Need Help: Unlocking GPU Undervolting on Recoil VII 17 Laptop with Nvidia RTX 4090

[Jink]

Hi everyone,

I'm reaching out to the community for some advice regarding my Recoil VII 17 laptop, which I primarily use for video editing and AI image generation. I've been encountering an issue where the laptop overheats, particularly during AI image processing tasks. VRAM temperature rises to 106 °C in Balanced mode. To address this, I want to undervolt the GPU (Nvidia RTX 4090) to reduce heat and power consumption.

I have significant experience with GPU undervolting, having used MSI Afterburner for many years on my desktop setups. However, when trying to apply the same process to my laptop GPU, I'm facing a roadblock. In MSI Afterburner, the undervolting options for the GPU appear to be locked. I've tried altering the settings, but they remain inaccessible.

I'm quite sure that my approach and understanding of the software are sound, based on my past experiences. However, it seems there might be specific limitations or restrictions when it comes to undervolting a laptop GPU, particularly the Nvidia RTX 4090 in my case.

Has anyone else encountered a similar issue? If so, how were you able to unlock the undervolting options, or is there an alternative method or software that I could use for this purpose? Any guidance or suggestions from fellow users who have successfully navigated this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi everyone,

I'm reaching out to the community for some advice regarding my Recoil VII 17 laptop, which I primarily use for video editing and AI image generation. I've been encountering an issue where the laptop overheats, particularly during AI image processing tasks. VRAM temperature rises to 106 °C in Balanced mode. To address this, I want to undervolt the GPU (Nvidia RTX 4090) to reduce heat and power consumption.

I have significant experience with GPU undervolting, having used MSI Afterburner for many years on my desktop setups. However, when trying to apply the same process to my laptop GPU, I'm facing a roadblock. In MSI Afterburner, the undervolting options for the GPU appear to be locked. I've tried altering the settings, but they remain inaccessible.

I'm quite sure that my approach and understanding of the software are sound, based on my past experiences. However, it seems there might be specific limitations or restrictions when it comes to undervolting a laptop GPU, particularly the Nvidia RTX 4090 in my case.

Has anyone else encountered a similar issue? If so, how were you able to unlock the undervolting options, or is there an alternative method or software that I could use for this purpose? Any guidance or suggestions from fellow users who have successfully navigated this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

TongFangs don’t allow for adjusting the voltages, I believe it’s locked out at the BIOS level.

They need to be managed by the PL vales in control center

When you say 106c I take it that’s the hotspot temp?

 

[Jink]

When you say 106c I take it that’s the hotspot temp?

It's called GPU Memory Junction Temperature. The maximum value I saw in HWinfo under GPU Memory Junction Temperature is 108 °C. Most of the time it's 106 °C. It says that thermal trotting starts around 110 °C, and I've never seen that value, but 108 or 106 is pretty close, and since I often work with AI image generation, it worries me. I'd like my laptop to run for a long time without crashing or breaking. So I would like to lower the temperature.

They need to be managed by the PL vales in control center

Actually, there is no such thing as GPU power limit in control center or I can't find it. It's a pretty poor tool as far as customization is concerned.
All I can do through the control center is to reduce the VRAM frequency, but even a maximum reduction of 1000 MHz has no effect in reducing the temperature.

TongFangs don’t allow for adjusting the voltages, I believe it’s locked out at the BIOS level.

As far as I know, XMG use the same hardware and they have an option in their bios to undervolt the CPU. PCS laptops don't even have that.
What else can be done exactly in terms of settings to reduce the temperature of the GPU when working hard for a long time? I already use laptop cooling pad with a fan, but it doesn't help much.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Actually, there is no such thing as GPU power limit in control center or I can't find it. It's a pretty poor tool as far as customization is concerned.
All I can do through the control center is to reduce the VRAM frequency, but even a maximum reduction of 1000 MHz has no effect in reducing the temperature.

That's not right, I'd give PCS a call, sounds like you've perhaps got an out of date version. Should have 3 PL values that can be adjusted.

