**D900F (Sager 9280) Owners Lounge**

Bios flashes and overclocking for the d900f? I have yet to see or hear of any way to overclock the machine, which is quite frustrating for me since I ordered the 1333 RAM and a 920 in hopes of finding one! Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

In my humble opinion, do not set Raid-0 unless you got a good backup plan. I've never been on the short end of the stick for a Hard Drive Failure, but one of the new drives with this machine failed less than a month after purchase. Needless to say I had already filled up about 500 of the 914 GB I got from the two 500GB Drives. And it just went poof really. I say split them you won't notice the performance much unless you're using something that accesses the Hard Drives often. It's safer and if one fails you still have the data on the other, and hopefully the OS will be on a good drive too.

Raid-0 never gave any noticeable performance gains for me, maybe when booting the OS but it's blinding fast anyway so...

 

*sad face* oh well... the GPU doesn't pass 83 when I play Fallout 3 which is the most demanding game I have loaded on at this time.. but for GTA IV we all know I'ma waiting till i get back my keyboard

Anyway should come back if not this week by next week monday... then I'll be in la-la land again where I can actually make my laptop MOBILE >.> Been two weeks to the day now since it broke.. it really ain't fair lol

 

Well it's been shipped from Xotic PC already! I placed my order mid day monday and it should be arriving tuesday! Talk about fast service!

D2, thanks for the Raid0 suggestion, but I've never had a problems with raid configurations. With the reliability of a SSD I dont forsee any issues raiding three together, and it will be nice to have one volume to work with when installing games and such. Not to mention the HEAT issues in this system would only be worse with mechanical drives!

I'll be ordering one of the 1tb WD Passports in the next few days. Not quite as fast as some other portable drives out there but half the size and doesnt require an AC cable!

I'm still looking for overclocking options for the NON 975 processors, if someone finds information on how to OC...please let me know asap!

I'll also be posting my benchmarks and a small review next week once I get set up!

 

you don't even need that...technically.
run two 500gb 7200 rpm drives in raid or not
&
1 ssd 128 or 256 gb ocz vertex drive with firmware version 1275 installed.
but running 3 would be hella nice!!

.10 ms
is far better than 17.5 ms for regular 7200 rpm drives.


d901c
this is me opening all of the office 2007 modules at the same time. not the greatest video, but you get the idea.
http://www.say-it-loud.com/office2007.mpg

loading of world of warcraft
http://www.say-it-loud.com/wow.mpg

had one where i loaded up all 25 modules of cs4 adobe and 8 modules of office 2007 on bootup...cant find that one.... took like 1.42 seconds from push of power button till last program loaded.

ssd's are great, if you get the right ones.

 

Where can I find the X58 Chipset ICH10 SATA AHCI Controller Drivers (not the RAID version) for XP? I need to put them on a floppy and use the F6 key option during the first steps of the XP Install so that the Hard Drive Controller can be recognized. These are usually a small set of files, not the whole Intel Storage Matrix thing which seems to be the only thing I can find on the x58 chipset and not, just the basic drivers I will need for XP.

Thanks very much.

 

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...&OSFullName=Windows XP Professional*&lang=eng

 

Sounds good... just one question.... What HEAT issues?
My ambient temperature is something 34 deg celcius daily and it runs frigid here

 

WOW! I cannot thank you enough for this link. There is no counting the amount of searching Ive been doing to find these files (!!!). Its amazing that doing a search, even right now on Intel's site using keywords "Floppy Configuration Utility" your link does NOT come up, only older versions of the drivers. I have no idea how you found it, but, thank you very much indeed

 

go to intel matrix storage manager for winXP, it's under additional files

 

How come there are no reviews for the Np 9280? I have been searching around and there no in depth reviews for this system...(except for the one in german).
and No videos on youtube.

For one of the only laptops with a I7 out right now, i would think there would be more interest.

 

Search for D900F, you will find some videos and there is even a review here.

