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I'm considering buying a new laptop. Seeing the underclocking / undervolting locking problem, what should I focus ?

sieg89

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Hi !

Basically... Title.
I've discovered underclocking with my current laptop a few month ago and it saved me (or more accuratly my gaming pleasure). I have an i7-4700HQ (yep, it's old) and undercloking/volting made the temp go from ~95° to ~85°, limiting a lot the throttle.
But I was thinking of buying a new laptop and saw that new Windows updates seemed to lock out theses options for some CPU.
I've got my eyes on a MSI or Dell laptop, respectively with an i7-9750h and an i7-10750H .

Can theses CPU be underclocked ? If not, what CPU on laptop can still be undervolted ? Should I go look for a Ryzen ? Does it really matter ?

Thanks !
 
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...... with an i7-9750h and an i7-10750H .

Can theses CPU be underclocked ? If not, what CPU on laptop can still be undervolted ? Should I go look for a Ryzen ? Does it really matter ?

Thanks !
Generally they can be undervolted, but it is Manufacturer dependent, DELL makes things harder by limiting the power of their CPUs, MSI should be better, along with Acer.
Try to avoid thin and light, and check reviews particularly for cooling performance and TDPs.
@unclewebb any recommendations here?
 

sieg89

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Generally they can be undervolted, but it is Manufacturer dependent, DELL makes things harder by limiting the power of their CPUs, MSI should be better, along with Acer.
Try to avoid thin and light, and check reviews particularly for cooling performance and TDPs.
@unclewebb any recommendations here?

Thanks for the first answer ! :)

Unfortunatly, I'm french and I don't find a lot of review for our models :/

By "limiting the power of their CPU" for DELL, you mean the power to tweak them or the power of the CPU itself ? If the latter, shouldn't it be a good thing for the overheating ?
 
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Thanks for the first answer ! :)

Unfortunatly, I'm french and I don't find a lot of review for our models :/

By "limiting the power of their CPU" for DELL, you mean the power to tweak them or the power of the CPU itself ? If the latter, shouldn't it be a good thing for the overheating ?
The cTDP of the CPU. they tend to configure the thermal die point of the Processor lower than it's limits, which while great for reducing heat, lowers performance a lot.
 

sieg89

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Ok, thanks !

Do we have a list somewhere on which PC DELL does that ?
I've managed to find some review online about the MSI GF65 and the temperature part is...Underwhelming (one of the review).
The DELL (it's the G3 15 3500 model) on the other side seem fine but you said there's a risk of lower perfomance (altough review doesn't seem to speak about that). He's also with a 10th generation intel CPU (the i7-10750H), so high risk of limited clocking parameter ?
 
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HP has recently made Omen Command Center control options of undervolting. Intelligent or Custom options. My hope is other manufacturers will take this direction and give control back to the User.


MSi is a great option if you're the type of person who will open the laptop and modify, repaste, experiment. High temps out of the box is unfortunate, but not surprising or rare these days. A quality paste makes ALL the difference. MSi are known for unlocked BIOS and tweakability. Same I believe with some Clevo models. In my experience Dell and Acer are some of the most 'locked' laptops you can buy with power and thermal limits sometimes hampering performance. It really depends on the exact model you choose so do lots of research.
 

sieg89

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The Dell is very tempting (it's litterally better than the MSI for roughly the same price) but what you're saying about performance is worrying. The closest review of the model I've found is this one, they doesn't seem to speak about it but I don't know if they're trustable.

And the trustpilot page of the Dell service is even more worrying xD
 

unclewebb

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@sieg89 - Many 10th Gen MSI laptops with Intel CPUs have the ability to unlock CPU voltage control in the BIOS. Most Dell laptops do not have that feature. Whatever you buy, make sure the place you buy it from has a good return policy if you are not happy with it. Too many gaming oriented laptops are duds with loud fans, poor cooling and lots of throttling issues that need to be solved.

The Dell is very tempting
Do not be fooled by the specs. Laptop specs are meaningless when a computer throttles to 25% of its rated speed, or less. Dell has features where a 45W CPU gets forced to throttle down to 10W or less. These kind of problems might not show up immediately. A year later after the warranty is up, your good looking laptop will be unusable and there is no easy way to solve some of Dell's latest throttling schemes.
 
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sieg89

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@unclewebb and @AOne Damn, with these fierce answer only a few minute after I posted my message, I can only bow :D

With the Dell out of the picture, that left only the MSI (GF65 thin, with i7-9750h and RTX 2060). It's a MSI so "good" but also labelled as "thin" model , so "bad". I guess it even out ? :D

@rethcirE
No Clevo for a good price unfortunatly. ACtually, they're quite pricy in France it seem.

I've also found a Lenovo Y540 (i7-9750h, gtx 1660ti) for what seem a decent price but I've also found people/review speaking of heating and about how Lenovo seem to "lock" some parameter, I don't know about the reputation of this brand so...Doubt. i'm trying to do more research but nothing significant so far.

Anyway, all in all, thanks for all the answers !
 
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Hi !

Basically... Title.
I've discovered underclocking with my current laptop a few month ago and it saved me (or more accuratly my gaming pleasure). I have an i7-4700HQ (yep, it's old) and undercloking/volting made the temp go from ~95° to ~85°, limiting a lot the throttle.
But I was thinking of buying a new laptop and saw that new Windows updates seemed to lock out theses options for some CPU.
I've got my eyes on a MSI or Dell laptop, respectively with an i7-9750h and an i7-10750H .

