Eurocom Sky X9C (i7-8700K, GTX 1080 SLI, Clevo P870TM1-G) Laptop Review

The bottom panel can be easily removed with a Philips screwdriver to expose the cooling system, battery, subwoofer, and two of the four DDR4 SODIMM slots. The entire cooling plate and keyboard will have to be unscrewed if there is need to access the storage bays or any of the LGA 1151 or 190 W MXM 3.0 slots. As a result, a simple HDD or SSD swap can be more of a hassle than on most other gaming notebooks. Perhaps unsurprisingly, more than half of the area is dedicated to cooling both GPUs efficiently.

The online version of the User's Manual can be found here.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Color space covers the full sRGB spectrum and 88 percent of the AdobeRGB standard. Results are again very similar to the Schenker XMG U727 since both share the same AU Optronics panel. The Sharp IGZO panel on the Razer Blade Pro offers similar colors as well but with slower response times. Graphic artists can exploit the deeper and more accurate colors of the panel assuming a proper calibration.

Further measurements with a X-Rite spectrophotometer reveal average grayscale and colors and a slightly warm color temperature. Our calibration efforts improve grayscale and RGB balance by wide margins, but colors remain relatively inaccurate at higher saturation levels. The AU Optronics panel is capable of reproducing the full sRGB spectrum and so further calibration is likely required for refinement. Eurocom offers professional calibration for each notebook at an additional cost. Green, Violet, Teal, and Red in particular appear to be more inaccurate than Blue or Yellow in our saturation tests.

Outdoor visibility is average at best as the backlight will have to be much more powerful to overcome any glare or direct sunlight. It's not too bad under shade and both the wide viewing angles and matte panel help to improve visibility. Still, users will be fighting against the enormous weight and short battery life more so than the display itself.

Raw processor benefits from the i7-8700K mirror that of the recent i7-8550U. In other words, users can expect a 50 percent faster boost in multi-thread performance over the i7-7700K similar to how the quad-core i7-8550U provides a rough 50 percent boost over the dual-core i7-7500U. The 8th gen Core family as a whole offers the largest generational leap in CPU power that the series has seen in years and the i7-8700K is no exception.

As powerful as the 95 W i7-8700K may be, the less demanding 65 W octa-core Ryzen 7 1700 in the recent Asus GL702ZC is still faster by 6 percent in multi-threaded workloads according to CineBench R15. AMD is able to achieve this through more simultaneous threads than the Intel i7-8700K (16 vs. 12) in order to make up for the slower clock rates of each core (3.2 GHz vs. 3.7+ GHz). Of course, applications must be specifically optimized in the first place to exploit the various numbers of cores properly.

Single-threaded operations remain virtually identical to the Kaby Lake i7-7700K. While still ahead of the Ryzen 7 1700 by a notable 32 percent, Intel fans hoping for a significant single-thread boost over the i7-7700K will be disappointed. Indeed, the maximum Turbo Boost clock rate is only 200 MHz faster on the i7-8700K and that is only if the supporting hardware can maintain such speeds.

Running CineBench R15 Multi-Thread in a loop results in very steady scores from beginning to end. Turbo Boost potential is small but consistent which is impressive considering that this is a desktop CPU in a notebook chassis.

See our dedicated page on the Core i7-8700K and full review on the processor for more technical information and benchmark comparisons. Our reference desktop Core i7-8700K outscores our Eurocom Core i7-8700K by only a few percentage points.

PCMark 10 results are currently the highest in our database beating the MSI GT83VR by about 20 percent in each category. PCMark 8 results are more mixed likely due to the 4K UHD panel of the Eurocom compared to the FHD panel of the MSI.

Subjectively, our Eurocom system was free of any hardware or software issues during the testing duration. Pre-installed applications are kept to a minimum with Flexikey, Control Center, and CPU/GPU/RAM overclocking features all readily available. Certain key drivers for various features (SD reader, etc.) have been omitted and so users will need to install them manually.

Nvidia SLI has always scaled well when running synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark. Fire Strike results are 90 to 100 percent greater than a single mobile GTX 1080 or desktop GTX 1080 and 40 percent greater than a single GTX 1080 Ti. Graphics Scores are essentially the same as our GT83VR with a similar GTX 1080 SLI setup, but combined scores are notably higher for the Sky X9C due to its faster i7-8700K processor over the i7-7920HQ. Our reference desktop with the i7-4790K and GTX 1080 Ti is behind by about 12 percent against a notebook less than a quarter of its size.

See our dedicated page on the GeForce GTX 1080 SLI for more technical information and benchmark comparisons.

We stress the notebook with synthetic benchmarks to identify for any potential throttling or hardware issues. When running Prime95, the i7-8700K can be observed operating at a stable 4.0 GHz for all six cores or 300 MHz above its base 3.7 GHz clock rate. Turbo Boost clock rates above 4.0 GHz are thus very short-lived when executing multi-threaded tasks. Core temperature flatlines at 87 C to be slightly cooler than the i7-6700K (91 C) and i7-7820HK (94 C) in the Eurocom X7E2 and Aorus X9, respectively, when subjected to similar loads. Maximum stress with Prime95 and FurMark will strip the CPU of any Turbo Boost in order to maintain a more respectable temperature of 80 C while both GPUs operate in the upper-end of the 80 C range. In comparison, the GTX 1070 SLI in the Aorus X9 settles at 72 C while the GTX 1080 SLI in the GT83VR is even warmer in the lower 90 C range. Overclocking potential is unsurprisingly limited because of the already high temperatures when under extreme loads.

