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Kraken X15 F i7-11800H FHD 240HZ 16GB 1TB NVMe SSD RTX3070 Gaming Laptop $1999 + Delivery & More @ BPC Technology

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Kraken X15 F i7-11800H FHD 240HZ 16GB 1TB NVMe SSD RTX3070 Gaming Laptop $1999 + Delivery & More @ BPC Technology
Go to Deal
Store RepBPC Technology on 26/12/2021 - 10:57 bpctech.com.au (3032 clicks)
Last edited 20/01/2022 - 20:31 by 1 other user

Good morning guys! How's your boxing day safari going!

It's been ten months since we launched the new krakenPower Gaming PC series, and We really appreciate your support for the Kraken Gaming Series this year. And today, we are happy to bring you the Kraken Gaming Laptop Series!

1. Kraken X15 F Gaming Laptop i7-11800H FHD 240HZ 16GB(1X16GB) 1TB NVMe SSD $1999 + Delivery
We rec this model as the best value.

2. Kraken X15 Q Gaming Laptop i7-11800H QHD 165HZ 32GB(2X16GB) 2TB NVMe SSD $2499 + Delivery Now $2399
Decent QHD gaming but good value for design students as well.
https://www.bpctech.com.au/kraken-x15-q-kraken-x15-q-gaming-…

And the series also come with RTX3060 Models as well:

3. Kraken M15 Q Gaming Laptop i7-11800H QHD 165HZ 16GB(2X8GB) 1TB $1599 + Delivery Sold out
https://www.bpctech.com.au/kraken-m15-q-kraken-m15-q-gaming-…

4. Kraken M15 F Gaming Laptop i7-11800H FHD 240HZ 16GB(2X8GB) 512GB $1499 + Delivery
https://www.bpctech.com.au/kraken-m15-f-kraken-m15-f-gaming-…

And we have a limited gaming PC prize draw for the laptop purchase as well, don't miss it!

BTW, based on the courier service update, our shipping service will be back to normal from Jan 3th.

Happy Shopping!

Warmly,
BPC Team

This is part of Boxing Day Sales for 2021
Computing 15.6inch Boxing Day Computer Laptop

Related Stores

BPC Technology
BPC Technology

closed Comments

    • shaa on 19/01/2022 - 21:42

      thank you guys so much for the responses, I think i may get a smaller laptop with less power. I dont specifically need this laptop for gaming as I have a gaming pc at home, ill keep looking for deals! :))

  • shabaka on 19/01/2022 - 13:52
    +2

    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ErVFhVVrR4xBz83nfcpg…

    sharing the calibrated color profiles for my X15 (FHD 240Hz panel) made with my old calibrator. If you get better ones, please care to share, as I think mine might be aging

    included 3 profiles for 6500, 5800 and 5000K white points (I use them in, correspondingly, daylight, office, at night)

    • johndoh89 on 19/01/2022 - 21:28

      They look pretty good to me. Thanks.

  • shabaka on 19/01/2022 - 15:51

    W11 is quite a dog I must admit. all sorts of issues
    I might just drop it and reinstall W10 from scratch.

    W11 was alright with a few minor quirks until it wasn't (right now I am stuck not being able to open Explorer). and that's with latest cumulative update installed just earlier today

    • Person 1653 on 19/01/2022 - 16:35

      Yeah, I've had bad experiences with W11 so I've kept mine on W10. Not planning to update for a few more months.

      • shabaka on 19/01/2022 - 17:17

        yeah.. typing this from W10 already

        Win +Ctrl +Shift + double reset

    • johndoh89 on 19/01/2022 - 21:29

      Second this, rolled back to Windows 10 and I'm having less issues. Still waiting for everything to download again so I can do some more testing.

  • johndoh89 on 19/01/2022 - 18:33
    +1

    Anyone done some actual game benchmarks with their 3070?

    I've been using Shadow of the Tomb Raider because Jarrod used it in his video to get a comparison.

    Unfortunately I can't figure out what settings he used.
    https://youtu.be/3AmtDtw2XtQ?t=795

    The slide in the video just says Highest Settings, DX 12, 1920x1080.

    There is a preset called Highest, but there are custom options above it and he doesn't specify DLSS or AA used which make a huge difference.

    He got 108fps on the internal and 126fps on the external.

    With DLSS on Ultra Performance I get 107fps on my external screen, with DLSS off and no AA I'm only getting 87fps and with the max AA I'm getting 67fps.

