**Official Sager NP5160 / Clevo W150HNQ Owners' Lounge**

It really is a big deal. Most 1366 x 768 monitors have worse viewing angles and don't have consistent lighting from edge to edge. I would DEFINITELY upgrade to 1080p screen. You can always play your games in 1366 if you really need to.

 

Yeah, really the only difference between most mainstream SB laptops that just came out and this particular model is the 1080p screen option (they will most likely tote the standard i7-2630QM + GT 540m and such).

 

Owners: Please post the pics taken by you (not press photos)

 

Im looking into buying this laptop. Can an owner tell if the cpu throttles under heavy load? I.E. when temp is high with four cores in use does the core speed drop below 2Ghz?

 

Will NP5160 with i7-2630qm,Win 7 Home Premium 64bit,6GB RAM,GT540M be able to handle latest games such as Crysis 2?

By the way ,is 6GB RAM too much for this specs?

 

I don't think a 540m will be good enough for Crysis 2 except maybe with medium settings... even then it will probably get only 30fps if lucky. You should look into the 8130 or 8150 instead for heavier gaming, the 5160 is more of a workstation with better than average gaming capabilities.

 

Quick question: is there anything I need to know when installing Windows 7 on this thing? I'm ordering mine without an OS, and I want to make sure I don't miss out on any functionality, like multitouch. All the right drivers will be available for free online somewhere, right?

 

Oh, another question: Anyone have the expensive screen from Mythlogic?

This one:
15.6" Full HD (1920x1080) Matte 95% NTSC Color Gamut LED Backlit LCD

I ordered it and I hope it's worth the extra $150 (over a Full HD glossy, normal color gamut screen).

 

I believe it will come with a drivers media. Everything should be there.

I wonder if it will have the latest version of drivers... anyone?

 

Questions for anybody who has looked inside of the 5160 or 5170:

Is there a service manual available?

I understand that the 5130 may be considered close enough architecturally to the 5160/5170 refresh. The manual is available courtesy of forum member theriko: B5130M_ESM.zip. Otherwise, using the 5130 manual as a base...

Does the 5160/5170 have a discrete Bluetooth module?

I was under the impression that such was integrated into the WLAN card but section 2-15 of the 5130 manual reveals separate Bluetooth and WLAN modules.

Does the 5160/5170 have two or three WLAN leads?

The 5130 service manual states two.

 

I ordered it too... but I don't have my machine yet to really review it. I personally think its worth it because I'm officially over the glossy fad on mobile computers. The extra color gamut can't hurt picture quality either

 

So ive done some stress testing, on the processor only, using prime95
The three shown are during the 8k (with 10k just starting), 10k, and 12k tests.
From12k to 16k there has been no difference, so 12k will apply for 14k and 16k too.
during the test, the computer was constantly switching between the iGPU and dGPU, so temps for the dGPU rose to 48 C.

edit: when the tests were stopped, cpu temps almost instantly dropped to around 65 C and then quickly dropped to around 50 C, where it's more or less stabilized.
i and d still switching though

 

So...is this good or bad news? The temperatures actually seem quite high, in the mid-80's...maybe this is a sign that people should start investing in a cooler for these machines?

Then again, these stress tests are absolute worst case scenario, so it's not a bad thing that these temperatures are very low. In fact, the cooling system should be commended for not letting them get into the 90's where it starts getting dangerous.

Mr. Mysterious

 

All the drivers will be on a cd that you will receive with the laptop (even if you don't get an OS) and they are also available from Sager & Clevo direct online.

 

forgot to mention tat during those tests, i never felt any heat on the top or bottom of the laptop
the air coming from the side vent was warm, but i could leave my hand there for 5 minutes with out feeling the need to move my hand
at full speed (I assume) the fans were still unable to make it difficult to listen to the radio with speakers at 14%

so overall I think the temps are fine.
as long as the temps never reach 90 C things should be fine.

But what I need is a stress test for cpu and dgpu at the same time.
anyone know of one?

 

Looking at those temps, I would not be concerned. I can easily with Prime95 or CCCT get my core (see Sig) up to 90C which point the turbo boast will lower to the 2.0GHz speed and the temp stabilizes at about 85C. Remember the Tj is maxed at 100C which is only 15C more than 85C (duh, and seems like a small margin) but in F that is actually 27 degrees. (100C=212F, 85C=185F)

 

@othonda

i would recommend going with IC diamond

 

Cocci852- Add a signature with all the pertinent info on your rig, that helps people to see what your testing or talking about.

