**OFFICIAL M860TU/ETU Owners Lounge**

You will get a bit more battery out of the 9800 but a bit of an edge i power wit the X9100. So really it just depends on what you want.

 

I'm getting 3 hours and 20 minutes or so right now with the p9500 (power saver and a bunch of things turned off of course), so what's a good estimate for the t9800?

Also, do you think it might be better to wait and see if the quads are going to be compatible with the M860TU via BIOS update? Or is there pretty much no chance of that happening.

 

I would assume close to the same, maybe 3:10. But I don't know I dont have a T9800. With vista and my X9100 undervolted, brightness on 2 clicks, power saver I max out at about 2 hours 20 minutes.
Can I ask what you all have turned off?

 

My settings for 3 hours are:

Brightness 2 clicks
Power Saver

The following disabled in device manager:
Fingerprint Reader
Webcam
Bluetooth
DVD Drive (Important!!)

The biggest change was the DVD drive. I was sitting in lecture one day, and was wondering "hmm.. I don't use this thing in lecture, or rather 90% of the time anyway, and I bet it's constantly looking for a disc when it's idle". So I disabled it, and bam, 30 minutes extra battery life.

As well, my GPU's idle clocks are all undervolted to .75v, and my CPU is stock.

 

what is bluetooth under?
and can you disable bluetooth and webcam on startup but turn it on with FN if you wanted to use it instead of device manager?

 

You don't really need to disable bluetooth in device manager since its not on at startup, but I did anyway. To do it, enable it with FN+f12, and then go into device manager and disable it.

For the webcam on startup, you can just hit FN+f10 each time you start up to disable it, or just permanently disable in device manager. It ends up being the same thing, it's turned off.

I never use my webcam, so I don't mind it being permanently disabled in device manager, but if you're using it on a regular basis, it's probably better to use the FN+f10 method.

 

how u close dvd drive to save 30 minute battery?

 

Ya I never use bluetooth right now but my wife uses the webcam for skype sometimes. It's just that my hotkey drivers don't work anymore for some reason so I don't know if it's on or off. I guess I could just hit it once then it should be off. But if I could I would rather disable it on startup so I know its off and easily turned back on.
I guess when I get back home I can try uninstalling/reinstalling the hotkey drivers.

 

If its off it should disappear from the device manager list as well. So that's a pretty easy way to tell if it worked.

 

cool thanks bud, that should help the battery life a bit

post # 1704
in device manager click on your dvd drive, right click then disable.

 

I think I'm just going to go all the way and go for an x9100.

As long as I still get around 2h 30m battery I can live with it.

Gonna pull the trigger on it in about a week when I have the funds, and if all goes well, I'll put the p9500 up for sale.

 

I'll try to let you know within the week what I get for battery life now in vista with all that turned off.

 

Keep in mind I'm also on Windows 7, which did improve battery life a bit on its own.

 

You might need to hold on to the P9500. If you ever have to send your notebook in for repairs, you'll need to put it back in, or your warranty is void. My P8600 is packed away safely.

Also, just get a T9800. The extra heat just isn't worth the little bit of speed.

 

The X9100 has an unlocked multiplier though doesn't it? I may overclock it.

 

Nope, Clevo has the M860TU BIOS on lockdown, and it will not be unlocked, ever. You'll be stuck with the 3.06Ghz and a whole lot of heat.

 

T9800 it is.

 

It's a shame really. A Da*n shame.

 

TL;DR.

The M860TU would sell like pancakes if it was capable of accepting the components found only on the M570TU and D901C.

 

When the one with the new motherboard comes out, and someone puts a QX9300 in that mutha, I might cry. Imagine that, a 2.53Ghz quad in the 15.4" M860TU. Man, technology advances too fast.

 

The M860TU should already be selling like pancakes, being the fastest 15.4" in the world and all

 

Clyzm;

To the question you asked about if i'm running RMclock or SETfsb, I don't.

I'm also thinkig about changing my CPU for something better, and the T9800 seems to do the job since the heat and the little extra speed for the X9100 isn't that a big advantage.

Edit: Clymz; I see that you have changed your clocks on the 9800M GT, stable clocks and what about the temps? 1ghz on the memory (2ghz effective) is sure nice! You think you can break the 10700 with the P9500 cpu?

