For me, getting a new laptop is a sacred event that is steeped in ritual:
- The new laptop arrives.
- I light some candles in an an anagram pattern around my desk.
- I install basic updates and software, taking note of the performance impact.
- I run some benchmarks.
- I download an arsenal of software dedicated to performance tweaking and hardware monitoring.
- I spend a handful of hours undervolting the CPU and GPU as well as tweaking power settings to get the best results for battery life, fan noise, and temperature.
- I run more benchmarks.
- I automate all my tweaks to maximize performance while plugged in, and battery life when unplugged. I try to achieve total automation, i.e. no need for any input from the user other than plugging in or unplugging the laptop.
- Yes, more benchmarks. ;)
- Last, I culminate all of the trial and error into something part-review, part-guide about what I’ve learned. (That’s what this is!)
I hope you find this thread useful, and that we can use it as a hub to share our knowledge of optimization and troubleshooting.
BOOK II: INITIAL IMPRESSIONS (compared to the early 2019 Stealth)
Leaving an old laptop behind always involves both excitement about the new technology as well as some sadness and nostalgia for “the old ways”--the features and freedom that can only be found on older models. This has been especially true with the newest Stealth.
Improvements
Compared to the early-2019 Stealth, there are some significant improvements:
- A real GTX graphics card (the old Stealth had a scrappy but ultimately unsatisfactory MX150)
- An integrated Thunderbolt controller for increased eGPU performance
- 120Hz screen
- More stable USB-C ports (the old ones were prone to disconnecting)
- automatic power profile switching in Synapse
When I ran the initial benchmarks, it exceeded my expectations. Temperatures were good, the 1650Ti was pushing a very respectable FPS in games, and the Tiger Lake CPU was outperforming the power-unlocked Whiskey Lake CPU in my 2019 Stealth.
Meanwhile, I noticed that many old optimizations options are now completely gone.
R.I.P. to Undervolting, and the Arms-Race Over BIOS Mods
CPU undervolting, BIOS tweaks, and power management settings have all been restricted by Razer and Intel. These were traditional performance tweaks that performance laptop users have grown accustomed to. It’s the same thing I saw taking place when I moved from my 2017 Blade to my 2019 Stealth, though: Razer had taken note of popular tweaks like BIOS undervolting being implemented, and attempted to lock users away from this feature by hiding the functionality in the BIOS. In response, the tweaking community developed more risky and intrusive ways of pushing performance--by flashing modified BIOS in order to unlock power limits.
Now Razer has gone a step further by preventing users from flashing the BIOS via software. Users' response? Guides are already being written about how to use external programming clamps to clone and modify the BIOS straight from a Blade’s BIOS chip.
Where is this all going, and who wins? Razer gets to replace more bricked laptops, and performance users who can’t help themselves get to struggle with more complicated and error-prone tweaks. It’s a lose-lose.
While I was worried at first that I would have nothing to write about in a guide about the new Stealth except “It’s great out of the box!”, I quickly learned that wouldn’t be true. So whether you’re like me and recently acquired a Stealth, or are simply interested in the svelte little machine’s performance potential, I hope you find something useful in this guide!