    I've removed the undervolting and it made no difference.

    Testing Forza 5
    https://www.notebookcheck.net/Forza-Horizon-5-Performance-An…

    My performance matched almost directly to the 3060 model they used:
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-11800H
    XMG Core 15 @130 W TGP
    High 110 fps
    Extreme 58 fps

    My 3D Mark scores where very close with what Jarrod got, but all gaming seems to be running at 3060 levels.

    Maybe Windows 11 is to blame, it and the RAM/SSD are about the only causes I can think of… Thermals seem fine and I'm not going up into the 90s anymore.

  • Deal Hunter Go on 20/01/2022 - 23:06

    Problem: Is anyone getting small high-pitched coil whine noises when turning on the keyboard backlight (low beam/level 1) on battery mode? I got the Kraken M15 F.

    • shabaka on 20/01/2022 - 23:31
      +1

      yes, it was discussed above

      an option is to switch it to mono white, then the noise is quieter

      • Deal Hunter Go on 21/01/2022 - 11:48

        Oh thanks, however, after installing Intel NUC software studio from Microsoft Store I checked that mine was already on mono white which seems to be the default factory setting for new laptops, I didn't change to any color yet (I thought it was light blue but NUC software says white). So I was complaining about mono white coil whine noise.

        The coil whine seems to not happen after waking up from sleep/shut down but comes back after turning it on and using low beam/level 1 keyboard backlight for a few minutes.

        Raising the keyboard backlight brightness (FN + F8) to high beam/level 2 makes the coil whine go away or seem quieter.
        And using it plugged in makes all coil whine go away.

        For the comment they're talking about: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/11631617/redir
        To change keyboard backlight color, install Intel NUC Software Studio from Microsoft Store. (and supporting software as instructed by intel nuc software studio).

      • Deal Hunter Go on 23/01/2022 - 12:17

        The coil whine seems to have disappeared, even after using for more than 10 minutes on battery mode. Maybe because of undervolting?

  • Person 1653 on 21/01/2022 - 12:57
    +1

    Sending mine back for repair or replacement due to a loose trackpad.

    • johndoh89 on 21/01/2022 - 20:35
      +1

      Hope they respond quickly. Let us know one way or the other, I'm interested in the aftersales performance in case something goes wrong.

      • Person 1653 on 21/01/2022 - 21:23

        Will do.

        • jonahmvp on 14/02/2022 - 09:11

          any updates with ur situation?

          • Person 1653 on 14/02/2022 - 09:24

            @jonahmvp: The laptop is back at BPC. They said they will inspect it for the fault in the next two days (so by tomorrow) and continue from there. In the website it says theres no more stock so rather than a replacement I will probably be given a refund.

  • johndoh89 on 22/01/2022 - 14:29

    My thermal issues with the NUC software not working is triggered by standby mode.

    Whenever I let the computer sleep and wake it back up Uniwill stops working, I have no temp changes in the NUC centre and no fan changes. Restarting the service via the services applet fixes the issue.

    • shabaka on 22/01/2022 - 14:39

      I also noticed that sometimes I go to the power management tab of the studio and the passive cooling is enabled

      although I disabled it a few hours ago

      maybe it's the standby or sleep mode that messes up the settings

      • johndoh89 on 22/01/2022 - 18:16
        +1

        Just dove into the Event Viewer logs and it looks like uniwill service is trying to change the power plan from balanced to balanced (what I was running on) anywhere from 5 to 60 times on waking up. I'm pretty sure the ones with the high numbers were the times I lost fan control.

        I've just done a full clean Windows install since I was running whatever it does for the Windows 11 downgrade and I noticed some screwy duplicate power settings in powercfg. And I've been tweaking and poking settings all over trying to figure out what's going on.

        Turns out the power profiles that Uniwill applies when changing the power settings seem to overwrite the previous one.

        You can actually watch the behaviour by opening the Windows power settings where you would usually see the battery saver/balanced/high performance options. Only the current setting shows up, and toggling the power modes via NUC software changes the single power option available.

        I did play with the bios invigilator tools, turns out we can put in custom start up images and the bios also has settings for the PL1 (65w) and PL2 (PL2) states along with boost time and some other voltage settings that aren't exposed. Decided I couldn't be bothered modifying the bios to access them though so didn't touch it.

        If the clean install doesn't fix up my issues I'll look into just running a bat file on resume via Task scheduler to restart the service automatically.

