Ryzen 9 3950X Laptop!? ULTIMATE Desktop Replacement!

A clever chassis known as the thick 15 from electronics in the us apex 15 from xmg in europe or the prime ai here in australia from metabox and the performance on offer, is on another level. I’Ve got two configurations for testing. Both came with the 8 core ryzen 7 3700x processor, but you can select different options when ordering i’ll be swapping this out with the ryzen 9 ’50x and ryzen 5 3600 to see the differences. My two units also have different, gpus and screens so we’ll be able to get some data on the different options. It’S got a brushed metal lid, while the interior and bottom panel seem to be a dark plastic. The build quality is a solid average, nothing amazing, but it gets the job done, as is typically the case with many offerings from clever as you’d expect. A machine with this level of hardware inside is on the thicker side, but at the same time, it’s not too huge for a 15 inch laptop and is still somewhat portable. My unit weighed in at 2.6 kilos or 5.8 pounds and with the 230 watt power brick and cables for charging this increases to under 3.5 kilos or 7.6 pounds. The control center software lets you swap between different performance modes, which, from lowest to highest a quiet, entertainment and performance. We’Ve also got the option of customizing the fan curve or setting it to full speed inside we’ve got those two fans and plenty of heat pipes for processor upgrades metabox, advised that this isn’t supported under their warranty and is performed at your own risk.

But they’re able to handle it for you in order to swap out the cpu you’ve got to undo the six screws in the middle above the cpu and gpu dies. Then there are two phillips head screws on the left, fan and three on the right fan and the right fan should be taken out. First, the left fan is attached to the cooler, but both fans need to be unplugged from the motherboard before removing the cooler. The cooler also has thermal pads covering vrm and gpu memory. All testing was done with my own application of noctua nt h2 thermal paste for comparable results inside there’s, just a standard, am4 socket so we’ll look at results with three different processors to show you what’s possible. Here’S, how cinebench performs, with these three different processes that i’ve tested with, unfortunately, i don’t have the 12 core ’00x on hand for testing. The ’50x is really dominating when it comes to multi core workloads. But what i found interesting was that the 8core 3700x wasn’t that far ahead of the ryzen 7 4800h in the electronics rp15. Meanwhile, the 6 core 3600 was doing better when compared to other good 6 core laptop chips, just for a bit of fun i’ve, also compared the difference between these processors running in the laptop and in a desktop pc. To give us some idea of how much performance is lost in the laptop form factor, the 3600 multi core score wasn’t too different, but the gap widens up the higher the core count.

While the ’50x is a fair bit behind using the same processor in the gaming, pc, don’t forget, as we just saw this level of multi core performance, still destroys other laptops here’s. What temperatures look like with the cpu, only workload running the blender benchmark? Interestingly, things cool down the more calls we have, though the ’50x was a fair bit cooler, presumably as it’s been better, although the ’50x has more cores, they also run at lower clock speeds, which would explain the difference in temperatures as more power is split over more Cores my ’50x didn’t seem to be running in the 60 watt eco mode in this test either, and when we look at the total system, power draw from the wall it’s only using 5 watts extra than the same laptop, but with the 3700x. To put that into context here’s how fast the blender render was actually completing. The ’50x is much faster than the 3700x in this heavy multi core workload, despite only drawing 5 more watts from the wall yeah, the cores are clocked around 500 megahertz lower, as we just saw, but there’s twice as many cores. So, in rendering tasks like this, the extra cores are still greatly beneficial. If we instead look at a combined, cpu plus gpu stress dust, the processor temperatures are, of course hotter now and the gpu temperature seems to rise with the higher tier processors. Clock speeds was similar on the rtx 2070, while cpu speeds were similar to what we saw in the cpu.

Only test here’s the package power reported for each so no issue hitting the 115 watt limit of the 2070. Even with the ’50x don’t forget that this machine just has one 230 watt power, brick too, which is quite impressive when you remember that others like the larger alienware 51m has two 330 watt ones or whatever yeah. It does have a higher wattage gpu and will do better in games, but i think this is still impressive. When we look at how a game performs with the different performance modes in use, i wasn’t seeing a difference between performance and entertainment in this game, while quiet mode was a fair bit lower comparatively, but still usable. If you want a quieter system, my bios doesn’t actually have all that many options, but xmg did tell me that there’s, an update by clever that unlocks a lot more settings expect more control and customization in terms of future upgradeability. It hasn’t been confirmed. Yet if this machine will get zen 3 support via a bios update, it uses the b450 chipset, so it would depend on. If clevo does this technically it’s possible but yeah at the same time, not confirmed so i wouldn’t plan around that. As for the external temperatures, where you’ll actually be putting your hands at idle, it was in the low 30s pretty standard and cool with the stress tests. It’S low 40s in the middle of the keyboard. Stepping up to entertainment mode is similar.

