*** Official Sager NP8170/Clevo P170HM Owners Lounge ***

If the hard drives are both standard SATA II mechanical HDDs anyway,
Why would there be a negating of the raid 0?

Say I did slot 1 (or 0, depending on whatever) is SDD at 6gb/s
while slots 2+3 are raid 0 500gb 7200RPM 3gb/s HDD.

 

My two week old Satori P170HM stats:

BIOS 1.01.07 aNS1

KBC/EC firmware rev 1.00.05 SA1

 

Besides which, RAID with SSD's doesn't support TRIM, which can drastically lower performance on it's own. When they get that sorted out, it'll be a beastly performance bump though.

 

Beastly and totally unneeded, lol

Mr. Mysterious

 

long-time lurker, first-time poster. i just got my 8170 a couple of days ago. not quite a sager noob, since i'm coming from a 5690 (acquired more than 7 years ago!). after suffering through the infamous hinge problem, a couple of keycaps falling off, and a cooling system that lately seems to be dying or have died on me, i considered other options (the usual suspects, asus, dell, lenovo, etc.), but the sager package still seemed compelling in terms of the performance/buck basis.

so far so good. the build quality is respectable. i was pleasantly surprised by the fan noise. i was expecting shrieking cutting on and off randomly, but at idle it's very quiet, and even under load (after 10 minutes of FURMARK) it was still quiet. i got the stock glossy screen (i figured i could put in an improved screen on my own if something really good came out), and it is quite reflective, but the viewing angles are (to me) not too bad. it's the hannstar hsd173puw (there's a recent favorable ANANDTECH review of it though on a G73). i'm not a gamer, so i haven't done much benchmarking except FURMARK for the thermal performance (after 10 mins, GPU temps were stabilizing at 80-81C - i've got the 2720 CPU, 560 GPU, and stock IC paste from the factory). the audiospeakers are not great even with THX and fn+5 and speakers set to stereo, but not a dealbreaker. i have to get used to the placement of the keyboard and especially the touchpad (quite often, my finger is not even on the touchpad so i think i'm clicking but nothing happens). from the sandy bridge hype, i was thinking that i would be blown away by the performance, but so far not quite sure i can characterize it as such; of course, it's definitely better than the 5690 that it replaces. still i haven't yet put it through its paces, so i'll reserve judgment on this. one disappointment was that the 3-in-1 reader does not take a CF card, but i should have looked more closely at the specs - again not a dealbreaker.

as for the buying experience, i got it from LPC-digital. it was two weeks between ordering and having it in my hands (ground shipping). the only glitch was that i ordered it with Windows 7 Prof but got Home Premium instead (chalk another one up for Sager quality control process). since they said that i'd have to send it back in to correct the mistake, i decided to keep the Home Premium and they'd refund the difference in cost. larry at LPC was pretty responsive (though more so to phone calls than to e-mails).

so overall, pretty positive so far, and it looks like a keeper. now to start obsessing about an SSD.

 

May I suggest you get either an Intel or Crucial SSD?

Mr. Mysterious

 

Welcome Aboard!

I too am lusting over an SSD. I think the price point is about ready to drop by the Fall, and bam-I'm there. Let us know when & what you get, "no more lurking about"

BTW, there are some smart folks trolling around on this forum, ask stuff, as we all get an education from each others questions and the subsequent responses.

 

I dont troll. I hunt.

Mr. Mysterious

 

Interesting. I wonder if Clevo has fully made the switch, away from the horrible LG model.

The Hannstar LCD is a very good screen.

 

how can you tell which screen you have again?

 

Start button > system info

Mr. Mysterious

 

Mine doesn't show up there.

I just use HWiNFO32, select Monitor, and it will tell you everything.

