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

have had my 8170 for about 5 months now, and had my first real scare. not quite a bsod, in fact, not quite sure what it was. i was in thunderbird and doing some web browsing, so no heavy load. then the laptop not only became unresponsive, but the screen became blurry, as if i had just been painting and then turned a hose on what i'd been painting, and all the paint started to drip and merge and what had been on screen (again i was using thunderbird) became unreadable. at first thought the unresponsiveness might be due to a problem with my ssd, but couldn't see how that would affect the graphics. after a couple of minutes, i decided to do a hard power off, and rebooted, which went fine. just wondered what the hell happened. looked at event viewer, and the only error was a CAPI 4107 error, but couldn't figure out how that might led to what happened.

 

I have had the same issue. I upgraded the graphic driver and then it went away.
I think it happened when I entered a website with flash, so the graphic card turned on the 3D clocks. I have turned off hardware acceleration for flash, might have been that which solved it for me, too.

Now the only problem is that you seem to have a Nvidia graphic card and I have an AMD...

 

Merry Christmas to all my 8170 brothers user

 

Been having a slight issue hooking it up to the t.v via a HDMI cable. Finding I lose a small portion of the screen on every side. For example, I see about half of the Fraps FPS counter in the top left and roughly half of the large "V" for the Civilization V desktop icon on the side. Anyone had similar issues that knows the fix?

 

Do you have another HDMI cable handy to try out (preferably another brand/model)? That fixes a vast majority of HDMI related issues. Also, overscan can be set on the TV so you may need to go through the Nvidia control panel and do a custom screen resolution if you can't force your TV to fit the input.

 

Make sure your TV is in "show all pixels" mode. Many sets default to 5% overscan that will cut off the ends of your image.

Ira

 

Hey fellas! My names Chris. I just joined the forum, as I am looking to order up a 8170 from XoticPC tomorrow. I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions so I thought I would introduce myself now. I'll be deploying to the middle east soon and I need something with good power to get me through this next deployment. I'm hoping a 8170/ i7/Vertex3/ 6990m will do the trick!

 

Thank you so much for what you are doing for this country. I am a retired Navy Chief. I ordered the 8170 about 9 months ago and it has taken all I could throw at it. Lots of power and screen real estate in a relatively small package. Enjoy it and keep yer head low.

 

Alright Chief! Thanks! And it's my pleasure. Someone has to keep this country safe! Plus, I heard the desert is nice this time of year

I'll be talking to Michael S from XoticPC later today. So far he has been of much help to me. I ask him all kinds of questions about these Sager laptops and he seems to be an expert on them. I am in no way affiliated with XoticPC, I'm just saying, thus far they seem to have great customer service. In today's day and age, that is saying A LOT!!!

I said I would have lots of questions, so I'll start with this one. How do you guys like the fingerprint reader? I once had a HP C2D laptop with a FP reader and it worked really well actually. I miss having one.

 

i just recently noticed (2 days ago) that after i shutdown my laptop and unplugged it to move it out of the way- both front power LED indicators remained lit orange - indicating the ac/dc cord is plugged in and the battery is charging... they essentially never shut off.

anyone have any experience with this?

 

They should be off after a while...

 

hey, its my first post here. Umm i have a 3D np8170~s Sager laptop that i bought from xotic around 5 months ago. Well i have not updated the bios since i first got it and was looking around which lead me to the site updates clevo thread. Anyways, my problem is that im getting the error "rom file romid is not compatible with existing bios romid" when im updating through a dos usb flash drive. I have already updated the EC/KBC to V 1.00.09 with no problems at all. It sjust once i got to updating to BIOS 1.01.10 where i hit that snag.

any help is much appreciated, ty.

all retrieved from here :
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/416916-clevo-bios-thread.html

update: my bios version is 1.01.05 currently which means i may have updated to a clevo bios on there by accident, seeing as there doesnt seem to be any sager form of that bios, when i first got it but my splash screen is still sager when i first start it up so im confused.

 

Hi, I just bought GTA4 on sale and getting bad fps with the following 2630qm and 6970m. Is getting high 20s on default setting normal? anyways to fix it?

 

Just bought my first gaming laptop, a NP8170, from PowerNotebooks.com. I'm amazed at how quickly they responded to my questions and worked with me. Now I can't wait to see Battlefield 3 in all its glory...

 

I'm considering the Sager NP8170 3D from GenTechPC but I've heard Sager's BIOS is locked so I cannot overclock my CPU and GPU. Is that true? I was wanting the i7-2960xm only because of the unlocked multiplier it has. But if Sager BIOS prevents overclock, then there is no point in choosing the i7-2960xm and I can save $520 by going with the i7-2860qm instead.

Is it possible to disable some CPU cores in the BIOS? If so, how many cores can be disabled? The main game I play, Morrowind, is single-threaded and only uses up to 100% of one CPU core and up to 0% of 2,3,4 cores.