Wekoweko- I actually am in no hurry to change out the stock TIM, my temps are really pretty good with it. When I do I have been leaning toward MX4

 

just do furmark at the same time as prime95 and that should also stress test the dgpu at the same time
but I should warn you that both prime95 and furmark dont seem to fully shutdown when you close them
use task manager and kill any processes from those that are still running after you shut them down

 

I'll try using the two at the same time, see how that goes.

Strangely enough, I input my 5160 and macbook in my sig, but they they aren't appearing.
hmmmmm

I forgot to mention, but during the stress test, turbo never kicked in, since clock speed, as reported by speedfan, stayed at 1996-1999 mhz

I wonder at what temp turbo will not be able to turn on

i'll try stressing fewer threads and see

edit: oh, there it is

edit2:
well, fewer threads just results in the load be distributed, so that doesn't work
and furmark is weird
even though the dgpu is getting hot (92 C, ouch) the information displayed is the igpu
I just remembered that the thermal paste isn't used with the dgpu since it is apparently soldered on the board.
boo hoo

 

Cocci- Of course you have thermal paste on the dedicated GPU, it actually uses the same fan assembly as the CPU.

You may try HWinfo32, it shows your cores frequencies in a nice graphical format.

 

anyone else concerned about the 'intel insider' drm in all of the sandy bridges cpus? "...ability to remotely disable a PC or erase information from hard drives." this just sounds like a feature begging to be exploited by some chinese hackers.

 

For anyone who owns it, having the exhaust near the USB/Sata, does it have any significant affect on the wires?

 

oh yeah
im an idiot
for some reason i was thinking the heat sink was soldered on too, but that wouldn't make ANY sense at all.
but i wonder if the thermal paste used is stock or the IC diamond as well.
with temps above 90 C it seems unlikely, but then again that was using furmark's burn test

as for the heat affecting the ports on the left side near the vent, admittedly ive only really used the port on the right side for my mouse, i did use a flash drive a few times on the left side and so far nothing seemed wrong.
but then again, any damage would take a long time to show, and ive only had this guy for a few days

on another note, i tried playing thos 4k res videos on you tube, and i can play them on the pop out player at ALMOST fullscreen, but once i change it to actual fullscreen the player crashes

on my desktop (which is an xps older than my macbook, but i swapped the 9400 with a 9800 low power card, which doesn't need the 6-pin power connector) I get slide show, on any size, that skips frames. I thought since I could play crysis on a mix of high and med quality it could play the vids, but it can't. the 5160 can, but not in fullscreen. But im pretty sure the 540m is weaker than a 9800.

 

Give us your thoughts on the display.

Is the text reasonable to read? on a 17" the 1080p is just about right, but a 15"?

 

Folks, I need your opinion!

I received an email from one of the reseller that I already had dismissed, but now they did some interesting ("urgent, just for few machines") offer, on a very nice price, similar to the one I was already going to take.

So, what would you choose from these two:

* 2720QM processor, 6 GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM, 48.84 Wh Battery, 3 years of warranty (I was going for this one)
* 2630QM processor, 8 GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM, 62.16 Wh Battery, 2 years of warranty (and then this one showed up, as a special offer)

At the rest, they are exactly the same: Full HD screen, 500 GB 7200 RPM HDD,... but they are from different resellers.

I know both processors are good, but I'm quite a heavy user (both for work and leisure, and sometimes both at the same time ) and I would think that the better processor would be a good fit. Although I could be underestimating the 2630QM... and that battery seams much better.

Please help me!

 

2nd option seems like a better deal for me

 

Thanks wekoweko! What do you think is the deal breaker on those two?

 

well in my opinion, you get an able enough processor with the 2630QM (cpu rankings 33rd whereas 2720QM is 19th), more memory and most likely paired 4s which is always a good thing, and a better battery, lets wait for everyone else to chime in but I would go for the 2nd option

 

Unless you definitely need AES-NI or Vt-d (which is currently not well supported outside of server solutions like ESXi at either the hardware or software level), the 2720QM is likely an overpay. Speaking of which, does this platform even support Vt-d?

I think the jury is still out on the practical value of sustained Turbo Boost with these processors in laptops, but it's conceivable the 2720QM's peak single-threaded performance could come into play.

