F8SV: Games, photos and benchmark

Yes, since computers aren't in NAFTA, you had to pay the taxes and UPS wants $50 for it. Canads post and USPS only charges $5 though

 

Anyone ever buy from gentech if so how did you buy it, or in other words were you able to pay monthly or you had to pay upfront?

 

Why not just call him up and discuss your options?

 

Service Pack 3 for Windows XP boasts a significant performance increase as soon as it comes out. Only the beta is currently available, though.

 

I can't find the serial number for my F8. It doesn't say SN anywhere...

 

is there any significant diffrence between the two?

 

I think real world tests go to show that there isn't that much of a difference in game performance.

 

Between Vista and XP? Not in gaming performance in newer games.

 

Ya i gonna try the ati tools again and cross my fingers.
And ya, i looked at the omega drivers, they worked wonders for my old laptop, but so far its says on its site about not having a version for Vista Just have to wait!

Brokage fee is a fee that government charges on imported product, mainly the ones that are made from countries outside of NAFTA agreement.
Now, you said you were only charged 50$ brokege? And you are in Canada?
Couple of things wrong with that.
1. Canadian government does not charge brokage on any computer, or computer related products, may it be made by NAFTA countries or not.
2. Lets say the canadian gov. did charge brokage, the lowest brokage on anything is about 8%, which makes it at least $80 for you, assuming that your laptop was at least 1000 of course.
3. Was it only brokage or 50 Brokage + tax? Cus i m sure Gentech didnt charge any canadian taxes!
If it was just 50, i sugest you just keep quiet to yourself, cus thats damn CHEAP!, and be glad that guys over at Gentech decralred it as a gift for you
its supose to be tax= (13.5% X 1200)= $160.2
brokage = ( at least = 8%x1200)=$96
total = $256.2
so you got really a deal there

you mean $5 on anything with any value?

Ya cant wait for it too,where did you find the beta?

and anybody knows if my F3sa can run 4Gigs of ram? Assuming of course that i run a 64bit system

 

Ha. Wow. Nevermind. It's not the Beta--Even better! The first release candidate!
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...4c-8423-4386-ad98-36b124a720aa&DisplayLang=en

Enjoy! But keep in mind it is only a RC and not the officially released, officially supported version.

 

Yea, it was $50 brokerage fee plus $50 tax. GenTech declared the computer as $400. I was just wondering where that brokerage came from because I never got it before. I brought books and clothes from the States before but never got the brokerage fee, only the handling fee.
Either way I know its cheaper than it would have been if I brought it in Canada, but I was just expecting to pay only $50 for taxes.

 

So when i recieve my B1 whats the first thing that i should do to it?

 

Sacrifice a live goat to appease the notebook gods. Then you must fast for 17 hours.

Or, you could do what I did and install your favorite game and play for 2 days straight without food or water.

 

spoken like a true lord of asgard

 

there's a topic around explaining how to get rid of the bloatware and how to optimize windows vista. OR, you could install winXP if you have it, your choice.

I'd also install the latest version of directx and the latest laptopvideo2go driver

 

Btw can you add memory to the B1 or you have what u got?

 

With most laptops today, you can add in more RAM. Of course, you might have to take an existing stick out since some laptops only has 1 slot or the 2 slots are already being used. (Like 2 gigs of RAM might be 2 different sticks of 1 gig)

 

the B1 comes with both slots taken by 1Gb sticks, so if you want more you'll have to substitute one or both with higher capacity sticks

 

im confused, i have the exact build of the original poster, with 3gb ram, F8SV-A1, and my 3dmark06 scores are in the 1900s, i tried both 169.04 and 169.09 drivers, deleted bloatware, etc, i can't figure out what the problem is

 

Sure youre not in some kinda power save mode? Just a question.

 

nope, its on high preformance mode, quite wierd, gonna try a fresh installation of vista

 

I'm just curious, will there be a decrease in battery life for the F8SV-B1 due to the higher clock speed? If so, can you underclock it to make it's battery life equivilant to an F8SV-A1? Also, will there be any weight difference?

Sorry if they sound like stupid questions, but I'm not too sure about these stuff.

 

What are the sub scores? (sm2, sm3, cpu)

It shouldn't matter when on battery saving mode, as they'll both downclock approximately the same I would imagine. If you're gaming or something on battery, then yes, it will make a difference, though still not much of one.