I did email GenTechPC with these questions last week and they haven't replied. Maybe they are ignoring me. I'll send them another email. But in the mean time, I want to hear what you guys think since you folks actually own Sager NP8170 laptops. Thanks!

 

I'm using an 8170 I purchased from Xotic back in April. Best laptop I've ever owned.

The only issue I'm having is heat on both the CPU(2720QM) and GPU(485M) at stock speed. The ambient temp in my home is between 21-24C. My GPU temps originally hovered around 43C idle and peeked at over 100C with the IC7 from the factory.

After applying IC7 numerous times since, I've gotten it down to 40C idle and 96C peek. I have not repasted my CPU yet but I've seen the temp get as high as 90C. This is also with a cheapo notebook cooler and Fn+1.

I've literally read through hundreds of pages in this thread and see people reporting GPU temps peeking around 80-85C, with some people even lower. How is this being accomplished? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Additional info below.

CPU/peek temp 2720QM/90C using Fn+1
GPU/peek temp 485M/96C using Fn+1
IC7 Thermal Compound
Targus Lap Chill Mat AWE55US
All fans/vents free of dirt and dust

Applications used for testing.
CPUID HW Monitor, MSI Afterburner, MSI Kombustor

 

Hi guys, Im back here to ask you something.

I have an EUROCOM P170HM that came with that shi**y LG screen.
Im travelling back to US and I want to upgrade my screen. Everybody talks about that AUO screen with 95% NTSC Display. Where can I find it to buy separately? Whats the price? Is it hard for me to remove and switch my screen?
I have a lot of experience with desktop hardware, but not with laptop. Right now I just open my laptop to clean.

And more important, this switch can be done normally or I will need some adapter or new cable?

I have a 4Gb 1600 ram too, and Im thinking of buying one more.

Thank you.


EDIT:
Another question, my brother is building one P170HM to buy, and want to know which graphic card is the best for the money now?
Mine is a 6970M. Is the 6990M better on overall? Its more 70$.
Or its better to get a NVIDIA 560M or 580M?

Also, mine has an Intel 2720QM, but nowadays there are other options, which one is better 2760QM or 2670QM its 160$ cheaper.
Which is best for the money?

 

Please remember that the 3D model has a different BIOS than the NON 3D model. 1.01.05 is the latest 3D model bios. You can use the same EC between the two but not the BIOS. So you are up to date =)

 

The BIOS isn't locked by Sager, its locked by Clevo. So no matter where you get one you won't be able to OC the 3D version, so I would roll with the 2760/2860.

Disabling cores in the BIOS? No you can't, but you can disable them on the boot command line:

Multicore CPU: how to disable a core | Kioskea.net

I would just leave the cores alone personally, w7 does a good job managing things properly to allow for turbo-boost to work. Even for single threaded things.

 

I just flashed a modded bios to my acer 6920g that unlocked a bunch of things that I needed. Is there is a way to mod one for the np8170? anyone?

That would really unleash the potential of this notebook.

 

well, after about six months with the 8170, i've just had my first bsod. not quite sure what happened. i was doing some text processing, and that's about it. i left the laptop for a while, and when i returned, it had rebooted. when i started windows, it reported that there was a bsod. again, i'm suspicious about my ssd, which i've had for almost two months, but not sure how to pinpoint it. i posted a few days ago about an event in which the laptop became unresponsive and the screen very blurry but was not a bsod and where i did a hard power off and reboot. so the two events may be related or maybe not.

 

Try running WhoCrashed and posting the crash dump here.

Resplendence Software - WhoCrashed, automatic crash dump analyzer

It will list the information regarding the BSOD and help pinpoint the cause. If it's the first BSOD you've had in 6 months, it's probably just a fluke though.

 

I am thinking about ordering one of these machines. I have a few questions if people don't mind answering them.

1. How do they hold up over time quality wise?

2. Are there generally lots of problems with these?

3. How is the repair policy if something does go wrong?

4. How is the cooling? Do they generally run cool? Warm? Hot?

My biggest concern is that I will be using this laptop for business (lots of RAM for Photoshop and a good graphics card for video and possible 3D work) and if it goes down, I will possibly be out of luck for a long time while it is getting repaired.

Any help given would be great. Thanks!

 

The Sager NP8170 is a very reliable laptop, and the Sager support and warranty service is US based and is very good as well. In addition, if you buy from certain resellers, like PowerNotebooks.com or Xoticpc, you will have lifetime 24-7 Toll Free Telephone Support, instead of just online support.

However if this is your professional, mission critical, laptop you should always have a spare, no matter what brand or model you buy. There is always the possibility of failure, and you need to be prepared for that.

The Sager NP8170 has one of the best cooling systems in the industry...heat is really not an issue.

 

1. My friend is still using his old clevo from 2-3 years ago and still working fine (old hdd died already same with the battery), never been sent out for repair as well.

