Valeon RTX 3080, Ryzen R9 5900HX. Its a bit of a monster really.

barlew

Godlike
Full disclosure, initially I ordered the Ionico with the same specs as the Valeon I ended up with. I had to change the order as the Ionico chassis was out of stock when PCS got to my order. Initially I was worried about switching as I thought the Valeon aesthetically looked absolutely terrible, especially the central hinge for the screen. I also had to switch from an Intel I7-11800H CPU to an AMD 5900HX. My previous laptop had a 5900HX and it caused me all sorts of problems, so I had reservations about getting another one.

So now you have the context for how I ended up with a Valeon here is my review.

Aesthetics and materials:

I was pleasantly surprised when the laptop finally arrived as it is far less hideous than the pictures, in fact I really like it.

The laptop isn’t made from the most premium materials but by the same token they do not look or feel cheap or nasty. As this is not the first Tongfang I have owned I understood I was paying for the performance and not the external aesthetic. My last laptop was an ASUS Zephyrus with the same specs as this Valeon however it cost £1500 more. Even with the better build quality it was not worth the extra money.

The Valeon’s lid is made from brushed aluminium which feels nice and sturdy. There is a subdued PCS logo on the back which is quite subtle, so I don’t mind it too much. The only concern I have about the screen is the middle hinge, however it does seem quite sturdy.

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The palm rest and keyboard surround are plastic which has a soft touch finish. It seems good quality and feels nice to the touch. The only downside is it attracts fingerprints and oil from your skin very easily but that’s just me splitting hairs.

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The bottom shell of the laptop does detract slightly from the pleasing aesthetic of the device. It is made from a noticeably cheaper plastic than the top shell. It’s not all bad though as the bottom of the shell has a huge amount of ventilation to help cool the components inside. If you are going to open the laptop for upgrades or servicing, I would highly recommend using a proper electronics separation tool as I think it would be very easy to snap the plastic clips holding it together.

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The keyboard was a concern for me as previous Tongfang models suffered from the letters rubbing off the keys. My Vyper 17 had this issue, and it was very disappointing. Looking at the keyboard on the Valeon it does seem better quality, although that may just be my wishful thinking. The keyboard does the job perfectly well and the LED backlight is nice and uniform throughout. The only complaint I have is that the numpad does not have a dedicated enter key.

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The touchpad is glass and feels great to the touch, unfortunately that’s where the positives end. This touchpad is terrible, it is comically large, and I honestly have no idea why. The touchpad has the functionality to be disabled entirely by double tapping the top left or by just disabling the right half by double tapping the top right. I have the right half disabled when I type as the palm rejection seems non-existent, so I am constantly accidentally clicking or moving the cursor when I type.

It is also excessively sensitive; this results in me constantly accidentally activating the wrong gestures by mistake. For example, if I am scrolling through a webpage or text document with the two-finger swipe method, the laptop constantly thinks I am also clicking the left mouse button, so I end up either clicking and dragging something on the page or highlighting an entire page of text. Even more annoyingly because the touchpad is so big and sensitive quite often when trying to scroll, I won’t realise that the edge of my palm is gently touching the pad. The laptop thinks I am using three fingers and scrolls out to the application selection screen.

To put it bluntly the mousepad is horrific, and I won’t be using it.

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Upgradeability and Internals

This was possibly the fiddliest laptop I’ve ever had to open. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t the crypton factor, but it did require some care due to the previously mentioned plastic shell. You also must remove the two led covers which flank either side of the screen hinge. This was no great hardship however they are also just held on by the plastic clips and I am worried that over time once the laptop has had to be opened for servicing a few times they may start to become loose.

The internal upgrade options are standard, you get 2x M.2 slots along with 2x RAM and an M.2 WiFi slot. No soldered RAM here which is a big win. The only complaint I have is when I opened the laptop, I discovered that one of the WiFi antenna either hadn’t been connected to the card or not connected properly so I had to reattach it. Again, not the end of the world but it is the second time I have received a laptop from PCS where I have had to reconnect the antenna.

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barlew

Godlike
Screen

The screen is 1440P, 165Hz and I have absolutely no idea about the response times or any of the technical colour data apart from it is sRGB whatever that means. What I do know is it looks fantastic. Everything is sharp, and the colours look great. I am loving having a high refresh rate 1440p screen on a laptop it is a game changer.

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There is some IPS glow from all four corners of the screen however its nothing to write home about and falls within the bounds of what I would consider acceptable. The picture makes it look worse than it is in real life. There are no stuck or dead pixels.

