Eurocom P5 Pro Extreme (Clevo P750ZM) Notebook Review

Viewing angles are excellent as expected from an IPS panel. Colors do not significantly degrade if viewing from extreme angles and sharing the display with others nearby is made much easier.

Besides the Core i7-4790K CPU in our configuration, Eurocom also offers i7-4790, i5-4690K, i5-4460, and Xeon E3 class processors. Overclocking is available on CPUs with the K suffix as usual for Intel desktop cores. And just like a regular i7-4790K in a desktop, ours runs at a base speed of 4 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 4.4 GHz for four active cores. Power Saver mode will drop the CPU to 800 MHz and the GPU to just 135/162 MHz (core/memory).

It's worth noting the differences in TDP and raw clock rates between the i7-4790K and the i7-4940MX, which is one of the fastest mobile Haswell processors currently available. While the i7-4940MX is rated for a TDP of 57 W and a base clock of 3.1 GHz, the i7-4790K has a 50 percent larger power envelope at 88 W and a 30 percent faster base clock. This is a significant hurdle in terms of cooling and calls for a much more effective cooling solution than on past designs.

Access to the cooling system and other internals is fast and easy as we have now come to expect from the Clevo brand. A small panel on the underside protects three of the storage drives while a separate larger one sits over the rest of the components including the LGA1150 and MXM 3.0b slots.

The "Extreme" models in the P5 Pro series are equipped with Eurocom's specialized unlocked BIOS for overclocking and are so far the only laptops in the world with such support out-of-the-box. The CPU multiplier and voltages for RAM can be adjusted at boot up.

In practice, the multiplier for all four active cores can only be adjusted 100 MHz above the default 4.4 GHz Turbo setting before needing to increase the default core voltage of 1.22 V. Any faster and the system will experience Watchdog errors. By increasing the core voltage by another 100 mV, we were able to comfortably move to 4.7 GHz. At 4.8 GHz, however, crashes became inevitable even after increasing core voltage and disabling core C-states. 

What kind of performance gains can users expect? At 4.7 GHz, our CineBench R11.5 multi-core run finishes with 8.80 points vs. 9.40 points at the default 4.4 GHz (or 9.17 points at the default 4.4 GHz after a cold boot up). Gains are not very significant as core temperatures will quickly reach nearly 100 degrees C even at default Turbo Boost levels as detailed in our stress test section below. This is compared to 80 degrees C or lower for desktop CPUs under stress. Core clock will immediately drop to safer levels, so any overclocking will be short-lived.

Clevo models have plenty of storage bays by tradition and this Eurocom model is no exception with its four bays (2x M.2 and 2X 2.5-inch SATA III) capable of RAID 0/1/5/10. This is one less bay than the Eurocom X3 models, however, due to the lack of an ODD bay. Users can configure M.2 SSDs up to 512 GB and SSD or HDD 2.5-inch solutions up to 2 TB each. Note that the SATA slots can accept both 7 mm and 9.5 mm drives.

Our 256 GB Micron M600 SSDs in RAID 0 exhibit one of the highest sequential read speeds at 957.2 MB/s according to Crystal Disk Mark. Similarly, our single 1 TB Samsung 850 PRO shows excellent transfer rates and one of the highest 4K read and write speeds. Certain Lite-On SSDs in RAID 0 (like the LMT-128M6M) outperform our Micron setup in both read and write, though only marginally by less than 10 percent. 3x RAID 0 systems can reach sequential read speeds nearing 1500 MB/s.

For our growing benchmark list of HDDs and SSDs, see our table here.

For a more realistic stress setting, we run Unigine Heaven 4.0 to simulate gaming conditions. The GPU core runs consistently above its base 1038 MHz clock at the 1113 to 1126 MHz range and maintains a relatively low temperature of 65 Degrees C. Meanwhile, the CPU will fluctuate wildly with clock speeds as low as 1.0 GHz up to 4.6 GHz. This is adaptive according to the demands of the application and consequently keeps core temperature in check at the 60 to 70 degree C range. Gamers should have no worries about performance degradation from throttling with the Eurocom P5 Pro. We recommend checking out the Gigabyte P34W v3 to compare and contrast how an inadequate cooling system can affect gaming performance overtime.