        • shabaka on 22/01/2022 - 19:18

          fantastic deep dive on this. I haven't had time to look closer

          I also noticed that NUC studio messes up calibration profiles when I open it, it switches color profile to something generic. I wish it would stop touching that

          from my previous laptop experience I don't use sleep any more, I use hibernate, as it guarantees that the device doesn't wake up in my bag, lid closed and everything, and when I get it out it's red hot and half battery left

          so I configure them to hibernate when lid is closed

          let me check what my event viewer looks like on boot

          • johndoh89 on 22/01/2022 - 21:10

            @shabaka: Yeah the software is really annoying tbh. Almost no control, overrides everything else…

            I chucked a review up on Microsoft store, I'm the only one currently. Intel seem to want to push everything to community support finding them directly for feedback is annoying.

          • Chemware on 23/01/2022 - 09:12

            @shabaka: Intel and Microsoft screwed up sleep back at 7th generation. Microsoft wanted PCs to behave like phones, and switch on instantly, instead of taking 500 milliseconds. Every generation I hold out hope that it gets fixed, and every generation I replace Sleep by Hibernate in the power settings.

          • johndoh89 on 23/01/2022 - 15:32
            +1

            @shabaka: https://www.xpg.com/en/xpg/pc-system-XENIA15-GAMING-NOTEBOOK…

            I've downgraded my version of uniwill to the one used by the XPG Xenia KC, you lose the option for Whisper Mode but the fan profiles seem more aggressive on mine and I haven't lost control of my fans for a few hours and through multiple sleep cycles.

            Software - XPG XENIA 15 KC NUC Software Studio Driver-1.0.2.6

            • shabaka on 23/01/2022 - 15:41

              @johndoh89: solid find! I will give this a go tonight

              I wasn't that excited about whisper mode to begin with, so I am happy to lose that

              • johndoh89 on 23/01/2022 - 15:57

                @shabaka: My thoughts exactly. I'll take the loss of a feature I didn't use for not having the machine cook itself every few hours.

                • johndoh89 on 23/01/2022 - 21:07

                  @johndoh89: Still going strong, this is by far the longest it has gone without issue.

                  • johndoh89 on 23/01/2022 - 23:20

                    @johndoh89: Jinxed it, no fan control after a restart and had to restart the service manually still.

                    Had to be in the last 15 minutes and there is nothing in Event Viewer about power states etc. So that killed my entire line of reasoning.

                    • shabaka on 24/01/2022 - 18:45

                      @johndoh89: dammit. also I noticed that version screws with calibration profiles even more aggressively

                      I reinstalled the latest, and have logged a support case with Intel directly. let's see how that goes

                      I saw your post in support community, let's keep trying

                      I will investigate the bios utility a bit, to see what is going on there. I am keen to always run it on balanced, maybe there's a way to hard bake power into bios settings and uninstall the nuc studio and service altogether. without them the fans don't spin up so far

                    • shabaka on 25/01/2022 - 08:47

                      @johndoh89: I guess for now we just need to stick to the routine every time the machine is started:

                      • kill NUC studio
                      • restart service
                      • start up NUC studio
                      • check settings
                      • (optional) kill studio again and set the display settings to use correct calibration profile

                      in the same folder where the exe for the service lives, there's a reg file. I wonder if that's the file that gets applied and if the registry is what controls the stupid service. maybe we could ditch the studio and control using reg files

                      • WBChel on 25/01/2022 - 10:36

                        @shabaka: Is this only an issue with standby / sleep?

                        I don’t mind if I have to shutdown every time, but can’t really be bothered fiddling around with killing and restarting tasks!

                        • shabaka on 25/01/2022 - 10:46

                          @WBChel: form what I understand it's with sleep / hibernate
                          when you shut down and start afresh service is restarted anyway, so there is no issue.
                          I would still suggest checking power settings in NUC studio after startup just in case

                        • johndoh89 on 25/01/2022 - 10:56

                          @WBChel: Mine is all over, just when I think I've worked out a pattern it throws a fit without fitting it.

                      • johndoh89 on 25/01/2022 - 10:58

                        @shabaka: Doesn't appear to be anything useful in there that we can change. The power profiles are just numbers that don't relate to anything else in the file. The actual pl levels and fan profiles are hidden somewhere else and I'm pretty sure the service needs to be running for them to work.