However, the first option has a processor that is worth tangibly more, which helps resale value, and a longer warranty. The drop in battery life is 27%, so if you assume 5 hours at light load, you'll end up getting around 3h 40m instead.

So, I say:

1. If you can deal with a 27% drop in battery performance AND think a longer warranty brings value, AND/OR are realistically going to sell the 6 GB and upgrade to 8 GB on your own (if you think you need it), go with #1
2. If you need more than 6GB RAM AND/OR value battery performance, go with #2.

 

Yeah, that could be of my interest, since I do work with single-threaded applications professionally.
How would you expect for this two processors to differ on that? I wouldn't expect those 14% (3.3 over 2.9 GHz)... but I wonder

As the battery, it seems like a big improvement. I don't know about 5 hours usage, I actually expect it to be less, and if I get the lower battery it would be always 27% lower...

About the warranty, I also wonder if it does pay, because I think most of the problems would occur on the earliest times of the notebooks life (one year or so). If anyone could help on that...

And I'm definitely not thinking on reselling it afterwards... I would not buy such an companion for me considering that.

 

try turning off hardware acceleration in the flash player settings, which worked for me. Just start a video, right click inside the video playback area, and then click the settings tab, then disable hardware acceleration by unchecking the box. I think the crash on fullscreen thing is not a 540m problem per se, but rather a driver problem.

 

If you have a single threaded application that already pegs a Core2 or newer and think 5-10 percent (probably realistically) more performance would seal the deal, I'd say the 2720QM is worth a look.

There's debate over heat with the new crop of Sandy Bridge laptops, though, and not a lot of data since supplies are still low. This heat could hinder the effectiveness of Turbo Boost. As far as I'm aware, most, if not all, current benchmarks aren't properly geared to consider Turbo Boost.

I can't speak for Sager notebooks but most electronic products exhibit what's known as a "bathtub curve" where mortality is most pronounced at infancy and at the end of expected lifetime. For laptops in general, these numbers are probably around 90 days for infancy and 5 years for max expected lifetime, assuming routine usage under normal conditions. Many laptops last longer but basically nobody is surprised when fans and hard drives start dying at that point.

 

Yeah, that's what really happens. Intensive CPU applications with engineering simulations and so on...

Both 2630 and 2720 have the same TDP. Would you think that 2630 runs a little cooler and, under stress, could manage turbo-boost for more time in a notebook with limited power dissipation? - Since it seems to limit turbo boost on those tests that we are seeing around the forum on the newer Sandy Bridge machines(despite of brand)...

Yeah, that's quite what I thought. But you put it in a very nice way

 

The difference in time the turbo boost would be kicked in between the two CPU's would be pretty minimal. With out any real testing I am guessing less than 10-15 seconds if that.

Because these guys are running on the hot side I would bet they have a shorter than 5 year life span, really its hard to predict what they will be.

Out of curiosity what kind of simulations are you running?

 

Well I usually work with dynamic models of industrial processes. Those are mathematically posed as DAE (differential-algebraic equations systems).
Solve this kind of thing is a CPU intensive task and (in general) cannot be parallelized because each simulated instant depends on the previous.
Each of this runs could take some seconds, depending on the problem size...

Right now, I'm dealing with an optimization algorithm that would run that kind of DAE-solving inside a loop, for hundreds of times.

That's about it

 

Sounds like fun

I mainly run Spice circuit simulations, my old P4 2.8GHz at work actually runs them pretty good. Have not loaded Spice on my Sager, as it would bum me out. (Probably will not be seeing a computer upgrade at work anytime soon)

 

Oh boy, SPICE. Brings me back to my college days.

I think ursoouindio is more concerned about the "kick out" time--that is, the point where Turbo Boost backs off due to heat and then normalizes at a speed greater than nominal but less than fully speced. That is, what is the steady state of the two processors at max single thread load? Other than perhaps some lip service with early generic Sandy Bridge benchmarks, I don't see this kind of data very often. Most laptop benchmarks focus on simultaneously stressing all cores + GPU.

 

You got it, Whelkman.

And that's true. Its hard to find benchmarks only stressing the processor, they always consider that, if the notebook is under stress, it would be due to gaming...

 

Right I meant Kicked out.

If you stressed out two systems and started at the same time the 2720QM would most likely reach the point of throttling back the turbo boast sooner by about 10-15 seconds. The higher boost frequency of the 2720 would heat up the core sooner.

