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    **Official Clevo W150ERQ / Sager NP6165 Owner's Lounge**

    Discussion in 'Sager/Clevo Reviews & Owners' Lounges' started by Ryan, Apr 7, 2012.

  1. Rauch

    Rauch Notebook Consultant

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    Way to crush my dreams. :D

    Oh well, no big deal. With and without the Turbo Boost, Ivy Bridge performs very well and hasn't given me a single issue yet.

    I do wonder if there's a way to find the limit on this "thermal headroom".
     
  2. autobulb

    autobulb Notebook Consultant

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    I edited my last post because I read the article someone mentioned, here is the edit portion of my post:

    I read the (translated) article that someone had previously mentioned and the temperatures they measure seems to support my theory. At 2.1GHZ (no Turbo Boost) and full CPU/GPU load the temperatures are very, very high in the mid 90's C for CPU and almost 90 C for the GPU. Even if Turbo Boost wasn't disabled when the GPU is on, I doubt it could increase it's clockspeed at all due to the high temperatures. Unfortunately it just seems like Clevo's cooling system is (yet again) rather inadequate for the components used.

    Perhaps you can find the guidelines for how Turbo Boost works in Intel's papers, if they publish that to the public. I'm not sure.
     
  3. Rauch

    Rauch Notebook Consultant

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    Interesting, let me reread that article... Full CPU load I haven't gone above 86 C, and that's sitting on a wooden desk with no notebook cooler.
     
  4. autobulb

    autobulb Notebook Consultant

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    The 95's C temps they got was CPU and GPU, full load.

    It seems like you have to compromise with the balance of non-Turbo Boost speed plus GPU, and Turbo Boost with no discrete GPU. Seems reasonable to me, to be honest.
     
  5. Rauch

    Rauch Notebook Consultant

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    I apologize for my misunderstanding. Just ran Furmark & Prime95 myself. I'm looking at a 91 C Max with the GPU at 78 C. Now the question is: Even if they were to unlock the GPU & Turbo Boost, would it be enough to raise it 10 C to the Max Temp of the processor @ 105 C? I suppose, more importantly, would the Processor see any damage at Intel's rated temperature.

    Regardless, I'm all for extra cooling & more noise for the complete output of the notebook.

    But hey, it's all up to Clevo in the end. Regardless, they left us with another excellent product.
     
  6. autobulb

    autobulb Notebook Consultant

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    I don't know the intricacies of how Turbo Boost operates. I also don't know if the CPU starts to throttle at the max rated temperature or shuts down at that temp. Either way the 90's is a pretty high ceiling and I certainly wouldn't expect to gain a whopping 1GHZ more clockspeed at that temperature.

    Some quick Googling shows that the CPU starts to throttle at ~5C below Tjunction Max and then shuts down completely at Tjunction Max. I'm not sure if Intel's rating is Tjunction Max. If so, if you hit that temperature your computer will shut down to avoid damage, so yeah, you definitely don't want to be peeking into the 100's which seems likely if you tried to TB with a loaded GPU.
     
  7. plancy

    plancy Notebook Evangelist

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    86C might be pretty high depending on what you mean by "Full Load", which is subjective. I want that to mean the CPU and GPU running 90-100% load, or at least 90-100% CPU load for a good amount of time.
     
  8. Composer

    Composer Notebook Enthusiast

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    Every laptop temperature varies even if it's the same model. It depends on whether you're using the default thermal paste or something like IC Diamond/Arctic Silver 5. Also has anyone tried lapping the heatsink? I did that for my IBM T61 and desktop CPU, it helped drop temperatures even more.
     
  9. plancy

    plancy Notebook Evangelist

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    lapping? I don't know what that means :eek:

    edit: googled it, you sand down the part that touches the processor die basically?

    I might try this, but don't know how it'd turn out if I do it myself.
     
