**M980NU (X1/Commanche SLI/NP9850) Owners Thread**

Wow, I go away for the weekend and the thread goes nuts I am actually starting to get annoyed by the fans, but I admit I am playing Aion on max settings (and I do mean MAX settings) so it's going to get warm. I also still need to look at undervolting and OCing. My frames drop a little low in Aion right now.

What driver does everyone recommend now for best performance and overclocking?

 

Lol. I'm running 186.81 atm. Seem okay to me but not a big bencher so can't say for sure if they are performing higher or lower than prior 186.03?

How do you like Aion? Beta'd it? I thought it's being released today. Thinking of playing that myself. Quit DDO a while back and the nephews want me to play Aion with them.

 

Erm ok, is there a eta on the overclocking bios drivers? And where do you get the update for the current bios as it's not in the driver section on the clevo site.
Iv never updated bios before is it difficult?

 

I installed 186.81 last night. Also installed 186.82, but there were some problems. I probably need Vista SP2 to use it properly, but I don't want SP2 vista, it introduces more problems than it fixes, so I'll stay with SP1.

186.81 is *not* better than 186.03. It's on par with it, and gives slightly less performance in some games, slightly more performance in others. It's a give and take situation, but all in all I'd say it's good to get. I still crash fallout at the 650 clock but at the 630 it's better, and this time around I can use Antroscopic filtering and x4 AA and not get lag which I would get before. Have not tried it out on steam though (like the opening and closing of a vault) but I don't think it's too much of a problem. The capital wasteland is fine so I'm good.

186.81 also fixes the AA bug with SF4 for those who don't know, you can use x2, x4 and x8 AA. BUT. The performance significantly drops using them, I believe even moreso than using C8x. So stick with your Cs if you want in SF for now. Otherwise, enjoy your game! Works great without any AA at all. CoD4 likes the new drivers, Fallout likes it, I haven't tried shift yet but I am going to as soon as I make this post, so I'll say if better or not after. I run shift at max res, x2 AA and everything else highest, with x16 antroscopic filtering. Had no lag really before, but if it runs smoother I should notice this time XD

 

Yeah, I've been in the various betas for months now. I like it when I can play, but the current issues with the queues suck.

 

Okay I have tested SHIFT and there's no real increase or decrease in performance as far as i can tell, so I'd say go for it, couldn't hurt, and if anything you always have the older driver's files on your system to use.

 

also is there a "walk through" on how to do it?
*secrat bump *

 

well... you either need to construct a bootable flash drive OR use an external floppy disk and boot windows 98 or something then run the DOS command to flash the BIOS. One thing about HP I did like, BIOS flashing can be done without all that extra crap. I HATE trying to find floppies AND external floppy drives, let alone making the bootable drive >.<

But otherwise it isn't really hard and there are walkthroughs on how to do it, but I don't know about the BIOS versions people have. Mine do not allow for processor overclocking no matter what I use, and I don't need it either, and my GPU overclocking I do from nvidia's system tools. Unless it somehow makes my temps lower and my GPU crash less often during fallout 3, then I'm good with what I got ^^

 

ohh how does your system cope with the overclocking, is there much more heat?

how much you overclocking by?

oh btw this may be a but of a noobie question but iv never actuly looked into it, does overclocking void warrenty?

 

yes

totally

 

If you must overclock, don't tell the resellers you did =)

It *is* possible to MELT a processor or a card into the slot if you overclock too much. Of course there is downstepping when the temps reach a certain degree where it'll crash the card or force a downclock (meaning your gameplay drops) and you wonder " why??".... But it is still possible. If your system cannot boot and your card is not BIOS-overclocked, they have no way of telling if your card was overclocked or not. Because when the OS boots it loads your new clocks (at least with nvidia's system tools it does)

 

my card starts at 583/950/1450 (Core/Memory/Shader). I've overclocked it to 650/1000/1650 (I downclock to 630/1000/1600 when i must play fallout 3, or I will get multiple random crashes at odd times for no reason whatsoever. Call of Duty *may* do it sometimes but it's very very rare).

To overclock I use Nvidia's System tools. You can download them from here

 

lol sorry about that, iv overclocked before but my laptops allyways been out of warrenty so i never bothered looking into it.

i guessed it did but at the time it never bothered me.

is there any other gpu overclocking software?