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The screen has Free Sync but unfortunately it only works with the RADEON APU. This leads to two problems for me which are potentially big problems.
  • If I want to use Free Sync, I have to have the RADEON software installed. I have monked on enough about this software on the forum, so I won’t go into detail, but it has caused me huge driver problems in the past.
  • If I want to use the laptop in dGPU mode (and who wouldn’t it’s a gaming laptop) I cannot use Free Sync.
I thought the big issue I was going to have here was point 2. This is a gaming laptop, apart from DLSS, G-Sync is one of the most important innovations in PC gaming in probably the last 10 years. It is especially important in laptops where you cannot upgrade internals to keep up with the games coming out 3-5 years down the line. G-Sync helps dramatically to smooth gameplay when you start to push the envelope of what your hardware can handle.

I do not know why the dGPU cannot utilise the Free Sync capability of the screen; I suspect it is because it is connected using a different protocol to that of the APU.

This all being said It turns out this may not be the big issue I thought it would be as you’ll see in my testing.

Speakers

I have read a lot about the Valeon’s speakers being the worst speakers in any laptop ever! Whilst I freely admit I am not an audiophile in any sense of the word, I don’t think they are really that bad. They even seem to implement some sort of virtual 5.1 which is quite immersive. This same problem happened with the Viper 17, and I think the 15-inch Vortex before that. The problem was people were not installing or configuring the THX audio suite so the laptop EQs were not configured. I think the same is happening here. When I was setting windows up the sound really was dreadful, but as soon as I installed the Soundblaster software they sounded great.

Don’t get me wrong they won’t win any awards, but they are perfectly serviceable for a gaming laptop.

Performance

The following are several tests I have run on the laptop to see what its performance is like. I have carried out all tests using the standard Gaming mode profile in the control center. Where relevant I have carried out the tests twice. Once using MSHybrid then again using the dGPU.

To test the games, I have used the in game benchmarking tool and the games are running at 1440p with the graphical settings set to maximum. I did not use DLSS in any of the tests. All FPS figures are the average.

Cinebench R23 Single Core:
Gaming Profile in CC: 1444 pts

Cinebench R23 Multi Core:
Gaming Profile in CC: 12071 pts
Unlocked TGP 150W, Dynamic Boost 15W, PL limited to 30W: 9677 pts

3DMark Time Spy (Standard settings):
MSHybrid: 10701 pts
dGPU: 10838 pts

3DMark Fire Strike (Standard settings):
MSHybrid: 23313 pts
dGPU: 25097 pts

3DMark Port Royal (Standard settings):
MSHybrid: 6781 pts
dGPU: 6848 pts

Red Dead Redemption 2:
MSHybrid: 74 FPS
dGPU: 64 FPS
CPU Temp: 88C
GPU Temp: 66C
Unlocked TGP 150W, Dynamic Boost 15W, PL limited to 30W: 71 FPS, CPU temp 81C

Grand Theft Auto V:
MSHybrid: 45 FPS
dGPU: 64 FPS
CPU Temp: 90C
GPU Temp: 61C
Unlocked TGP 150W, Dynamic Boost 15W, PL limited to 30W: 81 FPS, CPU Temp: 84C

Rise of the Tomb Raider:
MSHybrid: 56 FPS
dGPU: 57 FPS
CPU Temp: 88C
GPU Temp: 66C
Unlocked TGP 150W, Dynamic Boost 15W, PL limited to 30W: 62 FPS, 82C

Total Warhammer 2:
Campaign benchmark MSHybrid: 83 FPS
Battle benchmark MSHybrid: 71 FPS
Campaign benchmark dGPU: 86 FPS
Battle benchmark dGPU: 71 FPS
CPU Temp: 95C
GPU Temp: 66C
Campaign benchmark, Unlocked TGP 150W, Dynamic Boost 15W, PL limited to 30W: 86 FPS, CPU temp 88C
Battle benchmark, Unlocked TGP 150W, Dynamic Boost 15W, PL limited to 30W: 75 FPS, CPU temp 83C

FarCry New Dawn:
MSHybrid: 84 FPS
dGPU: 89 FPS
CPU Temp: 95 C
GPU Temp: 57 C
Unlocked TGP 150W, Dynamic Boost 15W, PL limited to 30W: 86 FPS, CPU temp 82C

Horizon Zero Dawn:
MSHybrid: 85 FPS
dGPU: 86 FPS
CPU Temp: 96 C
GPU Temp: 70 C
Unlocked TGP 150W, Dynamic Boost 15W, PL limited to 30W: 90 FPS, CPU temp 84C

