indeed worth it over the 1070N, but in the same breath, you are significantly better off with the P870KM1 using a single 1080N and the vapor chamber heatsink. I guarantee that. But it's going to be a lot bigger than the P750DM2 and likely more expensive, so that's a bleh issue, but I'm just letting you know your options.

 

Also just to clear things up. Origin PC's EON15-X 10 is a "Clevo", not the other way around. Clevo makes them, and Origin buys them and rebrands.

[Kalm_Traveler]

In the 17ish years I've been building/repairing PCs that had thermal paste, I have found that indeed there are better and worse compounds but it all comes down to application and thermal conductivity.

 

The metallic compounds available are the most thermally conductive, but you need to really be careful applying them because if they touch any circuitry they will cause a short.

 

Anyway, to answer your question no $35 more for 'premium paste' is not worth it. Two of the most conductive pastes on the market currently are between $6 and $12 per tube and that is enough to do multiple CPUs, so paying $35 for an unknown better paste is really just you buying them a nice dinner.

[PCGuy_5960]

3 hours ago, D2ultima said:

> good stuff

> MX-4

 

LUL

 

No, it really is not the good stuff. AS5 and Arctic Ceramique 2 are better, far less GC Extreme and IC Diamond. MX-4 is trash-tier, but for some reason very popular.

AS5 is worse than MX-4:

And Arctic MX-4 is non conductive and non capacitive....

[D2ultima]

1 minute ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

AS5 is worse than MX-4:

And Arctic MX-4 is non conductive and non capacitive....

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/bare-die-testing-a-delidded-3770k-an-h100-and-9-different-tims.2285595/

[PCGuy_5960]

2 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/bare-die-testing-a-delidded-3770k-an-h100-and-9-different-tims.2285595/

Well duh? For direct die cooling you don't use thermal paste that is meant for use on the IHS... And if you are going to delid your CPU, you'd better use liquid metal...

[D2ultima]

18 minutes ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

Well duh? For direct die cooling you don't use thermal paste that is meant for use on the IHS... And if you are going to delid your CPU, you'd better use liquid metal...

Laptop CPUs are all bare die.

 

If a thermal paste is only good over a wide spread of heat, then it isn't very good.

 

Thirdly, you need to have a test that properly stresses the cooler for TIM to separate more than a couple degrees. The more the cooler is pushed to the limit the better the discrepancy is. Your posted lists are rather cool temperatures. Under 40c for all CPU tests.

[Pendragon]

6 hours ago, D2ultima said:

The problem is most of their laptops take so much effort to take apart that it's often a 2-hour endeavour

I'd just like to point out that Alienware and MSI Stealth series are just as bad. The MSI stealth series have an inverted motherboard forcing full disassembly and AW is a piece of shit just like Asus taking forever to take apart. 

 

4 hours ago, Bootskii said:

(I'd love a 1080, but I'm having a hard time justifying the $400 price hike)

They do. I linked you one. the MSI 16L13

 

3 hours ago, D2ultima said:

Do note, the P750DM2 can theoretically hold a 1080N in it

MSI 16L13. It's coming with a Prema mod. Hype. 

 

3 hours ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

Well duh? For direct die cooling you don't use thermal paste that is meant for use on the IHS... And if you are going to delid your CPU, you'd better use liquid metal...

LOL it's all direct die. And even if you get a DTR you should be delidding it so it's still direct die. 

[D2ultima]

2 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

I'd just like to point out that Alienware and MSI Stealth series are just as bad. The MSI stealth series have an inverted motherboard forcing full disassembly and AW is a piece of shit just like Asus taking forever to take apart. 

 

They do. I linked you one. the MSI 16L13

 

MSI 16L13. It's coming with a Prema mod. Hype. 

 

LOL it's all direct die. And even if you get a DTR you should be delidding it so it's still direct die. 

Yeah, I suppose. Though stock MSI paste isn't so terrible all things considered.

 

That... is a whole other story.

 

When did they announce it'll be Prema modded?

 

Delidding needs relidding on these machines.

[Pendragon]

3 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

That... is a whole other story.

 

?? Yes it's TDP limited because the MSI MXM version doesn't have an additional power input on the card but ehhh.

 

4 minutes ago, D2ultima said:

When did they announce it'll be Prema modded?

 

I think literally a couple of days ago. 

[D2ultima]

9 minutes ago, Pendragon said:

?? Yes it's TDP limited because the MSI MXM version doesn't have an additional power input on the card but ehhh.

 

I think literally a couple of days ago. 

Only 1 SATA slot (M.2 is *TERRIBLE* for recording to)

Cannot overvolt RAM for the good RAM unless using default XMP profiles on ANY bit of RAM (it just resets to 1.2v). Even with Prema mod.

Cooling needs a bit of modding too; I don't know if HID is doing the pad/mods yet like they do for the Clevos

CMOS reset is an absolute bitch

Only 3 USB ports

 

I mean, don't get me wrong. It is a nice little notebook and all. But it isn't... the best 15"er. If we're considering top notch cooling situation vs top notch cooling situation, then the P750DM2 is better, even with the shared heatsink. Especially since when rendering he won't be using the GPU, so his CPU gets to share the GPU fan.

 

As for the prema mod... damn. That's new. I wonder if Eurocom is offering it. Yeah they're offering "a" BIOS... I don't know if Prema.

[Pendragon]

1 minute ago, D2ultima said:

I mean, don't get me wrong. It is a nice little notebook and all. But it isn't... the best 15"er. If we're considering top notch cooling situation vs top notch cooling situation, then the P750DM2 is better, even with the shared heatsink. Especially since when rendering he won't be using the GPU, so his CPU gets to share the GPU fan.

 

Pure performance wise, the P750DM2 definitely has the win, but the MSI 16l13 definitely has better quality of life components. Keyboard, trackpad, speakers etc. Cooling needs ALOT of modding. I've been following Mr. Foxes adventures with this thing and it's pretty interesting. Ram unfortunately is still shit. Best you can do with this thing is the CL14 Kingston ones. I saw the change a few days ago when my script alerted me to the change LOL. Guess Prema thought Mr. Fox's custom bios would do good in the hands of everyone else.