*woo 100 post*

 

There is other software available, however I'd say for an Nvidia card the best is their system tools. Also gives you processor information and allows for overclocking of the processor as well (as long as it isn't a Core i7 apparently). Some cards also support in the system tools a "Find Optimal" feature that will optimally overclock your GPU to perfectly save levels. Usually causes a good increase in performance. Well good luck and try it out! Let us know about it! XD

 

CLEVO, M980NU Core 2 Duo Notebook Barebone, NVIDIA® MCP79, 18.4" TFT HD 1080 Glossy, PCIe x16 MXM-III Discrete Graphics
INTEL, Core™ 2 Extreme QX9300 Quad-Core 2.53GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 12MB (2 x 6MB) L2 Cache, 45nm, 45W, OEM
ARCTIC SILVER, Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, Polysynthetic Silver
VIDEO, 2 x NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M 1GB GDDR3 Mobile Graphics Card for M980NU, SLI Configuration
CRUCIAL, 8GB (2 x 4GB) PC3-8500 DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM SODIMM, CL7, Non-ECC
INTEL, 4GB Intel® Turbo Memory, Internal PCIe Mini Card (Compatible with Windows Vista Only)
CRUCIAL, 256GB M225 SSD, MLC, 250/200 MB/s, 2.5-Inch, SATA 3 Gb/s, Retail
CRUCIAL, 256GB M225 SSD, MLC, 250/200 MB/s, 2.5-Inch, SATA 3 Gb/s, Retail
CRUCIAL, 256GB M225 SSD, MLC, 250/200 MB/s, 2.5-Inch, SATA 3 Gb/s, Retail
RAID, RAID 0 (striping), min 2 hard drives required


unfortunately turbo memory doesnt register in the PC :/

 

When installing Windows XP, I get the blue screen. It loads the files so it can install but at the end it gives a blue error screen. Any idea on how to fix this?

I was told something about ATA. Would someone explain how to change my Hard drive to this. Need great detail

 

You must have SATA driver. search sata driver for notebook with windows xp or something like that.

 

There are no drivers for XP for this model, at least from Clevo.

In addition you need to have AHCI disabled in your BIOS for XP.

 

One more question, since its a samsung panel do whites show off any graininess/shimmer/sparkles or whatever.. you know prevents it from looking crystal clear.

 

My question to you is why are you trying to put windows XP on this machine?

 

what's wrong with someone putting XP on this notebook?

 

The fact that this machine has no support for windows XP at all. Some people claim to need it for work purposes, but otherwise could it not be called clinging to a dying breed? If it's the latter he's causing himself the problems >.>

I don't feel Windows 7 is really ready, but I'd recommend it over windows XP, if you hate vista that much O.O

 

I have the Vista upgrade and to get that to work I have to install windows XP.

 

sorry mate, no way to get XP on the M980Nu

There are no drivers to get the sata to work outside of vista/windows7

get hold of RC1 then buy W7 is your best bet

 

There's should be a way to fool the upgrade into thinking XP is on the machine. Maybe use a USB connector and put the necessary XP file on th HD using another machine (if you can). Badda Bing, Google, Yahoo is your research friend sometimes.

 

The only way I know of would be to implant a cloned drive onto his hard drive, then run the vista upgrade disc before the OS has a chance to boot, but I do believe the upgrade function needs to be started from within windows, which could will cause a problem if running XP on this machine is such a bad idea. My advice is you sell that upgrade disc and buy a fresh install copy of windows Vista Ultimate, run it and be happy. Even if you could get the upgrade to work, as much as I love and recommend Vista, I would not suggest upgrading it either from XP or to a better version of itself.

Also, forget Home Premium, I've used both that and Ultimate and Ultimate just works a whole lot better for many little, sometimes seemingly insignificant reasons which are too numerous to name.

 

the problem is getting XP on a drive that will boot in an m980 as windows xp does not contain the sata drivers needed and clevo havent made any that will work for it

so if you in theory had a hdd with xp on it, slipped it in, AND got it to boot enough to run the upgrade then it might work

 

I have windows 7 on mine and everything is perfect, except teh sound skips when teh computer slows down a tad. That is with and without the realtek sound driver. Anybody else have this problem?

 

Does the upgrade need to be run from inside windows? If it just needs XP to be on the machine I think he could either as you say slip in a hard drive with XP on it or go my route and copy a cloned drive with XP on it over to one of the hard drives already in his machine, and boot from his upgrade disc.

If he needs to do it within windows i think he may very well be screwed

 

It might be your hardware, I know windows 7 to have some problems with audio but I am more inclined to believe this time that it could be your sound card

 

I'll test this out when I get home and let you know.

 

it has to be done in windows

anyhow i have windows 7 running perfectly well on mine, no issues

 

Well . what happens if it is teh sound card? Send the whole thing back and get it replaced?

 

If you open the Taskmanager have a look at 'audiodg.exe'. If it is using between 5 and 10% CPU go in to 'Services' and Restart the 'Windows Audio service'. This re-starts audiodg.exe and you'll see that it now uses 0% CPU.

Your milage may vary tho but thats what I have seen on several puters with Realtek soundcards. Including my own wich is an Aspire 8930 and the above procedure cures it for me and make my games run better too.