                        • WBChel on 25/01/2022 - 12:42

                          @johndoh89: My order was a pay on pick up so haven’t committed as yet, and not sure I want to fork out $2k to deal with an issue like that, despite how good of a deal it is!

                          How big of an issue do you guys consider it to be?

                          • shabaka on 25/01/2022 - 13:12

                            @WBChel: not bothering me a lot, and I hope Intel does updates

                          • CodeXD on 25/01/2022 - 13:14

                            @WBChel: Sounds like only an issue if you put laptop to sleep? If you don't do sleep/hibernate then you won't face the issue at all.

                            • shabaka on 25/01/2022 - 13:32

                              @CodeXD: yes. I just restart the Intel service when I start from hibernate, but I might as well just shut down and start up instead, as it's not much faster than restore from hibernation

                              • johndoh89 on 25/01/2022 - 23:13

                                @shabaka: Hey, do you have a 'Cooling' tab in the BIOS with a bunch of fan settings? The Intel tech I'm talking to asked me to open it and check all my fan settings there… I don't have one, I didn't even find disabled options for one playing with the BIOS inviguthingy.

                                • shabaka on 26/01/2022 - 16:08
                                  +1

                                  @johndoh89: and no I don't have a cooling tab in BIOS. I reset my BIOS and don't see it still.

                            • johndoh89 on 25/01/2022 - 23:11

                              @CodeXD: Mine is completely random, just when I think I've got something reproduceable it fails to reproduce then randomly stops 10 mins later when I wasn't doing anything.

                              I have found some more events being triggered though which is terminating the service. Seems to have something to do with .NET so I've reinstalled .NET and enabled all the options. No crashes since, but only been a few hoursand this seems to like tormenting me by not having any problems for the first 12 or so hours after I try something. Then it will crash every 5 minutes just to rub in my failure.

                              Intel wants to do a remote assistance session, but with my difficulty in reproducing the issue I don't think they'll get anywhere with that. Considering the Intel tech told me that the service is only there to reflect the settings from the Cooling tab in the BIOS and to make sure I had all these fan settings correct in the BIOS I'm really not holding out hope for Intel in fixing this.

                              Just to be clear, no one else sees a cooling tab in their BIOS with a whole heap of settings about controlling the fans do they?

                          • johndoh89 on 25/01/2022 - 16:32
                            +1

                            @WBChel: The problem is when it stops working while playing a game. This has more than enough power to coast quietly on games like Age of Empires IV that I've been playing so you don't notice the fans not ramping up, because they very rarely need to. Games that use more power and make the fans change often its easy to see it has crashed and restart the service, the problem is more annoyance than anything and a lot of the time I just click benchmarking mode for max power and more importantly max fans if I'm playing something demanding.

                            I'm talking to Intel support and BPC is happy to send a return sticker to send it back for their tech to look at it if Intel can't come up with anything.

                            I've got a shortcut on the desktop that restarts the service for me. I seriously doubt it is a hardware issue, so hopefully Intel can push an update quickly. Doesn't seem like a lot of these are in consumer's hands yet though so they are probably getting limited feedback. I'm the only review on their NUC software and it covers a lot more than just this model.

                            @shabaka

        • HueSplat on 31/01/2022 - 11:49

          Probably hard to read useless post.
          3060 FHD + 2x2tb 980 pro + 64GB 3200 @3466.

          Changing PL1 or PL2 with iSetupCfg didn’t appear to do anything, possibly due to uniwill service or nuc software overriding. I didn’t try with the service or software completely removed.

          Could also be EC limiting/overriding bios setting, had that on a bunch of laptops.

          Changing Package Power Time Window (Tau) and VR Current Limit (ICCmax)(Amps) works and applies to all nuc power profiles.

          Not sure if already mentioned, RAM XMP is supported, I’m using Crucial BL2K32G32C16S4B and was able to overclock to 3466 by selecting custom profile and setting the multiplier to 13, it kept using all timings from XMP which I thought was awesome as I expected the bios to auto set timings to something stupid high.

          It appears, at least for me, that RAM is always running in gear 2, not sure if that is normal on laptops or not, I know some others can run gear1. Wish that was something we could set. Perhaps it varies with different ram kits, perhaps it’s always just gear2.

          The thermal pads on the bottom chassis did not make contact with my Samsung 980 Pros and the other two small thermal pads did not make proper contact with the inductors/vrm.