 

Yeap, you are right again, there it is indeed I can it now. But let me tell you it is very well hidden though. The link does not show up on a search anywhere on the net including Intel's site and really, to think on going to "Additional Downloads" on the left pane expecting to find anything more than the main page is specifically not showing you, is wishful thinking. I for once did not pay attention to the link... had over 30 Windows open on Intel's site with all sorts of links that I thought would take me to anything regarding these basic files that are a must for XP. I even tried Intel® Matrix Storage Manager home page where there is a directl link to .urlpage for "Get Floppy Configuration Utility (for F6 installation)" and when clicking there, it links to the same page for OS selection of downloading the whole Matrix Storage Manager software pack and OS Selection, NOT the Floppy Configuration Utility (for F6 installation) that supposedly is where it would:
www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/index.htm

Unreal, how useless Intel's site is!

.. either way, I thank you again very much for your hint

 

I'm going to be taking this laptop with me to Iraq/Afghanistan next time through, so while I wanted something with horsepower I also need it to be as cool as possible.

I bought one of these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014GVZS0/ref=ox_ya_os_product

Just to make sure I dont have any heat issues down the road! I'm sure when gaming in 34 degree weather the laptop is going to get very, very hot.

 

act like your going to install the drivers.
as it installs
go to the C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\driver
copy all those files to a floppy disk.
if this is the same driver for yours.

 

Nope, see this laptop has a great cheat pre-installed... It's called "Thereisnoheat", more commonly known as "It be frigid, friend"

Really it stays cool as possible, the internal components have at max been 87 deg on video card and 79 or so on the processor while fan speeds are at max. Games tested are -
Spiderman - Web of Shadows (only resolution settings exist)
Grand Theft Auto 4 (patch 1.0.4, with default settings I.E. using up 987MB of video card RAM)
Street Fighter 4 (with C8x anti ailiasing and all other settings at max)
Fallout 3 ("Recommended based on hardware" settings... that game can PULL)
Call of Duty 4 (All maxxed)
Call of Duty World at War (All maxxed)
Crysis Warhead (Gamer/Mainstream settings [main for ice maps... snow is a killer] run windowed @ 1600 x 900 due to blue screen of death if exiting game from fullscreen)
Far Cry 2 (all settings Ultra High + x2 AA)
Devil May Cry 4 (ultra high all + x8 AA)

All above games were run at 1920 x 1200 resolution unless stated otherwise for more than 5 hours straight at a time each. Crysis was a cracked copy which should explain the problems I got with being in fullscreen (not only blue screens after exit, there were other issues as well)

Also, the exterior was always very very cool, even when taken off power supply and used in enclosed, poorly ventilated areas where the temperature would far exceed even 40 degrees ambient. I must say it's indeed a testament to Clevo to be able to run this machine at such amazingly cool temps given the hardware included.

 

Hey guys. I was gooing to bring my baby in the car for a long trip and wondering what kind of adapter I can get so that it works off the cigg llighter outlet. Any idea.

 

You won't be able to run it off the cig outlet due to the power requirements, you'll blow the fuse. Youll need to get a 12V power inverter that runs straight off the battery, but don't run it for too long without the engine running...

 

Would he be able to get one of those power strip UPS systems and an adapter to run that? That might give him a bit more time.

 

not really those things eat up power, especially this machine lol

 

Mine arrived last night! I installed 3dmark and I'll be posting a few benchmarks and observations later tonight after I play with it a bit more!

 

I took my 9280 for its first road trip and I noticed that it has 4 vents for fans underneath but only 3 of those have fans in them. Is this correct?

 

Yep, the early pre-production models were spec'd for 4 fans, but for whatever reasons, Clevo eliminated the 4th fan that rested over the CPU heatsink.

 

I think it's because there's no direct vent behind the 4th fan's slot, and it would circulate air in the machine and disrupt the air flow if it was done, but I have no real proof lol. Oh well XD
Electrosoft didn't you have a 9280 before? I dont see it in your sig anymore... Did something happen to it? *sniff* poor 9280

 

yes....he did have one...what happen to it?

