Just received my defiance V 8750h/1070... Lots of issues

[Soupernoodle]

Just received my new laptop today, unfortunately it hasn't been a particularly enjoyable experience because it seems riddled with severe issues.

First one which is the biggest, the temperatures are insanely high, I paid for the repaste with the cooler master master gel, and just booting up and sitting on the desktop I have temperatures of 55-60 degrees doing nothing at all, with basically 0 CPU usage. This causes the fan to sit at a very noisy 78% when completely idle and turns into a jet engine if I dare to open chrome. Oh and when I do open chrome it causes the entire system to freeze... Some of things like opening the settings or file explorer also cause this.

I loaded up battlefield 1 to test and just booting up the game the temperature spiked to 99 degrees! Within 2 minutes of the less demanding single player mode my temperatures were sitting at 95-99 degrees.

Also my brightness shortcuts don't work, the software for the soundcard doesn't work and the control centre doesn't read temperatures properly and bugs out and reads 0.

And even though it's meant to use the integrated GPU when not doing anything demanding while sitting on the desktop the dedicated GPU regularly jumps to 50 degrees with 0% utilisation and causes the GPU fan to ramp up which creates even more noise.

Really confused how this could pass testing and then quality control... But does anyone have any ideas?

Would love for s reinstall to fix these issues but it sounds like a plane is taking off as I'm currently reinstalling...

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just received my new laptop today, unfortunately it hasn't been a particularly enjoyable experience because it seems riddled with severe issues.

First one which is the biggest, the temperatures are insanely high, I paid for the repaste with the cooler master master gel, and just booting up and sitting on the desktop I have temperatures of 55-60 degrees doing nothing at all, with basically 0 CPU usage. This causes the fan to sit at a very noisy 78% when completely idle and turns into a jet engine if I dare to open chrome. Oh and when I do open chrome it causes the entire system to freeze... Some of things like opening the settings or file explorer also cause this.

I loaded up battlefield 1 to test and just booting up the game the temperature spiked to 99 degrees! Within 2 minutes of the less demanding single player mode my temperatures were sitting at 95-99 degrees.

Also my brightness shortcuts don't work, the software for the soundcard doesn't work and the control centre doesn't read temperatures properly and bugs out and reads 0.

And even though it's meant to use the integrated GPU when not doing anything demanding while sitting on the desktop the dedicated GPU regularly jumps to 50 degrees with 0% utilisation and causes the GPU fan to ramp up which creates even more noise.

Really confused how this could pass testing and then quality control... But does anyone have any ideas?

Would love for s reinstall to fix these issues but it sounds like a plane is taking off as I'm currently reinstalling...

I would get that straight back to PCS, sounds like the pasting on the CPU isn't sufficient and needs another go.

If you're comfortable doing it yourself then of course go for it, but before doing so, I'd still log it with PCS so they're aware.

Did you order with windows? Sounds like some drivers aren't installed correctly.

First thing to do is get the temps under control, then go from there.

 

[Soupernoodle]

I would get that straight back to PCS, sounds like the pasting on the CPU isn't sufficient and needs another go.

If you're comfortable doing it yourself then of course go for it, but before doing so, I'd still log it with PCS so they're aware.

Did you order with windows? Sounds like some drivers aren't installed correctly.

First thing to do is get the temps under control, then go from there.

I didn't order it with windows, it came with a 30 day trial thing, looked as though they installed most of the drivers on it. reinstalled last night and will install drivers when i get back from work.

Don't know whether it's best to install the gpu drivers directly from clevo or get them from intel/nvidia, i assume the latter. Just wondering if clevo have any tweaks in theirs.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I didn't order it with windows, it came with a 30 day trial thing, looked as though they installed most of the drivers on it. reinstalled last night and will install drivers when i get back from work.

Don't know whether it's best to install the gpu drivers directly from clevo or get them from intel/nvidia, i assume the latter. Just wondering if clevo have any tweaks in theirs.

Ah, if you haven’t set up the system yet, then it’s likely temps won’t be properly targeted.

Graphics drivers should be direct from nVidia.

 

[Soupernoodle]

What do you mean by properly targeted?

As in they'll be higher than usual because of the set up and background processes will be going on in the background? Because i installed the updates/programs/drivers on the install it came with and the temps were that high long after i did that.

