Schenker XMG Ultra 17 (i9-9900K, GTX 1080, UHD) Clevo P775TM1-G Laptop Review

The best example for this is our test unit, which is equipped with 32 GB of DDR4-RAM (2x 16 GB @2666 MHz), a 1000 GB NVMe-SSD, and Nvidia's currently fastest laptop GPU, the GeForce GTX 1080. In combination with the Pascal chip, you can get an Intel processor from the i5, i7, or i9 series.

The kicker is that since Schenker uses desktop models, the processor is not – as we know it from most notebooks – soldered in, but can be replaced if needed. The same goes for the graphics card. However, there are some limits in the upgrade options (software support, availability of the hardware, power supply, cooling, etc.). Of course, all this technology has its price: With the Core i9-9900K, 4K display, and Windows 10 Home 64 Bit, our test unit costs almost 4000 Euros (~$4553).

Schenker has not made any changes to the case. The label of the Clevo Barebone used is the same as that of our previous test unit (P775TM1-G), which showed strong similarities to the Guru Mars K (P775DM3-G) we evaluated in 2017. You can find all the information on the case, the connections, and input devices in the previous review.

The primary competitors of the XMG Ultra 17 include other 17-inch gaming notebooks from our Top 10 List with the GeForce GTX 1080 and a Coffee-Lake CPU such as the Asus ROG Chimera G703GI and the Aorus X7 DT v8, which we use as comparison devices in our test here.

Like the Barebone case, the display is also the same as in our old test unit. The UHD panel from AU Optronics (B173ZAN) that you can get for an additional premium captivates primarily with its large color space. Only a few laptops can reach a 100% sRGB and 87% AdobeRGB color space coverage.

In the times associated with 120 Hz and 144 Hz panels (also available alternatively), 60 Hz for the image refresh rate are also meager. On the other hand, the UHD model at least can master G-Sync.

Due to its desktop features (replaceable CPU and GPU), the XMG Ultra 17 promises a high degree of being future proof. Upgrade enthusiasts should also be pleased with four RAM slots, two M.2 slots, and two 2.5-inch slots.

In return, buyers of the XMG Ultra 17 receive an unmatched performance that has not been available before now, at least for a laptop. With 1865 points, the Core i9-9900K sprints ahead of the mobile Core i9-8950H (Asus ROG G703GI) and Core i7-8850H (Aorus X7 DT v8) Coffee-Lake top-guns by more than 40% in the multi-core test of CineBench R15. Against the Core i7-8700 of the old XMG Ultra 17, it is even +60%.

Unfortunately, the Core i9-9900K inherits a typical shortcoming of the Coffee-Lake generation, which is the limited clock speed behavior. In contrast to the Kaby-Lake chips, which have up to four cores, the current six and eight-core chips can only maintain their full Turbo over a limited time period. You can see this behavior playing out in our CineBench loop, in the course of which the performance of the XMG Ultra 17 drops by almost 5 to 10%. 

Due to its huge number of cores (handling 16 threads via Hyper-threading), regardless of whether in a desktop or notebook, the Core i9-9900K is still a good investment for anyone who uses applications that rely on parallel processing a lot in their home or office. We will evaluate next, whether the purchase is worthwhile for gamers as well. 

The combination of a high-end GPU, octa-core CPU, and NVMe SSD has a particularly noticeable effect on the system performance. 6959 points in PCMark 10 are first-rate are some of the best results we have ever measured. Subjectively, the performance also knows how to please, be it during boot ups, program starts, or data transfer.

In order to really score in the storage category, Schenker Technologies has used an NVMe-SSD from Samsung with a 1 TB capacity in our test configuration. While the 970 PRO is quite expensive for an SSD, in return it achieves a position at the top. According to the AS SSD benchmark, the 500-GB drive of the Aorus X7 DT v8, which is also based on the PCIe technology (Toshiba THNSN5512GPU7), falls behind by about 50%. Even the RAID system of the Asus G703GI is unable to move ahead in the overall score, despite its higher values in the sequential area.

As long as your budget does not play any role, the GeForce GTX 1080 is currently the best choice for gamers, since you hardly need to make any compromises in terms of image quality even at higher resolutions. The DirectX-12 model from Nvidia's Pascal series is equipped with 2560 shader units and 8 GB of GDDR5X storage (256-bit interface). Nvidia specifies a clock speed of 1657 MHz, with the GPU boost ideally being able to accelerate the core up to 1886 MHz.

During benchmark testing, there were no abnormalities in terms of its performance capabilities. In 3DMark 11 as well as the Fire-Strike test of 3DMark 13, the XMG Ultra 17 scores at the level of the Aorus X7 DT v8 and the old test equipment, while the Asus G703GI can work out a slight advantage due to its factory overclocking.

However, a more detailed analysis of the GPU performance reveals a huge problem. While the GeForce GTX 1080 still clocked at its standard 1657 MHz in the Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark, the endurance test of "The Witcher 3" (FHD/Ultra) produced a throttling down to around 1404 MHz, which corresponds to a decrease of 15%. Such throttling should not occur during gaming operation and is quite incomprehensible considering the harmless temperatures (GPU: ~70 °C/158 °F; CPU: ~50 °C/122 °F).

Update 10/30/18: As we had guessed, the Control Center is the reason for the GPU throttling. An update from version 5.0001.1.72 to the graphically redesigned Control Center 2.0 (v1.0.34) makes the problem disappear. Thanks to the better performance, the XMG Ultra 17 now attains 88% instead of 86%, resulting in an overall score of "Very Good."

Update 11/02/18: The Control Center 2.0 is not really meant (yet) for the XMG Ultra 17. However, Schenker has published a new EC and an update for the Control Center 1.0 which should also eliminate the throttling bug.

Just from a gaming point of view, the Core i9-9900K makes only a limited amount of sense. While extremely CPU-hungry games such as "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" can really benefit from the additional cores, at the end of the day a notebook with a quad or hexa-core will also be completely sufficient, since most games are GPU limited, at least at higher resolutions and settings.

If you also consider the power consumption, excess heat, and purchase price, we would tend to advise gamers against purchasing the Core i9-9900K. The more affordable Core-i5 and Core-i7 models should also offer sufficient performance for the coming years.

In idle mode and during low loads, the 17-incher has to struggle with a typical problem of the Clevo Barebones: the fan control is sub-optimal, to express it mildly. During rather smaller tasks such as installations or Windows Updates, the fans like to rev up above 40 dB, which can be very annoying in practice. Sometimes they even rev up without any reason when the system does not really have anything to do. Tip: Tuning experts can try their hands in controlling the fan manually via the Control Center.

In short, the combination of the Core i9-9900K and GTX 1080 seems to bring the Barebone to its limits and even slightly overextend it. Schenker has told us that in the XMG Ultra 17 the CPUs are even undervolted in the state of delivery, which is definitely necessary in this case.

Due to the occasional throttling, the measurements of the power consumption are not 100% comparable with that of the competitors – at least in 3D operation. During idle operation, the 17-incher consumes between 33 and 49 watts, which is a lot, even for a gaming notebook. Thanks to their notebook CPU, the Asus G703GI (29-46 watts) and the Aorus X9 DT v8 (23-37 watts) consume much less power. By the way, all of these devices drop Nvidia's Optimus technology in favor of G-Sync.