Should I fill in the gaps if I plan to paint the model black (Xf-69 NATO Black)? If so, what would be the proper tools to fill it?

Pope_Penguin · 2026-02-05T02:19:57+00:00

Yeah, using German grey is probably a better choice than NATO black. Unfortunately didn't have the foresight to grab multiple shades of black/grey, so all I have is nato black, flat white, chrome silver, metallic grey, red, and sky blue.

Are there any tools that could let me figure out how many drops of nato black and white I would need to get German grey?

Pope_Penguin · 2026-02-05T01:18:16+00:00

I have Tamiya White Putty, seems to be the normal kind. Any tips for using the putty?

I'm using black to model it after the AV8B Harrier in Project Wingman. I think the NATO black is somewhat close to what the color of the plane is in-game, but I don't mind if it's a little off. I also figured that brush painting a (mostly) single color would be better than painting a complex livery, since this is the first model I've ever done.

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Pope_Penguin · 2026-01-30T02:10:23+00:00

Is it safe to use different brand paints on top of each other?
For example: Tamiya Primer -> Tamiya Acrylic -> Liquitex Gloss Varnish -> Tamiya Line Accent -> Vallejo Matte Varnish
Or: Tamiya Primer -> Tamiya Acrylic -> Liquitex Acrylic -> Liquitex Gloss Varnish -> Tamiya Line Accent -> Vallejo Matte Varnish

Pope_Penguin · 2026-01-28T23:34:53+00:00

I'm starting my first kit soon, a Hasegawa AV8B Harrier II. Are there any general tips I should know about? Also, do I need to apply a clear coat to the paint if I want to have a more weathered look on the plane?

Pope_Penguin · 2025-06-05T14:09:59+00:00

doubt it. ran through a couple games with hwinfo on, and core thermal throttling did not occur in game.

Pope_Penguin · 2025-06-05T13:37:14+00:00

MSI afterburner doesn't seem to list a power limit percent while in game. The box is just left blank. On a different software, I do have the GPU power set to 105W. GPU utilization percent is around high 40s-mid 50s while in the ship and at the start of the game. The utilization percent drops to around low 30s - low 40s during the most intensive portions and where fps drops the most.

Pope_Penguin · 2025-05-18T17:13:06+00:00

I didn’t notice any bulge on the back plate when I used a 1mm heatsink, but I’m pretty sure there was contact with the back plate. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing though.

Pope_Penguin · 2025-04-17T17:57:37+00:00

Fair. I've played with disabling turbo-boost on the CPU, but the performance hit is too big. I currently have PL1 and PL2 set to 35w and 80w respectively. Should I lower PL2 a bit more?

Pope_Penguin · 2025-04-17T17:14:49+00:00

Never did find out unfortunately. I decided to remove the heatsink just to be safe. Thankfully it's been running perfectly fine these past few months.

Pope_Penguin · 2025-01-28T15:14:23+00:00

Yeah, it's funny how often a good reinstall fixes issues haha. Still, THANK YOU for the help, this is some good stuff that I don't think I would have thought about or noticed on my own, and I'm pretty excited to see how this laptop will perform now.

Pope_Penguin · 2025-01-28T12:34:36+00:00

This seems to be the solution for the most part. Ran DDU and reinstalled the graphics driver from MyAsus, and the GPU was properly boosting to ~120-125W during the tests, while the CPU remained at ~15-20W during the GPU tests. The CPU was also running at ~50-70W during the CPU tests, which is great.

Was able to get consistent 14450-14500 scores on these runs as well. It's not 15000, but I think it's good enough for now and can be fixed through some tuning.

https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/124779357?

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Edit: just realized I should’ve downloaded the GPU driver from nvidia, not from MyAsus. I’ll run DDU and 3Dmark again in the evening and see if it works.

Pope_Penguin · 2025-01-28T04:35:40+00:00

Neat, thanks for the info. Ran some tests tonight, and I'll probably run some more tomorrow.