As far as I know, XMG use the same hardware and they have an option in their bios to undervolt the CPU. PCS laptops don't even have that.
What else can be done exactly in terms of settings to reduce the temperature of the GPU when working hard for a long time? I already use laptop cooling pad with a fan, but it doesn't help much.

All System Integrators use the same chassis. There are only a few manufacturers in the world used by everyone. MSI even rebrand clevo barebones. But one SI's drivers and BIOS may not be the same as others, all depends how they work with the manufacturer. So another SI's control center used on a PCS machine could cause issue locking PL values in the BIOS and system instability, just be aware of that.

Can you post your full specs from the order page? Where did you source control center?

 

[Jink]

Thank you for your help. I found a way to make the GPU cold enough without undervolting.

For those who want to learn this method, you just need to enable Whisper mode in the GeForce Experience app, set it to Balanced, 60fps and it will keep the GPU cool to ~82 °C, which is a huge difference between the 108 °C I had before.
Performance will drop, but not that much. For an example, I tested image generation times in StableDiffusion XL with these settings:

Resolution: 1024x768, Sampling Steps: 40, Hires. fix Upscale by 2.5 times, ESRGAN_4x Upscaler.

I got these results in different modes:

GPU mode, Windows power plan (PP)	Render time	Highest GPU Memory Junction Temp.
Whisper mode OFF, Balanced PP	13:42	106 °C
Whisper mode OFF, Turbo PP	16:40	78 °C
Whisper mode Quiet 40fps, Balanced PP	16:28	82 °C
Whisper mode Balanced 60fps, Balanced PP	15:34	80 °C
Whisper mode Balanced 60fps, Balanced PP	15:56	82 °C

As you can see, the best result is the first one, but the VRAM temperature is also the highest at that.
The second best result is the 4th and 5th - two attempts with the same settings. The rendering time increased by ~16%, but the temperature decreased by ~29%. I'm quite satisfied with this result.

As for the control center, I downloaded it from the "My downloads" page on the PCS website as usual. It's updated, but I really don't see any power limit settings for the GPU there. Could you please advise me where they are located. I tried to find them in the Performance section under the Custom Mode option, APC Settings.
Or maybe I'm misunderstanding you, and those 3 PL values you told me about refer to the processor:

If so, it's not what I was looking for.
However, my problem has been resolved, so I guess this is no longer a relevant issue.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thank you for your help. I found a way to make the GPU cold enough without undervolting.

For those who want to learn this method, you just need to enable Whisper mode in the GeForce Experience app, set it to Balanced, 60fps and it will keep the GPU cool to ~82 °C, which is a huge difference between the 108 °C I had before.
Performance will drop, but not that much. For an example, I tested image generation times in StableDiffusion XL with these settings:

Resolution: 1024x768, Sampling Steps: 40, Hires. fix Upscale by 2.5 times, ESRGAN_4x Upscaler.

I got these results in different modes:

GPU mode, Windows power plan (PP)	Render time	Highest GPU Memory Junction Temp.
Whisper mode OFF, Balanced PP	13:42	106 °C
Whisper mode OFF, Turbo PP	16:40	78 °C
Whisper mode Quiet 40fps, Balanced PP	16:28	82 °C
Whisper mode Balanced 60fps, Balanced PP	15:34	80 °C
Whisper mode Balanced 60fps, Balanced PP	15:56	82 °C

As you can see, the best result is the first one, but the VRAM temperature is also the highest at that.
The second best result is the 4th and 5th - two attempts with the same settings. The rendering time increased by ~16%, but the temperature decreased by ~29%. I'm quite satisfied with this result.

As for the control center, I downloaded it from the "My downloads" page on the PCS website as usual. It's updated, but I really don't see any power limit settings for the GPU there. Could you please advise me where they are located. I tried to find them in the Performance section under the Custom Mode option, APC Settings.
Or maybe I'm misunderstanding you, and those 3 PL values you told me about refer to the processor:

View attachment 39643

If so, it's not what I was looking for.
However, my problem has been resolved, so I guess this is no longer a relevant issue.