Just a bit warm in the center performance mode is a little cooler now due to the faster fans given the specs inside and how hard they’re being hit. This is quite impressive, but let’s have a listen to fan noise. Music. The fans are audible at idle in silent mode, but only just it’s, still relatively quiet with the stress tests running, especially as we can still run games well enough in this mode, as shown earlier, things are much louder, comparatively in entertainment mode, similar to a lot of Other laptops, then performance mode and max fan were the same in this workload. It was now very loud now, let’s take a look at how this machine performs in some different games. I’Ve tested the 2070 model with all three processors, but only did the 2060 unit with the 3700x that it shipped with in battlefield 5 i’ve got all instances of this laptop highlighted in red. The three bundled together are the same machine with the 2070. differences in average. Fps are basically within margin of error, though the ryzen 5 3600 had a lower one percent low result compared to others with more cores. The 2060 system was getting about the same average fps as the msi gl65, which also has the new 115 watt 2060. But the one percent low from the 3700x was a fair bit higher than the 10750h. These are the results from far cry 5, with ultra settings in the built in benchmark as more of a cpu heavy test.

The four results are closer together here. The average fps between the 2070 with ’50x and 2060 with 3700x is very close. The ’50x actually came out worse than one percent low, which is something i’ve seen with this game before it doesn’t seem to know how to handle. So many threads shadow of the tomb raider was also tested with the game’s benchmark tool. This test is more gpu heavy, so the 2060 system is below the others and again just a little ahead of the gl65 with the same 115w, 2060.. Presumably, due to the desktop based processor again, the ’50x was performing a little lower than the others, though one fps is margin of error stuff, even if i am taking averages of three runs i’ve compared both of these laptops in about 15 different games. If you want to see more testing just check the card in the top right or link in the description, i’ve tested, adobe premiere with the puget systems benchmark and as expected, the higher tier processors are producing better results. But even the lower options are still producing great results relative to other laptops. The processor seems to matter more here, as the 3600 paired with 2070 is a fair bit below the 3700x with 2060., but again either way. The 3600 is still ahead of the other six core options: i’ve also tested spec view perf, which tests out various professional 3d workloads i’ve also got some results from 3dmark to further compare the 2060 and 2070 options.

You can either get the 15.6 inch screen in 1080p. 144Hz for gaming, or a 4k 60hz option with better colors, which would probably be the way to go for content creators. I did measure the 4k with better color gamut, but it wasn’t too far ahead. It was a bit brighter and had better contrast ratio, though neither had the option of g sync response. Time of the 1080p 144hz gaming panel was just under 8 milliseconds, so similar to a number of others, i’ve recently tested and not amazing, but definitely not as bad as others, either backlight bleed was on the low side with either panel, but this will vary between laptops. There was some screen flex when intentionally moving it. Despite the metal lid. The hinges are out towards the far corners and felt sturdy there’s, some chassis flex when pushing down hard, but this is a worst case and i never found any problems during normal use. That said, this is the only laptop in recent memory where i could feel the vibration of the fans with my hands resting on the keyboard granted. This was only noticeable at higher fan speed due to the heavier weight. There were no problems, opening it up with one finger and it felt evenly distributed when sitting on my lap, if a bit weighty, there’s a 720p camera above the screen in the center no windows, hello support, though this is what the camera and microphone look and sound.