 

[mcmagro]

The brightness shortcuts were not working on my new Defiance laptop too. I have the P950HR model (the Defiance XS) with the NVIDIA 1070 and Intel HD Graphics 630 GPUs.

The problem was due to the Intel GPU's drivers. I tried installing several older drivers; the Intel 15.60.0.4849 drivers (equivalent to the Windows Store drivers 23.20.16.4849) worked. As soon as I installed the drivers, pressing the brightness shortcuts (Fn-F8 and Fn-F9) displayed the brightness slider but it had no effect on the actual screen brightness. However, after a reboot it worked fine.

 

[dnak_ebloa]

Curious to see how things progress with your defiance as i'm also looking at this laptop but with the 8850h cpu. It's a real concern considering the overheating on the lower clocked (8750h cpu) model as there will be no way the higher (and overclockable version) will manage, let alone take advantage of it's overclocking potential...bit of an aside that, but still do report back on temps after you update your drivers

 

[ubuysa]

I didn't order it with windows, it came with a 30 day trial thing, looked as though they installed most of the drivers on it. reinstalled last night and will install drivers when i get back from work.

Don't know whether it's best to install the gpu drivers directly from clevo or get them from intel/nvidia, i assume the latter. Just wondering if clevo have any tweaks in theirs.

First off, the Windows system on there isn't a 30-day trial thing, it's simply the OS that PCS used to test the laptop. Although PCS say it's a fully functional OS I personally would not trust a test system as a live 'production' OS. A reinstall of a your own legal copy of Windows is a wise (and IMO absolutely necessary) move. Hopefully this will fix your driver issues.

The Defiance V seems to be a hot laptop as this thread on here shows. I would definitely call PCS about this though.

 

[deya22]

A reinstall of a your own legal copy of Windows is a wise (and IMO absolutely necessary) move. Hopefully this will fix your driver issues..

I also just received my defiance V with the repast and it also reaches those temps eventhough i installed a legal copy of Windows and its last update with the lastest drivers.


Moreover, my laptop has an awfull clouding on my screen, and this even if the support asserted me, during the assembling phase, that they will avoid it.

By the way, i don't know how they run their tests, but a pc with a CPU that get above 72°C idling should definitly not pass it, in particular if the consumer paid for a repast .....

 

[Rob574188]

Hi OP,

First of all please accept my apologies for the issues you have seen with your machine, naturally this is not the experience our customers have come to know and we would not hope for this to be the case. Regarding your CPU temperatures, I would say that the manufacturers have been made aware of some potential issues that could contribute to what you are seeing. Rest assured that we are dealing with the matter seriously and are working very closely with the manufacturers in the hopes of coming to a speedy resolution.

For now, I would suggest keeping your laptop as cool as possible and following general steps to avoid running the machine in a less than ideal environment involving using the machine on a hard surface, allowing plenty of room for ventilation so as not to impede airflow, avoid running the machine for extended periods in dusty environments and ensure the balanced power plan is selected in windows as the "high performance" mode can cause undue stress upon the processor in some instances.

I will be sure to keep an eye on this in the mean time and will update you once we have news. In the mean time, please feel free to message me directly with your order details directly if you wish to discuss the matter further.

Kind Regards,
Rob
PC Specialist Support Team

 

[deya22]

Furthermore, the control center seems to nerf the GPU when it reaches 72°C by violently disabling the GPU clock boost. Thus when you reach those temps ( quite easy as you can even reach them idling with such an outstanding cooling solution) the GPU will stuck at 1468 mHz.
When the software is uninstalled, the gpu reaches 90°C before normally throttling.

 

[ubuysa]

Furthermore, the control center seems to nerf the GPU when it reaches 72°C by violently disabling the GPU clock boost. Thus when you reach those temps ( quite easy as you can even reach them idling with such an outstanding cooling solution) the GPU will stuck at 1468 mHz.
When the software is uninstalled, the gpu reaches 90°C before normally throttling.

This is probably by design (though that's not based on any insider knowledge). Laptops are notoriously difficult to cool, gaming laptops especially. This model does seem to have some possible design issues regarding cooling if you read between the lines of RobPCS's post and this throttling might be related to that...?

 

[Oussebon]

72 degrees sounds excessively aggressive for disabling boost clocks. While it varies on the generation and laptop/desktop, ~80 degrees give or take is pretty normal and safe for a GPU to run at. Chopping it off at the knees rather than gradually scaling down the boost clocks above 72 (as would be more normal) seems overzealous.