 

Cool, thanks; I'm showing the LG monitor- though I had received my unit a few months ago. I still feel the screen quality is great- a huge step from a traditional HP monitor haha

 

yes, i thought that clevo might be using different screens. so it might be helpful when someone posts something about the quality of the screen to indicate which screen they have. you can use hwinfo or you (or at least i) can see it in the nvidia control panel when you can click on the change resolution to check which screen is being used (of course, this assumes that all of this info can be trusted).

 

Oh look....



Hmm, I see something.

 

Ooh, I see something too. They're putting a full size desktop GTX 580 in the P170HM...

 

*sigh* here comes another waiting games ..

 

Yes it is in the manuals too,

 

how do you put such a powerful gpu in a notebook? do you always have to be plugged in to use it? 0.o or is the clock speed and voltages downsized. In any case looks like extreme power and loss of battery life

 

As Nana Rosanna Dana used to say:" it's always something" (-Gilda Radner)

Now it is a more robust GPU. Then it will be..... We have to jump aboard at some point. Like I mentioned in a previous post, the best time to get a new piece of tek is NEVER, as there will always be that announcement just xx days after you take delivery so that now your Uber-Tek is not so much with the Uber anymore.

Personally, I look for the sweet spot, tek that has been around just long enough that the price has begun to sag. Recently this has been with the 2nd Gen i7's and even more recently (for me at least) the GTX 460M morphing into the GTX 560M with a little more GDDR5 memory. Bam, it was time for me.

Having the latest is cool, but it will not last. Then there is the other side of this equation, when it comes time to get another one:"but the one I am replacing cost so much" it then becomes a hindrance that it cost so much.

If you are totally bucks up- never mind!

 

I've got:

Monitor Name: AUO B173HW01 V4

 

It's a 6990m by name, by no means in comparison with a desktop 6990m. It will be within same 100W TDP envelope as the 6970m or GTX 485m and 580m. It most likely will just be a higher clocked 6970m. Something to trump the 580m. Leapfrogging bit by bit is all they tend to do.

 

One Question! If I order the 8170 with 560M, can I upgrade to 485M later? A little short on money at the moment.

 

Yes, you can upgrade your GPU to anything that is currently being offered.

 

Yes, you can. The P170HM currently supports up to the GeForce GTX 580M. So, your current upgrade options on the P170HM would be the 485M or 580M.

 

Yes you can! To any video card you see offered right now...and more...
_

 

what about 570m when will it be offered? is the upgrade to 570m from 560m around usd 250 max?

 

Upgrading later can sometimes rival the cost of an entire new laptop. Unless you absolutely need the laptop now and have nothing else to use then it is better to wait until you have enough money to buy it with the GPU you really want.

 

I just re-installed windows 7 and am having problems with my display. My start menu and task bar are kinda messed up and I have noticed that they both have a shimmering effect if you look really close instead of the glass effect I had before.
After I noticed this problem I tried different versions of drivers for my 6970m and have had no luck fixing it

I have also noticed a 'shimmering' effect in a few movies that I was watching, so it isn't just a problem with the task bar settings but it is not as pronounced.


also I can post a screenshot if needed, but I am not sure weather or not the problem would be visible to everyone else but let me know!

 

Anybody playing "The Witcher 2" out there on the 485m at all? How is that holding up/running in terms of FPS and detail settings?

 

Hello group! My system shows my monitor as a Generic PnP. I have used the tools you have mentioned and that is all the info I have.

 

Sorry I did not mention. P170HM 2630QM, 8GB DDR3, GTX 560M, SSD 120 SATA3, 6300 Ultimate, LCD-FHD. I did not upgrade to the better display.

 

Why not download and install the trial below to tell you more. This is the updated Everest report on your system, now called AIDA64.

Downloads | AIDA64

or

Download AIDA64 Extreme Edition v1.80 (.EXE Package) | techPowerUp
_

 

Thanks that worked. My Monitor is LG Philips LP173WF1-TLC1.