 

Well so far I have to say she's a beast of a laptop. Every bit as heavy as I imagined, thats for sure! It's been said before but this is not a laptop to take with you everywhere, this is a desktop replacement!

My first impressions were good. The build quality is good,and the keyboard has a nifty textured feel to it that I really like.

Upgrading from a desktop 6400BE and an HD4870 this is a decent upgrade. My old 3dmark score was around 10k due to horrible RAM in my old system, this one is scoring 14kish! I score 11k running at 1920x1200!

The fan noise is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, so I wouldnt worry about that honestly. I have a cooling pad beneath it and it stays nice and frosty on it.

So far I've been entirely unable to overclock the system. The Intel® Desktop Control Center doesnt seem to support whatever mobo the d900f has in it and refuses to install. I have yet to find another application that lets me overclock it! If anyone knows where to find one, let me know!

 

Well, I can safely assure you that unless you have the i7-975 there is no overclocking for you. But who needs it? This thing looks at vista, says "I'm hungry" then proceeds to gobble up all the possible slowdown-inducing bits that vista can ever throw at it, then begs for more.

The video card however, you should go to nvidia's website and update to the 186.03 version of drivers, then go to "technologies" and "cuda" and look for their overclocking tool. Remember to right click and run as an administrator otherwise it may not install just right. This will let you overclock the bottleneck of the machine, it's video card! *Dun dun dun!!!!!*

I suggest you keep it between 630/1000/1600 to 650/1000/1650 depending on temps. If you got a cooling pad you might want to try staying at the 650, but if the GPU crashes ever so often while playing intensive games then try a lil lower clock setting. Anothergeek seems to know what he's doing with the overclocks better than me, so ask him about it and see ^^

And best of all, enjoy what could be the single best laptop in the world XD

EDIT: Remember to turn you fan speeds to max with fn+1 before gaming, it helps a lot believe me. If you aren't sure if your speeds are maxxed or not, you can just lift the laptop a bit and listen, the max speeds are definitely louder than the auto.

 

I've come to the same conclusion as you about overclocking with the 920. I've tried CPU-Tweaker, the Intel took, Gigabytes Overclocking tool and Overclocking Center, all with no luck. Hell, the only one that even RAN for me was CPU tweaker. All it let me do was change the multi from 20 to 21, but it would just reset it to 20 after a few seconds. Oh well =(

I'll look into overclocking tomorrow, it's getting late here!

 

Building out my desktop. I sold my old core 2 subsystem (except my dual GTX 280's and 30" Apple Display), to my brother and my laptop on eBay. I can honestly say I hated to see it go, as it ran WoW like a monster. I couldn't logically afford both, so I downsized my laptop back to a affordable 1722 (which I'm in the process of waiting on a 627 Heatsink to continue to work with a 9800M GT in it) and I'm still nitpicking and selectively ordering components for my desktop. Seriously thinking of OC'ing a 920 d0 versus a 975 for my desktop.

 

*sniff* let's have a tribute to the passing of one of our loveable beasts! *sad music plays*

I've never seen what is meant to be lag in WoW lol. I started day before yesterday, already got to lvl 12 (or 13 I don't remember). It's fun, but so so so so so so so so so SOOOOOO glitchy!!!! Like seriously why do people love this game so much with all the glitchy! But it is fun to play lol. Ultra high settings nets me about 36 fps if in fullscreen 1920x1200 or windowed at 1680x1050.

@ Wraithxt1
The i7 cores do not use a FSB. They are similar to AMD cpus in that respect, and as such conventional overclocking methods fail epicly. Unless we get something from intel, overclocking going to make us cry. But fear not, for again, we haveth the ever hungry CPUs that like vista and our games such as GTA4 ^^

The multiplier is locked in the BIOS and won't be unlocked anytime soon, you won't find a method of overclocking it unless you have an i7-975. The multipliers are processor-bound, so a non-BIOS overclock will not yield much benefit as you previously stated. Forget about trying to OC the CPU for now, just see whatchya can do with the GPU, I assure you that you won't need your CPU to be any faster. It runs like a freaking octocore anyway lol

 

*sniff* feels like this forum died =(

 

i hear ya. i got sprung on over clocking so i ditched my gaming laptop and got into desktop's. best move for me.

i have over clocked both and the 920's will out pace the 975's. up untill you run ln2. i had both up to 4.9 ghz so that pretty much told me to sell my 975, which i did.