 

[Jorès]

Moreover, as the cpu and gpu share a common heatpipe when one gets hot the temps of the other increase.

 

[Rob574188]

Hi Guys,

Quick update, we have received an updated BIOS for the machine and this has been confirmed to resolve the issue some people have seen with the Defiance V (please note this is a different chassis than the Defiance XS II). We are hoping to have this packaged ready for use at some point tomorrow.

if anyone is seeing issues with this chassis then please contact our support lines on 0333 011 7000 or drop us an email on [email protected] and we will be happy to assist.

 

[Jorès]

Hi Guys,

Quick update, we have received an updated BIOS for the machine and this has been confirmed to resolve the issue some people have seen with the Defiance V (please note this is a different chassis than the Defiance XS II). We are hoping to have this packaged ready for use at some point tomorrow.

if anyone is seeing issues with this chassis then please contact our support lines on 0333 011 7000 or drop us an email on [email protected] and we will be happy to assist.

Would it be a Clock-nerfing soltion ? like disabling the cpu clock-boost when it reaches 72°C .....

 

[Rob574188]

Hi Guys,

New BIOSes are ready to go for the 17" Defiance. For anyone wondering, the solution has lowered the voltage on the chip which is stopping the issues we were seeing with high temperatures.

Rest assured that we have tested the performance for the chip after the BIOS flash and this is running comfortably at its base clock and turbo also works fine.

 

[TP2k]

Thanks for having this conversation in the open, I'm looking at getting the Defiance V myself and was concerned about the temperature issues. It's positive to hear an issue has been identified and addressed.

Supernoodle, could you please let me know if the BIOS update fixes the temperature issues you have to an acceptable level?

I would also be interested in any review you could give in the quality / usability of the built in keyboard & touch-pad. My aim is to use this laptop in 2 situations (a) On a desk with peripherals for gaming (b) On the sofa for non-gaming. I'm trying to judge how comfortable situation (b) would be. As means of comparison, I got a Vortex Series laptop from PCSpecialist many years ago and it was terrible to use as a laptop because:
1) The touchpad wasn't centred with the main keyboard part
2) The touchpad was the same material as the case and was slightly sticky
3) The keyboard was a hybrid UK/US layout with '#' & '\' being in the wrong place.

 

[Soupernoodle]

Thanks for having this conversation in the open, I'm looking at getting the Defiance V myself and was concerned about the temperature issues. It's positive to hear an issue has been identified and addressed.

Supernoodle, could you please let me know if the BIOS update fixes the temperature issues you have to an acceptable level?

I would also be interested in any review you could give in the quality / usability of the built in keyboard & touch-pad. My aim is to use this laptop in 2 situations (a) On a desk with peripherals for gaming (b) On the sofa for non-gaming. I'm trying to judge how comfortable situation (b) would be. As means of comparison, I got a Vortex Series laptop from PCSpecialist many years ago and it was terrible to use as a laptop because:
1) The touchpad wasn't centred with the main keyboard part
2) The touchpad was the same material as the case and was slightly sticky
3) The keyboard was a hybrid UK/US layout with '#' & '\' being in the wrong place.

Sorry for the late reply, have been in the process of moving house so haven't had much time.

The new bios doesn't solve the issue for me, first thing i noticed if now the thermal thorttling threshold is now set to 85 rather than 96, and the fix itself hasn't dont anything for my actual temperatures, the laptop just gets to 85c and throttles the clocks severely to stay under it, bf1 i used to sit around 3.7/3.8 mostly and now it sits more around the 3.1/3.3 mark... so if anything it's just made the laptop perform worse without much benefit, 85c still warms the top of the laptop to the point it's uncomfortable to touch.

Maybe a reinstall might help after the bios update but i'm not sure, even undervolted the laptop runs into power limit issues so wont reach max clocks even if thermals weren't an issue, and there's no way to change that because it's locked down.

 

[Oussebon]

even undervolted the laptop runs into power limit issues so wont reach max clocks even if thermals weren't an issue, and there's no way to change that because it's locked down.

Was this the case before the BIOS update - or are we saying that the BIOS update did this and that basically the "solution" to the thermal issues was to just power-throttle the laptop?

Are the clocks being thermal throttled because the CPU his 85 degrees, or is the CPU now only hitting 85 degrees because it's being power throttled?