Review : Xenom XG157 – New Gaming Monster with Haswell & GTX780M
Overview
On June two, Intel officially released the 4th generation Core i Series processor line with the code name: Haswell. Before officially launching, there have been many issues regarding the latest generation of consumer processors which are claimed to promise far more efficient power efficiency as well as integrated GPU performance which is expected to be equivalent to the Geforce GT65X series. Not only rumors of performance improvements, slanted rumors have also plagued Haswell, ranging from scorn that Haswell is only 10% better than Ivy-Bridge, to rumors of a re-configuration of Haswell’s i5 core line.
Regardless of all that, this time the Pemmz team will prove which rumors are true and which rumors are just figments. Thanks to our Xenom XG Series for allowing the Pemmz Team here to try out both Haswell’s performance, as well as the Gefroce GTX780M which has been phenomenal lately.
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Xenom XG157
Specification
Product Features
- – Backlit keyboard with WADS gaming key
- – illuminated Multi-color keyboard & Touch pad
- – Powered USB 3.0
- – Display ports
- – Audio design
- – Push-push card reader
- – 4* SODIMMs 1600
- – SOUND BLASTER® X-FI® MB3
- – 2* mSATA SSD
- – 2.0M FHD Camera
- – Intel® Rapid Start Technology
- – Intel® Smart Response Technology
- – Intel® Smart Connect Technology
For those of you who have used Clevo products as your workstation or gaming machine, you will immediately be familiar with the barebon Xenom XG157 design. However, the Xenom XG157 has experienced a lot of re-touch design which makes it even more eye-catching. As for the overall design, the barebones Xenom XG157 does not follow the ASUS ROG or MSI G-Series concepts that are tapered on the front, the Xenom XG157 still uses the “all square” concept like the Alienware M17X or M18X series.
Design
Almost the entire casing is given a dove black color without additional texture strokes which makes it very minimalist. The top of the workstation is also clean of shortcut keys. There is only the Power button, and two speaker holes. However, in the middle you can find several indicators such as GPU mode, Airplane, HDD activity, Num-Lock, Caps-Lock and finally Scroll-Lock Indicator. On the left and right of the indicator, there are two speaker holes which, as usual, use Onkyo speakers. Only the bottom case is colored differently, Standard black.
When the XG157 is ON and the lid is opened, you will immediately see a “tatoo” on the touchpad which has the same backlit as the keyboard. This is the default position, as you can change each backlit color individually, much like Alienware FX. At the bottom of the touchpad, precisely between the right and left click buttons, there is a finger print reader which when tested, works very well.
Switching to the connectivity section, Xenom XG157 is equipped with all modern connectivity such as 2 USB 3.0 ports, e-SATA/USB 3.0 Combo port, RJ45 port, and almost forgotten, XG157 is still equipped with a firewire port (IEEE 1394). As a media reader, there is a 4-in-1 card reader and a DVD RW Drive. As for the video-out media, we can take advantage of the Display Port other than HDMI and mini-VGA. Unfortunately, the sales package is not equipped with an adapter from mini-VGA to standard size VGA.
Upgrade Options
Similar to the Sager NP9 series, the Xenom XG157 allows users to customize parts down to the GPU area. Specifically for the Storage area, the Xenom XG157 also includes two m-SATA slots in addition to two 2.5″ HDD slots for easy configuration of Intel Smart Response if there is no budget to switch to a full SSD system. Memory area, XG157 can accommodate RAM up to 32GB capacity through 4 slots. To support all these custom processes, the Xenom XG157 is equipped with an adapter with a maximum capacity of 180Watts, enough to power high-end level hardware configurations.
Performance Test
Synthetic Benchmark
In 3DMark Vantage, there seems to be an incompatibility issue between the driver and the 3DMark Vantage program. Generally, Intel’s CPU Score based on Ivy-Bridge is at least 33 thousand. Meanwhile Haswell was only able to score 23765. So, let’s skip this test point first.
3DMark 11 is indeed a test that focuses on GPU performance and here, it looks like the GTX780M gives a performance increase of around 30% to 35%. Meanwhile, Haswell’s performance has yet to show its full potential. It could be that this is also still constrained by the driver.
In this test, for the first time we show test results using the latest 3DMark software. We really don’t have data to compare, how much of a performance increase for both Haswell and GTX780M compared to Ivy-Bridge and GTX 680M. Pemmz tried to find a comparison by browsing internet reviews, it turns out that no one has tested the 4700MQ, even in the Futuremark database. But we promise, will soon complete this review with a comparison with the Sandy-Bridge and Ivy-Bridge processors.
In contrast to the PCMark7 test results, Haswell is starting to show its full potential. We have a score database of a notebook configured i7-3630QM + Geforce GTX680M and a conventional 7200rpm HDD storage, the score we get is only about 3000 points.
Real Gaming Benchmark
On Pemmz’s favorite benchmark, RE5. The performance improvement of the GTX780M is also quite significant. If a GTX680M usually only scores around 120 to 140 fps (depending on the processor), the GTX780M combined with the Intel Haswell 4600MQ is able to score 198.2 points, which means an increase of 40%. Amazing!!!
Likewise with the dedicated benchmark on RE6, the combination of GTX780M plus Intel Haswell is able to provide a very significant performance increase of around 2500 points or about 45% more.
There are still some real gaming benchmark scores that we will publish, but due to the many “deadlines”, we will follow up on the results of another real gaming benchmark review after the FKI 2021 event. So we apologize in advance for this inconvenience.
Conclusion
Indeed, the system we are currently testing uses the default driver from Xenom XG157 which has not been able to show maximum performance from both Intel Haswell and Nvidia Geforce GTX780M hardware. However, with a driver that can be said to be the 1st edition, in some real gaming tests, we can measure the performance increase. Especially if later the drivers from Intel or Nvidia have been further refined, of course the increase will be much higher.
Pemmz itself strongly recommends those of you who are still using the Ivy-Bridge platform especially Sandy-Bridge to upgrade to the Haswell version. Because on this platform, in addition to power efficiency, the performance offered is also quite much more optimal.
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