 

I'm 100% stable with temps only hitting 80 degrees at full load after about 2 hours.

It seems that my 9800m GT is very particular about raising its core clock though. Any time I raise it just a touch over 600 (even 605, 610 etc.), it won't pass 3dmark06, and will crash in any game I play. I've tried different drivers, different clock combinations, clock speeds that other members have found stable (even yours! and you have the same system as me, p9500 and all!), but any clocks over 600 have always been unstable for me.

I'm going to be picking up some MX-2 thermal compound tomorrow, and apply it to my GPU and CPU. Hopefully it'll make some sort of difference for my core.

 

80c on full load is good ! I'm hitting easily 90c with 1,05v and my record clock, and even over 93 - 95c sometimes in Crysis.

Hmm, looks like my max oc is 620/940/1550, can't manage to get any higher with the 179.28 driver wich seems to be the best for me in 3dmark. Maybe i should try to lower the core clock and do the same as you to the memory and shader..

Edit: Which driver do you use?

 

I use the same driver as you. One thing to note is as that I'm using a CPU cooler (Zalman NC2000) as well, and really, you shouldn't be overclocking too high without one.

 

I see..

I'm also using the NC-1000 to get more cold air under the laptop. (Using the turn-around-trick to make the vents match the fan and holes to the M860TU)

 

I just received mine today, I'll install a P9500 and 4GB (2x2GB) of OCZ 1333Mhz RAM ($50 after MIR) on Tuesday. I'll also try to install a Mobility 3870 on Tuesday, and I'll benchmark against the 9800M GTS (3DMark06, Vantage, Crysis, etc.).

 

Wait... according to your sig, you're taking out the 9800GT for the 3870? That's a downgrade.

 

Thanks for pointing that out, I meant to put "9800M GTS" in my sig.

 

Thats still a downgrade according to notebookcheck.net

Why? keep the nvidia!

 

I originally ordered form Eurocom with a 9600M GT, which was the obvious lesser to the 3870. My intentions were to sell the 9600M GT for ~$170 and replace it with a ~$200 3870, it would've been a $30 upgrade. However, after I ordered, the 9600M GT failed during the Eurocom's burn-in testing; so I was given the option to wait a week or so for them to receive new 9600M GT's or to upgrade to the 9800M GTS at a discounted price. I chose the latter but had already purchased the 3870.

So now I'll benchmark the two cards to see which is better, and I'll sell the less powerful one.

 

You can save yourself the time and effort, the 9800m GTS is definitely a better card. Just sell the 3870.

 

Interesting...the 9800M GTS is a downgrade from the GT...Eurocom should have given you a refund.

 

He had the 9 600m GT before though.

 

ugh, I can hear the buzzing sound from my living room....does not help my hangover at all...i'm keeping this puppy turned off today!

 

I hope I am not dislodging a discussion already in progress or misplacing my thoughts, however I was wondering if I might post my final questions as a soon to be "Official" owner of a M860TU (Two days if my check goes through ).

Note: I warn that I am a rather long-winded person, and if the following is misplaced, feel free to delete it as I do not wish to impede the Lounge

Let me first state my major concern, I am relatively "green" when it comes to custom computers. I took the initiative preciously and built my first computer and took my time to learn how to make and use one by research. This same diligence has lead me down the long and cluttered path to this laptop. This will be my first laptop, and second computer (as my desktop broke after 4 years of strong use). So, as I may be a noob with laptops and OS's, I am more then willing to learn, listen and test hehe.

1. My questions would have to start with the subject of flashing the BIOS, as was posted recently, to fix the "whining" issue from the fan. How safe would that be to solve the issue?

2. Another question might be recommended upgrades for cooling etc. that would improve the performance and/or efficiency of the system.

3. And last, most import, and possibly least related. Would it be possible to go from someone with very little knowledge of OS's to running a Linux based machine? I don't know if I can express enough how much I am willing to research, and search, if not for the individual-ism but for the love of learning hehe. I would like to be knowledgeable enough if only to be able to do basic tasks like adding/removing programs, getting the majority of games to run on them (Dual-Boot comes to mind in terms of ease, or so I've read from a couple hundred posts ) and overall security/safety.