However on a single thread it should be able to turbo on max all day long. I like to Flight Sim using FS9 which is single threaded game and will max out a single core to 100%. I use Throttlestop and bump up turbo boost from its rated frequency of 3.2Ghz to 3.46GHz and my temps never go above around 80 degrees C.

 

So single threaded turbo boost will be like 10~15% higher on 2720, and so the performance...
But when more cores are active, maybe they will get stationary turbo boost at the same level, considering that both processors dissipate the same amount of heat at each frequencies...

I'm falling for the one with 2630QM and longer battery life. I see myself regretting the opposite choice when I need some extra working time away from the wall.

It's strange how I'm not upgrading my notebook in a very (apparently) important aspect, the CPU clock. I'm retiring my C2D T7250 for an i7 2630QM, both having nominal clock of 2.0 GHz


Ok, thanks very much for opinions, othonda, Whelkman and wekoweko.
I'll make sure you all have some reps for helping on this personal dilemma of mine.

Now let's get back for the temperatures and other reviews that would interest everybody.
But of course, if anyone else has an opinion to share on my question, I have until Monday before closing the deal

 

Hey guys. Been reading this thread's history for the last 2 or 3 hours and it's made me pretty confident I got a nice solid machine. I ordered my 5160 yesterday and couldn't be more thrilled.

It will be my second Sager machine. I am currently working with an NP2092 that I've had for exactly 3 years. Overall it's been real good to me... the only problem being in the heating department, and lately speed (to be expected with an aging machine). I decided to try and boost up the hardware specs to give myself more speed and cooling options. In my business (website dev and photography) time=money!!!

I'm not much of a hardware guru so hopefully I made some wise choices with the following (ordered from Xotic)

Display 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glare Type Screen
Dead Pixel Warranty Standard Dead Pixel Policy
Processor - 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM, 2.0-2.8GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache)
Thermal Compound - IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
Graphics Video Card nVidia GT 540M 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR3 DX11 with Optimus™ Technology
Ram ~ 8,192MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS)- Special
Primary Hard Drive ~ 120GB Intel 510 Series Solid State Drive (SSD2 Serial-ATA III)
Additional Hard Drive in Optical Drive Bay ~ 500GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache) in Optical Bay
External USB Optical Drive NO External USB Optical Drive
Memory Card Reader Internal 4-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO)
Wireless Network Intel® Advanced-N 6230 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module + Bluetooth
Operating System ~Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's +
Microsoft Office Software - Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Student Edition - Word/Excel/PowerPoint/OneNote

I guess if I had any questions it would be what the turnaround time is for new orders? Is Xotic caught up with backorders?

I'm SO freaking excited about the SSD you have no idea... ok maybe you do. *drools*

Thx all

 

Hey guys, about to pull the trigger on the 5160 here.
here is how I have mine config'd:
-i7 2630Qm
-8GB RAM
-500GB HDD
-GT 540m GPU

How is this for games like Vindictus? Or, how is this for gaming overall?
Also, is it worth the 20 bucks for the diamond thermal compound? I've heard that the heat gets slightly out of hand.

Thanks guys.

 

Nice config. SSDs are awesome! I've slowly upgraded everything in my desktop, and they've only been incremental improvements that are hardly noticeable, but once I got a SSD everything was significantly faster. It felt like I made my computer 5 years newer.

I'm waiting for my laptop too; I also got an SSD.

It's definitely worth it. It'll keep it a few degrees cooler, which, in the long run, will extend the lifetime of your laptop, which is definitely worth $20.

 

If for some reason you're disappointed, use the SSD for two weeks then borrow someone else's laptop with a platter drive. You'll be amazed.

 

I want my lappy...

 

New status: Phase 3 (Sent to Custom Painting / Skinning Department)

I didn't order custom painting/skinning so hopefully it bumps to p4 quickly Unless it includes the 95% matte screen upgrade. I do like to see movement though!

SSD's are pretty amazing. Just remember, don't benchmark those things daily, as it will wear them out much more quickly. Besides, do you really need to know how much faster than instant you are?

 

I got the skinning and matte screen. I'll see you in a month, Yui :'-(

I was going to get a SSD...but think i'll wait and ask for one for my bday

 

Sorry for being a noob, but what does benchmarking mean? Monitoring and recording the speed? Is that like the in physics where by simply observing something it can influence the results?

 

Yeah its just measuring the performance of whatever (SSD, GPU, etc.) under certain conditions