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

When Witcher 3 was released, I was worried that this GPU would finally see its match, but for some reason the GTX 860M really packs a punch, and even more so after overclocking. A mix of medium, high and even ultra settings can pump a decent 30-45 FPS in this game. When I get home, I'll make some more tweaks and tune the game and post results.

 

can you please do one run with the 1600x900 resolution - would be nice to know if its possible to reach 60FPS with high settings...

 

Nope - I hit a maximum of 50 FPS in indoor areas with the High preset. Everywhere else, it's around 41 FPS average, and fluctuates between 35-45 FPS. Not much different from FHD. Note that this is with an overclocked GPU and CPU.

 

The 860M has a lot of power to be squeezed from it if you are willing to tweak with detail settings.

 

I have my 860m overclocked to +260 on gpu and +260 on memory. Gives few extra fps.
I think this is the best memory can do. If I clock it 10mhz higher, visuals in GTA V begin to glitch after some playtime - textures blink pink and purple.

 

What are your final clocks with boost with that OC @CyberTronics ?

 

On core it is 1357mhz 1.193v. Memory 2764mhz according to GPU-Z, so that is effective 5528mhz I suppose.
I have been monitoring PerfCap in GPU-Z and sometimes I get PerfCap PWR, which prevents core from reaching 1357mhz. But thankfully it happens seldom and doesn't stay capped for long.

 

Hey guys, can anyone tell me what the size of the fan is (in mm)?

I live in a different country right now so I can't order a replacement directly. I just need the size.

Thanks in advance!

 

70x70x15mm or smaller will fit.

Mind that the metal/plastic casing is specific to this model and you cannot separate the fan without damaging the casing:

Spoiler: Clevo W230SS - stock fan clipped

You will have to do the same to the replacement fan since there's not enough spare height to stack it inside the old housing. Alternative is to do away with the existing housing altogether, which is fine, but here too you'll have to glue the new fan to the metal frame (sanded for better contact):

Spoiler: Clevo W230SS - fan and housing removed

Ah, and the connector pinout differs from most 3-pin fans, so might have to strip/solder the wires to match:

Spoiler: Clevo W230SS - fan connector

Spoiler: Clevo W230SS - Sunon maglev clipped and rewired

If that's a bit too much effort after all; original is an ADDA AB7905HX-DE3 (goes for ~$18.50, worldwide shipping).

 

Wow, thanks a ton!
Actually, I have the W230ST model, so I can unscrew the top of the housing and change the fan directly. And the fan you linked appears to be compatible, so this looks like an easy replacement. I'll have it shipped.

One more thing, the parts where the hinges connect to the screen's metal frame are broken. (There's a thin metal frame that runs along the screen behind the plastic cover, it connects the hinges to the screen). So the hinges are not connected to the screen anymore (I dropped the laptop from a 1 meter height, while in a bag full of books). Do you happen to know if there is a replacement part available somewhere on the internet? I need this laptop to last me at least one more year.

 

Well ... there's RJTech (horribly overpriced, as always). Perhaps you can get away with this solution?

 

Creepily enough, that's what I already did
Didn't know other people had the same problem..and solution
Anw, if it doesn't hold out much longer, I'll have to get that cover

Thanks for the help, peace!

 

Hey, I got this laptop about a year ago (a little less), and the fans always made some noise, but they're almost always on nowadays. I've been trying to found out what it is and I'm getting really bad temperatures:


My hardware for the W230SS is:
i7 4710MQ (underclocked -60mV on cpu, -40mV on Cache, -43mV on graphics, with stock clocks)
8GB Ram
QHD+ display
Prema bios.

You can see that the temperatures reached almost 100 ºC, I never even turned on anything else, besides chrome with 5 or 6 tabs. If I don't touch it for some minutes the temperatures go down to 50-60. But even here, just writing this post (not even music playing) I'm with ~80 ºC and the keyboard has a noticeable lag, between pressing and appearing on screen. I'm using the "Entertainment" mode, on the Clevo Control Center. Balanced performance and automatic fan speed.