Assassins Creed Odyssey:
MSHybrid: 59 FPS
dGPU: 61 FPS
CPU Temp: 96 C
GPU Temp: 65 C
Unlocked TGP 150W, Dynamic Boost 15W, PL limited to 30W: 61 FPS, 86C

Hitman 2 (Miami benchmark):
MSHybrid: 72 FPS
dGPU: 79 FPS
CPU Temp: 90 C
GPU Temp: 69 C
Unlocked TGP 150W, Dynamic Boost 15W, PL limited to 30W: 78FPS, CPU Temp: 86C

As you can see this laptop plays everything I have thrown at it with no problems. Obviously frame rates could be increased by tweaking graphical settings as all these games are maxed out at 1440p.

The issue with Free Sync potentially is not the drama I thought it would be for two reasons. Number 1 even in MSHybrid mode this laptop runs games like a dream as you can see from my testing there is usually only a couple of frames difference at most. Number 2 if I do use the dGPU mode the laptop is so powerful tearing is most likely not going to happen anyway. This may change a few years down the line though when this laptop is a bit dated.

The CPU does seem to run very hot in most of the games tested. I know people will disagree with me on this and I know it’s a subject I have harped on about, but I have now owned two 5900HX’s in two different laptop chassis. In both cases these CPU’s have run far hotter than my previous Intel I7-10875H. Now that’s not particularly surprising as the 5900HX can boost for far longer than the Intel chips, that is why they are designed to operate at such a high temperature.

I am confident these temps are just the natural performance of the chip and not due to bad thermal paste. I have run this chip for 15 minutes solid under a stress test in Prime95 and the temps were all good. They peaked briefly at 94C, but most of the time sat in the high 80C’s (see picture). If the laptop had a bad thermal paste application, I would expect it to be burning up during that stress test. This behaviour also chimes with what other Valeon users have experienced which can be seen here https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/threads/valeon-laptop-cpu-temps.81384/.

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barlew

Godlike
Am I worried about the temperatures? Not really no, AMD have stated that these chips are meant to run this hot, it is a by-product of the crazy performance they have.
Would I prefer it to run cooler? Yes, definitely, and unfortunately because you cannot under-volt the chip, options are limited to cool it down.
There is the option to limit the boost wattage through command centre but I am loath to do this because instead of optimising the chip (ala under-volt) you are literally reducing the chips performance to keep it cool. There are people in this forum who seem to have good results doing it though, so I’ll probably try it out and rerun my tests at some point to see how it affects performance.

Control Center

Moving onto Control Center which I have just discovered is possibly one of the most interesting aspects of this laptop. Tongfang have outdone themselves here by giving the user the ability to control almost all configurable aspects of their CPU and GPU. I have only fiddled with it briefly but in doing so I have managed to beat every single laptop on the forum leader boards in firestrike. https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...rank-of-pcs-laptops.76665/page-14#post-656340

Most laptop manufacturers set the TGP of the GPU and the PL1, PL2 states of the processer (if its unlocked) and then that is it the laptop is configured end of story. With the latest generation of RTX graphics cards this is a nightmare because you get to situations where a manufacturer can configure a 3060 that on paper could outperform a 3080 which has been configured to a lower TGP.

Unlocking the TGP of the GPU and setting it to the highest the chip can go, which is 150 Watts and then upping the dynamic boost limit to 15 W allows the GPU to utilise 165W if there is enough thermal headroom.

I have only just started playing with this but like I said within the first half hour I had smashed every laptop on that leader board. I also re-ran the Red Dead Redemption 2 test with the new settings, and I gained 10% extra frames on average, whilst the GPU stayed at 80C or below.

There are many other configurable options as well, so I have a lot to get my head around. Either way this tool allows the user to get the absolute best out of their laptop for any given use case.

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Conclusion

As I have only had the laptop for about 24 Hrs and most of that has been spent setting it up and running synthetic benchmarks my conclusion is tentative and subject to change. Right now, I really like the laptop. I think it looks great; the performance is pretty mind blowing considering the laptop’s size.

The screen is phenomenal and as I said before 1440p in a laptop is game changing.

The negative points I have so far are:
  • The mousepad. What on earth were they thinking?
  • Even though it turns out MSHybrid works well on this laptop it is a shame Free Sync does not work with the dGPU.
  • The CPU is hotter than the sun (but it is supposed to be).
At the end of the day the perfect high performance custom laptop probably does not exist. This is frankly an awesome machine and I have no regrets. I would definitely recommend it.
 
