D901C / Sager 9260/9262 / Pro-Star 9191 Owners Thread

If all drives are equal this is a tautology:

Single < RAID 0 < RAID 5

Still say if the RAID 0 config you have two 250 gigs at 5400 and in the other configs you have 160 gigs at 7200 this still remains at least in my tests:

Single < RAID 0 < RAID 5

This is quite general. Things can change when you start using non "standard" drives, something that the d900c can't really get it at the moment.

Trance
PS: Anyway I belive that RAID is only usefull on large drives where seek times get slower and slower due to the sizeof the plates. I only installed RAID 0 becouse I had two drives and the ability to do it, otherwise I would'nt even give my thoughts about it.

 

I'll let you all know how much more responsive mine is when I get it back from the factory. As most of you know, the RAID setup was wonky.

 

Not being a technical expert, my opinion might not be worth the electrons it took to post, but it's possible that the increased temp on the cpu raised the gpu temps because the air flowing through the case is now a little hotter, making the gpu cooling system a little less efficient even though no modifications were made to the gpu itself.

 

Akilae. IMHO you souldn't have to wait for repair much less for factory repair. You bought something that was required to work out of the box according to specs and it didn't (even thought you change settings it was within admissible range according to the product specifications). As I understand you detected the problem a couple of weeks after you bought it so you actually bought something that was broken in the first place so ...

I really hate resellers that don't take any responsibility about what they sell. What can I say, total lack of customer service. You might have been better contacting the factory in the first place, it happened to me with another product, Cambridge Speakers (a >10th of the price of this one actually), and they actually sent someone to pick it up a give me brand new ones. This while the reseller was saying to me that it would take two weeks for repair.

Trance
People pay pronto. It would be funny that my money needed to go to the factory for repair two weeks after payment just becouse I need the it for a moment.

 

I actually detected the problem about 26 hours after I received the package it was shipped in. I got it on a Friday, and it was shipped back to Sager by 10am on Monday. It just arrived there today, and Donald said he'd reamed some people out for mis-building it (his records confirm that I ordered it the way I ordered it and that it was Sager's fault). The effect of this reaming is that he promised a one-day turn-around and 2nd Day delivery. So I should have it back by the end of the week, or this coming monday the latest.

Trance, I'm actually pretty satisfied with the service experience I had. We tried everything under the sun to get it to work, then they paid to have it shipped back when that didn't resolve it.

 

I'm glad you are happy Hunter. But if I have bought for instance Sony or Tosh (I had already) by monday most probably I would have another one. I would go to the shop and if they had one on stock I would have it, at least in shopping malls here in Portugal (most probably will not happen with my Clevo). The fact is it doesn't matter whose fault is but it's certainly not of the customer, so why his he/she the one who is penalized?

Anyway my two cents for good customer service.

Trance
PS: We pay premium and have regular service. Paying to ship it back is least one can do in these situations IMHO.

 

what drivers are you guys running with the 7950GTX?...i think ive got an old set of drivers.

im using the latest 15607 x64 drivers from laptopvideo2go.com ..is there a better place to get them? do i need to do the old safe mode uninstall/driver cleaner/reboot/install method for the new drivers? vista is wierd so far..lol

 

What bios are you guys using? Mine says 1.00.04a

The Eurocom website, has their newest listed at 1.00.03 and the date is 7/04/2007.

Which version are you using?

 

I have the BIOS version 1.00.03 pre-installed. Seams that yours is more up to date Wu. Where can we get more up to date drivers?

For the video card I have installed the drivers 165.01 as indicated by Wu. in this thread. http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers

Trance

 

I run Vista Ultimate x64 and windows XP x32. For Vista I'm using the Sager SLI Vista drivers (I'll check the driver # later) and for XP I'm using the 94.22 drivers....since going back and forth checking drivers I've been having some weird game crashes. I.e. windows XP crashing back to 4 bit mode etc. Once I figure out whats wrong I'll be back to testing drivers.

Anyone else have a bios #? I wonder if my bios is older and they are using some weird bios # scheme?

 

ill tell you mine wen i get MY blackhawk...

 

im going to check out what BIOS im using when i get home from work.

im also going to update to the newest x64 drivers (165.01) when I get home...it seems i downloaded the 156.07, which arent the newest...

 

Actually for Vista/XP the newest is 163.16, unfortunately it doesn't support SLI.

 

The SLI drivers seem stable for Vista 32-bit and 64-bit.

For the Clevo D900C/D901C:

Nvidia Geforce Go 7950 GTX (SLI) Drivers (Ver. 7.15.11.5607)
2007-08-09

Vista 32-bit:
NVIDIA_VT32_115607.zip

Vista 64-bit:
NVIDIA_VT64_715115607.zip

 

What about XP SLI drivers. The way Nvidia skipped ahead 50 on their drivers confused the hell out of me. Now I have no idea which ones are good for my setup...