 

On topic, I found a stuck pixel on my D900F last night.

It figures I didnt bother with the dead pixel warranty and I discover one. It's bright red and in the middle lower third of the screen. Tried tapping it, running pixel repair programs, nothing. It's a bit dimmer now and it flickers sometimes, but thats about it. Talk about a letdown =(

 

if you bought it from XoticPC you should have a dead pixel warranty on it

 

If my memory serves me right, Sager's standard warranty will cover your screen if you have five or more dead pixels, or one dead pixel in the center area of your screen. You can email Sager for the "tic-tac-toe" wallpaper template if you feel that the dead pixel in question may be within the center region. The no dead pixel warranty covers any dead pixels and round trip three day shipping while the standard warranty only covers the return trip.

Personally, I don't think the no dead pixel warranty is worth it. If I don't like my screen, I'd replace it myself with a panel of my choice from a seller that offers a far superior no dead pixel warranty.

 

I have one stuck red pixel in the lower left area of the screen. On first boot, I believe it is actually a dead pixel, but gets stuck red after a few minutes. It does not bother me to a great degree but I do notice it. It would stand out less if it was dead.

I posted earlier in this thread about 3rd party replacement LCD screens. I have not continued the hunt so far, but would be interested in more information. After using it for some weeks, I would consider a lower resolution with a better picture. Either way, it would be nice to know what parts will fit within this case.

Is there a sticky thread somewhere in a different forum that discusses the ins and outs of LCD replacements?

 

This is my first post. I have read this thread all the way through and decided to go ahead and get the NP9280. It's currently on order.
The dead pixel warranty is awfully expensive at $200 (XoticPC). I decided to pass on that option.
I am kind of surprised by all the talk on dead pixels. I work in an IT department and have purchased or setup 100's of notebooks and very rarely come across dead pixels on new equipment.

Needless to say I am stoked about this impressive notebook and can't wait for the delivery.

Configuration:
i7 920
6GB RAM
320GB 7200rpm HD
Blu-ray reader
No OS (going to install Win 7 64 RTM)
3yr P&L warranty with Sager

 

Thats pretty much what I got tjp888, except I skipped on the blu-ray reader and opted for 3x aftermarket ssds.

I've been tapping the stuck pixel and it's not bright at all now. I've been running a stuck pixel fixer and I cant find it unless I really squint at the screen. That's good enough for me, so I'll consider it fixed for now!

 

So, then I guess those "stuck pixel" programs can really work. Glad to hear it.

I purchased the Blu-ray because I rip and re-encode Blu-ray movies for my media player. My current Core 2 Duo E6600 takes 15 hours for a single movie. So, I expect a much quicker time with this system.

But, I too plan on moving to an SSD in the near future. I figure I'll see how the 9280 runs on regular drives first. Then when I have to reload Win 7 after the October 22 release, I can install an Intel X25M at that time and use that as the new system drive. That's my plan - anyway.

 

The Intel X25-M Gen2 disks are very, very good. After having the 160Gb in my D900F for some weeks now, I can honestly say that there will be no going back to regular HDD's after this.

 

I find SSDs to be way too expensive for me. I already have to pay 6.35 times whatever US residents pay, and believe me it's a lot. The laptop in my sig cost me 20 grand (including shipping). And I'm big big big on space. So if we got 500GB SSDs for laptops I'll be happy. If they don't cost 3 times as much as normal drives of the same size do, I'll be even happier.