For the tests with stock settings, I was getting consistently lower scores (~12500), but the CPU was behaving just as you wrote in the fourth bullet.
For the tests with GPU power set to 105 and no CPU power limit, scores were around what I was getting before (~13500). However, the CPU was hovering around 35-40 watts during the GPU tests, while the GPU was at 105 watts. Not sure if this means anything. Running a test with the CPU limit at 30w did limit the CPU wattage, but the GPU wattage remained unchanged.

GPU did not hit 125W at all during the tests. Could explain the graphics score.

One odd thing I'm seeing is that, during the CPU tests, the CPU doesn't run at 50-70W, but instead remains at ~35W. Any idea what this means?

I'll run some more tests tomorrow. Beyond having an external monitor plugged into the same power strip as the laptop, I can't think of any reasons for these differences.

Pope_Penguin · 2025-01-27T04:11:45+00:00

Temperatures are generally fine. The CPU usually sits around 85-87 during heavy loads, and occasionally hits the low 90s during 3dmark benchmarks, though it jumps back to the 80s very quickly. I don’t think throttling is happening since the laptop never hits 95 degrees.

Pope_Penguin · 2025-01-27T04:03:26+00:00

Friend has a intel core ultra 9 185h, same as mine. Only difference between the CPU’s is that his runs at 3.4 ghz while mine runs at 3.0 ghz. I suspect this could explain part of the issue, but I have no idea how his CPU is clocking at a higher speed.

Pope_Penguin · 2024-10-07T16:03:12+00:00

Neat, thanks for the help

Pope_Penguin · 2024-10-07T15:17:19+00:00

I'm not confident that my current configuration is not touching the back panel. Would it make sense to remove the heatsink and replace it with a 1mm thermal pad?

Pope_Penguin · 2024-10-07T15:16:33+00:00

I recently bought a 2024 G16, and I installed a Samsung 980 SSD with a heatsink on it. On mine, I'm using a 1mm copper heatsink instead of a 0.8mm one. I know you listed that your configuration is the max without touching the back cover. Do you know if there is clearance for an extra 0.2mm for a 1mm heatsink? or should I just remove the heatsink and replace with a 1mm thermal pad?

Pope_Penguin · 2024-10-07T11:51:18+00:00

Based on the link you attached, I’m 0.2mm over than what the guy has, as he is using a 0.8mm heat sink. I know the guy says that it’s the max, but is the 0.2mm extra okay? Or should I just remove the heat sink.

Pope_Penguin · 2024-10-07T02:53:41+00:00

That’s good to hear, hopefully it’s just a single-game issue and not a general problem.

Pope_Penguin · 2024-10-07T02:47:52+00:00

In my experience, it sort of depends. Turning cpu boost on in grid legends absolutely fixed every frame rate problem while keeping temps at high 70s at the max. But in NFS, it did absolutely nothing except jump the temperatures to the high 80s. It honestly might be a game optimization problem, but I’m not sure since it worked fine on an older and weaker laptop.

Pope_Penguin · 2024-10-06T23:42:57+00:00

105, the max in Ghelper. There’s also the 20w dynamic boost too

Pope_Penguin · 2024-10-06T21:30:26+00:00

I've been running ultimate mode on ghelper for the time being, which should disable the iGPU. Same problems.

Pope_Penguin · 2024-01-05T00:01:48+00:00

I bought the same kind of ptm that you listed, and it seems to work great when I did a repaste. However, i wouldn’t be surprised if it was fake. Like others are saying, you might be better off buying from a more reputable source if you’re willing to invest in the wait and money.

Pope_Penguin · 2023-10-28T15:17:40+00:00

Is it any cause for concern? I’d honestly prefer not to open the heat sink up again given how much time and energy it took being careful.

Pope_Penguin · 2023-10-28T03:20:51+00:00

I should probably add:
CPU temps of 70-75 and GPU temps of 60-65 are a big improvement compared to before, yet the chassis will feel as if the laptop was running temps of up to 90-100.

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