Users should note that overall performance will drop rather significantly when running on batteries, even when on the High Performance profile. A 3DMark 11 run on batteries will return much lower CPU and GPU scores of just 6048 points and 6812 points, respectively, compared to 10578 points and 11209 points on mains. The CPU will run only up to 2.2 GHz and the GPU up to 810/799.2 MHz core/memory without outlet power. The GPU core will drop to the 600 MHz range much more frequently under battery power as well.

One would imagine that the demanding 88 W CPU and 100 W GPU would require quite the portable cooling solution, and you'd be right - The two 60 mm fans are accompanied by an almost ludicrous number of heat pipes. The CPU alone sits below five separate lengths of copper pipes compared to the usual two or three on most other gaming notebooks like the MSI GT72. Is fan noise equally as monstrous?

Surprisingly, fan noise is non-existent on Power Saver mode under typical processing conditions such as 1080p playback or browsing. This itself is noteworthy considering the power-hungry internals. At the same time, both fans will not hold back when the system demands it as fan noise jumps abruptly from a silent 29 dB(A) to 37 dB(A) with nothing in between when gaming or in High Performance mode. Continue gaming and fan noise will only increase to 45 dB(A), 47 dB(A), and finally 49 dB(A) if under the most extreme of conditions. In general, however, most gaming notebooks lie in the same mid-to-high 40 dB(A) range under load or even louder for very thin models like the GS60 or P34W v3. Thus, the Eurocom is not any louder than a more standard gaming notebook despite the more powerful components.

The built-in 2 Watt Onkyo speakers provide relatively deep bass and very satisfying sound despite the lack of a proper subwoofer. Maximum volume is loud and quality does not decrease significantly at higher volumes. The Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 software allows for many additional settings and adjustments and there are dedicated 7.1 channel outputs for external sound systems as needed.

The slightly larger Model B variant of the Clevo P751ZM includes a subwoofer on the bottom of the unit between the battery and the M.2 slot.

Runtimes in general are low largely due to the lack of Optimus and, of course, the fact that this system is running a desktop CPU on battery power. It's a fairly dense Li-Ion module by necessity at 82 Wh, which is comparable to the Alienware 15 (92 Wh) and much larger than on the Acer Aspire V15 Nitro (52.5 Wh), Gigabyte P35X v3 (75.81 Wh), and MSI GS60 (52 Wh). Users can expect a battery life of only about 2 hours for regular browser use.

As a gaming laptop, the Eurocom P5 Pro Extreme offers an unmatched level of customization and is one of the fastest 15.6-inch gaming notebooks around, especially if you're out looking for one with UHD options. We have to commend Clevo for its powerful cooling solution here and Eurocom for offering an unlocked BIOS for overclocking. Native UHD gaming at buttery smooth Ultra settings, however, is still asking for a bit much from the GTX 980M as users will have to settle for 30 FPS at Medium settings instead for most of today's titles. Despite this, the larger MSI GT72 and Asus G751 are still good alternatives for their sturdier build quality even if they don't quite have the same level of accessibility as the Eurocom P5 Pro.

CPU performance is excellent for a laptop of course, but not all that much better than the i7-4980HQ in our MSI GT80. The i7-4790K is about about 10 to 20 percent faster in CPU benchmarks and whether or not this justifies having a full-fledged desktop CPU with lower battery life and higher power demands will be up to the buyer.

Meanwhile, overclocking benefits are not at the level of desktops... at least not yet. Since the P5 Pro Extreme cannot even maintain its default 4.4 GHz Turbo under stress, then any overclocking above 4.4 GHz will be short-lived and only good for short bursts.

The overclocking potential is an excellent start and we can see it becoming better in future iterations, but at this point it just feels like a check box feature to stand out from the crowd. Until then, the high levels of connectivity, customization, and performance will continue to be the reasons for most buyers to choose Eurocom over more fixed gaming notebooks.

(March 10, 2015 Update): Eurocom have released an update to the video BIOS that promises a boost to GPU performance of up to 15 percent. The update removes certain limitations on the BIOS, likely pertaining to the Nvidia overclocking lock. Our benchmarks and data do not reflect the new update.