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    *** Official Clevo W230SS/Sager NP7338 Owner's Lounge ***

    Discussion in 'Sager/Clevo Reviews & Owners' Lounges' started by Ryan, Mar 20, 2014.

  1. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Beta is beta after all :)
     
  2. Ionising_Radiation

    Ionising_Radiation ?v = ve*ln(m0/m1)

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    Hey guys. Is there any way we can increase the VRAM of the W230SS? Either physically, or by dedicating a portion of ordinary RAM as VRAM?
     
  3. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    It will already do that automatically as required with a large performance hit. The video ram is soldered so no increase there.
     
  4. dreville

    dreville Notebook Guru

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    Great! Now you can play FIFA between world cup matches! :)
     
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  5. dreville

    dreville Notebook Guru

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    So does that mean more RAM is better? I.e. more RAM = maybe higher FPS?

    I'm holding off maxing to 16gb because I feel I haven't hit the ceiling with 8gb although I cant really tell in-game.
     
  6. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Which ram do you mean? If system ram for the 860m it's game over if the system ram is being used as critical resource for the gpu (data is swapped between the card and ram all the time but if the chip is working straight to system ram). At that point more gpu vram will help performance, before that point it makes no difference.
     
  7. chemicalbuz

    chemicalbuz Notebook Enthusiast

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    i won't install baeta versions anymore for sure ;)
    career straight!


    i have another little problem, since i can't install drivers from dvd, i downloaded them all from the website, but this 2 are still missing, anyone knows what are they for?

    Capture.JPG
     
  8. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Web cam? Also make sure you have the latest chipset drivers from intel.
     
  9. chemicalbuz

    chemicalbuz Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have both already, should be something else

    Sent from my MI 2S using Tapatalk
     
  10. turokrocks

    turokrocks Notebook Enthusiast

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    One is for the plane mode....
     
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  11. LTBonham

    LTBonham Notebook Evangelist

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    I think the other is the card reader

    Edit - mine only says PCI device, so it may not be it.
     
  12. SolarEklipze

    SolarEklipze Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm confused about what Prema is saying here.
    I want to undervolt my i7-7400mq by about 70mv, which would normally be done by intel XTU. However, this laptop is 100% dedicated on Arch Linux so that isn't really an option. I downloaded and installed Prema's BIOS, but cannot find anything related to undervolting. Can anyone give me a little help on that front?

    Some other quick things. I want to keep this laptop for a long time, and make sure I don't burn anything out. I am going to slightly OC my GPU (no voltage tweaks) and slightly undervolt my CPU. What do you guys have that runs stably on your machine? I am looking for the max stable settings for both the core clock and the memory clock the 860m on the stock 1.15v, and the lowest stable voltage for the CPU.

    Lastly, does anyone know where I can get the stock vBIOS for the nvidia card? I know Prema's mod unlocked the voltage and core frequencies for the card, but I kinda want to keep it on the stock vBIOS.
     
  13. AndiiiHD

    AndiiiHD Notebook Consultant

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    I forgot to backup the stock VBios too..... Prema will recieve his w230ss soon (around one week vor so) hopefully he will backup the stock VBios for us....
     
  14. chemicalbuz

    chemicalbuz Notebook Enthusiast

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    I can do that for you guys if you tell me how to. Can you also redirect me to this custom bios you are talking about, cause I just joined you and I missed all this interesting stuff :)

    Sent from my MI 2S using Tapatalk
     
  15. CyberTronics

    CyberTronics Notebook Consultant

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    You can backup vBios using GPU-Z. Just click the button with the green arrow on the main page.
     
  16. darkmilk

    darkmilk Notebook Enthusiast

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    anyone encounter any problem in downloading Audio driver (6.0.11.500) for Windows 8.1 64-bit version for w230ss? I can't download it from all the three mirrors.
     
  17. jjdeeds57

    jjdeeds57 Newbie

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    I just received my np7338 from cyberpower pc. I am only having one problem if i install sound blaster cinema on my system the speakers crackle and buzz at the end of the windows start up sound before log in. I'm running windows 7. Without sound blaster cinema everything is fine. I have read all of the pages of this thread and don't remember seeing anything about this.
     
  18. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    It could be the drivers are slightly slower to initialise and put the noise filter in place, does it continue to distort after it is loaded?
     
  19. Alexis_Evo

    Alexis_Evo Notebook Geek

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    Every CPU is different. The only way to find out what's stable for you is to test it. Both overclocking and undervolting adhere to this.

    W230SS / NP7338 | Prema Mod
     
  20. jjdeeds57

    jjdeeds57 Newbie

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    I haven't heard it after the initial windows boot tone yet but it sounds like its blowing the speakers and i'm worried it could damage them. If i remove sound blaster cinema it stops it entirely. I dont mind the audio sans sbc so i guess its something i can live with.
     