Like here’s, what it sounds like to type on the keyboard – and this is what it sounds like if we set the fan to max speed, so the fan gets pretty loud, but it does a good job of isolating my voice. The keyboard seems the same as many others from clever just one zone of rgb lighting with minimal adjustments, though all keys and secondary key functions are illuminated and you can control the brightness between four levels or turn it off through software or the shortcuts on the numpad Keys, i liked typing on the keyboard, but the small right shift may annoy some here’s. How typing sounds to give you an idea of what to expect the precision. Touchpad doesn’t click down as it’s instead got dedicated, left and right click, buttons, it’s, smooth to the touch and works fine without issue fingerprints show up easily but as a smooth surface, they’re easy enough to clean with a microfiber cloth on the left from the back there’s. A kensington lock, gigabit ethernet, two usb 3.2 gen 2 type, a ports and a micro sd card slot bit strange it’s, not full size. Given the larger machine on the right from the front, we’ve got 3.5 millimeter, headphone and mic jacks, followed by a single usb 2.0 type, a port for some reason and an air exhaust vent. On this side. There are a couple more air exhaust vents on the back. At the corners, then from left to right, there’s, a usb 3.

2 gen, 2 type c port with displayport 1.4 support, no thunderbolt here, hdmi 2.0 and mini displayport 1.4 outputs and the power input as there’s no integrated graphics. All display outputs are connected directly to the nvidia gpu, and the type c port cannot be used to charge. The laptop the front just has some status leds towards the left there’s, some lighting on the sides of the lid. These holes are illuminated from the screen’s backlight. So it cannot be controlled, but this will vary between regions, as different companies seem to have selected to sell theirs with different lids. Underneath is clean, just some air vents towards the back and a removable battery down the front. You just need to take out two phillips head screws to take out the battery. Otherwise there are only five phillips head screws to remove in order to get inside the bottom panel, just slides back after unscrewing it’s very easy. There are two m.2 slots in the left in the center. The wi fi card sits underneath one of the ssds two memory slots towards the middle and 2.5 inch drive bay on the right. The speakers are under here too, and sound. Ok, not bad, but not great. There’S some bass they didn’t get too loud maxed out, but i prefer quality over volume and the latency mod results. Weren’T, looking great in either of my two units as ryzen desktop processors, don’t have integrated graphics, there’s, no optimus equivalent here so we’re, always using the power hungry in video graphics.

When combined with a desktop tier processor, the battery life isn’t great, no surprise there, though, as it is replaceable technically, you could have spares available. I’Ve used crystal disc mark to test the storage. The 256 gig ssd in my unit wasn’t amazing, but this will of course, vary based on the drive selection. When ordering the micro sd card slot wasn’t too bad and the card sits most of the way into the machine for updated prices check the links in the description as prices will change over time at the time of recording here in australia, we’re looking at 2400 australian Starting price for the 2060 model, which is around 1600 us dollars for my international viewers, but this will of course vary based on the specific specs you select in the us for the electronics thick 15, great name we’re. Looking at around 2 000 us dollars, though, they do offer it with more cpu options, less screen choice and no 2060 option, though then from xmg in europe, there’s also a decent cpu selection, and you can either pick 2060 or 2070 like i’ve tested here again. It’S worth noting that exterior panels may differ slightly between regions, but the internals should all be the same. Alright, with everything tested, let’s conclude by summarizing the good and bad aspects of this beast of a machine, the processor performance is next level here, as we’ve got the option of sticking a desktop grade processor inside. As a result, temperatures do get up there even with the beastly cooling but that’s, pretty much always going to be the case with these sorts of desktop replacements, it’s, a trade off for the next level performance and realistically, when you compare it to some others like say The lenovo 7i, the difference in thermals isn’t that much while the performance difference is large.

This also results in it being on the heavier and thicker side. But honestly, all things considered, i don’t think it’s that ridiculous and it’s not as big as some of the 17 inch 9900k laptops i’ve used like the msi gt76 or alienware 51mm seriously. I could see myself putting this thing in my camera bag and taking it on a trip you know, assuming we’re ever allowed to travel again as you’d expect high end specs result in poor battery life. Look at it as more of a built in ups. The option of it being a removable battery is a unique aspect when compared to most alternatives, though in gaming, the difference isn’t that big with the different processors i’ve tested as the ryzen 5 3600, is already very capable, especially when compared to other laptop processors. You could definitely start off with that and then you’ve at least got the option of upgrading in future to more cores. If you want something most laptops, don’t offer and arguably what makes this machine special and worth considering if you need processing power above all else, a bios update for zen 3 support would be super impressive and i hope they do this in future. Let me know what you thought about this crazy laptop, slash, desktop replacement down in the comments and, if you’re new to the channel, then get subscribed for future laptop reviews and tech.