 

Hey on the 1st page you benchmarked F8SV-A1 which had 3GB of memory.
Was it 3x1GB or 2Gb+1GB module (asynchronous dual-channel?)?

 

2G+1G
F8 has 2 memory slots.
As matter of fact i dont think there arent even any comsumer laptops that has the 3X1 option

 

Yeah I wasnt quite sure about memory slots in this notebook. There are 2 possibilities: 2 slots / 4 slots (rare 'n expensive).

 

Hi,

would be nice, if someone could answer my questions.

Which RAM is on board of the B1? What brand is it and which model?

Is it 2 x 1 GB of "SO-DIMM 200pin DDR2-667 - PC2-5300" ?
Are they registered and have ECC?


Is it possible to use 2 x 2GB of "SO-DIMM 200pin DDR2-800 - PC2-6400"?
Is this RAM also available with ECC and "regitered"?

Is it right, that under Vista Ultimate all 4 GB RAM are recognized?

Does it has an advantage / disadvantage under XP Prof to install 2 X 2 GB?

Tks!

Peter

 

Only a 64-bit operating system will detect more than approximately 2.8~3.0 GB of RAM. Some systems will be able to detect 3.5GB, but it really depends on the motherboard. Using a 64-bit OS like 64-bit Linux or the 64-bit versions of XP Pro or Vista should utilize all of 4GB if the motherboard supports it.

 

Tks a lot for info!

Does Vista Ultimate in the 32bit Version will recognize 4 GB - or only the Vista Ultimate in the 64 bit Version?

 

Only 64 bit in any version can recognize 4 GB.

 

I concur. Memory addressing capabilities is a direct result of the instruction/register size.

 

so completely off topic as to what has been discussed lately... BUT i would like to know what i would get if i connected this laptop to my reciever via a DVI to HDMI converter. i know that dvi carries only video, but how could i get the audio into the reciever? i have some downloaded HD movies saved on a hard drive, and i would like to view them on my HD tv in HD format. is this possible? thanks in advance.

 

Additional cables maybe?

The dvi port does carry sound, but if your receiver can only get video from it, you always by the 3.5 headphone adapter that splits it for left and right (red and white) cables.

On another note, i installed xp on my f8sv (I AM NOW A DUAL BOOTER AGAIN!!), and im noticing about a ~3-4 second gain in at least crysis so far. Im not sure if im going to delete my vista partition yet, but i will say that after installing xp onto the data partition, it only took up around 8 gigs

 

Nice to know about it, please give me link to working and fastest instructions on how to create a dual boot with XP and Vista onto F8.
(Also I'm interested in running Linux on that machine, but I'm not sure if anyone could help me)

Thank you

 

Literally, this is all you need

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2806094&postcount=2

But as far as dual booting, this is what i did.

I deleted/cleaned out my data partition and formated it for a clean install. I popped in my xp boot disk and from there followed all the instructions in the above post.

*Note: If you have 3-4 gigs of ram, youll have to disable some ports in device manager so that you can install video card drivers. I glanced over the post when i went to install, didnt read this, and went nuts because i couldnt find a vga device in device manager. Once that gets up and running, you can go ahead and install modded drivers from laptopvideo2go or where ever ati ppl go

Once i got xp fully running, i downloaded "EasyBCD" (i got 1.52). Theres a option where you can make a choice on how you dual boot, i'll list the methods.

1. (hard) Go to manage bootloader and select to reinstall the vista bootloader. From there you can reboot to get back into vista.

From vista, you'll have to install another "EasyBCD" so that you can uninstall the vista bootloader to get back into xp.

The reason i even consider this a option is just incase you want no one else to know about your "other" OS, as you can hide either drive from the "My Computer" folder

2. (easy) Go to Add remove entries in "EasyBCD" and add the correct windows version along with the correct drive. Once you have both vista and xp recognized in the Existing Entries, you cant restart the computer and be presented with the option of what OS to go into, it'll be just like you installed vista over xp instead of the reverse.

I'll also have to add that from vista, this option didnt work correctly, and it didnt recognize vista at first when i was in xp, so i cant really say what fixed it, but you may not run into this problem.

_____________________________________

Purposely, im straying away from doing anything else other than gaming on xp, i dont have all the room to go about reinstalling everything i have on vista. I also need to note that with atleast the drivers and software posted in the above link, i used the realtek built in eq to act like an amplifier for my speakers. They are noticeably louder now.

