Hi all,
My Defiance V arrived last week and thought I would do a review.
Configuration
Display - 17.3" QHD 120 Hz
CPU - i7 8750H
RAM - 16GB Corsair 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
GPU - GTX 1060 - 6.0GB GDDR5
1st M.2 SSD Drive - 500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe
First Impressions
Very impressed with the build quality - it feels very premium (solid / very little flex). The only negative about the case it that it is a fingerprint magnet though not really an issue when all things considered.
Screen
QHD looks amazing (using YouTube 1440p as reference). Excellent brightness though I don't have any metrics (nits) but I will say it soon hurts my eyes on max brightness. I tend to use at 60% brightness.
Performance & temps
Impressive performance on the CPU side - I was expecting this to run hotter given the performance though there is a bit of power throttling. Here are some test results (no undervolt - stock only):
Intel XTU - 10 min CPU stress test:
Temps: Between 70 and 83C. This goes up and down a lot within this range.
Clock speeds: Between 3.3 and 3.7GHz. Again this goes up and down a lot though I think 3.9GHz should be the target?
Thermal throttling: Yes. This mostly happens in the last third of the test which was around the 80C mark.
Power throttling: Yes.
Cinebench R15:
I did three tests on separate days as follows:
CPU: 1095; 1169; 1130 cb.
OpenGL: 104; 107; 102 fps.
Unigine Valley - 10 min loop on Extreme HD preset (1080p):
GPU peaked at 72C and CPU peaked at 86C. On a single benchmark run at the same pre-set, fps averaged 63.
Battery
I get around 3 hours though I tend to use plugged in most of the time.
Minor issues
1) Screen was stuck on maximum brightness though I managed to fix using the 'Intel Driver & Support Assistant'. I've seen this issue posted a few times so thought I would share a fix.
2) As mentioned earlier there is some CPU power throttling. I'm not sure how this works but I wonder if this can be adjusted somehow?
Overall, I am very happy with my decision after months of research. I shall rate this as 9 out of 10. I'm sure with a bit of research / tweaks (e.g. undervolting) this can be improved further.
My Defiance V arrived last week and thought I would do a review.
Configuration
Display - 17.3" QHD 120 Hz
CPU - i7 8750H
RAM - 16GB Corsair 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
GPU - GTX 1060 - 6.0GB GDDR5
1st M.2 SSD Drive - 500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe
First Impressions
Very impressed with the build quality - it feels very premium (solid / very little flex). The only negative about the case it that it is a fingerprint magnet though not really an issue when all things considered.
Screen
QHD looks amazing (using YouTube 1440p as reference). Excellent brightness though I don't have any metrics (nits) but I will say it soon hurts my eyes on max brightness. I tend to use at 60% brightness.
Performance & temps
Impressive performance on the CPU side - I was expecting this to run hotter given the performance though there is a bit of power throttling. Here are some test results (no undervolt - stock only):
Intel XTU - 10 min CPU stress test:
Temps: Between 70 and 83C. This goes up and down a lot within this range.
Clock speeds: Between 3.3 and 3.7GHz. Again this goes up and down a lot though I think 3.9GHz should be the target?
Thermal throttling: Yes. This mostly happens in the last third of the test which was around the 80C mark.
Power throttling: Yes.
Cinebench R15:
I did three tests on separate days as follows:
CPU: 1095; 1169; 1130 cb.
OpenGL: 104; 107; 102 fps.
Unigine Valley - 10 min loop on Extreme HD preset (1080p):
GPU peaked at 72C and CPU peaked at 86C. On a single benchmark run at the same pre-set, fps averaged 63.
Battery
I get around 3 hours though I tend to use plugged in most of the time.
Minor issues
1) Screen was stuck on maximum brightness though I managed to fix using the 'Intel Driver & Support Assistant'. I've seen this issue posted a few times so thought I would share a fix.
2) As mentioned earlier there is some CPU power throttling. I'm not sure how this works but I wonder if this can be adjusted somehow?
Overall, I am very happy with my decision after months of research. I shall rate this as 9 out of 10. I'm sure with a bit of research / tweaks (e.g. undervolting) this can be improved further.
