[REVIEW] Illegear Onyx Laptop (i7-8750H, RTX 2060)

[genexis_x]

[Update 2: Revisited (2070MQ model)]

[Update 1: Scroll to bottom for i7-9750H+2060 testing]

 

Hi everyone. This is my sixth review in LTT forum. I will be reviewing the Illegear Onyx laptop. Main specs of the laptop are as below:

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i7-8750H

RTX 2060 6GB

16GB 2666MHz RAM single channel

Samsung PM981 256GB

Intel 9560

W10 Trial

Mechanical keyboard (brown switch)

144Hz IPS

Kryonaut repaste and display colour calibration included

 

Based on TongFang GK5CP0Z chassis

A few notes before reading:

1. This is a quick review; thus, not everything will be covered in here

2. This review will mainly focus on thermals instead of performance

3. I will often compare this model with its bigger brother – Selenite (read the review here)

4. My English Language is not that great since it's not my native language. I apologize if you find the review too simple and boring.

 

Product page: https://store.illegear.com/slim-and-powerful-gaming-laptops/187-illegear-onyx.html

 

Part 1: Build quality, input devices

Build quality is excellent. If I had to nit-pick, I wish the chassis could be a bit thicker not only for more rigid feel (not to say that it’s flimsy) but also for better cooling performance. The lid has aluminium brush on top of it. There is only little flex when force is applied at the center. There is some flex when the lid is twisted due to the thinness. The lid is a bit wobbling but not a big deal. You can open the lid with 1 hand. The body is all metal build. There is no flex on the entire keyboard deck and it cannot be twisted with force. It feels slightly more solid compared to Selenite.

 

The mechanical keyboard (GENESWITCH v2, cap 2, brown switch) has low actuation force (slightly higher than the one in Selenite) and 2.8mm key travel. The switches are surprisingly quiet when pressed. Should be usable in quiet conditions such as in library. Like the Raven, the layout is a bit special (especially right CTRL and SHIFT keys) and I can sometimes mistype the up key when trying to press right shift. You can set the effect, brightness and speed of the keyboard lighting via Illegear Command Center.

 

The Clickpad has Precision driver. The plastic surface has satisfactory smoothness but can be a bit rough when you have wet/oily fingers. Like the Selenite, you can disable the clickpad by double tapping the left top corner of the clickpad. The L/R click feel is OK, nothing special. One thing to note is, the clickpad is aligned slightly to the right of the keyboard space bar which makes it more centralized.

 

Part 2: Display, Audio, Battery

The display is a 144Hz IPS panel from BOE (display ID BOE07AF). As you can expect from a high refresh rate panel, everything feels smooth. It gets bright enough, colours are vibrant, has low response times and good contrast.

 

The 2 down firing speakers has good audio (with a bit of bass too); however, you need to tune the audio via Sound Blaster software (otherwise the sound quality is terrible). Tuned audio profile: Music profile, bass 0, treble 3, surround 80, crystalizer 50, bass 40, smart vol 0, dialog+ off. Volume is a bit soft/quiet. Overall, the sound quality is slightly richer than the one in Selenite (with tuned audio profile too).

 

I don’t have time to test the battery life, however don’t expect much from the 46.74Wh battery.

 

Part 3: Cooling performance

The cooling design consists of 3 heatpipes with 2 shared on CPU+GPU (1 doesn't stretch to GPU fan). The heatsink is stretched to both left and right.

 

Notes on all thermal testing:

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PL1 – 70W, PL2 – 85W

BIOS N.1.01, EC 1.03.09

GPU driver tested is 418.91

Test is conducted in a A/C room (ambient 20-22C)

Game mode and equilibrium mode are used (more on that later)

Laptop is plugged in. The fans take a while to speed up when load is applied

Max fan noise is ~55dBA

For some reason, the GPU has locked voltage (factory locked). There is no way to customize the voltage curve via MSI Afterburner (empty inside, tried many settings but no luck). Also, Throttlestop will automatically cause a 35W CPU power limit, use XTU if you wish to undervolt.

 

CPU Undervolt profile: -100mv on core and cache

Blue highlighted part is CPU undervolted result

 

Results:

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CPU temp - Cinebench R15 multi core (1 run)

Max 95C 3.6-3.7GHz 81-84W

Almost max fans

Max 90C 3.9GHz ~75W 1150+cb

Slightly reduced fans (compared to almost max fans)

 

CPU temp - Aida64 FPU 70W

Max 90C 3.0-3.1GHz

Max 90C 3.3-3.4GHz

Almost max fans for both

 

GPU temp - Unigine Valley (extreme HD profile)

Clock speed fluctuates, about 100-500MHz higher than boost clock (1200MHz)

Max 74C, max 95W

Slightly reduced fans

 

FPU (with undervolt) + Valley (extreme HD) with max fans

CPU: Max 95C 3.0-3.2GHz 49-52W

GPU: Max 78C same clock speed behaviour max 85W

 

Apex Legends 1080p all max, 6GB budget, 90 FOV, training map (with undervolt)

CPU: Max 86C, clock speed fluctuates 3.0-3.9GHz 24-33W (see video below for explanation of the clock speed fluctuation)

GPU: Max 77C +100-200MHz max 85W

Slightly reduced fans

 

Unigine Valley benchmark (extreme HD, 1 run)

FPS: 75.6

Score: 3164

 

The chassis will get warm (upper part – keyboard area, and bottom part) when it’s under load. However, the bottom part doesn’t get quite as hot as most reviews said (60+C). Maybe it’s due to the low ambient temp. Core temp differential is ~7C.