          I swapped the wifi out for a AX210 no problems, tried an AX211 but it didn’t work COULD be the card itself (detected, strange devID, no drivers would install, windows update couldn’t find a driver, matching driver in Microsoft catalog wouldn’t install, etc)

          I’m running windows 11, Driver wise, I am using the latest everything basically from the Asus forum driver page (chipset, serial io, MEI, GNA, thunderbolt, network), HID driver from Microsoft catalog, sound from intel driver pack, Intel UHD from intel (manually changing to the latest driver in device manager after windows installs older driver over the top), latest uniwill from intel annnnd nvidia for the latest gpu driver.

          I hope Intel updates uniwill, the nuc software (disable colour profile garbage) annnd gives us some new drivers.
          Would be nice to be able to control the fans better, changing fan profile seems to do nothing at least in desktop general usage (no dGPU use).
          (I have flashed the bios by F7, from windows, recovery etc)

          I tried messing with the registry regarding colour profiles, no luck, deleting the related keys entirely causes a bad time (super dark/dim almost unreadable display).
          Probably the biggest annoyance for me, I would like to be able to calibrate the display myself and trust it to not be overridden constantly.

          I’m not smart, wonder if it is possible to calibrate the display and modify all display entries in the registry to match the calibration, so then if the nuc software tries to change display it just applies the proper calibration…. If that makes sense.

          Dunno how display calibration files work or what variables they contain vs what the nuc software has the variables for.

          PS. I love the laptop, I think it’s an amazing deal, if you want something that just works or is perfect maybe go for something else… in my experience seems just about as good as any gaming laptop I have owned, some character, quirkiness and perhaps a workaround or two needed.

          • shabaka on 31/01/2022 - 12:26
            +1

            @HueSplat: when I submitted my support request to Intel about the overheating, the color profiles, and the fan control, I supplied all the info requested (serial number, model number, they know the kind of hardware that they are supporting)

            but they had no idea what I am talking about. in the first comment they said "what is this Uniwill service you keep mentioning? is this your local PC repair shop? could you please get back to them for more details"

            I am not holding my hopes high for this, but I honestly hope Intel eventually comes through and fixes all the garbage they delivered

            it's a great product (fantastic components, screen, keyboard, body, upgradeability yada yada) and a fantastic deal overall, but obviously rough around the edges, and currently plagued by issues in the software that is central to unit's performance. for me the color profiles shenanigans make it unusable

            so let's hope it gets polished and straightened out

            • johndoh89 on 31/01/2022 - 19:51

              @shabaka: Yeah, I got escalated to the "engineering team" of support. They wanted to blame the hardware rather than the software issue that I'd basically handed them on a plate.

              They still seemed to know less about how it worked than I had worked out myself from testing.

          • johndoh89 on 31/01/2022 - 19:58

            @HueSplat: Apparently the uniwill service applies the PL limits directly from bios interactions (according to Intel).

            Each of the PL limits cap the maximum amount it can set set to, I documented most of them somewhere.

            Benchmarking does 100/110W, Performance 65/90W.

            You can set the PL levels to anything below this cap using software like throttlestop.

            It would be probably be possible to calibrate using the custom profile on the NUC software as it has white balance, brightness, contrast and rgb colour adjustment.

            Changing the fan profile changes how fast, how often and at what temperatures the fans change speeds. The difference is barely worth noting in use though.

  • arctan on 22/01/2022 - 18:05
    -5

    Feedback on the laptop anyone? I am hoping to get one but would like to hear from the actual users first.

    • CodeXD on 22/01/2022 - 18:17
      +1

      There are 5 pages of comments here from posters who already received their laptop.

  • BigRiggs24 on 24/01/2022 - 20:18
    +1

    After waiting 1 month for any "better" deals, picked up the QHD 3070. Thx OP!

  • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 00:58

    Has anyone else had the fan stopping issue? I'm the only x15 user to report it to them. They are leaning towards defective unit.

    • shabaka on 26/01/2022 - 07:05

      I reported mine last night

    • evocable on 26/01/2022 - 07:32

      Definitely had some issues with cooling on mine. Played around with UniWill and the software studio but it just seemed to be running way too hot - even when idle.

