Illegear Selenite reviewMain specs:
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i7-8750H
RTX 2070 8GB
16GB 2666MHz RAM single channel
Samsung PM981 256GB
Intel 9560
W10 Trial
Mechanical keyboard (brown switch)
144Hz IPS
Kryonaut repaste and display colour calibration included
Based on TongFang GK7CP7S chassis
A few notes before reading:
1. This is a quick review; thus, not everything will be covered in here
2. This review will mainly focus on thermals instead of performance
3. I will often compare this model with its smaller brother – Onyx
Product page:
Illegear Selenite 9th gen,
Illegear SelenitePart 1: Build quality, input devicesBuild quality is excellent overall, only just slightly behind Onyx. The lid has aluminium brush on top of it. There is only little flex when force is applied at the center. There is some flex when the lid is twisted, but not as much compared to Onyx. The lid has a bit of wobbling. You can open the lid with 1 hand. The body is all hard-plastic+soft touch build. Despite that, there is no flex on the entire keyboard deck and it cannot be twisted with force.
The mechanical keyboard (GENESWITCH v2, cap 2, brown switch) has low actuation force (slightly lower than the one in Onyx) and 2mm key travel. The switches are surprisingly quiet when pressed. Should be usable in quiet conditions such as in library. There is one complaint: The keycaps have some wobbling which makes typing a little uncomfortable (update: another unit doesn't have wobbling keycaps). Like the Raven, the layout is a bit special (especially right CTRL and SHIFT keys) and I can sometimes mistype the up key when trying to press right shift. You can set the effect, brightness and speed of the keyboard lighting via the Control Center software.
The large Clickpad has Precision driver. The plastic surface has satisfactory smoothness but can be a bit rough when you have wet/oily fingers. Like the Onyx, you can disable the clickpad by double tapping the left top corner of the clickpad. The L/R click feel is OK, nothing special. Take note that the clickpad is located directly below the space bar; therefore, it’s aligned more to the left side. One minor issue: The clickpad has some noise when tapped hard on it.
Part 2: Display, Audio, BatteryThe display is a 144Hz IPS panel from BOE (display ID BOE07B6). As you can expect from a high refresh rate panel, everything feels smooth. It gets bright enough, colours are vibrant and has good contrast.
The 2 down firing speakers has good audio (with a bit of bass too); however, you need to tune the audio via Sound Blaster software (otherwise the sound quality is terrible). Tuned audio profile: Music profile, bass 0, treble 3, surround 80, crystalizer 50, bass 40, smart vol 0, dialog+ off. Volume is a bit soft/quiet. Overall, the sound quality is slightly worse than the one in Onyx (with tuned audio profile too).
I don’t have time to test the battery life, however don’t expect much from the 46.74Wh battery.
Part 3: Cooling performanceThe cooling design consists of 3 heatpipes with 1 shared on CPU+GPU. The heatsink is stretched to both left and right.
Notes on all thermal testing:
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PL1 – 70W, PL2 – 85W
BIOS N.1.02, EC 1.03.09
GPU driver tested is 418.91
Test is conducted in an A/C room (ambient 20-22C)
Game mode and equilibrium mode are used (more on that later)
Laptop is plugged in. The fans take a while to speed up when load is applied
Max fan noise is ~54dBA
CPU Undervolt profile: -100mv on core and cache
Blue highlighted part is CPU undervolted result
CPU temp - Cinebench R15 multi coreMax 95C, ~3.4-3.6GHz, ~80W
Max 95C, 3.8-3.9GHz, 82-85W, 1200+cbAlmost full fans for both
CPU temp - Aida64 FPU 70WMax 90C, 3.0-3.1GHz
Max 90C, 3.3-3.4GHzAlmost max fans for both
GPU temp - Unigine Valley (extreme HD profile)Clock speed fluctuates, at least 100MHz higher than boost clock (1440MHz)
Max 75C, max 125W
Slightly reduced fans (compared to almost max fans)
FPU (with undervolt) + Valley (extreme HD) with max fansCPU: Max 94C, 3.0-3.1GHz, ~50WGPU: Max 75C, same clock speed behaviour, ~120W
Apex Legends 1080p all max, 6GB budget, 90 FOV (with undervolt)Mid 70s, clock speed fluctuates at 3+GHz, 20-25W (see video below for explanation of the clock speed fluctuation)
GPU: Max 75C, clock speed fluctuates mostly sit at 1500-1600MHz range, 115+W
Slightly reduced fans
Unigine Valley benchmark (extreme HD, 1 run only)FPS: 95.9
Score: 4011
The chassis stay quite cool when it’s under load. Core temp differential is ~10C
In Illegear Command Center, there are 2 modes to choose from: Game mode or office mode. Office mode gives you access to control fan speed but has a 35W CPU power limit.
There are also 4 power profiles to choose from:
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High performance (same with Windows)
Game
Equilibrium
Power saving
Here's a good video on how all the power setting works. Very informative. Basically, just keep it to game mode and equilibrium
The included power adapter is a 230W unit from Chicony. Take note that temps might be a little higher when running dual channel memory.
Part 4: MiscellaneousThe laptop is very portable for a 17-inch gaming laptop while not sacrificing thickness for cooling room – 2.35kg and 25mm thickness. The footprint is also relatively small, just like typical 15 inch device.