Without the specs we can’t give any advice I’m afraid but glad you found a workaround

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just for anyone else viewing this, capping performance is no solution, it’s just applying a bandaid to the problem so it’s avoided but the wound is festering underneath. The system will run absolutely fine at full throttle without overheating so long as it's configured correctly. The above system was always thermal throttling so they've never had full performance that's available even when it was on high temps.

If you’re getting a similar issue, don’t put up with it or nerf your system like this, get some advice.

What’s the point in buying a top end system with a 4090 for a HUGE premium when you’re capping its performance to a 4070. Literally crazy

 

[Jink]

Сapping performance is no solution, it’s just applying a bandaid to the problem so it’s avoided but the wound is festering underneath.

At the moment this is the best solution to the problem. The point is that a laptop graphics card is not the same as a desktop graphics card. It is a compromise between performance and heat dissipation. The cooling system of a laptop cannot be comparable in efficiency to that of a desktop computer.
Although engineers do their best to ensure that notebook graphics cards can work under full load and not overheat, this is primarily for gaming applications. But games don't use 100% GPU resources all the time. Full load is observed only in the most dynamic scenes.

The system will run absolutely fine at full throttle without overheating so long as it's configured correctly.

If you compare gaming to image generation, when the graphics card is under constant high load for a long time, and I gave you an example where generation of one high-resolution image is performed for 13-14 minutes, and there can be any number of such images sequentially, so this mode of graphics card operation is extreme. This is a more demanding scenario for any graphics card, especially in laptops.
To be honest, most likely, the video card and auxiliary components will withstand this mode if the cooling system is in good working order, the heatsinks are clean and the notebook is on a stand where normal air circulation is provided. Even so, extreme operation is a risk. I personally don't want to check whether the equipment can withstand a prolonged load. I care more about the reliability of my laptop for years to come than a 16% performance gain.

I know what I'm talking about, I'm an electronic engineer and what’s more, I used to mine on video cards for more than 4 years. I have seen many burned-out graphics cards, especially often it concerned their power supply system or memory chips. Unfortunately, these parts of the board usually do not have as good a cooling system as the main chip does. Because of this, under high load, it is these components that tend to fail most often. But for over 4 years none of my many video cards failed, thanks to proper tuning and undervolting. At a constant 100% load 24 hours a day, their temperature was kept at around 70°C, while their performance was above the standard level due to increased memory and core frequencies.
I would love to use the same approach here, but alas, here on my laptop these settings are locked, so we make do with what we have.

What’s the point in buying a top end system with a 4090 for a HUGE premium when you’re capping its performance to a 4070. Literally crazy

In fact, you're exaggerating, it's not that bad ) By limiting the performance of the 4090 I got a 16% reduction. The actual difference between the laptop versions of the 4070 and 4090 is not 16%, but ~60%, so I'm still far ahead.
Also, you are comparing the performance of the 4070 with full performance and 4090 with reduced performance, but this is incorrect, since under the same conditions the 4070 will run just as hot and its performance will have to be limited in the same way if the temperature is to be kept low. Do not forget that when generating images with neural networks, it is the VRAM that heats up excessively, not the chip, and this memory is exactly the same in the 4070, only smaller in size. In general, buying a 4090 makes sense in any case, even if it performs at the 4070 level (which is not the case), simply because under the same conditions the 4070 will perform (relatively) at the 4050 level or worse.

The above system was always thermal throttling so they've never had full performance that's available even when it was on high temps.

In fact, the temperatures of the GPU and VRAM, even during long-term operation, did not reach the limit at which throttling begins, but the difference was only a few degrees and, importantly, I worked in Balanced mode, not Turbo, so there was still some decrease in performance.

If you’re getting a similar issue, don’t put up with it or nerf your system like this, get some advice.

If you have any other suggestions on how to ensure acceptable VRAM temperature without reducing performance, I would be very glad to hear them. This is what I need, but so far I haven't found another solution.

 

[SpyderTracks]

At the moment this is the best solution to the problem. The point is that a laptop graphics card is not the same as a desktop graphics card. It is a compromise between performance and heat dissipation. The cooling system of a laptop cannot be comparable in efficiency to that of a desktop computer.
Although engineers do their best to ensure that notebook graphics cards can work under full load and not overheat, this is primarily for gaming applications. But games don't use 100% GPU resources all the time. Full load is observed only in the most dynamic scenes.