Running Witcher 3 is more representative of real-world stress. When under these conditions, the CPU drops to as low as 53 C whereas both GPU cores remain steady at 84 C. Frame rates fluctuate more wildly over time as shown by our graph below as is expected from any SLI system.

Running on battery power will limit both CPU and GPU performances. A Fire Strike run on batteries returns Physics and Graphics scores of 9512 and 6265 points, respectively, compared to 18221 and 40582 points when on mains. The CPU in particular can be observed operating at just 2 GHz when on batteries and the frame rate limiter is automatically engaged.

The cooling solution consists of three identical ~60 mm fans and 8 heat pipes between the CPU and two GPUs. Thinner and lighter gaming notebooks like the MSI GS73VR or Aorus x7 tend to utilize as few as 2 to 4 heat pipes and smaller fans in comparison. The arrangement of the heat pipes is slightly different from the last Clevo P870KM-GS we had checked out earlier in the year.

Measuring fan noise is a bit more complicated on the Sky X9C since its high capacity AC adapter is actively cooled by twin ~35 mm fans. The noise from the adapter alone is already quite loud at 36.3 dB(A) when situated 15 cm in front of the microphone against a background of 28.4 dB(A). While the adapter fans lead to cooler surface temperatures as shown in our next section, its loud operating noise is the price to pay. The fans automatically shutdown when the notebook is off or in Sleep mode.

We are able to measure a system fan noise of 34.2 dB(A) when the notebook is set to the Power Saver profile and with Quiet mode active. This minimum is not unlike both the Alienware 17 R4 and Aorus X9 when under similar conditions. The fans remain relatively stable under these conditions and do not pulsate during video playback or word processing loads.

When the High Performance profile is active, the notebook can be as loud as 39 dB(A) simply from idling on desktop. In comparison, ultrabooks like the Samsung Notebook 9 top out at 38 dB(A) when subjected to extreme loads to be quieter than an idling Sky X9C. Pulsing becomes more frequent as fan noise can jump from 39 dB(A) to 44.6 dB(A) when launching applications. Thankfully, the fans remain constant at 54 dB(A) when running Witcher 3 to be very close to other enthusiast gaming notebooks like the GT83VR, Aorus X9, or Razer Blade Pro under similar conditions. On one hand, this can be viewed as an impressive feat since the Sky X9C is significantly more powerful than both the Aorus X9 and Blade Pro without necessarily running louder, but there's still no denying that these are all very loud notebooks. Headphones are essentially required to drown out the noise when gaming.

The sound frequency of the fans is lower-pitched compared to the Razer Blade Pro or GS73VR since the Sky X9C can afford comparatively thicker and larger fans with fewer fins. Microphone measurements show a frequency peak of about 900 Hz on our Eurocom compared to ~3.5 kHz on the GS73VR to be less conspicuous given the same decibel reading.

Coil whine or electronic noise was audible on both our review notebook and AC adapter during the first few hours of testing. After running more benchmarks to "break in" our system, however, the electronic noise ceased. Nonetheless, it's possible that it may pop up again during the lifespan of the notebook.

The most powerful notebook available demands the most powerful AC adapter to go along with it. Introduced earlier this year, our Sky X9C configuration appropriately ships with a 780 W (!) AC adapter weighing about 1.8 kg or as much as a 14-inch Lenovo Yoga 520. The adapter includes a power switch on the back not unlike most PSUs for desktops and a real-time readout for current (I), Voltage (V), and Power (W). Unfortunately, there are no built-in USB ports like on the AC adapter for the Aorus X5 or any data recording features.

Idling on desktop will draw anywhere from 54 W to 57 W depending on the brightness setting while medium load with 3DMark06 will draw about 184 W. Running Witcher 3 will demand 455 W compared to 380 W on the MSI GT83VR with the same GTX 1080 SLI graphics or 180 W on the Alienware 17 R4 with a single GTX 1080 GPU. A significant differentiating factor between our Sky X9C and the GT83VR is the 95 W i7-8700K desktop CPU compared to the 45 W i7-7920HQ CPU in the MSI designed specifically for laptops.

Maximum load with Prime95 and FurMark running simultaneously yields unexpected results. Power consumption is not steady over time as shown by our graphs below where readings would constantly fluctuate from values as low as 304 W to as high as 549 W. In comparison, consumption readings would become much more steady when running Prime95, FurMark, or Witcher 3 separately. This suggests that there may be some power management issues between the CPU and GPU when both are stressed to their respective extremes simultaneously. In fact, average consumption is significantly higher when running Witcher 3 compared to running both Prime95 and FurMark together while the opposite is true for nearly all other gaming notebooks.

Furthermore, the real-time readings from the AC adapter do not appear to be very accurate and they would often underestimate actual results. When running Witcher 3, for example, our independent readings with Metrahit are steady at about 458 W while the adapter would occasionally record 326 W with jumps to the 400+ W range. We're unsure what is going on here, but we suggest that users double-check with their own independent instruments if accurate power consumption is of concern.