 

The official SLI drivers are ready and new for XP:

For the Clevo D900C/D901C:

Nvidia Geforce Go 7950 GTX (SLI) Drivers (Ver. 6.14.11.138)
2007-08-09

XP 32-bit:
NVIDIA_XP32_614110138.zip

 

Thanks for the update Gophn! Appreciate it!

 

You can update this thread with those drivers... since they are official.

 

well i updated to the latest 64 bit drivers (165.01)..seems ok so far.

my bios is version 1.00.04aS LS2

 

I have 165.01 both on XP and Vista 32 Bits. On XP I only really play COD and sometimes it hangs. I don't know if it is a driver issue thought. On Vista it shows extreme flickering (not the problem I mentioned before) so they are useless.

Trance
PS: I'll try Gophns drivers. Thanks once again mate.

 

a little off topic, but wu, your getting the x6900 when it comes out, arent you considering the qx6700 low tdp (95w) if they allow it under warranty? cause im under the impression that whatever you get is the best (for the d901c anyways )

 

I'm up in the air to be honest. I'll probably go with the Q6700 95TDP (4x2.66Ghz) if the 95TDP will not cause long term instability. If Clevo doesn't okay the 95TDP I'll go with the EX6900 75TDP (2x3.2Ghz). I'm not going to upgrade my videocards until the 8700GTX's appear (or whatever the 8 series replacement for the 7950GTX's is)

 

Wu... unless your still getting those upgrades for free by being a captain on a ship... lol... wait till the 8800s pop out. or at least.. if you check my sig... im also gonna wait till quad cores become refined.

Btw... offtopic... i just checked my email.. it took pCmicroworks 2 days to build my system and they upgraded me to overnight shipping thats besides the awesome deals they gave me.... i rele need to write a nice review to these guys... i HIGHLY recommend them as it is!

 

yeh mid next year will have kick ass ****, maybe the 8800GTX, and btw wu, are you a captn. of a military ship? that would be sick... if yes tell us more

 

Installed (2) sticks of 2gb each OCZ PC2-6400 ram. Running 32 bit Windows XP Home Edition.

System Information reports:
Total Physical Memory 4,096.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 2.08 GB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 4.59 GB

Windows Task Manager Reports:
Total 2881448 (K)
Available 2175000 * estimated as it changes
System Cache 179569

CPU-Z at 400mhz shows memory as 5.0-5-5-15-23

Will run some performance tests next.

 

got in FOUR days after ordering... add me to the owners list

 

welcome to the club! how do you like your monster notebook?

 

Hey, loyal readers, just got my 9260 back this afternoon.
All's quiet on the western front!

As promised, here are my before & after HDTune scores!

 

DOuble Post, but so what.

I've been scowering the many and infinite nets for XP32 drivers, and came across laptop video2go's 165.01 drivers. They installed fine and I got SLI to work without nTune, but now I cant tweak any of the really nitty-gritty stuff.

Specifically, I need split-frame rendering, and the driver just says SLI enabled. Its wont let me do any of those other things from the classic control panel, because there is no more classic control panel...

Any advice?

*EDIT* nevermind, I'm an idiot... Didnt explore the control panel enough... found it.

 

I'm about to try the XP ones from Pro-star tonight. I had a few issues with the 165.01 drivers that I didn't like. I think the pro-star ones are 101.38. I'm also using Nhance to load newer profiles for games.

 

this thing is a BEEAAAST and vista 64 is actually running RELE fast.. and i have XP pro too... so i can compare. SO wat are the programs i shud rele get. I kno i need like Rivatuner.. superPI and 3dmark06 for testing... but wat else shud i get thats free thats good to have? maybe monitoring software?

Edit: how do i get it to stop asking me if i wanna do something, like wen i try to go into device manager?, how do i check if my RAM is 800mhz or 667mhz... it shud be 800, just wanna check, and wat key do i hit in startup to get into the BIOS?

 

You need to disable User Account Control (UAC). Do a search in windows and it should tell you how. I think it's Control pannel/security/users (sorry not at my laptop atm.)

 

thank you ... finally that was annoying.. i just finished going through services and startup.... was kinda bummed i couldnt use TuneXP... but i found TweakVI, same thing for vista... also comes with BOOT... something, helps with the bootup... we'll see how these programs go still dont kno how to check ram

 

Four days?? awesome! All right xoticpc.... the gauntlet has been thrown down!! Yeah baby yeah! I'm making gravy with no lumps!

 

yes... they built it in two days... then upgraded to next day air... with the message "welcome to the family".... AND NO problems!!... vista running superfast... everything in place... even my desktop had a few BIOS kinks, hardware issues.. this turned on... and i just started getting ready with programs...
CANT wait to upgrade this baby next year... ive prolly said that a billion times all over the place those 8800s and quad cores are making me drool

btw... TweakVI.... same thing as Tune XP... someone should add that to the list of programs to get for free.. for vista users. i dunno every1 says its so slow... it runs just as fast as my XP Pro on my desktop.