If anybody wants to know, i think xp is completely worth it for recreational use, but then again, im used to xp and i know all the tricks of the trade, not to mention i love how easy it is to skin this thing, i love the xp custom themes much more than vista aero and i dont really know why

_____________________________________

One very last thing, if things go wrong with the xp installation, make sure you have....

http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2007/12/21/how-to-repair-windows-vista-without-a-vista-dvd-disc/

Read the article (or not), make sure you download and burn the vista boot repair iso. If the xp installation fails, you may very well be locked out of your computer without it.

 

Hey Gob

I did a dual boot with my F3sa as well!
Now i got a different problem: Drivers!!!
Is there a place where you and everybody else who installed xp are getting all the drivers for XP?
I looked arround, I only found wireless and video drivers. Nothing else is working and ASUS website doesnt have anything for XP either!

 

Ok finally, I got an RMA for my F3sa, and just ordered an F8SV-a1
I am crossing my fingers for this to come thru without any problems!

 

Hello,

i just installed Vista Ultimate 64 bit on the F8SV.

Everything seems to be ok - exept the graphic-driver. The Windows Power Index is after the installation 1,0:

graphic: 1,0
graphic-Games: 1,0

I installed the Nvidia-Driver for Vista 64bit, that one which was delivered on CD with the notebook. I also tried the original driver from the Nvidia-Homepage - but the Index doesn´t change.

After every start of the notebook i got an error-message:
"C:\windows\system32\nvsvc.dll"

Does anyone has made some experience installing Vista 64 bit on the F8SV and knows a solution?

Tks!
Peter

 

Finally got my F8SV on Friday from NCIX. I immediately put in an extra 2GB of ram, bringing the total to 3GB.
I tried playing Crysis with everything on medium, and I have to say I was a little disappointed. Framerate was hovering around 15-17

 

Didn't you look at the reviews before you bought it? It Cleaarly showed those frame rates during the game. Besides, do you know any other 14 inch that can play this game at those rates and at this price?

I just exchanged mine F3sa for this as well. Due to video driver reasons.

I am also a bit disapointed as well. But mainly because of the screen.
The screen on F8SV is nowhere as bright at the F3sa. And it gets dark real fast when viewd off angle. Theres quite a bit of back bleeding as well.
Theres a bit of "play" on the hinges of LCD as well, like it feels loose. Like when i open or close it, it takes a moving it a bit to feel the hinges engaging. Does any other owner of this laptop have this issue?
Maybe a got a bad unit.

If any of the retailers could confirm if these are normal it would be great.

Other than that, I have no complaints. Overall a well designed laptop.
The ports a better allocated than the f3sa, which were mostly on the right. So for some one whos right handed, its a pain in the as$.

 

I'm currently trying to decide between the XPS 1530 and this here F8sv-A1. I know the 1530 has a DDR3 GPU (which will be used for gaming) compared to the F8's DDR2, but how would the F8 fare with games for approximately the next 2-3 years? As of now, I only play Bioshock, Battlefield 2, and Call of Duty 4 with my P4 2.8GHz with a Radeon X1600 XT (haha). Only game on the horizon I want to play is Starcraft 2.

Any help would be appreciated as I want to decide before the 1530 $669 off deal is over. Thanks!

 

Hey Ken,
Are you on vacation or something? Sent you a message/email, can you get back to me please? Thanks.

 

No I have that too, I dont think its cuz of your unit m8. I lowered the resolution a little bit in Crysis, did wonders!

I'm quite satisfied with this new rig.

 

im considering to buy a F8sv-A1 but i also heard that its discontinued...is this true?

 

That is officially true, and it will phase into F8Sn-A1. There are still quite a few resellers selling the F8SV-A1 if you look around more. Thanks!

 

What are the major differences between the F8SV and F8SN excaliber?

 

F8SN has new penryn t8300 (2.4ghz) and nvidia 9500m GS 512mb (slightly better than the 8600GT DDR2)

 

K thanks. Also heard it will have a 250gb HD similar to the F8SV-B1. Also a price tag of around $2000.

 

I have a toss up between the F8SN and the xps M1530. Both similiar prices but asus is more portable but dell has more power, so i don't really know which one to choose

 

Is there a huge difference between the F8Sv and the F8Sn?