  21. SolarEklipze

    SolarEklipze Notebook Enthusiast

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    Simple question here. Are the Intel XTU changes permanent? Like, if I set an undervolt on a Windows 7 live USB, will they apply on my Linux hard-drive also?
    If not, does Prema's BIOS have options to undervolt directly in the BIOS?
     
  22. dreville

    dreville Notebook Guru

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    http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=9668721
     
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  23. AndiiiHD

    AndiiiHD Notebook Consultant

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    UV is applied when you start XTU. I switched to throttlestop 7.00 beta 2 (new version has a undervolt feature too) because it takes less ressources and does the same job. I automatically start it with windows user login with a scheduled task. I think UV is not available in Prema's Bios.

    I installed uninstalled the old and installed the new Hotkey software (2.34.46) but it seems to not work at all (Win 8.1 64Bit) -also there is no menu icon in the task bar. Do you have similar problems or is it working for you?
     
  24. dreville

    dreville Notebook Guru

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    I don't get any of those errors. I'm using the latest stable version of audio driver, SB cinema, and Hot Key Utility, from Sager, in this case.

    I have the Hot Key Utility in the tray. To open it, I have to Double-click on it, it then opens Control Center. Right-clicking doesn't work, there's no context menu.

    Prior to going with the Sager version, I installed the Hot Key Utility before from the Clevo site, and there was no tray icon. I had to go to Program Files to get Control Center. But none of these errors you are getting. Didn't they just update Hot Key Utility recently as well?
     
  25. Ionising_Radiation

    Ionising_Radiation ?v = ve*ln(m0/m1)

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    Alright guys, just got my W230SS this evening, and wow, is it a great laptop. Honestly, the keyboard is great, and the screen... It has an epic screen. I fired up X-Plane 10 and for the first time ever, I got surreal framerates of >40FPS, even while loaded heavy with clouds, scenery and high-res texture packs. However, there are a few, if really tiny, qualms I'd like addressed, if possible.

    First, when running X-Plane, the fan ramps up - the fan seems more like a jet engine than do the engines of the B777 I'm simulating. It's really loud. I heard of Intel XTU and Clevo Control Centre while browsing through this forum, any ideas?

    Second, the trackpad doesn't continuously scroll, a la MacBook. I've seen some Windows laptop trackpads that are nearly as good as Macs, especially those on HPs. Any drivers that I need to update?

    Third, Windows HiDPI looks terrible. Dunno if there's a fix but Chrome looks very, very broken.

    Fourth, in Windows Update, there was an 'Optional' WDDM Display Driver update to the Intel HD drivers. Should I download and install it? It's WDDM v1.2, apparently.

    Fifth, for some reason I can't access the BIOS - once I boot up the notebook, I immediately see my reseller's brand name, Aftershock, and the Windows 8 loading animation. What do I do?

    And finally, where do I get all the latest drivers and tuning software you think are necessary? I've already got Samsung Magician for my two mSATA 840 EVOs. I know I can Google for the software, but if I find the wrong version or something.
     
  26. SolarEklipze

    SolarEklipze Notebook Enthusiast

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    It was the answer I needed, but not the answer I wanted. Thanks.

    On that topic, has anyone found an undervolt solutoin on Linux yet? It seems like PHC doesn't support haswell, and I like my intel_pstate cpu handler.
     
  27. SolarEklipze

    SolarEklipze Notebook Enthusiast

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    Can't help with the rest, but the standard keys are F2 to enter Setup and F7 to select which device to boot from.
     
  28. roitpls

    roitpls Newbie

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    Anyone know where to get the clear cover?
     
  29. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    It was likely a custom made part.
     
  30. jdcook

    jdcook Newbie

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    Mine finally came! Woo! I'm getting used to the display and putting all my widgets in. 2 questions:

    1) What's the best way to get to the SIM socket on the top (i.e. unexposed) of the mainboard?

    2) I was going to put a custom skin on the back but then I realised it wasn't flat. What have people tried that they like?

    Thanks!
     
  31. AndiiiHD

    AndiiiHD Notebook Consultant

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    Anyone fiddled with the ASPM settings in Premas Bios? I would like to get best battery life within the next months - will have to travel a little bit. I am on Windows 8.1 64Bit. First try was to just enable “native PCIe” and "ASPM” in the Bios ("advanced/miscellaneous settings"). But the result was that the machine boots and after Windows login the system just freezes. So i disabled those 2 settings again.

