I present to you Firebat's Blade 15! (144hz/i7-8750H)

atrac7
I'm torn about trying to upgrade to the new RTX versions...ironically the biggest thing I want from it is the function and symbols keys that can actually light up (finally...)

Other than that, I have been very satisfied with my current Blade 15 (1070/144hz). Windows Hello is nice on the new machine too but I can live without it. The current blade is plenty zippy, and plays games at decent enough levels for me. Most of my gaming issues with perofrmance appears to be CPU/throttle based versus the GTX Max Q 1070 or graphics card based restrictions.

Will probably wait it out unless I see some sort of phat deal and if I got good money for my Blade. I think I'm more interested in the true next gen display models when they get out of the proto stages.

I was a bit sad after reading the announcement of the new Blades, thinking my machine instantly felt "dated". Then i came home and got on my Blade and was like....shit, this is still a damn good computer. I've been lucky to get a super reliable model in my case with Razer, so might as well ride the wave.

Sounds like you have no reason to upgrade now. Might as well wait for another iteration of CPU's that are more power efficient.

For me, I travel more than half the month so my gaming takes place in hotels, and I have more money than sense. So upgrading on every decent iteration is not a big deal. There are far more expensive hobbies out there.

Mannymal
Sounds like you have no reason to upgrade now. Might as well wait for another iteration of CPU's that are more power efficient.

For me, I travel more than half the month so my gaming takes place in hotels, and I have more money than sense. So upgrading on every decent iteration is not a big deal. There are far more expensive hobbies out there.

I just am soooo excited for a higher end GPU option in the 15 inch model. Super awesome!

DarthVader0
That turned out to be a show stopper for me. While not often, I am typing in less then ideal lighting and w/o the ability to see those secondary values it wasn't going to work out for me.

Now that Razer has a slightly redesign 15" laptop with a faster GPU to boot, I'm seriously re-considering the Razer.

I actually very much welcome this tweak too. I think it's a huge deal and a much needed addition to the refresh. After all... Linus has been asking them for 3 years

DarthVader0
So how's your Razer doing some 7+ months since getting it? Any issues, concerns, red flags? Early in the thread you had it replaced, has it been solid since then?

Not a razer concern persay but I do wonder how these Coffee lake based laptops will run long term. They all seem to run much hotter then prior gen laptops. It seems to me and my uneducated perspective the Razer has the advantage thanks to its vaper chamber even if with a powerful GPU.

It's been perfectly fine.. minus the power limit throttling. Although this is still something I have been in touch with Razer about and is ongoing; Blades are not the only thin and lights that power limit throttle. So I can't say that it's a specific issue with Razer, just intel's CPU and how overpowered it is for a thin and light.

Overall I have had pretty good luck with my Blades.. less issues than previous laptops before I went all Razer.

misterg36
I have to say I love the blade, but after waiting 6 months after official release to get the 4k one in the UK, having it be dated 3 months later was a bit of a kick in the teeth (even if it is probably 6 months away from actually owning)

The only real thing that interests me is if it runs cooler. I can make it run cooler with undervolting, but it would be nice not to need that.

I am going to wait until CPU refresh again this year before I buy the next model. Unless there is some crazy delay the mobile chips should be out q2.

Interested in anyone that has a RTX model that wants to share their benchmarks! I will be waiting for CPU refresh\\etc to buy my RTX model

rou6e
Yo !

Razer is teasing a new RB 15 with 9750H (instead of 8750H).
Considering that :
- they are limiting the 8750H under stress (TDP),
- the case / cooling will be the same
- the 2 CPUs are similar except clock speed (2200/4100MHz vs 2600/4500MHz)

Don't you think it's gonna be worthless because they are already forcing the current 8750H to base clock speed under heavy load ?

You can unlock it if you know how to (there’s some risk doing it by only googling) but it’s pointless performance gains isn’t worth the extra temperature that come with. I prefer 5 degrees cooler than 5 FPS higher.
This’s how big brands handling 6 cores cpu in thin light cassis, MSI, Alienware do same thing to their thin light categories.
Btw power limit throttling is not forcing to base clock, base clock is 2,2Ghz with default gaming mode on max tdp 45 watt it’s vary depends on usage, even on some games 25 watt balanced mode can peak long on 3,9Ghz. Jarrodtech just made a good Video today about rtx Blade 8th gen cpu, and I’m agree with him on non gpu usage I want to see bios update without power limitation.

Joikansai
You can unlock it if you know how to (there’s some risk doing it by only googling) but it’s pointless performance gains isn’t worth the extra temperature that come with. I prefer 5 degrees cooler than 5 FPS higher.

Are you refering to delidding ? If so, I am 100% on your side.

Thanks for the details about throttling, I took a shortcut in my post because my english isn't sharp enough :D
In most of the stress-tests / bench i read, CPU was going down between 2 / 2.ghz :slightly_sad:
On my RB 14 (2016), the GPU heat was transfered to CPU through "heat pipe (caloduc ?)" leading to heavy throttling.. Couldn't play most of my games, even with undervolt and throttlestop. I don't want to see that kind of thing happen on a 2X00€ setup..