You need to press about 2 seconds to power on the laptop.
For the pictures of positioning of ports, cooling solution etc, you can refer Notebookcheck review on
XMG Neo 17Other settings in Illegear Command Center:
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Power source for display – turn off internal display
Display colour profile: Standard, Gaming, Video, Reading, Customize
Light Effect: Keyboard backlight, LED light bar
Other settings: Windows key lock, Hibernation USB charging, Discrete GPU ‘on’, Turn off OSD, Gamer mode
Update: i7-9750H model» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Main specs:
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i7-9750H
RTX 2060 6GB
16GB 2666MHz RAM (dual channel)
512GB NVMe M.2 SSD
144Hz IPS
Intel 9560
W10 Trial
Kryonaut repaste and display colour calibration included
Since it’s a 2060 model, I will not perform GPU thermal test due to less heat output.
Notes:
1. BIOS N.1.52, EC 2.04.09
2. GPU driver tested is 430.64
3. This model gets the new Illegear Command Center with GPU boost feature (except for 2070 model)
4. 2060 model will also get 230W Chicony charger for 9th gen CPU
5. Optional 63Wh battery upgrade is available
6. Other notes from previous thermal testing that are not mentioned also apply here
7. To get best performance+thermal result for GPU, you need to undervolt GPU and use turbo mode
Undervolt profile: CPU core+cache -100mv. You can undervolt GPU if you want, but it takes time. Blue highlighted part is the undervolted result.
CPU temp - Cinebench R15 multi core (1 run)Max 84C, 75-77W, 4GHz, 1250+cb
Max 81C, 68-69W, 4GHz, 1250+cb~37dBA
CPU temp - Aida64 FPU 70WMax 84C, 3.4-3.5GHz
Max 84C, 3.6+GHz~35dBA
Time Spy (Turbo mode, 1 run):Score: 6817, Graphics: 6811
Fire Strike (Turbo mode, 1 run):Score: 15862, Graphics: 17694
Update: 2080MQ model» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Main specs:
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i7-9750H
RTX 2080 Max-Q 8GB
16GB 2666MHz RAM (single channel)
256GB Samsung PM981 M.2 SSD
144Hz IPS
Intel 9560
W10 Trial
Kryonaut repaste and display colour calibration included
Notes:
- PL1 – 70W, PL2 – 85W (turbo mode), PL1 – 100W, PL2 – 100W (game mode)
- BIOS N.1.00, EC 2.04.09
- GPU driver tested is 430.86
- Test is conducted in an A/C room (ambient 20-22C)
- Game mode and
turbo mode are used (game mode for CB15 and Aida FPU only) - new Illegear Command Center with GPU boost feature
- BD PROCHOT for CPU is 95C
- Max fan noise is ~52dBA
- Laptop is plugged in. The fans take a while to speed up when load is applied
- Optional 63Wh battery upgrade is available
Undervolt profile: CPU core+cache -100mv. You can undervolt GPU if you want, but it takes time. Blue highlighted part is the undervolted result.
CPU temp - Cinebench R15 multi core (1 run) - temperature taken from first runMax 91C, 87-90W, 1250+cb
Max 86C, 78-82W, 1250+cb~49dBA
CPU temp - Aida64 FPU 100WMax 95C, ~3.5GHz
Max 95C, ~3.6GHz~50dBA
GPU temp - Unigine Valley (Extreme HD profile)1680-1830MHz - 1830MHz is max at 0.95V
Max 73C, ~41dBA
FPU + Valley (extreme HD) with max fansCPU: Max 95C, 3.07-3.1GHz, 54-57W - undervolt will have same result
GPU: Max 76C, 1680-1830MHz
CSGO 1080p all max - manual PL2 set to 45W, otherwise power consumption will have 60+W spikesCPU: Max 87C, 3.2-4GHz, max 45W
GPU: Max 73C, 1815/1830MHz
~41dBA
CSGO 1080p all max with max fans - manual PL2 45WCPU: Max 80C, 3.2-4GHz, max 45W
GPU: Max 66C, 1830MHz
CPU (UV): Max 76C, 3.2-4GHz, max 45WGPU: Max 63C, 1830MHz
Apex Legends 1080p all max, 8GB budget, 90 FOV, training map with max fans - manual PL2 45WCPU: 78-87C, 3.4-4GHz, 24-36W
GPU: Max 82C, 1710-1815MHz
CPU (UV): 76-82C, 3-4GHz, 24-28WGPU: Max 81-82C, 1710-1815MHz
Time Spy (Turbo mode, 1 run):Score: 8420, Graphics: 9181
Fire Strike (Turbo mode, 1 run):Score: 19014, Graphics: 23844
Conclusion: Well-cooled and well-built 17 inch RTX light weight gaming laptop
Pros:
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Portable for a 17 inch gaming laptop
Good build quality, excellent cooling
144Hz display
Plenty of ports
Optional battery upgrade
Cons:
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Keycaps have a bit of wobbling - just a minor issue tbh
Audio needs tuning

Sifu, want to ask, is it all the custom made laptop have bad audio? Or how bad eventually it is?
I saw your review on illeager/level51, both Cons also with "Audio need tuning".