I'll probably open it and clean it today, or tomorrow, but I'm not sure that's enough.

Also, I'm running windows 10, which is still in Beta, but this happened with windows 8 too, and happens (maybe even more) on Fedora.

 

Seems like thermal paste has dried out.
Do the repaste asap, it should fix the issue. Be sure to use a good thermal paste.

 

Dried in 10 or 11 months? I'll do it with the cleaning then, lets hope it fixes it. The noise and heat is getting really uncomfortable.

 

Yes, 10 months is enough for the paste to go bad.
When I repasted my CPU and GPU for the first time 3 months after I bought this laptop, it helped to decrease GPU load temperatures by 10 degrees. Used to be over 80, afterwards it was 71-73. Same for CPU.

Below attached are BF4 CPU temps probably a couple of days after I bought the laptop. 90 degrees. Nowadays it never reaches such high temps, not even in GTA V with gpu overclocked.

One more thing.
If you haven't removed the tape covering these holes, I advice to do so. It helped me to decrease load temps by a couple degrees Celsius more.

 

Even then, you had better temps playing BF4 than I have web browsing on chrome. Unfortunately everything is closed on sunday, and I don't even have a screwdriver where I am, so I'll need to wait until tomorrow. Just to know, you don't have any fan noise problems? Do you have the QHD+ display or the FHD?

Thanks for the help

 

Why would those holes be taped up in the first place? :S

 

I have no idea, but they were closed, on the inside.
Anyway, removed the tape, cleaned the dust and replaced the thermal paste. After 1 hour of normal use, my temperatures hover around 45ºC, and the fans have not turned on yet. Much better. Thanks for the help

 

The holes being taped up will be to direct airflow over certain parts of the motherboard.

 

Hi Folks,
I seem to be having an issue with my touchpad (well, I have always had issues with it).

I have the pressure sensitivity turned all the way to "low", and I have the mouse pointer speed set fairly high. Still, I end up having to reposition several times to even swipe from one side of the screen to the other. It feels like I am scrambling to get the mouse cursor to move far enough, and its really starting to get on my nerves.

Does anyone have a fix for this, or anything that works well for them?
It seems that there are NO acceleration settings in the Synaptics driver panel, and there definitely is no acceleration native to the touchpad. I have an external mouse but it is impractical to have to bust it out every time I need to use my laptop.

I basically have to swipe 3 times to go from the start button to click the "X" in the top right of the screen. Even my friend's 8 year old Dell has better touchpad drivers...

EDIT:
I also attempted to "update" to the W230SD (NP7339) touchpad drivers but they are the exact same it looks like.

 

There should be a general sensitivity setting which would impact speed.

 

Makes some sense, in that case it looks like it would be better to let them stay there rather than taking them off. Would you happen to know (or have any idea) which parts of the motherboard cool better because of this tape? I'm having a hard time trying to figure that out.

 

All other intakes would have more airflow.

 

I see. I also noticed that my W230SD has an extra air intake at the bottom (compared to that picture) near were the first mSATA slot is (not close to the wireless card), and the other 3 intakes are blocked as in the pictures already posted. Like in the picture below, you can see the 3 blocked intakes like in that photo, and the "extra" not taped one at the top:

Spoiler

 

They will test the design and tweak it depending on the components and figure out what gives the best ability to cope with stock performance (say heavy I/O for example) in all environments. If you don't need those extremes you can tweak it your own way.

 

Has anyone tried using a eGPU with the ws230ss ?

 

Is the GTX 960m worth an extra £100 over the 860m? i have the option to buy either the W230SS or W230SD but am unsure on whether the performance gain will be worth it.

 

I wouldn't spend the extra money on the 960m. It is the same chip, just clocked a bit higher.

A slight overclock on the 860m would yield the same performance.

 

Even if you don't overclock the money would not buy you much performance.