      Downgraded the uniwill service to 1.0.2.6 and so far so good. Haven't done much testing but so far it ramps up and down during games as it should. Idling around 50 now.

      nevermind, just went through the thread and saw you used the XPG version of the same driver with no luck

      • shabaka on 26/01/2022 - 08:56

        I reckon let's just get together on this and return. it's unreliable, and waiting for solution from Intel is a gamble. especially 3070 will run hot

        @johndoh89

        • TechieARG on 26/01/2022 - 10:28

          Does anybody else have this issue? I am about to receive mine (I bought 2), it makes me wonder if I should keep them in the box and return them.

          Found this as well https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-NUCs/X15-NUC-fans-aren-…

          • shabaka on 26/01/2022 - 10:31

            @TechieARG: that's from our ozbargain member johndoh89

          • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 13:34

            @TechieARG: They've sold quite a few units and it seems to be limited to a few of us, Intel claims that they hadn't heard of it being an issue so it it likely limited to a few bad units. Combined with the loose trackpad someone else had it doesn't speak highly of the QC on the models.

            There are a lot of people in this thread who seemingly have no issues with theirs. So it may be worth opening them and seeing if they are working as intended.

        • LurvinOZB on 26/01/2022 - 10:50

          A return might trigger a restocking fee?

          • shabaka on 26/01/2022 - 11:44

            @LurvinOZB: they are not fit for the purpose, so let's hear what BPC tech have to say

        • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 13:12

          Intel is playing head in the sand with me. I have a community thread and a direct support ticket in. Both Intel techs have asked me to check settings that aren't in the BIOS and seem to want to blame anything else other than the software so I'm not holding my breath on updates fixing it. The ticket one is suggesting it is a device that has been added eg RAM/SSD combination causing the issues.

          BPC has sent me a return label, I've just been waiting to see if Intel could fix it.

          I've reinstalled my BIOS, Intel seem to be suggesting this is the last step before RMA.

          • shabaka on 26/01/2022 - 13:17

            @johndoh89: thank you for the update, John, I will ask them to follow suit.

            sad

            • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 13:29

              @shabaka: Yeah it's a shame, the machine itself is a beast when it's working. Not sure if this is a dud batch, the SSD/RAM combo or if there just aren't enough users of the platform that have noticed the issue. I can't imagine anyone missing the fact that their laptop is over 60 degrees on the outside though, and performance suddenly going through the floor and their computer turning off from overheating.

              I can't find anyone other than me that has it to the degree I do, Intel said they've only had my report as of yesterday. Xenia 15 KC users are telling me they have great thermals.

              • shabaka on 26/01/2022 - 13:54

                @johndoh89: but are they using 1.0.3.5 version of the service? or that older one from XPG support page

                also maybe their BIOS was tinkered with using that config utility

                I don't know what else might be different. maybe theirs is an earlier batch and had better quality control? where did you talk to them? I would like to find out if they experience loud coil whine on battery power from the keyboard backlight

                • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 14:33

                  @shabaka: I've been searching everywhere, quite a few reviews of the Xenia show thermals similar to what we have when the service is working. I had a few users on reddit for the Xenia saying theirs is fine. Coil whine seems to be hit and miss across the board.

                  Intel have bumped me up a level in support, I'll have engineers contacting me in the next few days. The customer support person was a bit overwhelmed with all the logs etc that I've sent them. So I'll be keeping mine for a few more days at least. I'd prefer to have a fix than send it back.

                  The only coil whine I get is less than a second when I change power modes when on battery. Strange the various issues that are coming out. Backlighting on keyboards in general seems to have a history of causing coil whine, far more than I'd ever have suspected when I googled the issue.

                • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 14:54

                  @shabaka: They have the XPG version from what I've seen. It appears to have slightly more aggressive fan profiles and seems to sit a few hundred RPM above the Intel version for a given temperature. I found some on Reddit. The coil whine seems to be hit and miss and much more common on backlit keyboards than I'd ever have guessed when I googled it. I can make mine do it by fiddling with the settings and going to the effects, but on monocolour or off I don't have any noise.

                  After my bios restore mine seems a lot better, although I also haven't had a crash since reinstalling .NET framework just before that. I'm using the Intel version of the uniwill service with no undervolt and it is idling between 50 and 60 degrees. Right now it is 57 degrees with both fans at 2000rpm on battery in battery saver mode with quiet fan profile. I had actually thought the fans had gotten stuck on 2000rpm, but turned on cinebench and it couldn't even get above 80 degrees on balanced mode, fans sitting around 3000rpm. Even performance mode is keeping it to 81 degrees at 3600rpm. Case is barely even warm. Benchmarking mode found 94 degrees though, still keeping the case cool enough though. I also beat my previous cinebench score, despite having multiple chrome tabs open, using the computer while testing and having no undervolt…

                  • shabaka on 26/01/2022 - 15:15

                    @johndoh89: ok let me try resetting bios and trying again (reinstall service etc)

                    didn't know one could reinstall the framework? thought it's baked into windows these days

                    • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 16:08
                      +3

                      @shabaka: Hit the Windows key and type Features.