    Next try was to set the dGPU (NVIDIA) to "Auto" but it hangs after Windows Login too. I tried any other ASPM mode but it did always freeze. Only Disabled setting is working for me. I am on latest NVIDIA Beta Drivers 340.43. HWInfo tells that the 860m is capable to L0s/L1 but i cannot get it to work.
    Is it not possible to activate ASPM for the NVIDA GPU?

    :-D
     
  32. jdcook

    jdcook Newbie

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    I knew it couldn't be as hard as I feared. Re-reading the thread I found this post.
     
  33. chemicalbuz

    chemicalbuz Notebook Enthusiast

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    guys which is the best software to manage our 860m?
     
  34. AndiiiHD

    AndiiiHD Notebook Consultant

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    i would say NVIDIAInspector
     
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  35. dreville

    dreville Notebook Guru

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    t
    Software Upgrade

    Hot Key Utility 1.14.13 (Win 8.1) - I unzipped it and ran setup.exe (not Runme.exe)
     
  36. AndiiiHD

    AndiiiHD Notebook Consultant

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    i have no Tray Icon with latest hotkey Software 2.34.46 (30.06.2014) found on Clevos website:
    CLEVO - Download (W230SS/OTHERS)
     
  37. dreville

    dreville Notebook Guru

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    :D :D :D :D :D ;) ;) ;)
    I had the same experience with that version. So I played around with it for sometime and ended up with all Sager version drivers. It works and I'm not touching it until I really need to. :)
     
  38. dreville

    dreville Notebook Guru

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    Oops sorry for all the smileys :)

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
     
  39. chemicalbuz

    chemicalbuz Notebook Enthusiast

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    looks good, but i can't get the temperature, same problem with gpuz, is that normal?
    EDIT: i can see the temperature just for 10 seconds when i start the application, then it doesn't show up any more
     
  40. AndiiiHD

    AndiiiHD Notebook Consultant

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    Oh i did not have that problem
     
  41. Ionising_Radiation

    Ionising_Radiation ?v = ve*ln(m0/m1)

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    BUMP guys. Please help...
     
  42. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    You can do an advanced startup to get to the bios from the change PC settings, update and recovery.
     
  43. deadsmiley

    deadsmiley Notebook Deity

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    Define really low. 30fps? 6fps?

    Check in nvidia control panel > Manage 3D Settings

    Programs tab...

    That you are actually using the nvidia GPU and not the Intel GPU for the program you are running.

    I had that problem before.
     
  44. nvllsvm

    nvllsvm Newbie

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    Anyone have any problems with defective pixels? Just got my screen replaced for the second time (thus my third screen) and it still has defective pixels. Really disappointing :(
     
  45. Zalgradis

    Zalgradis Notebook Consultant

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    Unfortunately so.

    First screen had two stuck red pixels on arrival. Second developed a very bright stuck pixel on the day the screen was replaced.

    The strangest part is that both panels were tested - while I was present - and had NO visible dead pixels before I left with the newly replaced screen. The guys at mySN were extremely thorough. They just.. appeared during the systems operation to the best of my knowledge, not even during transit from a minor knock..

    The third screen seems to be fine for now. I wish i could say the same about my 11 month old 230ST..

    230stdead.jpg

    Still I rarely hear of anyone experiencing dead pixels. Please don't let our experience put anyone off; it is possible that we were both extremely unlucky. Fantastic system otherwise.

    I am fairly certain the answer to this is no, or "no don't be silly".... but must defer to those with far more experience than myself; is it possible that GPU drivers could cause damaged pixels? By this I mean truely damaged (noticable as dead during post not just in windows) rather than a graphical glitch?
     
  46. Stooj

    Stooj Notebook Deity

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    My understanding here is that the temp probe is only visible while the gpu is active (HWinfo doesn't appear to have this problem).

    Also chiming in to say I've just received my new W230SS from Metabox (Australia). This is replacing my old W350ET as my primary portable machine.
    Specs:
    i7 4710MQ
    8GB 1600mhz (might add another 8GB or swap out completely for 16GB of the new 22nm low power ram when it becomes more readily available)
    240GB Crucial M500 MSATA (will be adding a secondary 500/512GB SSD soon as I have nothing to store my music collection on)
    3200x1800 QHD+ screen
    Intel 7260 AC wifi

    My thoughts so far:
    1. The touchpad is average at best. I always carry a mouse anyway so no biggy. It is still usable in a pinch. I wonder if it's possible to buy something like a screen protector which fits over the top to smooth it out? Surely someone has done this.
    My uses are either keyboard based (terminals etc) or gaming (mouse).