If 9750h is not worth (cheapest is 2060 package, 2150€), I would rather go on v1 setup with 8750H + 1070MQ, and keep some money.. First plan was to buy the Core Chroma (already have a 1080 GTX).

Going to take a look on the video linked, ty very much !

Firebat246
All will be answered soon!

How so ?

rou6e
Are you refering to delidding ? If so, I am 100% on your side.

Thanks for the details about throttling, I took a shortcut in my post because my english isn't sharp enough :D
In most of the stress-tests / bench i read, CPU was going down between 2 / 2.ghz :slightly_sad:
On my RB 14 (2016), the GPU heat was transfered to CPU through "heat pipe (caloduc ?)" leading to heavy throttling.. Couldn't play most of my games, even with undervolt and throttlestop. I don't want to see that kind of thing happen on a 2X00€ setup..

If 9750h is not worth (cheapest is 2060 package, 2150€), I would rather go on v1 setup with 8750H + 1070MQ, and keep some money.. First plan was to buy the Core Chroma (already have a 1080 GTX).

Going to take a look on the video linked, ty very much !

You can’t delidding mobil cpu since mostly it’s soldered. You can do that only on desktop cpu and laptop with desktop cpu that isn’t soldered. Yes you’ll get max cpu performance by doing that, unfortunately not on most laptop including Blade. I forgot about Blade 14 but yes it use traditional pipe heat sink, new vapor chamber cool gpu and cpu better. With the new base model I think you won’t get vapor chamber, in this cooling type to keep your laptop cooler maybe you should repasting it annually (if it shows throttle like yours now) and maybe add some pad if the heat sink doesn’t spread the heat well. Personally if I were you I would go to newest model, since v2 is mostly improvement from v1.
About egpu setting, 1080 isn’t good enough to match Blade 15 1070maxq or 2060 model, it’s due TB3 bandwidth limitation. I use advanced v1 1070maxq with 2080, and performance gains isn’t huge. Mostly big gains is on 4K but I play also 1440p for better FPS. It’s step up from 2070 which is a bit better than 1080, with 2070 i get mostly similar performance with Blade 1070maxq, again 4K is better but 2070 isn’t great on 4K, 30 to 40fps isn’t for me. Gtx 1080 is still one of best card for ultrabook egpu setting for not loosing too much performance like on higher cards so maybe you can use it later if you have any TB3 ultrabook. 2070 was great pairing with my old 2016 stealth but since I’ve Blade 15 I need more powerful gpu on my Core v2 to outperform Blade dgpu.

rou6e
About how much % is the difference approximately ?
I read there is something like ~20% less perf with TB egpu, that would explain why 2080 isn't too much powerfull in comparison to 1070mq

It’s vary depends a lot things, like
1. Titles (some titles for example Assassin creeds, forza horizon 4 is very limited on TB3 bandwidth,
2. Then game optimization as well like Division 2 is still lag randomly but Division 1 may s already smooth), resolution (higher the gap to full pcie desktop is less),
3. TB3 pcie lanes ( Blade Laptops since adopting TB3 in 2016 use the best PCIe3x4 lanes TB3 for full bandwidth, some laptops still use TB3 PCIe3x2 lanes which is half bandwidth that means getting tb2 data transfer speed). So it’s hard to say 20% less performance, battlefront 4, gta V, Destiny 2 4K I got similar FPS with desktop 2080, timespy less around 10% (dx12 1440p), Firestrike Graphics (dx11 1080p) less around 40%.

rou6e

So, if I reformulate : stock 1070mq will outperfom my 1080 with egpu, right ?
And what about the version with 1070mq vs 2060 ?

It’ll be around same but again depends what titles and resolution. In short it doesn’t worth pairing with Blade 15 1070maxq imo. Other things to notice laptops with dgpu TB3 mostly transfer egpu data indirect to cpu, it runs through pch first so there’s more performance loose even not huge compared to ultrabook TB3 without dgpu that runs directly to cpu. But good side since cpu works with dgpu inside laptop, using egpu means sharing overall heat since dgpu Inside would be off and there’s more cooling room inside, i max temperature up to 90 on gaming without egpu, with egpu I see rarely cpu hit 80ish, mostly on 70, and it’s on default factory paste, gpu inside Core is on max OC plus power limit set to 110% with Afterburner always 2000Mhz~ gpu clock on xc2080 Black.
Blade 1070mq and 2060 one is around the same on raw performance without dlss or dxr enabled, 2060 is on some case a bit better, but sometimes 1070maxq performs better as well. Rtx cards is better on dx12 titles like Tomb Raider etc but a lot older titles running slightly better on 1070maxq Blade.

It looks fantastic and I am pretty much curious about to know the battery life of this blade.

Yeah but more than 2K€ for shadow gaming does not make too much sense for me right now xD

@Joikansai :
Yup, after last consideration, 2070 should be a better solution regarding price.
MQ version, should produce less heat i guess