 

The 860M 2.0GB is the newer Maxwell architecture, the 4.0 GB versions were Kepler.

 

The kepler chip was never offered in this chassis of course though due to the size of the chip.

 

Hi everyone, I'm thinking about getting a W230SD and I'm wondering about the build quality. is this something that's going to wear and break over time?

 

The silver paint will eventually wear off. If you drop it, the plastic edges can chip away. There is some screen flex as well, as well as some strange areas where the keyboard appears to not be flush with the chassis. These are mostly minor issues and can be ignored as they are largely cosmetic. If you do want superior build quality, check out the P65SX series.

As a side note, if you can get the W230SS for cheaper, go for that instead, because there's nearly no difference between the two except for a slightly higher clock rate in the GTX 960M (the chip architectures are exactly the same - GM107). You can exceed the performance of the 960M by overclocking the 860M plus an overvolt.

 

There have also been posts about the hinges on he w230ss not being very strong. I haven't seen it personally though

 

I would say plus undervolt, making it run cooler. I run the gpu at 960m speeds with undervolt of .1 v. Amusing little chip is 860m.

 

Indeed, but I wanted to exceed 960M clocks just to say "HAHAHA in your face Nvidia", so I over-volted. The 860M for some reason seems to be immune to overheating due to increased voltages. If I keep CPU clocks down, the GPU barely exceeds 70 degrees C.

In fact, my GPU's temperature is only correlated to my CPU's temperature since both chips are in close proximity to each other.

 

What do you guys think of this pricing for a W230SS?

Eurocom M4 (W230SS)
13.3" FHD IPS 1920x1080 CHIMEI N133HSE-EA1
Intel Core i5-4210M
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance DDR3L-1866
2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M
120GB Crucial M500
Realtek RTL8732AE

I haggled with Mark from Eurocom sales and managed to get him to drop it down to $1000 CAD/$810 USD w/ free shipping, student discount, additional $30 off, and no branding. Do you think I should try haggling a bit more? (I don't want to be too disrespectful) It would be nice to get a free WiFi upgrade or deal on a i7-4710MQ upgrade (it's an additional $130 upgrade).

I initially wanted to haggle the W230ST down to $700 CAD/$570 USD with identical parts (except 765M) but I don't think he would've discounted it $100.

 

At this point I'm considering opting for the Gigabyte P34K. Faster GPU, 14 inch screen which I love, etc etc. However, I'm wondering if the battery can at some point be replaced, even if I have to open up the laptop. Is there a thread for P34K owners?

 

They can be replaced. They are just not designed to be taken in and out like older notebooks were.

 

read this and go for the Clevo - but i am not sure wich revision was tested - but i bet the cooling has not been improved that much.

 

The clevo is a much better balanced machine for those longer sessions.

 

Pricing is GREAT! But trying to sell one? I love this little monster, mine came from Mythlogic PC (so has the Prima BIOS already I'm told) and those guys just did a fantastic job. I ordered this thing as a "Nice 17 inch laptop, watch this do better" rig while I was in the Army, but now that I am a Vet and wanting a desktop... I'm not sure if it is ignorance of these models Stateside, or my terrible ability to market or sell LMAO. But I could not get anyone to even BID on my beast for $1000 and free shipping on Ebay. Sad because that was too low for it. It still Surprises me a exactly one year after my order. I purchased "Dying Light" and "Project: CARS" (GTA V barely gets it warm) and she runs them like butter. It's downright silly to me that this model does not have more of a fanbase.

Mythlogic Chaos 1313-A
13.3" FHD IPS 1920x1080 CHIMEI
Intel i7 4810MQ
16GB (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance 1866
2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M (Schenker)
256GB Samsung 240 PRO
Qualcomm Killer Wireless-N 1202 802.11a/b/g/n wireless LAN + Bluetooth Combo

I've never had ANY thermal issues, I simply kick the onboard cooling fans on, and shes good, even with the i7 which is not needed really at all for gaming. But she also spends her days on a Cooler Master Notepal U3 Plus. I've accepted I'll never get what she is worth, unless you guys happen to know a good site or company that offers reasonable pricing on laptops? If not, what are you guys thoughts on overclocking? I've never performed any overclocking myself and am starting to become curious...