 

Just a heads up guys, I just tried out the Pro-star XP Integrated Nvidia Geforce Go 7950 GTX (SLI) Drivers (Ver. 6.14.11.138) drivers and THEY DO NOT ALLOW SLI. Just to let you know.

File name is: NVIDIA_XP32_614110138.zip

Edit: And to add insult to injury....I tried to join Club SLI (Nvidia's SLI Forum) and was told, by the program you download, that I didn't have SLI in my system. But I was welcome to go out and buy a SLI "approved" system...just great.

Nhance shows me having SLI and enabled. The Nvidia conrol panel shows multi-GPU enabled....so? Clevo D901C's aren't "approved" SLI systems?

 

oh boohoo so u cant get into the SLI forums... your not SPECIAL enuf
i had a quick driver question about my single 7950... wen i go to play csSource, it says drivers out of date, update. So i go to nvidia.com and there are no Go 7950 drivers cuz of the notebook special buttons, etc... so i hit the function to detect my computers Gfx card, which it does and then says i need to go to clevo.tw/downloads, except that website is down. Any1 have luck with it? So where shud i get my newest drivers? wait till clevo gets back up, or is there other websites to get like, non-endorsed, but good fast drivers?

 

been waiting 2 weeks for it to ship...ah well should ship monday, must be busy now...(xoticPC), doesnt matta justin's been extremely helpful and its going to be well worth the wait! you're lucky dude!

 

I got the 165.01's from lv2go, and the only issues I have with it is that I can't alt-tab out of CSS when I'm downloading a map with out freeze 50% of the time. But ctrl-alt-del still works, so I do that if I'm dumb and forget I can't alt-tab. SLI is functioning. I miss the classic contol panel though...

 

They must've been back ordered on parts I hope as I was told yesterday that mine should ship about mid part of next week. So, with the O'night shipping i should get it by next weekend.... I hope...

 

well... considering i dont have to worry about SLI YET, wat are the most optimized/fastest drivers for a single 7950Gtx?

EDIT: BTW... i checked my BIOS its Phoenix trusted core... 1.00.04a... but the only problem is, it seems VERY VERY limited like ive never seen. Its just a regular HD menu/Boot/advanced (which is rele just stuff i wouldnt play with anyway), and the TDP thing... so my question is, wheres the part for playing with the Processor, checking voltages, and changing FSB, etc... its not that i wanna do that stuff to a machine i just bought, but just incase i did wanna... somewhere down the line.

 

i just want it before the end of the month, because i am in australia right now for my break and i am getting it shipped here, and i need it before i go back to canada :O

 

Anyone else tried the prostar XP32 drivers for SLI? They don't work for me, just curious if anyone else got them to work for SLI, since they stated they work for SLI. We might need to tell pro-star that their drivers are mislabled.

 

I JUST ORDERED! I've been wavering for months but I finally pulled the trigger on the D901. The stats are as follows:
Core 2 Duo E6600 (Plan to go x6900 by spring)
Single 7950GTX Go (Looking to SLI 8700 GTXs by spring, hopefully; if not, dual 7950s will be fine).
4GB OCZ DDR2-6400
100GB 7200RPM HD
TV Tuner

Cost with 3 Year Sager Warranty: $3018! (Got the RAM separately since I can get it cheap. It ended up being a little under 3200 including the RAM).

I purchased it from Xotic PC and I must say they have been very helpful and knowledgeable. This will replace a 3500+ AMD Athlon based desktop, so needless to say it will be a nice friggin' change. I'm so excited!

 

Congratz man, let us know when you get it!

 

awesome setup.

i also ordered from xoticpc, and i love this fps crankin machine!

 

Quick question. Is there any thread either specifically regarding or at least has some information about case modding of the D900C? I was thinking about doing a custom paint job or at least a skin, and want to see what's been done with this monstrous case.

 

heres a custom paint job on the Sager 9260... from XoticPC
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157588

And more custom paint jobs (on other Clevo notebooks):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=104024&page=2
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=104024&page=3

 

I went back to the factory drivers because CounterStrike Source wouldnt recognize SLI. The drivers said SLI was enabled, but I was getting below-usual FPS so I went back.

A side note- Split-Frame rendering increases overhead and reduces FPS but actually improves gaming because the inputs are in sync with the output. With alternate frame, you get higher bragging rights FPS, but you can actually play worse because of the differntial. Between SFR & AFR2 I went from 238 (AFR2) FPS in the HL2 stress test to 199 (SFR) FPS.

 

Er... if you just enable vsync, your framerate will be capped at the refresh rate of your monitor (60 fps for most). Then the higher your fps would be, the longer your CPU can go to sleep for, and the cooler your notebook will run. Lower fps when vsync is disabled is in no way a good thing AFAIK. vsync makes everything look better though, absolutely. Tearing sucks.