Can theses CPU be underclocked ? If not, what CPU on laptop can still be undervolted ? Should I go look for a Ryzen ? Does it really matter ?

Thanks !
Have installed the windows to the latest gen's MSI GS75 stealth (i7-10, RTX2070) of friend, have not seen any trottling whatsever. Yeah, piece of no-name brand "Clevo" makes good stuff, and well-known in world brand Dell makes sh*t. Seriously? Bullsh*t, get Dell or MSI, avoid HP, Clevo or other "specialized" no-name sh*t, I would pick Lenovo as a very last variant too.
If you want GAMING, get Alienware stuff, not Dell, it's obvious the latter is typing machine, the first is gaming laptop.
For Intel rigs, there is XTU utility, which I've also used in quadcore i7-4 lappy. ;)
I would avoid Dell. As far as I know, they like to lock voltages and do stupid things with them.
I would avoid such stupid "advices".
 
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Have installed the windows to the latest gen's MSI GS75 stealth (i7-10, RTX2070) of friend, have not seen any trottling whatsever. Yeah, piece of no-name brand "Clevo" makes good stuff, and well-known in world brand Dell makes sh*t. Seriously? Bullsh*t, get Dell or MSI, avoid HP, Clevo or other "specialized" no-name sh*t, I would pick Lenovo as a very last variant too.
If you want GAMING, get Alienware stuff, not Dell, it's obvious the latter is typing machine, the first is gaming laptop.
For Intel rigs, there is XTU utility, which I've also used in quadcore i7-4 lappy. ;)

I would avoid such stupid "advices".
Really? Read more. Educate yourself. Be curious. Be smart. ;)
 
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There's nothing inherently wrong with any brand if you have appropriate expectations and realistic outlook. I don't think anyone here is saying Dell is shit, just that for the intended purpose here you would be hard pressed to find a Dell that has comparable options. If you don't need specifically what we are discussing here, then there are fewer limitations for you. Many people coming here for advice have very specific needs/wants and therefore don't want a brand myopic point of view or advice. Up until a few years ago I had never heard of 'Clevo' either, but believe it or not I had used one before and they are everywhere!
 
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Dell is actually a good name brand computer company and so is HP. I actually use a HP laptop myself. I'm not sure what a Clevo is coming from the USA Im not familier with other countries brands.
 
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additional information to consider
 
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Have installed the windows to the latest gen's MSI GS75 stealth (i7-10, RTX2070) of friend, have not seen any trottling whatsever. Yeah, piece of no-name brand "Clevo" makes good stuff, and well-known in world brand Dell makes sh*t. Seriously? Bullsh*t, get Dell or MSI, avoid HP, Clevo or other "specialized" no-name sh*t, I would pick Lenovo as a very last variant too.
If you want GAMING, get Alienware stuff, not Dell, it's obvious the latter is typing machine, the first is gaming laptop.
For Intel rigs, there is XTU utility, which I've also used in quadcore i7-4 lappy. ;)

I would avoid such stupid "advices".
Alienware is nothing but overpriced Dell. Alienware is not what it used to be.
 
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Alienware is nothing but overpriced Dell. Alienware is not what it used to be.
Lol, gaming laptops are overpriced by themselves already. I’ve seen good gaming rigs in “overpriced” series but can’t consider any “consumer” series a serious gaming laptop. Neither because of cooling, nor because of cpu-gpu-ram combo.
 
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Lol, gaming laptops are overpriced by themselves already. I’ve seen good gaming rigs in “overpriced” series but can’t consider any “consumer” series a serious gaming laptop. Neither because of cooling, nor because of cpu-gpu-ram combo.
I dont call them gaming laptops. To me they are just laptops but any company that puts "gaming" in anything always feel the need to increase the product prices 20-50%. My laptop's 2080 can play lots of games on high settings and edit movies on the side, its a business laptop and movie/show watching laptop.
I was going to use it for a boat auto-pilot and nav but the boat's radar doesnt like windows 10. I got a ipad tablet instead for nav charts and radar.
 

sieg89

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@duskw4lker Thanks for the list !

And yep, "gaming" tech is a bit overpriced. But now I have the sensation they slap "gaming" in front of anything who have decent spec... And at least you're from the US (I guess). Because here in France, tech stuff is way more pricey. I've found a nice MSI on amazon for ~1300$ (roughtly 1085€). A similar configuration in France is around 1800€ ! It's ridiculous...

The one I'm eyeing is a MSI GL65 Thin Leopard. Basic spec are an i7-9750H, a RTX 2060, 16Go (2x8) Ram, 512Go SSD... For a total of 1300€ (instead of 1550€, bear in mind again it's "french" pricing). It's a "thin" model so it's bad for temp but I think it could be tweaked around (deactivating Turbo mode, underclocking...). Also, it doesn't have a NumPad.
The only question I have left for this one is...Is the price / deal correct ? I don't have a lot of "scale" for judging a pricing and I don't want to rush a "fake" promotion.

To be fair, I wasn't planning on asking so much question on specific models. I know it's not the main goal of the forum here and that's why I just asked for the undervolting. I have other post on other forums more specialized in general laptop advice but no one answered. And your answer here were so friendly, no judging...It felt refreshing. I feel the passion ! I know where to come back to if I have hardware and cooling questions ;)
 
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MSI laptop have advanced bios that you can undervolt through the bios.
 
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