If you compare gaming to image generation, when the graphics card is under constant high load for a long time, and I gave you an example where generation of one high-resolution image is performed for 13-14 minutes, and there can be any number of such images sequentially, so this mode of graphics card operation is extreme. This is a more demanding scenario for any graphics card, especially in laptops.
To be honest, most likely, the video card and auxiliary components will withstand this mode if the cooling system is in good working order, the heatsinks are clean and the notebook is on a stand where normal air circulation is provided. Even so, extreme operation is a risk. I personally don't want to check whether the equipment can withstand a prolonged load. I care more about the reliability of my laptop for years to come than a 16% performance gain.

I know what I'm talking about, I'm an electronic engineer and what’s more, I used to mine on video cards for more than 4 years. I have seen many burned-out graphics cards, especially often it concerned their power supply system or memory chips. Unfortunately, these parts of the board usually do not have as good a cooling system as the main chip does. Because of this, under high load, it is these components that tend to fail most often. But for over 4 years none of my many video cards failed, thanks to proper tuning and undervolting. At a constant 100% load 24 hours a day, their temperature was kept at around 70°C, while their performance was above the standard level due to increased memory and core frequencies.
I would love to use the same approach here, but alas, here on my laptop these settings are locked, so we make do with what we have.


In fact, you're exaggerating, it's not that bad ) By limiting the performance of the 4090 I got a 16% reduction. The actual difference between the laptop versions of the 4070 and 4090 is not 16%, but ~60%, so I'm still far ahead.
Also, you are comparing the performance of the 4070 with full performance and 4090 with reduced performance, but this is incorrect, since under the same conditions the 4070 will run just as hot and its performance will have to be limited in the same way if the temperature is to be kept low. Do not forget that when generating images with neural networks, it is the VRAM that heats up excessively, not the chip, and this memory is exactly the same in the 4070, only smaller in size. In general, buying a 4090 makes sense in any case, even if it performs at the 4070 level (which is not the case), simply because under the same conditions the 4070 will perform (relatively) at the 4050 level or worse.


In fact, the temperatures of the GPU and VRAM, even during long-term operation, did not reach the limit at which throttling begins, but the difference was only a few degrees and, importantly, I worked in Balanced mode, not Turbo, so there was still some decrease in performance.


If you have any other suggestions on how to ensure acceptable VRAM temperature without reducing performance, I would be very glad to hear them. This is what I need, but so far I haven't found another solution.

Without the specs we can’t give any advice I’m afraid but glad you found a workaround

It's not the best solution at all as you haven't dealt with the issue, the issue is still present. And no matter what workload, a GPU or CPU on a properly working system doesn't reach thermal throttling. Yours was thermal throttling, hence there's an issue with configuration somewhere. But we've had plenty of this chassis with 100% long term stress tests with Furmark and not had thermal throttling, so we know it's an issue with your configuration.

As already said, without your full specs from the order page we can't help.

 

[Jink]

I appreciate your willingness to help, thank you. I really don't see how a full spec sheet would help, because I've already named the laptop model and its graphics card. What else is important in the spec is not clear, but so be it, here is the full spec:

Chassis & Display
Recoil Series: 17" Matte QHD 240Hz sRGB 100% LED Widescreen (2560x1600)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24 Core Processor 13900HX (5.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair 4800MHz SODIMM DDR5 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 4090 - 16.0GB GDDR6 Video RAM - DirectX® 12.1
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 330W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre European Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Battery
Recoil Series Integrated 99WH Lithium Ion Battery
Thermal Paste
LIQUID METAL PERFORMANCE COOLING
Sound Card
Nahimic by SteelSeries 2 Channel HD Audio
Wireless Network Card
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.3
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x THUNDERBOLT 4 PORT + 3 x USB 3.2 PORTS
Keyboard Language
RECOIL 17 SERIES RGB BACKLIT USA INTERNATIONAL KEYBOARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
US International/USA - US English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery
2 - 6 DAY DELIVERY TO EUROPE (COUNTRY DEPENDANT)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - Germany

And no matter what workload, a GPU or CPU on a properly working system doesn't reach thermal throttling. Yours was thermal throttling, hence there's an issue with configuration somewhere. But we've had plenty of this chassis with 100% long term stress tests with Furmark and not had thermal throttling, so we know it's an issue with your configuration.