    2. The 3200x1800 screen is pretty incredible. I have the tiniest bit of backlight bleed on the bottom right edge of mine. Running 8.1 with 200% scaling everything looks fine. As mentioned by others, there are some applications which don't scale correctly.
    Age of Empires 2 HD runs at 3200x1800. Except the UI stays 1:1 making it almost unreadable. This is already an issue with the port that I would still experience with 1080p since the UI was originally designed with 1024x768 in mind. I can get around this by scripting a change to 1600x900 before loading.

    3. Most games I run at 1600x900 and they look perfectly fine. There are some minor scaling issues with some games.
    In particular the 3D viewport is fine. However, some games still honour the Windows DPI settings specifically with the mouse cursor (of all things) to be quadruple size.

    4. The 860m is pretty damn powerful. I can actually run "lighter" games at full 3200x1800 such as Torchlight 2. I can "just" get away with running XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within at 3200x1800 as well.
    League of Legends can run at 3200x1800 as well but it doesn't handle scaling properly (Most of the UI scales well, but some things like HP bars don't).

    5. Lighter than expected and sits well in the hand without feeling out of balance. I'm a network engineer/sysadmin so I needed something a bit easier to manoeuvre than the w350ET as well as more battery life.

    6. Pretty much immediately flashed PremaMOD onto it without issue. I'll be looking to undervolt and possibly underclock as well to squeeze some more battery out of it.

    7. The keyboard is nice. The keys feel slight too spread apart (maybe it's just me, I have skinny musician fingers).

    8. The fan seems to ramp up pretty quickly with any CPU usage. I'm not sure if the fan profile can be tweaked. Undervolting/underclocking will probably get around this anyway.

    UPDATE:

    Got XTU up and running. I can get a pretty stable undervolt at -100mv (I'm progressively testing 103-102-101 for stability).
    I've also reduced the multipliers so that it tops out at 2.99ghz. This gives me a max temp of 75 degrees and max CPU package Power of 30.551W. Down from 81 degrees and 36W respectively.
     
  47. AndiiiHD

    AndiiiHD Notebook Consultant

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    .......First, when running X-Plane, the fan ramps up - the fan seems more like a jet engine than do the engines of the B777 I'm simulating. It's really loud. I heard of Intel XTU and Clevo Control Centre while browsing through this forum, any ideas?........

    You can undervolt with XTU or Throttlestop 7.00 beta 2 but you have to flash the Prema Bios Mod (Custom Bios) before so that the tools are able to do that undervolt. But its really worth it.
    Under my normal use (Webbrowsing and Office work) the fan runs really silent with an CPU UV of -80mV.
    When gaming light games (Dead Island Riptide) with frame limit to 45 FPS my fan stays really quite too.
    When playing heavy games like Titanfall or Watchdogs the fan will kick in with higher RPM - no discussion - even when you have an UV running.

    x-Plane is a really heavy game and will create heat, which has to be cooled in some way :)



    .....Fourth, in Windows Update, there was an 'Optional' WDDM Display Driver update to the Intel HD drivers. Should I download and install it? It's WDDM v1.2, apparently.....

    i would not recommend any Windows update drivers and would avoid if possible to install these because most of the time they are old versions. Use latest Drivers from Intel or NVIDIA or stay with proved drivers from Sager/MYSN etc... For Win 8.1 64 Bit you can use these at the moment: Intel (15.36.0.3652 non BETA) / NVIDIA (337.88 WHQL)



    ......Fifth, for some reason I can't access the BIOS - once I boot up the notebook, I immediately see my reseller's brand name, Aftershock, and the Windows 8 loading animation. What do I do?.....

    You should choose "restart" from within Windows and press the F2 button twice every second when the laptop starts down/up. You will 100% get to the Bios with this method.
     
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  48. chemicalbuz

    chemicalbuz Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yes you're right, I'm using msi afterburner that keeps showing the gpu temp in the tray icon even when it's off.

    Did someone succeed undervolting the gpu (860) with some software?



    Sent from my MI 2S using Tapatalk
     
  49. dreville

    dreville Notebook Guru

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    For this, I had to install the mouse/touchpad driver from Sager (Clevo should be the same). This installs the Synaptics software.

    I set Pointing Device/Mouse Properties > Pointer Options > Motion to rightmost Fast.

    Touchpad Properties brings up the Synaptics window. Under Pointing > Sensitivity, I set both PalmCheck and Touch Sensitivity to leftmost Minimum/Light. I think the default was 2nd notch for both. My palm will never rest on this tiny touchpad. Interestingly, if you set Touch Sensitivity to 3rd notch, you need to use your triceps to move the cursor, otherwise it won't move!

    After this, I was able to get a similar feel to my Macbook Pro.
     
  50. AndiiiHD

    AndiiiHD Notebook Consultant

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    *************edit**************
     
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