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barlew

Godlike
Just wondering where are you seeing that you need to have the Radeon software installed to use freesync?
Unless I am wrong (which of course is a strong possibility) there is no way to enable it other than through Radeon software?

*EDIT* I am also hoping its a mute point because right now the Radeon software is working perfectly.
 

KriSta

Silver Level Poster
Unless I am wrong (which of course is a strong possibility) there is no way to enable it other than through Radeon software?

*EDIT* I am also hoping its a mute point because right now the Radeon software is working perfectly.
Freesync is only used when using iGPU , when using dGPU the Radeon software does not load as the GPU is disabled . The laptop does not have a G-SYNC module installed for the RTX GPU which means no VRR while using dGPU and internal screen . It does support G-SYNC externally though.
 

barlew

Godlike
Freesync is only used when using iGPU , when using dGPU the Radeon software does not load as the GPU is disabled . The laptop does not have a G-SYNC module installed for the RTX GPU which means no VRR while using dGPU and internal screen . It does support G-SYNC externally though.
Yeh I appreciate that @KriSta what we are trying to confirm is whether when running in MSHybrid mode there is any way to enable Free Sync other than through radeon software?
 

KriSta

Silver Level Poster
Yeh I appreciate that @KriSta what we are trying to confirm is whether when running in MSHybrid mode there is any way to enable Free Sync other than through radeon software?

Ah okay ... no it can only be enabled via the Radeon software as far as I`ve seen on mine . The regular video settings does not have an option for it .
 

KriSta

Silver Level Poster
But I do agree on the mousepad on the Valeon , it is quite useless and too large . As for the keyboard , only time will tell if it will last without peeling. But I do like the fact that my Valeon do turn off one of the fans when just doing minor tasks and loads :)
 

barlew

Godlike
But I do agree on the mousepad on the Valeon , it is quite useless and too large . As for the keyboard , only time will tell if it will last without peeling. But I do like the fact that my Valeon do turn off one of the fans when just doing minor tasks and loads :)
The mousepad is just utterly bizzare mate. Considering how the rest of this laptop is so good it boggles my mind that the same team stuck this mousepad on it and thought it was a great idea lol.
 

LVAN

Member
Very nice review! I see that your temps are very high, the same with my IONICO 17 with a 5800HX and RTX3070. In case you or someone else did not know this, you can lower the temps about 10 a 15c on high load like gaming.

You can disable the "Processor Performance Boost mode" in your current powerplan. I do not see any difference in performance when gaming and the system is cooler in general, so the fans are not maxed out. And I believe that the life span of the machine is longer with this setting disabled. Default is set to "aggressive" on my machine.

Just follow this guide on Reddit and reboot after the changes are made.

Then type in Start "Edit power plan", and then "Change advanced power settings", "Processor power management" and there should be a new setting called "Processor performance boost mode". Set it to disabled, you don't need to reboot. Try a game and let us know.

Hope this helps :)
 

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SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Right according to AMD Radeon software must be used for FreeSync.


Like I said though so far so good. I'll update the review if it continues that way.
But is this just on laptops?

Freesync screens work fine with either nvidia or AMD gpu's, so you can connect to a freesync screen fine through nvidia control panel.

That's been the case for a number of years now.

 

barlew

Godlike
But is this just on laptops?

Freesync screens work fine with either nvidia or AMD gpu's, so you can connect to a freesync screen fine through nvidia control panel.

That's been the case for a number of years now.
Sorry mate I get where you are coming from now. Yes that is usually how I do it on my desktop or if I have the laptop connected to my external monitor.

Weirdly the panel on the laptop cannot use Free Sync when just running off of the 3080. For reasons I do not understand the functionality isn't there at all.

The only way I can use Free Sync is if I am using the laptop in MSHybrid mode, which means because the screen in this instance is connected directly to the APU not the GPU I have to turn Free Sync on through Radeon software.

Its pretty infuriating because on paper you should be able to use the functionality in either mode.

I can only assume that the connection between the APU and the screen is DP 1.2 compliant and the one between the GPU and the screen isn't.
 

barlew

Godlike
Gotcha. I didn't understand that. That's really annoying!
Yeh it makes no sense to me. I think it may be a cost saving measure? But that is me just shooting in the dark.
If I plug the laptop directly into my Acer Free Sync monitor using a USB-C to DP cable G-Sync becomes available in control panel.
For whatever reason they chose not to include it with the laptop panel.
 
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