  10. Composer

    Composer Notebook Enthusiast

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    I wouldn't recommend doing it to the CPU because it'll void your warranty. You can still do it to the heatsink though. There are a lot of guides online, you go through a variety of sandpaper grit until you finish with a very high one (2500~) It turns it almost to a mirror-like finish. I saw around a 5 Celsius difference before and after. I was just curious if anyone had done it yet.
     
  11. ruly

    ruly Notebook Consultant

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    Rauch are you gonna try to OC the 650m with MSI afterburner?
     
  12. Hasselol

    Hasselol Notebook Enthusiast

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    Can anyone test the Latency of the soundcard? Thinking of buying one as Studio laptop and DJ laptop, and it's important to be able to get 1 ms latency in programs such as Traktor Pro (Using ASIO or similar).

    I got info from a retailer that the laptop uses a VIA VT1802P soundcard. So if anyone have experience from that card on a another computer thats fine aswell. :)
     
  13. Baenwort

    Baenwort Notebook Evangelist

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    Do you have a program that measures and reports it? You'll get a response a lot more quickly and reporting exactly what you are looking for if you include the measurement program.

    The one that I've seen talked about is http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml but I don't know enough about your field to know if it does what you want accurately.

    For example on my machine I get a average of 200-300 and a max of 768 microseconds.
     
  14. Hasselol

    Hasselol Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm unsure on how that program translates into actual audio latency on playback but as you say, thats the measurement program I've seen music guys use aswell when testing. Your vaues are good and it definately helps me on my question. So thank you very much! :)

    UPDATE: http://www.resplendence.com/download/LatencyMon.exe

    Try this program and post a screen shot or something, would be very usefull, thanks! :)
    Also remember that programs you have open affect the values.
     
  15. theDARKW0LF

    theDARKW0LF Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm looking at the likelihood of buying the NP6165 in around 2 months or so from now, and have never bought/owned a high-powered gaming laptop before (current laptop has a 540m)... How well will it run the likes of Alan Wake? Just got the game the other day and loving it, and probably gonna pick up American Nightmare as well.

    Also, I suppose this is the newest iteration of this particular model? Nothing I have to look out for just around the time I purchase it, right?
     
  16. Sorbus

    Sorbus Notebook Geek

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    According to the Notebookcheck benchmarks ( link; note that Alan Wake is not one of the default selected games, so you'll need to explicitly select it), Alan Wake should run on the 650M really well on low, and with around 37FPS on medium. Since American Nightmare has identical system requirements on Steam, I expect that it would run just as well. Both should be run much better than on a 540M.

    The NP6165/W150ER is the newest iteration of this model, yes; I don't think that a refresh is expected until next summer, especially considering that it only came out a few months ago.
     
  17. theDARKW0LF

    theDARKW0LF Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hmm... I suppose that's pretty good; definitely a step up from my 540m's 20-30 on all low. I'm guessing it isn't 1080p or anything. Too bad the game wasn't more well optimized, but I guess it'll have to do.

    Thanks for your response!
     
  18. kimterran

    kimterran Notebook Guru

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    I got a question. Both of these HD slots are SATA 3 right? I'm getting the 750GB 7200rpm HD and I am planning on getting a SSD later on. Do I still need to switch the drives or can I just put it on the 2nd hard drive slot and just install my OS and boot from there?
     
  19. Hasselol

    Hasselol Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yes they are both SATA III (6GB/s) According to a Retailer of this Laptop that i asked.
     
  20. Composer

    Composer Notebook Enthusiast

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    I just received my W150ER yesterday, I have a question for anyone else that has one. Does your "5 %" key not fully go down when pressed in the top left corner? Mine is pressing against some metal piece protruding up from underneath.

    Edit: Okay I fixed it by popping off the key to see what it was. I thought it was a screw coming up from underneath but it was a little piece of black plastic from I don't know what. The key works as it should now.... weird.
     
  21. theDARKW0LF

    theDARKW0LF Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have another question... are the displays that come with the laptops often dead/stuck pixel free?

    I get a little leery of buying one when their standard dead pixel policy states that it will come with "no more than 5 dead pixels, with none near the center"... 5 seems kind of like a lot to me; I mean that's a TON of annoying little distractions to mar an otherwise really nice display. One would be the max I could handle, if it were nowhere near the middle of the screen.

