Lenovo Y540 - main thread

is the temperature difference between the 6 cores normal or is it too much and i should repaste it? https://ibb.co/4ttWdjb

 

Does switchable graphics in BIOS mean that when the 2060 is not needed the integrated graphic card will be in use and because of that less noise and more battery time, am I correct? Do i need to do any configuration in Vantage for that? And how does the PC know when to use the 2060 and not?

Why do you recommend to disable auto updates in Vantage?

Any other things I should know/do?

 

Yes switchable graphics uses nvidia optimus to use 2060 in games 100% of time. While every non gaming task will use Intel GPU leading to 4 hours battery backup. Vantage has hybrid mode for this, but going in BIOS to see switchable graphics are on is most reliable.
Updates messes things up mostly so I do manual updates as mostly system is running fine.
Other things is i7 9750h will go in 90c and after Undervolting too 85+. So repaste is only option if you want to use 6 cores 3.8ghz power otherwise downclocking to 3.4 GHz brings acceptable temperature without Undervolt and no loss of fps in games.
And there is no option to disable Fn key in BIOS so f1-f10 multimedia controls will only work with Fn pressed.

 

Just ordered my own Legion Y540, super excited for it to get here, estimated date is Nov 4.
Got it for $1,488.64 CAD (roughly 1120 USD) from the Lenovo website with the TSM10 coupon, free shipping and student discount.
Configuration Details:
● Intel Core i7-9750H (2.60GHz, up to 4.50GHz with Turbo Boost, 6 cores, 12MB Cache)
● Windows 10 Home 64
● 8GB DDR4 2666MHz
● 1TB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
● 256GB Solid State Drive, M.2, PCIe-NVMe
● 17.3" FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, 300nits, anti-glare, 144MHz
● NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 Ti 6GB

By far the cheapest 17.3 inch 1660ti/9750h/144hz combination laptop I could find by a mile, with all the closest options being only 15.6 inches and only available from the states (which all had expensive shippings/duties).
I'm glad I was able to find something that fit what I wanted without having to pay an extra limb to cover for duties, brokerage or shipping.
I was looking at the Helios 300, but my cheapest option would have been to buy it from amazon US and pay some hefty fees for currency conversion, brokerage, duties, etc whatever else there was. Would have been stuck with 15.6 inches when I wanted 17.3 too.
The MSI GF65 caught my eye too at a similar price as the Helios 300, but had the same fees issues, looks like its cooling system is only single fan too.

It's interesting because I've spent quite a bit more on my current GTX970/i5-4590 desktop over the couple years I've had it than on this laptop, yet this laptop is probably quite a bit faster in both CPU and GPU. Nice to see how far gaming laptops have come. It was just a few years ago where everyone agreed it was impossible to get desktop gaming performance in an affordable gaming laptop that wasn't the size of a huge box. My current laptop is some HP 7th gen i5 ultrabook that I picked up as a 300 CAD refurb for school a year ago, going to be a big upgrade.

I plan to add 8gb of ram for 16gb dual channel if possible, and possibly upgrade the cooling with a repaste or pads. I have a 1TB HP EX920 that I plan to swap in too. Anyone do similar or the same upgrades yet?

 

hello peeps core i5 9300h and 1660 ti here, very good cooling, very pleased. -150mV on cpu and gpu undervolting (via afterburner curve) make the thing even better.

I took the i5 cause i didn't want a 6 cores toaster in may laptop. The i5 is always running at 4ghz on all cores, so it's plenty enough for that gpu i think. Running a 6/12 cores that throttles or a 4/8 cores at full capacity, i made my choice. Price/worth it ratio

Factory memory has crap timings 2666mhz cl19. Better buy your own kit if it matters to you.

Looking forward to exchanging tips and tweaks with u guys !

 

Lamim Rashid : i'll probably check pads and thermal paste at some point but my temps are so fine i don't feel brave enough right now A guy in the first pages stated he gained like 10 degrees by repasting !

 

Hi All,

I have the i7 9750H with the 2060, 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM.

Great machine, I was able to undervolt to -130 but there was not that much of a difference. I played with some of the other features of throttlestop and it may be worth playing with it.

I do not get CPU throttle regardless of the games I play (mostly high end FPS).

Couple of tips...

Fn q is a fan control function key.

The system has a battery conservation mode to keep the battery around 60% so if you always game with the unit plugged in, you won’t fatigue the battery.

The hybrid mode makes a huge difference with the battery. If you use the system on battery for web browsing, work, etc, you don’t want the 2060 eating up the battery. I used a GPU detection tool and the switching works perfectly.

You may want to go into BIOS and turn the usb power off if you don’t want it to provide power when the system is off.

Easiest way to enter BIOS is to hit ESC when turning the system on and selecting the BIOS. You can also use a paperclip when the system is off to hit that little button on the right side of the machine. ESC works great though.

R

 

u can disable hyperthreading in bios (press F2 for bios) also it doesn't impact performances for 6 cores users, sometimes it's even better without it. Maybe u can have better temps and/or sustain higher clocks. Here :

 

i have a wattmeter and idling it's pumping 17W on the wall on igpu and 22W on the 1660 at 75% brightness wifi on. Basically igpu shoves around 5W at idle. it's probably even more beneficial when you use your laptop. Still 17W is a quite a lot. I tried putting the screen at 60hz on igpu it just shoves another 0.5W not as much as i expected. I don't expect more than 4 hours of battery life on this laptop, we'll see.

 

The 9300h is way better than it seems, especially for gaming. The 9750h has good specs on paper but it runs so hot that it thermal throttles in most laptops anyways from what I've seen. I took the 9750h anyways because I dont game too much anymore and will most be programming, it was only like $50 difference for me too.
I will probably sell the included ram and buy a seperate kit. Any idea how much the 8gb stick could sell for?

I already ordered conductonaut, some silicone modified conformal coating, liquid electrical tape and some thermal pads to do a cooling upgrade. Going to be my first time upgrading a laptop and using liquid metal so wish me luck haha.

This model particularly has a much higher CPU tdp/power limit from what I've seen than most other laptops of similar specs, could be why. Maybe you could play with some settings to limit how much power the cpu is eating.