If anyone would like to take the time to spread to love, I'd be happy to learn and return any favor in whatever way I can.

Thank you for your time, ahead of time, as it is greatly appreciated. I wish you the best if you took the time to read, and still so if skipped to here

Sincerely,
Corben AKA "Ryki"

 

Hi Ryki and welcome to the forum.

as far as i know there has been mentioned of 2 bios updates that suposedly fixed the whineing noise but its not from the fan. if we are on about the same noise it sounds like morse code. it DOES NOT affect every m860tu. mine did not have the noise before i had the first bios updated. it also does not bother me in the slightest and can only be heard if i hold my head about 6 inches from the end key. Listen HERE

cant help much on this one but there are lots of people that swear by zalman coolers.
same again with 3. i have no idea about Linux.

 

1. The BIOS update should be without any issue if you follow all the instructions but I'm not sure it really fix the whining noise. If you order the laptop now, it should logically already have the latest BIOS version.

2. Everyone seems to love the Zalman NC2000 although I had problems with it and ended up returning 2 (maybe a defective batch).

3. For example, with Ubuntu, if something doesn't work, you'll have to dig in forums and Wikis to get these missing drivers, which can be a real pain. If you do some research, you could end up with a fully-working laptop but personally, I just don't have time to do that.

 

hey guys,
i've been experiencing something really weird in the last 2 days. Not sure if I should post this in another section, but here's what's been going on. It seems that while using Firefox, my computer seems to occasionally slow down or stutter or something. All I experience though to say this is the cursor speed becomes reduced, almost as if Firefox is running in slow motion for a few seconds... what could be causing this?

...man I hope my laptop isn't getting sick!

 

Quick questions, for this model laptop is a notebook cooler a must if i plan on gaming on it for extended periods of time? If so what coolers are appropriate for the 8660?

Thanks!

 

Its not a must, but if you overclock, you should have a cooler. I use the NC-1000, but the NC-2000 is better, and bigger.

 

I'm using an nc-2000 from Zalman, and its been amazing for me. My CPU temps hover around the 19 degree mark idle. Highly recommended.

 

I guess it's alright if the proper procedures are followed, however, it's still a dangerous thing to do, since there always exist a chance of bricking your system. It didn't fix my 'whining' issue and it surely didn't fix my ghosting issue too. I think I've posted previously that the flashing of BIOS actually solved my ghosting issue. It did, partially, there are still some keys, which when pressed in combination, will not work.

Well, the NC-2000 helps quite a lot if you plan on overclocking, although, the temps that I'm getting even when I'm without a cooler (overclocked) isn't that worrying, around 76C after a few hours with Fallout 3.

Why not? I'd recommend Fedora 10 or OpenSUSE 11. If you're having trouble with the wireless driver, it's much easier to just get an external wireless adapter supported by Linux(personal experience here, I find it a hassle just to get that 5100 chipset working)

Fedoraproject.org is a good place to start with all the tutorials and guides.
On a side note, it's better to have GRUB as your bootloader since using windows bootloader requires some additional configuration before you're able to view boh OSes.

If dual-booting is not your choice of preference, there's always virtualizing. In fact, virtual box is a great virtualization software, it's free too. You can install windows on this laptop and then run any Linux OSes virtually. Linux virtualization is actually a good start for beginners since there're less problems with compatibility and what's not.

 

Just so you know, I wouldn't trust that temp unless your ambient temp is less than 10deg. The cooling on your notebook cannot possibly cool your cpu below ambient temperature (it's physically impossible unless you use phase change or thermoelectric cooling) therefore, seeing as your cpu always puts out some heat, I wouldn't trust any reading that isn't at least 10deg above ambient temp.

 

19 degree???isnt that like too low???dont know which soft you use to measure those temps, but my P9500 is always arount the 30 plus mark......im using a simple lap flexxer with a very big silent fan, but i dont think i get those temps.....

 

He might mean 19 Celsius which would translate to 66 Farenheit.

 

These are my current idle readings:

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/1507/idlexk8.png

 

You running your lappie outside?

 

*looks out into the snow storm outside*

Hell no.

 

and what temp do the gfx/cpu get to under max load? (orthos/furmark)