 

In Illegear Command Center, there are 2 modes to choose from: Game mode or office mode. Office mode gives you access to control fan speed but has a 35W CPU power limit.

There are 4 power profiles to choose from:

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High performance (same with Windows)

Game

Equilibrium

Power saving

Here’s a good video on how all the power setting works. Very informative. Basically, just keep it to game mode and equilibrium

 

The included power adapter is an 180W unit from FSP. Take note that temps might be a little higher when running dual channel memory.

 

Part 4: Miscellaneous

The laptop is thin and light – 1.95kg and 20mm thickness. The footprint is also relatively small.

 

You need to press about 2 seconds to power on the laptop.

 

For the pictures of positioning of ports, cooling solution etc, you can refer Notebookcheck review on GK5CQ7Z 2070MQ (XMG Neo 15)

 

Other settings in Illegear Command Center:

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Power source for display – turn off internal display

Display colour profile: Standard, Gaming, Video, Reading, Customize

Light Effect: Keyboard backlight, LED light bar

Other settings: Windows key lock, Hibernation USB charging, Discrete GPU ‘on’, Turn off OSD, Gamer mode

Updated Illegear Command Center:

Spoiler

 

Bonus Section: i7-9750H update with 63Wh battery upgrade

Main specs:

Spoiler

i7-9750H

RTX 2060 6GB

16GB 2666MHz RAM (dual channel)

512GB NVMe M.2 SSD

144Hz IPS

Intel 9560

W10 Trial

Kryonaut repaste and display colour calibration included

Battery life test:

Settings: YT 720p video with Chrome (force iGPU), 25% screen brightness, disabled turbo, stock undervolt, best battery mode, no RGB lights, minimal background process

Result: Lasted around 5 hours

 

Notes:

1. BIOS N.1.52, EC 2.04.09

2. GPU driver tested is 430.64

3. This model gets the new Illegear Command Center with GPU boost feature

4. 2060 model will also get 230W Chicony charger for 9th gen CPU

5. Other notes from previous thermal testing that are not mentioned also apply here

6. To get best performance+thermal result for GPU, you need to undervolt GPU and use turbo mode

 

Undervolt profile: CPU core+cache -100mv. You can undervolt GPU if you want, but it takes time. Blue highlighted part is the undervolted result.

 

Results:

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CPU temp - Cinebench R15 multi core (1 run)

Max 91C, ~85W, ~4GHz, max fans, 1250+cb

Max 87C, 77-78W, 4GHz, ~52-54dBA, 1250+cb

 

CPU temp - Aida64 FPU 70W

Max 90C, 3.2GHz

Max 88C, 3.3-3.4GHz

Max fans

 

GPU temp - Unigine Valley (extreme HD profile with turbo mode)

Clock speed fluctuates: 1650+MHz

Max 81C, max fans, ~80W

 

FPU + Valley (extreme HD) with max fans

CPU (UV): Max 95C, 2.9-3GHz, 45-47W

GPU: Max 80C, clock speed fluctuates: at least +100MHz from turbo clock (1200MHz), ~80W

 

FPU + Valley (extreme HD+turbo) with max fans

CPU (UV): Max 95C, 2.4-2.5GHz, ~31W

GPU: Max 86C, 1550+MHz

 

Apex Legends - 1080p all max, 6GB VRAM, 90 FOV

CPU (UV): Max 85C, 3-4GHz, 24-33W

GPU: Max 76C, clock speed fluctuates: at least +100MHz from turbo clock, ~80W

~50dBA

 

Apex Legends - 1080p all max, 6GB VRAM, 90 FOV with turbo mode

CPU (UV): Max 92C, max 3.9GHz (fluctuate), 26-32W

GPU: Max 86C, 1560+MHz

Max fans

 

Time Spy (Turbo mode, 1 run):

Score: 6365, Graphics: 6753

 

Fire Strike (Turbo mode, 1 run):

Score: 13377, Graphics: 17296

 

Gallery (credits to @D13H4RD)

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Conclusion: Decent thin and light RTX laptop

 

Pros:

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Thin and light gaming laptop with small footprint

Reasonable temps

Excellent build quality

144Hz display

Plenty of ports

Great typing feel

Optional battery upgrade

Cons:

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Runs a bit hot as expected in small chassis, loud fans under load

Audio needs tuning

Thanks for reading! Let me know if there are mistakes in the review.

Edited January 9, 2020 by genexis_x
2070MQ update

[ahuckphin]

Quote

In Illegear Command Center, there are 2 modes to choose from: Game mode or office mode. Office mode gives you access to control fan speed but has a 35W CPU power limit.

35w CPU power limit in office mode feels like a problem. Could this "problem" be potentially be solved with an update to the command center software? 

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, bindydad123 said:

35w CPU power limit in office mode feels like a problem. Could this "problem" be potentially be solved with an update to the command center software? 

Should be possible via firmware/software/BIOS update

[armMM]

where to download the latest official onyx command center and bios?

[genexis_x]

10 minutes ago, armMM said:

where to download the latest official onyx command center and bios?

You need to PM Illegear staff