                      Untick the .Net framework
                      Allow it to do its thing and restart.

                      Repeat but tick everything.

                      BIOS reset instructions for anyone looking:
                      Download recovery zip from here
                      https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/648490/bios…

                      Follow Power button menu reset instructions:
                      https://downloadmirror.intel.com/710390/NUC-Laptop-AptioV-UE…

                      I'm pretty sure it also works just by running the .exe file again as well.

                      • shabaka on 26/01/2022 - 17:08

                        @johndoh89: how is yours? mine is still running hot after .net reinstall, fans don't spin up unless I enable benchmark mode

                        also just to confirm no Cooling tab in BIOS.

                        I am inclined to send mine back and wait for better deals. there are 3070 models just a tad more expensive but each has its own quirks

                        • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 17:35
                          +2

                          @shabaka: Intel engineers got back to me, they are claiming the fan assembly has given out and said to return it.

                          Can't see how it is a hardware fault, the fans are spinning just fine, the software just stops telling them to. Unless any fan failure causes the software to crash without throwing a straight forward error like "fans will not spin"…

                          I've been using it on and off all day with no issues after my. Net troubleshooting and bios reset. But I think I'll send it back anyway.

                          I'll give it one more shot, if the replacement unit even thinks about having glitches in thermals I'll return it for good.

                          • Person 1653 on 26/01/2022 - 18:00

                            @johndoh89: Are you getting your replacement unit through Intel or BPC?

                            • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 18:01

                              @Person 1653: BPC, Intel gave me a case number to quote

                              • Person 1653 on 26/01/2022 - 18:04

                                @johndoh89: Oh ok. Just to be sure, was your issue based on the fact that the fans don't turn on without benchmark mode or am I missing something?

                                • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 18:15

                                  @Person 1653: Mine keep stopping, they do turn on and run fine, but they eventually stop being updated. It seems they are governed by the uniwill service. I'm not sure if it stopped being able to update their state, stopped updating the temperature (so stopped changing the fans) or what the exact issue was. But basically at any point the fans could just decide they are set to say 1300rpm at idle and never increase their speed despite the computer redlining it at 94 degrees and the thermal throttle safe guards kicking in.

                                  Once this happened I could flick on benchmarking and still have them jump to 5500rpm. Or I had to restart the uniwill service that governs the fan speed.

                                  Intel have gone through everything I've sent them and concluded that the fan assembly has died. It feels much more like a software issue though.

                                  • Person 1653 on 26/01/2022 - 18:20

                                    @johndoh89: Should I be worried about this issue if I not bothered to turn benchmark mode on or off when I want to run demanding tasks? Don't think my particular device has this issue but since you think it's a software issue I want to be better safe than sorry.

                                    • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 19:14
                                      +1

                                      @Person 1653: If your fans are working properly you're fine. You'll notice very quickly if it does what mine was. Crossing my fingers that the BIOS recovery has done the trick though since it feels completely different today. I've been staring at this fan software for a week, I've not seen what I'm seeing today at any point in terms of thermal response.

                              • Vaynard05 on 26/01/2022 - 18:05

                                @johndoh89: So for the RMA process, we should contact Intel first to get a case number. Yeah?

                                • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 18:16
                                  +1

                                  @Vaynard05: You can send it straight back to BPC, when I contacted them about it they sent me a postage paid thing to return the device for their tech to check. I hate sending things with intermitent problems though since they never occur when you want them to. But I was already talking direction to Intel so I followed that through to a conclusion before sending it to BPC.

                            • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 18:17

                              @Person 1653: BPC via Intel. The store that sold it has to handle it.

                        • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 19:09
                          +1

                          @shabaka: Today mine is running like a different computer… Just when Intel said return it, its broken, strangely I'm seeing completely different fan behaviour after the restore of the BIOS and the .NET reinstall, I'm not sure which has done it or if I've just gone crazy…

                          No undervolting and no cooling pad the temp is staying under 60 degrees browsing. Whenever it goes above this the fans are increasing to 2000rpm and bringing it back down. Previously I wasn't seeing any fan changes until nearly 70 degrees. The response is fast, at light browsing level usage the fans sit at 1300rpm, if I chuck on a youtube video I can feel the air from the vents increase within a second. The next jump appears to be around 75 degrees up to around 3600rpm.