    And, no, I cannot ensure having no pixels by paying the ridiculous price for the 0 dead pixels guarantee (I also don't live in the US, but am going to likely pick it up at a friend's house when I visit; so no the guarantee wouldn't work anywho). Since most laptops tend to not come with any dead/stuck pixels (at least every one I've ever bought), do you think I would be safe just going with the standard policy?
     
  22. plancy

    plancy Notebook Evangelist

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    I have a dead pixel I believe, and Rauch had a stuck pixel but it fixed over time. I'm going to return in, I don't want to deal with this....this is the first screen I've ever had that CAME with a dead/stuck pixel.


    off topic: how do you update the BIOS on this model?
     
  23. Composer

    Composer Notebook Enthusiast

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    My display has a stuck pixel, a dead pixel, and a bright spot about the size of a pencil eraser. It'll suck sending it all the way in to get it exchanged but surely having those defects can't bode well for the long term.
     
  24. extide

    extide Notebook Deity

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    It's only like $60, the price of a decent game or a nice meal out.
     
  25. JAGMAN

    JAGMAN Notebook Consultant

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    Hi,
    I have a question,with the W150ERQ, is there any other gpu available except the nvidia 650M/ can the gpu be changed in this model?
     
  26. Sorbus

    Sorbus Notebook Geek

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    Currently no other GPUs are offered, and considering that the 650M is soldered on it does not seem likely that any others will be offered in the future.
     
  27. JAGMAN

    JAGMAN Notebook Consultant

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    The NP9130 compared to the P150EM the only negative is that you can't change the gpu and there is a limit to the ram GBs or there something that i am missing?
     
  28. R3d

    R3d Notebook Virtuoso

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    It also has worse cooling.
     
  29. extide

    extide Notebook Deity

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    The 9130 is a thicker laptop, however has a removable GPU, and supports 4 SO-DIMMS instead of 2.
     
  30. Sorbus

    Sorbus Notebook Geek

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    The P151EM/NP9130 (or P150EM/NP9150, as they're mostly identical save for the keyboard and power supply) in comparison to the W150ER/NP6165 has:

    • Support for more RAM (the P151EM supports up to 32GB in four slots, while the W150ER supports up to 16GB in two slots; this may affect the price of aftermarket RAM upgrades. I am also unsure about whether the W150ER supports 1866MHz RAM)
    • Better cooling (the CPU and GPU each have their own fan in the P151EM and P150EM, while they share one in the W150ER; due to the different components, this does not appear to result in a large difference in the temperatures that they run at)
    • An upgradeable GPU (the P151EM supports up to the 670M, the P150EM supports up to the 675M and 7970M; as previously mentioned, the 650M in the W150ER is soldered on)
    • Fewer hard drive bays (the W150ER has two drive bays in addition to the optical drive, while the P151EM/P150EM have a single drive bay and the optical drive)
    • More USB 3.0 ports (the P151EM has three, the W150ER has two, though both also have a eSATA/USB 3.0 Combo port and a single USB 2.0 port)
    • More video outputs (the P151EM has HDMI, DVI, and DisplayPort, the W150ER has VGA and HDMI)
    • A larger battery (this may translate into better battery life for the P151EM, though I still haven't seen really good concrete figures for it - one person reported just under three hours with a bright display and web browsing, but people have been saying that it might get as many as five)
    • Support for a mSATA drive.

    That's all of the obvious things, though I'm probably missing some more subtle things, like differences between the chipsets they use.
     
  31. JAGMAN

    JAGMAN Notebook Consultant

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    I wanted to write W150ERQ but you answered what i had in mind,thanks a lot.
     
  32. ruly

    ruly Notebook Consultant

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    The W150ER also has HDMI
     
  33. extide

    extide Notebook Deity

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    Is there actually a W150ER AND a W150ERQ? If so what is the difference?
     