This is interesting, because when I got my laptop and found that in Turbo mode at max load the CPU goes into throttle mode, I was surprised and went to the forum to clarify this point, but there I found your answer to the same question where you write the exact opposite, here it is:

The Recoil is the big daddy, it's more of a desktop replacement, although it's not a full desktop processor, but unquestionably go for the bigger GPU as that will be the first bottleneck which you can't replace, plus the 13900HX can't be cooled anyway and will thermal throttle no matter what you do, so you'll never reach optimal speeds.

I would like to clarify this point, because I have been observing the CPU going into this mode since the very first day I used my laptop. To do this, you need to turn on turbo mode and give maximum load with for example the Furmark test you mentioned.

In addition, I specifically checked reviews of other laptops with the same CPU and GPU and found out pretty the same high temperatures there. For example (laptop on an identical chassis) in the stress test showed 97° for CPU and 80° for GPU. (almost the same CPU and identical GPU) stress test showed 98° for CPU and 72° for GPU.
Even an independent test of the PCSpecialist Recoil 17 itself with the water cooling system connected showed a result of 94°C for CPU.

We know, the Tjunction for the 13900HX ais 100°, however in my tests at 96°, HWiNFO already shows thermal throttling enabled.
Unfortunately, none of the laptop reviews test VRAM temperatures, and I doubt PCS do it themselves during the pre-sale stress test. The results would be interesting to know.

So, if you have reliable data that this chassis should not under any circumstances get to the temperature at which throttle mode kicks in, I would really appreciate advice and help on what needs to be done to achieve this, as at the moment my research shows that this is not the case.

 

[SpyderTracks]

By your specs you didn't order the liquid cooler?

That's will be the issue, you basically NEED the liquid cooler if you don't want it to throttle. It's sold as modular, but shouldn't be IMHO. Certainly if you're doing the workloads you're doing rather than gaming.

We know, the Tjunction for the 13900HX ais 100°, however in my tests at 96°, HWiNFO already shows thermal throttling enabled.

Personally I agree with HWInfo on this, it's not reaching the TJunc which is technically where thermal throttling, but on Intels, thermal boost clocks aren't obtainable over 90c I believe it is, so HWInfo marks anything over that as thermal throttling, as the processor is preventing you obtaining the proper clocks available because of thermals.

That's what I mean when I say you can't stop it thermal throttling. IMHO Intel have gotten away with extremely bad marketing to hide the fact that almost all their chips will never reach available boost performance under normal cooling scenarios.

How Intel laughs at thermal throttling, and why it shouldn't | Digital Trends

Intel's 16-core HX processors are the best of the best, but that comes at the cost of pushing against a thermal wall that could become a problem in the future.

www.digitaltrends.com

 

[Jink]

By your specs you didn't order the liquid cooler?

Yeah, that's right. I didn't order it. Now I regret it a bit, but you have to agree, a laptop should do its job without additional hardware, and if any is required, it should not be optional, but included.
However, I doubt that in my case it will improve the situation significantly, as the liquid cooling heat pipe does not affect the GPU memory chips. As far as I know from the laptop description and specifications, it is intended to improve cooling of the video chip, which I don't have any problems with cooling.
However, I could be wrong. I would be glad to know the real situation of any of the owners of similar laptops with liquid cooling system. If there is anyone here who can run Stable Diffusion on their laptop and show what the VRAM temperature would be with liquid cooling, I would be very grateful.

That's what I mean when I say you can't stop it thermal throttling. IMHO Intel have gotten away with extremely bad marketing to hide the fact that almost all their chips will never reach available boost performance under normal cooling scenarios.