 

It says it isn't using any CPU. Dangit. Is it possible that I botched the windows 7 burn somehow? I wrote it on the fastest speed.

 

ALWAYS burn windows discs on the lowest speed. 2x best. I've burnt windows on higher speeds and found many problems, one of them flat out refused to install even. Would crash during "expanding files" stage. It *could* be that you botched the install if you did burn it at the highest speed, wouldn't be unheard of, but if it's your hardware, you would have to send it back to whoever you got the warranty with and they'll replace it for you. The whole board would have to replace though I believe, it should be integrated sound. But at least look at it this way, if that happens, you get all new hardware! XD

 

Also, to yellowbelly, when does your computer uhh... "slow down a bit"? I was completely positive that no matter what setup you choose for these higher-end sager machines, it would never have any slowdown problems. I could, of course, be wrong, but it just doesn't seem at all likely. What do you do that causes this slowdown?

 

um, it "slows down" during multitasking. I mean not really. It's like switching things. For instance, playing fallout 3, being in a convo with an NPC and switching from discussion to selling. Or playing winamp, opening the window, or switching to something else while having a bunch of other stuff open. It's not consistent though. Sometimes it just happens but it seem like it happens when the cpu or ram or something has to work a little harder, probably more accurate than slows down because it doesn't do that really.

 

What processor are you using? And FALLOUT 3!!! Finally someone else who likes that game!!! (I get the slight slowdown when coming out of say a drawer with a lot of things in it like my house where i store all my extra armour or when I press ESC and click continue, but it only happens for about 1 second and no audio slowdown for me). I don't know why that should happen with you, my old dual core 1.83 on my HP would handle switching just fine, it never had that kind of problem. I say you should try maybe running Windows Vista x64 as a Virtual Machine and see if you get the same lag, if it never happens it may be your OS install. If it does happen, then it's your hardware plain and simple.

 

p2700, 2.53. Should be fine. The slowdown is really not really a big deal. It's more like a hesitation, it's not even a second, like a real quick hesitation. I don't have access to vista I don't think so I think I'm going to wait until windows7 comes out for real, that way I can get it from my uni for cheap.

 

well alright if you're sure, but the fact that the audio is doing that at all is what I am worried about. But hey, it'll come out soon enough I think, so let's not worry till then

 

I just got my NP9850 and so far I love it, except for one thing. Is the sound really this awful on it or is it just setting I have messed up? Coming from a Toshiba with Harmen Karden speakers to this is a bit of let down. The tinny muffled sound is brutal, most movies are unwatchable as I can't hear them. Any way to fix this or where these systems just ment to be hooked to entertainment systems?

 

What operating system are you using?

 

It's in Vista right now, but there is no difference in Vista and Window 7 RC 1.

 

Vista has "Loudness Equalization" setting in Control Panel that can be enabled to increase the sound level on notebooks with low volume.

Here is how to enable it:

1. Open "Control Panel" and change to "Classic View"
2. Open "Sound"
3. On "Playback" tab, select "speaker" and click on "properties"
4. Go to "Enhancements" tab and put a check mark on "Loudness Equalization" then click apply.

 

Thanks, it's a bit better, but still a little muffled, is there an ideal setting for Realtek Audio Manager that I should use?

 

Oh yeah, is it possible to save my Fallout 3 game if I reformat and install the regular windows 7?

 

Yes of course, look in Users/you/documents/my games/Fallout 3
Just save the file there somewhere else and place it back in that same directory after the fresh install. Works for Crysis Warhead and Unreal Tournament 3 as well. Actually any game that has saves put in there seem to work. As long as you use the same Live ID (for Games for windows live) and for unreal tournament, it saves your settings/serial key/profiles (and their campaign mode progress) etc. Downloaded maps doesn't save from there though. The Unreal also saves in STEAM. Other games can hold a save file in their respective installed folders too, I have been able to save UT 2004 already.

 

If it's muffled then you have a problem. I turned on loudness equalization here and I have to lower the volume on my headset so much just to not be annoyed by msn signing in O.O

Try reinstalling the audio drivers and see if that works, the speakers on these things should be fine

 

I just received my machine yesterday. Impressed with everything, but the sound. Everything sounds very tinny and the 'subwoofer' is very muffled. Tried adjusting the realtek audio hd setting and even did a driver reinstall. My 4 year old dell laptop just sounds much better. I am just wondering if I am missing something in the setting. I have set the equalizer to powerful and gone into the sound settings and checked the loudness equalization. It helped some but the sound overall lacks bass. I don't expect it to sound like some crazy thumping system. I just expect to be able to hear a bass guitar when I listen to music.

Sorry for the whiny first post, but any suggestions would be helpful.