 

I was looking for someone to sell one earlier this week, but no one was selling. Out of curiosity, would you have been able to sell it for $815 USD shipped? HTWingNut had an almost identically spec'd laptop as yours, but he sold his a few months for that same price.

I didn't mind paying $1000 for a new W230SS from Eurocom, but I was a bit hesitant about it since it is a lot of money for what is an end-of-life model (w/ the W230SD out) and it came with only an i5-4210M. But I guess in the end, I can always just sell it on eBay or something and put in a i7-4710MQ myself.

 

Anyone have a more recent experience with the QHD+ display? Specifically the Samsung LTN133YL01-L01.

Eurocom is supposedly out of the stock for the FHD Chimei N133HSE-EA1 and is willing to upgrade to the Samsung panel for me.

While on paper, a $110 upgrade for free might sound great for many, I'm particularly worried about the scaling and extra battery drain.

For a 13.3" laptop, I would be able to run the FHD panel unscaled comfortably (having owned the first Zenbook Prime and the XPS 13 2015), but there is no way I'd be able to run the QHD+ like that!

But on the other hand, I read that QHD+ scales down to 1600x900 with no distortion? This is great if I ever want to run more intensive games that might be borderline playable on 1080p.

Eurocom currently has no ETA for the FHD panel to be back in stock.. so I suggested the two options.

A) Ship the laptop without a display and refund me the price of one Chimei N133HSE-EA1
B) Ship the laptop with the Samsung LTN133YL01-L01, but include an extra eDP connector cable compatible with the Chimei panel in case I ever decide that the QHD+ panel is not for me

I know that W10 offers better scaling, but does anyone know if it still results in the random distortion from program to program? I've played with scaling on W7/W8 and my experience with it is not positive, which I guess is why I am so concerned about it at the moment.

 

Has anyone had somewhat high gpu temps? My furmark burn in caused gta 860m to throttle around 93C. It kind of looks like the pressure applied by the gpu heat sink is not high enough. Especially compared to the cpu heat sink.

 

What is it in games? Furmark is not a good judge of how the chip behaves normally. Also a propper paste rather than a silicon based white goop can help too.

 

In games it was hitting high 85 in some cases and I was just unhappy with it. The current paste I'm using is gelid extreme and after I bent the mounts for the GPU and it actually made a 7C difference in furmark burn in test. What got me thinking was how well spread the CPU tim was versus the gpu tim which looked as if there was no pressure being applied. I did overapply the paste though...

 

Ah, there's your issue. Put it together, bring it back to your reseller for a fresh application of IC Diamond. Never over-apply thermal compound.

Also, 85 - 90 degrees C is ridiculously high - i.e. 20 degrees higher than what you should expect under load, which is around 70 degrees C. If you still experience such high temperatures after a re-paste, then ask your reseller to swap out the heatsink for a new one, as that's probably damaged or bent.

I in general never remove the heatsinks of laptops, not even for maintenance. I'd rather let the resellers, who are probably more experienced than me, do it. Hence I ask them to use ICD - the "apply once and forget" kind of thermal paste. I don't like fiddling around inside much either - too risky.

 

My GPU had high temps also, about the same as yours. It had stock paste originally, and I tried to repast with AS Ceramique (ran out of Gelid). This resulted in the same temps as stock originally and higher temps a couple months in.

I finally tried CLU (first time ever for me) and WOW! I got at least 20c drop in GPU temps and 5C drop in CPU temps. The fans don't kick up randomly while surfing the Internet anymore and I am very happy.

Edit - I think this is due to very low mounting pressure on the GPU heat sink.