That's what I was talking about when I stated that reducing performance, is the solution to the problem. Simply because the problem here is not with a particular laptop or even a particular chassis, but with the fact that hardware that is super powerful for this form factor cannot be cooled simply because there is not enough space for an adequate cooling system.
Not for nothing are produced and sold cooling stands for laptops with turbines like these, which hum like a vacuum cleaner, but really reduce the temperature by 20 degrees or more. Alas, the noise they make makes such a solution impossible for me personally.

And there are no other solutions, except performance reduction. Undervolting would be perfect, and I don't understand why this absolutely safe and extremely useful feature is blocked. I understand blocking overclocking, but it's not the same thing at all.

Of course, we can say that by reducing performance we are limiting expensive hardware, and then what is the point of it at all, but I think it is not so, because even the manufacturers themselves as you can see limit their chips, just not so significantly, but they are not really interested in the long and smooth operation of their chips, the main thing is to withstand the warranty period, and then let them buy a new one. I can not afford such a luxury, alas )

 

[SpyderTracks]

Yeah, that's right. I didn't order it. Now I regret it a bit, but you have to agree, a laptop should do its job without additional hardware, and if any is required, it should not be optional, but included.

It's not a laptop, it's a DTR, they're very different things. the 13900HX is just a 13900k desktop chip rebranded with lower power limits, but it's a desktop chip. DTR's are not designed to be portable, or even used on battery.

That's what I was talking about when I stated that reducing performance, is the solution to the problem. Simply because the problem here is not with a particular laptop or even a particular chassis, but with the fact that hardware that is super powerful for this form factor cannot be cooled simply because there is not enough space for an adequate cooling system.

No, it's because it doesn't have the required cooling to be able to effectively keep it from throttling. There's an awful lot more performance available.

You can still buy a cooler through your account after buying the laptop.

 

[Jink]

I'm sorry but it is a laptop.
There is a direct and unambiguous description on the manufacturer's website, it is presented as "The Ultimate Gaming Laptop". Tong Fang calls it "Flagship Gaming Laptop" also. And it's definitely designed to be portable, as it has everything to do so, including a battery that's as big as it can be, so it can still be carried on an airplane. There is enough space in the case for a much larger battery, but the capacity 99WH is chosen to allow this laptop to be legally transported by plane.

But in general, this is just a question of terminology and, what is even more true, marketing. Calling a powerful laptop a desktop replacement device is simply a good way to stand out from the competition. Other brands that use the same or even cooler components, such as the processor, do not consider their products not to be laptops. PCS doesn't seem to think so either, since I haven't seen such a statement anywhere on the official website.

No, it's because it doesn't have the required cooling to be able to effectively keep it from throttling. There's an awful lot more performance available.

If this were the case, then other laptop models from other vendors should also support liquid cooling, but we see that in fact this feature is rather an exception. Other manufacturers rely only on air cooling. Who would deliberately refuse the opportunity to significantly improve the performance of their flagship device?
Just a few examples (with 4090 GPU): . None of them have liquid cooling, even the first two which have more powerful CPUs. So this is a laptop that should be able to do its job without additional hardware, just like other laptops in its class.

You can still buy a cooler through your account after buying the laptop.

Maybe I'll do it, but I need to know that it will help. Can PCS run some tests to check the VRAM temperature?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm sorry but it is a laptop.
There is a direct and unambiguous description on the manufacturer's website, it is presented as "The Ultimate Gaming Laptop". Tong Fang calls it "Flagship Gaming Laptop" also. And it's definitely designed to be portable, as it has everything to do so, including a battery that's as big as it can be, so it can still be carried on an airplane. There is enough space in the case for a much larger battery, but the capacity 99WH is chosen to allow this laptop to be legally transported by plane.

A laptop with a desktop processor is called a DTR (Desktop replacement). It's not a laptop.

If you're tusting any marketing promotion, then you're doing things wrong

 

[Dohnim]

Late reply to the OP. Having the exact same laptop I can confirm few things. In my system I noticed in several cases that the VRAM temps went up to 106*. Laptop was cooled with air and without any stand (for me it happened during Assasins Creed gameplay with a lot and lot of NPC around me).

