2nd hand laptop with RTX 3070 - ripped off or config error?

[Phuturist]

Hello,

I'm new here look for some expert help as I myself am in no way a computer expert.

TL;TR: I bought a second hand laptop which is not performing. The previous owner states there was nothing wrong with the laptop before he shipped it to me but I'm seeing terrible performance both from the CPU as well as the GPU. Now I need a better indication if this is related to the fresh configuration or there are hints the laptop wasnt probably working correctly when it was sold to me and I have been ripped off.

The longer version: It's a Tongfang barebone which is build by a Dutch company called Skikk and the model is called Skikk Bifrost 17MD7M RTX 3070. The CPU is AMD Ryzen 9 5900hx and the GPU is Nvidia RTX 3070. I already own a similar barebone called a Tongfang GM7ZG7P with pretty much the same specs. These laptops come with their own Control Center which has 3 performance profiles called 1.) Balanced, 2.) Enthusiast and 3.) Overboost.

The problems I'm experiencing is that in Balanced Mode the CPU most of the time drops to 0.4GHz (but not always) causing terrible performance with even browsing and navigating Windows Explorer. This does not happen on the other laptop where it usually says around 3-4GHz. This is not too much of a deal as I can use the other profiles to circumvent this.

The real issue is the performance of the GPU under the Boost profile. This laptop is supposed to play games like Fortnite at pretty high settings but the performance of this laptop is aweful. I see the GPU load is between 60 - 100% constantly even when not actually playing and the GPU it throttling temp and power limits constantly. The questions is why?

Both laptops have the same CPU and GPU drivers including the same settings. I cleaned the fans, both fans (CPU and GPU) seem to work. As far as I could tell temps arent of the chart. I tried the PSU from the other laptop but to no avail either. I reset the BIOS to it's default values and compared its settings with the other laptop. Didnt help. The BIOS on the 2nd hand laptop is newer but there are no differences in it's settings. I tried to use MSI Afterburner but it's giving me errors. I had to set it to legacy mode but even after that I wasnt able to perform a scan.

I have made two screen captures to show the actual issues:

• CPU performance
• GPU performance

So I can really use some hints as to what is causing this, specifically if it's hardware failure or something in the configuration.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

A bios version difference could tell a story. There's the first difference you already pointed it out. It would not be uncommon to have one bios version work better than another, even if it where older.

But really, because you should have purchased what was presumed a good in working order laptop, it's not your problem to figure out. Contact the seller and at least make them aware of the issue first.

 

[Hyderz]

besides the cpu i have the same gpu with 140w
and i never use the control centre it comes with... i wiped everything clean and reinstall windows without reinstalling any of the bloatwares
then install drivers and in nvidia control panel i set to gpu to nvidia gpu

i have never run into any issues... cept noisy fans but i can live with that

 

[Phuturist]

But really, because you should have purchased what was presumed a good in working order laptop, it's not your problem to figure out. Contact the seller and at least make them aware of the issue first.

Although you are probably right about this it's not all that easy with consumer to consumer second hand purchases. It's his word against mine. And I just really want this laptop in working order as it's a great laptop if it works as it should. I'll ask the manufacturer about the difference in BIOS version if that could really be the cause of these issues.

and i never use the control centre it comes with... i wiped everything clean and reinstall windows without reinstalling any of the bloatwares
then install drivers and in nvidia control panel i set to gpu to nvidia gpu

Yeah, done all of that including not installing the Control Center. It's not the control center as the GPU still throttles even without the Control Center.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Although you are probably right about this it's not all that easy with consumer to consumer second hand purchases. It's his word against mine. And I just really want this laptop in working order as it's a great laptop if it works as it should. I'll ask the manufacturer about the difference in BIOS version if that could really be the cause of these issues.


Yeah, done all of that including not installing the Control Center. It's not the control center as the GPU still throttles even without the Control Center.

That's the fun part. Who's gonna be flashing bioses to find out?

Keep looking though. Could be a settings issue with the way windows power plan works.

You could try 3rd party software. Maybe quickcpu. You can have a better grip on the power plans. The UI is pretty easy to follow.

 

[Phuturist]

You could try 3rd party software. Maybe quickcpu. You can have a better grip on the power plans. The UI is pretty easy to follow.

Just tried that and did manage to tweak the power settings a little bit but it's still nowhere it should be. The attached screenshots say enough. It's the Skikk in both idle as load with continuous throttling of thermal and power limit compared to the Tongfang in idle which does not throttle at all. Pretty much all other values are comparable, so the question is, why does it throttle?

 

[ty_ger]

You should start by giving it some work to do. I don't know what performance you are expecting at idle. The perfcap reason at idle means little to me. It might indicate a problem, but how would you know? How would you measure idle performance?
If they both perform similarly under the same 99% GPU load, don't worry about it. If they don't, explore why not.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

You should start by giving it some work to do. I don't know what performance you are expecting at idle. The perfcap reason at idle means little to me. It might indicate a problem, but how would you know? How would you measure idle performance?
If they both perform similarly under the same 99% GPU load, don't worry about it. If they don't, explore why not.

He's got a couple of videos in the first post.

The laptop that goes into idle power savings mode gets very laggy. We are in belief that even a mouse cursor is smooth below 800mhz, in this case the laptop is choppy as hell. Probably not normal.

 

[ty_ger]

Looks like some software corruption or defective.
You already tried a system wipe, so probably defective/damaged.

Does the manufacturer offer a warranty replacement?

 

[Phuturist]

For reference sake in case some bumps into this topic through search engine.

The BIOS was on the latest available version and I had already reset the BIOS back to it's default values. Yesterday I re-flashed the BIOS with this exact same version including the EC firmware and the problem is resolved.