 

The theme is; Small(ish) SSD for the OS and programs, large(ish) HDD and/or external for storage. No point in using a SSD just to store files on.
And yes, SSD's still are expensive - at least for the good ones. But the new generation of Intel's 80Gb x25's are cheaper than ever, and it performs better than most SSD's. A lot of the SSD's out there simply do not perform as one would expect - Intel's do.

And... are you saying you had to pay 20.000 US dollars for your rig???!!!

 

Well, they have to compensate somehow for their GMAs.

 

No, it wasn't that much. 1USD = 6.20 TTD (world rate), 6.35 TTD (Trinidad bank conversion rate.. yes a huge rip off) and 6.5~ (paypal's conversion rate... yes it's hell with paypal). So whatever I buy internationally I usually have to multiply the cost of it to my own cash. But like in most countries, $20,000 is a lot of freaking money

That being said, Windows Vista does not allow some programs to be installed anywhere but on the OS's hard drive (or partition), and it does not allow the "Users" folder to be changed from the OS partition either (or it will not recognise the new directive), and if you're like me and you actually put pictures in the pictures folder, videos in the videos folder and music in the music folder, a small partition will fill up fast. So if I had to make a windows partition I'd at least need a 160GB hehe.

 

you can get away with 128 gb windows os partition.

and if your going to just store files, then you can move the whole folder on the hard drive and then point to it. or start a new user file on the other drive. this works as well. i used all the above and then some to keep files that are less used on the slower drive. or store all my games and software titles on my on the other drive.
or you can run raid 0 and 1 ssd 128gb. this seems to be the best fit for price/performance...why? because even though the raid isn't as fast as the ssd, it ssd will max out file transfers back and forth giving you the speed you need. not to mention that .10 ms access time vs 17.0 ms access time.

edit:

but to get it to work...i think you need to install the os on the ssd drive first. then setup the raid afterwords.

 

Hardware Raids wipe disks clean to join, and SSD will not RAID with a spinner. To RAID properly, the hard drives should be the same in specs and make, make less important but specs very important. I tend to gravitate away from the number listed on the disk. It will be called a 500GB or a 320GB or a 250GB etc but in the end, it gives you less to work with. One 500GB will be read as 445GB free no matter what you do. A 250 will not give more than 232 GB, and a 320 will give you about 301 GB to play around with. If I got a 160 and I had 145 or so to use, I'd be happy. But as for now I wouldn't bother, I'm not about to attempt a reinstall of windows unless 100% necessary. I've already had to do it way too numerous a time, and it's been totally ridiculous. I don't mind reinstalling the programs and all that, but some things require me to redo everything I worked for *cough SF4 cough* and it's annoying when you've done it like 5 times in a row and have to go again. Then installing patches, or when something has a web based installer and you got to leave it overnight again, blah blah blah all that stuff. It's not worth it for me man. If it comes down to it and I *have* the SSD, I'll use it, but otherwise oh well.

Also while a 115 or 120 GB isn't bad in itself, the programs that only will install on that OS partition + my users/myname/ files I rather just stay there. I'd take the bigger partition to... future-proof my space so to speak

 

1: you can forget future proofing. this machine is a great step in the right direction and all. kind of why it still holds the look of the d901c.(great machine but with older tech)
2: if you mean me...i run multiple raids already so pretty much know what you can and can't do with them
3: you have 3 drives so running two 500 gig/7200rpm/16 meg buffer drives in raid, plus a 120 or 160 or 256 gig ssd is pretty much more than enough for about 90 percent of the people. that's 1.1 to 1.25 tb's total space.
4: have we not heard of imaging ones drive?? this is basic computer 101? 30 minutes vs 4 hours should have made this a permanent part of your things to do list. if done correctly, you can image to and from a raid. to and from and ssd drive as well. also putting the os on a flash drive for install is far faster than any cd or dvd rom. also shaves off major time. that includes the updates as well. storing majorly used install programs as well.

sounds like you may be beating your self up over there with the installs my friend...make your life eaiser and use disk imaging software...