After that I invested in some nice laptop stand to raise the laptop and it helped. My stand also has adjustable fans, which I've put just under RAMs and VRAMs.

For a brief moment (2 weeks - 1 month) I was using the liquid cooler which also helped redusing all the temps. Worked for VRAMs, GPU temps and maybe slightly for CPU (but those were always high). I didn't like the "PCS design" of this cooler and it caused me trouble - the hoses which you screw to the unit got loose by themself and it leaked a little - knowing that the liquid unit has its PCB at the very bottom and the leaking water could potentially get there by gravity I decided to take it back to my seller. Currently I'm keeping my eye for the latest liquid cooler model from other sellers. Unfortunately PCS doesn't have this improved model in its offer, I'd happily buy it was the case.

The BIOS is more restricted than on others sellers BIOSes. I've read some guys managed to just change BIOS and software for other vendors, but I didn't tried that myself.

I had my fair share of troubles with this machine, (actually started with 4080 model but it crashed for unknown reason and I got a good deal for 4090 because of that) but I've grown to realise that it might just be the best whatyou can get in laptops territory. The liquid cooler do work like magic and I will consider changing my heatpipes for the latest tongfang ones (because the water pipe will go over CPU as well).

Edit: Both my units did come with coil whine (mostly at high load with high FPS) or such sounds coming from laptop as well as the charger. At some point I accepted it as it is popular these days and isn't particularly harmful - so I was told.

Wish you carefree use of this nice machine.

Hi everyone,

I'm reaching out to the community for some advice regarding my Recoil VII 17 laptop, which I primarily use for video editing and AI image generation. I've been encountering an issue where the laptop overheats, particularly during AI image processing tasks. VRAM temperature rises to 106 °C in Balanced mode. To address this, I want to undervolt the GPU (Nvidia RTX 4090) to reduce heat and power consumption.

I have significant experience with GPU undervolting, having used MSI Afterburner for many years on my desktop setups. However, when trying to apply the same process to my laptop GPU, I'm facing a roadblock. In MSI Afterburner, the undervolting options for the GPU appear to be locked. I've tried altering the settings, but they remain inaccessible.

I'm quite sure that my approach and understanding of the software are sound, based on my past experiences. However, it seems there might be specific limitations or restrictions when it comes to undervolting a laptop GPU, particularly the Nvidia RTX 4090 in my case.

Has anyone else encountered a similar issue? If so, how were you able to unlock the undervolting options, or is there an alternative method or software that I could use for this purpose? Any guidance or suggestions from fellow users who have successfully navigated this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[SpyderTracks]

The BIOS is more restricted than on others sellers BIOSes. I've read some guys managed to just change BIOS and software for other vendors, but I didn't tried that myself.

This is dangerous and will void warranty, that’s if it doesn’t brick the laptop. There’s no guarantee another OEMs bios would be compatible.

If your cooler was leaking, you should have done an RMA as no one else has reported that, so yours was likely faulty.

 

[Dohnim]

This is dangerous and will void warranty, that’s if it doesn’t brick the laptop. There’s no guarantee another OEMs bios would be compatible.

If your cooler was leaking, you should have done an RMA as no one else has reported that, so yours was likely faulty.

Agreed, I don't intend on messing with my BIOS and don't mean to encourage anyone to do so.

Edit:
I'm quite positive I've read an official PCS article about teaming up with XMG to use their BIOS when the laptops had initial problems with RTX graphics stutters (back at the launch). Can't find it now, maybe it was taken down after the problems were fixed later on. I am curious if this partnership between PCS and XMG is still in place and if its posible to use each others resources such as XMG BIOS and XMG Oasis software.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm quite positive I've read an official PCS article about teaming up with XMG to use their BIOS when the laptops had initial problems with RTX graphics stutters (back at the launch). Can't find it now, maybe it was taken down after the problems were fixed later on. I am curious if this partnership between PCS and XMG is still in place and if its posible to use each others resources such as XMG BIOS and XMG Oasis software.

Only PCS can answer that but with any BIOS flash, you have to have PCS approval first or it will void your warranty.