  34. Sorbus

    Sorbus Notebook Geek

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    Ah, so it does; I knew that I was missing something. I've edited the list to correct that.
     
  35. Composer

    Composer Notebook Enthusiast

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    What are everyone's temperatures while doing basic web browsing? Also on which power plan? I seem to be in between 60-70C using "balanced" which seems quite high.

    That's after about 15 minutes or so of basic browsing. I should also mention that I have the i7-3610QM as well.
     
  36. Gnick

    Gnick Notebook Enthusiast

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    So, I just was playing some batman and then exited out and a few minutes later I am at http://i.imgur.com/IRzrV.png with the fan on low. The fan seems to be working pretty well for me now actually.

    I don't know what's up with your box but 60-70 on balanced while web browsing sounds like... not... web browsing?
     
  37. baseballfan

    baseballfan Notebook Guru

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    can someone please do an unboxing on this computer also how much better is the 95% NTSC Color Gamut screen than the regular one.
     
  38. AnonymousETfromMars

    AnonymousETfromMars Notebook Guru

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    I'm back.

    My move was absolute chaos and I haven't had internet for the last two weeks, but now I'm back. I have to do some other stuff first but I'll be catching up on this thread and reading through it soon. I'll also post those benchmarks, some other things I've noticed, etc. if others have not already mentioned them.
     
  39. CeeeeFour

    CeeeeFour Newbie

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    Could anyone test gaming on this machine in non-native resolution like 1366x768 and 1600x900? Is it acceptable like the text are readable and not blurry? I am curious as some games like witcher 2 I believe would not run well on the native 1080p resolution with the 650m gpu.

    Also does the lcd upgrade options like the matte or glossy 95% gamut affect the lcd's interpolation? Thanks!
     
  40. WCFire

    WCFire Notebook Evangelist

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  41. theDARKW0LF

    theDARKW0LF Notebook Enthusiast

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    Sweet, thanks for pointing that out!
     
  42. link1313

    link1313 Notebook Virtuoso

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    40.4 degrees celsius on top of the left palm rest ouch!

    i thought the 32.1 on the msi i ordered was pushing my limits (human hand is ~33 degrees celsius).

    its funny on my current clevo the right palm rest reaches 40 degrees celsius but the left palm rest (the only one my hand is on) stays cool so its ok when using a mouse.

    why clevo decided to start putting the hard drive under the left palm rest is beyond me.
     
  43. baseballfan

    baseballfan Notebook Guru

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    why does this laptop run so much warmer than its predecessor u would think that with ivy bridge and Kepler it would run cooler. :confused:
     
  44. wild05kid05

    wild05kid05 Cook Free or Die

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    40 and you guys already call it warm.. On my Envy, its lowest temp is 50....


    Sent from my wholly molly new iPad using Tapatalk
     
  45. baseballfan

    baseballfan Notebook Guru

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  46. bdidwise

    bdidwise Notebook Enthusiast

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    Quick question. If I buy the np6165 with only the primary HDD, is it difficult to install a second HDD by myself? Is the 2nd hard drive bay easily accessible? Screws/Caddy included?
     
  47. kimterran

    kimterran Notebook Guru

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    I was wondering about this one too, especially since I never tried it before. I am planning on getting an SSD for this laptop. Do I need to switch the drives or I can just put it in the second slot, install the OS from there, and it wont make any difference?
     
  48. Baenwort

    Baenwort Notebook Evangelist

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    You should be able to get a response from who ever you are purchasing from. The second bay is easy to access but I don't know if your particular seller includes the caddy or not.
     
  49. Heihachi_1337

    Heihachi_1337 Notebook Deity

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    hard drives should both be easily accessible underneath the large bottom panel. Sager builds their systems with the end user in mind as they expect the customer to get inside and upgrade items.

    As far as the OS installation, you should be able to just install the SSD into the open slot and just install the OS onto it. Be sure when you install the OS that you delete all active partitions unless you have important data on the other drive.
     
  50. Bofonic

    Bofonic Notebook Consultant

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    Just picked up my W150ERQ today! Full review coming soon!
     
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