 

I misread what you said earlier, now I understand it's Raid-0 and one SSD lol. But yeah I had Raid-0 before, didnt notice much of a performance gain, my games load just as fast without the Raid-0.

But yeah i had a bad experience with the Raid, one of my hard drives failed, and I had no image due to the fact that I used more than 500GB of space and the only external drive I have is a 500 (which means I only have 445 of use on it, plus I had data there already). In short, I lost everything and am not keen on doing it again hehe. But yes mainly someday I will reinstall my windows or whatever I use, and should I have a SSD I would use that. I just prefer to have at least a 160 as my OS partition or hard drive. But I do see your point.

Remember in my country, I pay on average 7-8 times what you will for hardware up there, so 1TB external drives are something like $1200, then SSDs aren't even sold here yet, you're lucky if you find a 7200 RPM HDD. I also have one flash drive, it's 8GB and I have tried making it a bootable drive before, however this failed due to the fact that it is a smart drive and has an OS on it already, and it is irremovable. Formatting has no effect. That was a gift from an Aunt in the US so I can't complain, however to purchase a fresh 4-8GB Flash Drive for booting would run me another $100-150 or so. It's kind of a money thing here, so I just work with what I get. I *do* make backups of my documents and add in new videos or pictures should I get them, I make backups of game saves and I have the ISOs or DVDs to install them on my external as well as most of my other raw data, so should I re-install anything I don't have to go find back everything. I also keep the latest installers of software I use (unless I do not wish to upgrade, for example I have a paid Nero 7 ultimate and see no need to go beyond this, as I have no cash to buy it and with no blu-ray burner there's no point).

So it's not that bad, but if you're a real gamer like me, when you have games where saves simply do not carry over, and you have to go and get back everything 3 and 4 times in a row, it gets tedious and very VERY annoying, also for achievements since your hardware save is cleared, you lose built-up things (Sunny Day achievement in SF4 = 365 flashy background finishes. I got well over 100 ultra finishes and I got over 100 super finishes, yet when I reinstalled, I had to get them again and I did another 200+ then had to reinstall a third time, etc etc, and I've built up more than it requires but it doesn't recognise it... which is annoying). Might not be that significant, but you get the idea. Especially in COD4 where i have to re-earn my perks.... =(

 

man, it all matters! and i feel your pain. i used to have many days like that. im in the computer repair/networking field so this is part of my every day world.

with the games, i think you have to copy them from 2 places and some are even in 3. learned that one a few saved games lost over the years..lol

and i sure didn't know you had to pay that much..WOW! guess we have it pretty good in the states then.

also understand about bad things with raid. that's why i now keep TB drives on hand. i keep a base image of all my main machines, then just update the images as i start adding things. that way i dont lose as much should it crash hard. and i have crashed my drive about 40 to 50 times already since building my current machine for testing. i crashed my 9262 about a good 60 or so times while i had it. just from trial and error to help users around here figure out what was wrong with their machines.

best thing i can tell you is order a 2 tb drive to cover everything you own.
the cost about 150 USD. and you would grabbed the sata/usb 2.0 one...i know money's can be a problem...but losing your lifes work can be far worse...as you have explained here tonight..

so while your just hanging, i would search the internet on where those perk files are stored. im sure you can copy all that as well. or ill check it out when i get back home.

 

Thanks that would help a lot. I already figured out how to save my fallout 3 and Crysis, it's easy to get them, but apparently SF is bound by the installation info which always changes, because my friend and I found save games in 2 diff places as you suggested, and replacing both still didn't work. As for the 2TB, I'll look into it. It's about... ($150 + international shipping) x 6.35 if I buy it by credit card. Still cost less than buying a 1TB USB 2.0 or even eSATA here. My 500GB USB drive cost me $700 I think? It's between $500-700 I know, but can't remember the exact price. And BY ALL MEANS please come open a shop here that gives people the good stuff at good prices lol XD

And YES you people in the US have it GOOD! This laptop in my sig cost me $20,000 in my own currency to buy and ship it here. XD