                          Forza benchmark in performance mode is making the fans hit 5000rpm (never saw above 4500rpm out of Benchmarking mode before) and the gaming temp is low 80's on the cpu and low 70s on the GPU. I've got every setting maxed since I seem to have a bottleneck (single channel RAM + no mux is my guess) sticking me to just above 60fps anyway so I may as well have all the eye candy, GPU limited is still only at 45%.

                          I've left the computer going in and out of sleep, idling, benchmarking at various points all day and haven't had so much as a hiccup. It feels like a different machine from a thermal standpoint. The performance figures are still the same, but cooler and with more obvious fan responses.

                          • Person 1653 on 26/01/2022 - 19:30

                            @johndoh89: Good to hear

                          • shabaka on 26/01/2022 - 19:51

                            @johndoh89: hmmm ok I will give mine a go (BIOS restore using that method above)

                            • RaceDoge on 26/01/2022 - 20:22
                              +4

                              @shabaka: I feel like a shoutout to @johndoh89 and @shabaka is in order.

                              You guys are the real MVPs!

                              This is what the OzBargain community is all about. Thanks for sharing your experiences, I've been eyeing this laptop for a few weeks, and been following your discussions closely. Really informative and helpful.

                              Cheers!

                          • shabaka on 26/01/2022 - 20:55

                            @johndoh89: just to confirm, you're running 1.0.3.5 latest uniwill right?

                            • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 20:57

                              @shabaka: I am today. I've toggled power modes, including Whisper, passive and benchmark all day trying to break it before I decide if I'm keeping it or not. No cooling pad, no undervolt nothing. If this thing can't survive on its own at stock I'm not keeping it.

                              • shabaka on 26/01/2022 - 21:15

                                @johndoh89: gaming seems better to me after BIOS reset and service reinstall.

                                still idles pretty hot, and messes with the color profiles whenever it feels like - and it happens even if the NUC studio is not present, so it's the service doing whatever it wants.

                                I am not convinced things are good. will wait for BPC answer tomorrow

                                • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 21:36

                                  @shabaka: You could try deleting the colour profile options from the .reg file in the uniwill directory and then removing it from the registery the service might not be able to apply it then, or it might just crash and die… I'm not sure if it repopulates. Currently I'm not touching anything to see if it is stable before I tweak again.

                              • Mose88 on 26/01/2022 - 21:28
                                +1

                                @johndoh89: I've been following your discussion with @shabaka and its been very informative.

                                I purchased the 3060 QHD and have followed all the original suggestions for nuc / bios re undervolting, switching off passive cooling etc.

                                At idle, cpu temp sits at 43 degrees and only the left fan is active at 1,400 rpm.

                                I played forza 5 for a few hours last night on 1440 Ultra locked @ 83fps , both fans kick in after a short while at 4 - 5k rpm and CPU temp hovers around low to mid 80s, occasionally going as high as 90 .

                                The game looks amazing and runs very well so far.

                                If there is anything I can check on my end that may be of assistance, let me know.

  • dnvrngts on 26/01/2022 - 22:25

    Maybe the BPC store rep could add to this conversation after talking to a technician?

  • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 23:15

    Update: Thought the fans died again.

    Started the Epic game store to play a game on there (first time today) and the NUC software can no longer see the changes to temps or fans. BUT the fans are still working and changing according to load and any changes to power mode are being reflected still. Guess that confirms the NUC software is just a gui for the uniwill service.

    • Person 1653 on 26/01/2022 - 23:17

      Same thing happening with me although I didn't have to do any configuring. The NUC software sometimes stops showing the fan speeds although I can clearly hear them ramping up or down.

      • johndoh89 on 26/01/2022 - 23:20

        Yeah before they weren't ramping at all when I lost them.

  • johndoh89 on 27/01/2022 - 13:40

    Absolutely different computer…

    Ran Cinebench in performance mode on loop all morning. About 30 minutes of browsing the net later, no cooling mat, no undervolt. I had only just changed it back to balanced just before the screen shot. Now it is getting down to 45 degrees.

    https://imgur.com/a/X0HcrDy

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