 

I play it at 1920 x 1080 with a mixture of medium and low settings and it looks great running anywhere from 40-50+ fps. I have room to increase settings but feel there is no need. The game is perfectly smooth. The GTX 485M is a great GPU!

 

Hey, I have an old Sony Handycam that can use the IEEE 1394 connection. The camcorder is so old that win7 is not supported via the USB driver. Just tried to connect via 1394 but nothing happens. Does anybody have an idea how to connect this old camcorder to win 7?

thanks!

 

Can someone tell us when the NDA ends, on the new AMD graphics card?

Medium and low?

I run it on Ultra preset, with Ubersampling and SSAO off.

 

Me too, and with a 6970. And got pretty playable FPS.

 

@Kevin and bodosko

How many FPS you both got when playing Witcher 2 ?

 

After using this laptop for several months, there is still just one thing that throws me off every now and then: the front speakers that are activated with you fn + 5.

There seems to be an emphasis on the left hand speaker, probably because the speaker opening is so much larger on that side. Usually you can't notice it, but sometimes it becomes perceptible when playing specific videos.

 

Has anyone here tried the 8.17.12.6849 nVidia drivers found on Sager site?

Software Upgrade
_

 

New bios (1.01.07) for Clevo P170HM

- Updated Intel RAID ROM to 10.5.0.1034

ftp://cftp.clevo.com.tw/ALLBIOS/P170HM/P17HM_107.zip

 

Hey RS, I too have an old Sony Camcorder (DSC-TRV10-waay old) that uses FireWire to ingest video to the computer. I use Adobe's Premiere Pro as my ingest engine. And, my FireWire worked to download my mini-DV tapes right away.

I am not sure what you are referring to when you mention Win7 & USB driver as regards using FireWire though. My Sony Handycam does not have USB connectivity, only FireWire.

Are you just connecting the camcorder via FireWire and seeing if something pops up (via Windows going out and finding something) that will enable you to download the video from the tape? I think I have seen some freeware apps that will give you a simple download ability and if I find them I will pvt email you with the URLs.

What editing program are you using?

 

No, I am using Preimere pro and connecting via firewire (IEEE 1394) and have no luck getting the video to the computer.

 

FireWire capture: i found a couple of candidates for you to investigate RS.....

Video Capture Master 7.0.1.26 Download

Blaxton Video Capture 1.1.0 Download

Let us know how this works out please?

 

Oops, I should have refreshed my page so I would see that you have already answered with your ingest software.

That is different. What version of PPro are you using? I went right to CS5.5 when I got this computer a few weeks ago, and, like I posted, capture worked perfectly through my F/W port. Is it possible that your port is INOP?
Do you have anything else FireWire so you can determine the status of your port? I am certain you have considered already how up to date your F/W drivers are?

I take it that you have used FireWire capture with this camera and cable before? Got a spare cable? Anybody you know have a computer that you could test your camera with? At this point it is the old elimination game. As I have found so often (besides "it's always something" ) using the K.I.S.S. principle seems to be the right approach. So I highly recommend that you eliminate the cable, camera and port before changing anything driver-centric. Advise!!

 

any suggestions on my display problem i mentioned a few pages ago?

 

I just tested it on the Ultra Preset with Ubersampling and SSAO disabled and it still plays just as smoothly. I didn't expect it to look that much better but wow!

Edit: Ultra preset enables AA which is unnecessary at 1920 x 1080 so I have also disabled that. It also enables Vsync which I never use.

 

What are your GPU idle and temps under load?

 

I played crysis 2 for about 4-5 hours and I don't think it got above 82 (measured with cupid hardware monitor) I know that was a little high, so I hit fn+1 and that kept it cool - around 70 I think.
There were a couple of times playing modern warfare 2 that the temp spiked past 90 (which was odd) but I have an alarm set when it goes past that so I can cool it down when needed, so it wasn't over 90 for more than a few seconds.

looking at the idle temps now and it is 62/64 in the last 5 mins