2. got mine for over a month already and still working like new.
3. from what I've read here the repair policies are quite good but you'd need to ship your laptop to either malibal or sager (depending on the reseller)
4. mine runs much cooler than my old HP c2d laptop and Lenovo w500 with much better specs and a high end gpu (my older ones were more medium level cards).

and yes they run very cool, no heat on the keyboard/chassis area. little heat on the vents when gaming.

for your concern in case there's a problem and it needs to be repaired, It's more of an investment really. I always have a backup machine that I know Could run the minimum requirements of what I need to do. this would be a problem anyway on any brand of laptop (unless maybe it's a toughbook lol).

 

There are a variety of reviews in this thread that may be of assistance to you.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...607872-clevo-sager-notebook-review-index.html

 

omg lol <3 thx. guess no intel xtu for me though :[

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I am seriously leaning towards getting one of these. They look like amazing machines. I may have to just get a cheapo machine that can run my programs just in case the Sager need service.

 

they are, much easier to clean as well as the fan and heatsinks are easily accessible. I tried to watch a teardown vid for my HP so i could clean the fan and replace the thermal paste... I stopped watching the video when the guy started to remove the keyboard so he could access more screws (that was after he removed like 12 screws from the back, wifi, harddisk etc).

 

Finally solved my issue. I took apart all heat sinks and fans, scrubbed them with a soft toothbrush and put them back together. My GPU is now idling at 36C and peeking at 68C. Apparently they weren't as clean as I originally thought.

 

Hi,
one of my key has broken off "T" . I look closely on the retainer clip and I saw 1 hook is broken. :-( How to fix this?

 

If the actual retaining clip on the keyboard is broken (and the key is fine), you may have to look at buying either a full replacement keyboard. It doesn't sound like a replacement key will help, depending on how it broke.

 

Can you post a picture of this ?
_

 

By jointmatrix at 2012-01-01

By jointmatrix at 2012-01-01

By jointmatrix at 2012-01-01

 

^^^^So what is the condition of the T key itself?

From what I see in the pictures is that a good key will snap right on your keyboard.
_

 

Agreed, it looks like it wasn't the keyboard but the scissor part of the key that broke. A new one should pop right into place if you remove that old plastic piece.

 

The "T" itself is in good condition. Yes I put it back on but whenever I press the key, it pops out. The broken clip on the bottom left I believe holds the key, so if I press the right part of the key "T" it tilts and then snaps off. Its the retainer clip itself is broken. Can I replace? Is it covered in warranty? :-( thanks

 

Hi, sorry for posting it again.

I have an EUROCOM P170HM that came with that shi**y LG screen.
Im travelling back to US and I want to upgrade my screen. Everybody talks about that AUO screen with 95% NTSC Display.

Where can I find it to buy separately? Whats the price? I saw here some MALIBAL and SAGER posts, can you sell these screens separatly?
Is it hard for me to remove and switch my screen? I have a lot of experience with desktop hardware, but not with laptop. Right now I just open my laptop to clean.

Thanks

 

I would order one from screentaipei.

It's guaranteed to be the correct screen (AUO B173HW01 V.4), and with zero dead pixels.

btw it's a 90% display; the 95% display is in the P150HM.

Switching out screens is really simple. There's a thread on doing it somewhere in the forum. I'll try to find it for you.

 

Thanks.
But this store is from Taiwan, right?

Since I'm going to US, I was wondering to buy there.
Because I will stay in US only 15 days, and I don't think it will arrive soon, also I don't know US import tax policy.
I'm from Brazil and here if Custom tax your mail, you have to pay 100% more.

Just another doubt, the V7 is matte and the V4 is glossy?
Also I was afraid if I would need some other part because of some difference on screens.

 

Have you talked to your reseller about getting the screen replaced?

 

EUROCOM is from Canada. And when I bought they didn't work with AUO screens.
I was expecting to find a reseller from US.

 

I'm interested in spending about $1800 total on this laptop. I initially wanted an asus g74sx but it seems like I will get a better deal buying an NP8170.

To the current owners:

1) Which reseller would you recommend I do business with? I live in the contiguous U.S. Discounts would be a big plus.

2) Does the laptop come installed with bloatware?

3) I'm thinking of getting an ati 6990m and an i7 2670 with 8 gb DDR3 1600MHz ram. Would there be concerns of bottlenecking with this combination?

4) Would GTA 4 maxed out play well?

 

1. lpc-digital, xotic-pc, mythlogic and powernotebooks are the most famous resellers here. I suggest checking their websites and sending email inquiries for discounts and options that you may need.

2. nope, can even come without an O.S. , seriously though aside from drivers there are literally 0 bloatware

3. no need to go 1600MHz, 1333 is more than enough and you won't feel any difference to 1600MHz in gaming.

you'd bottleneck the GPU first before the processor and the ram for gaming.

4. sorry no idea, never played the game.

 

Guys, I'm wanting to order the Satori P170HM from Malibal. Is there a discount I can get?
Oh, and does anybody know what type/name/brand/model motherboard is used in the P170HM? Or what platform is used? Somebody must know. Thanks.

 

Anyone know of a place that sells skins that will fit the lid?

 

Guys, is 580m better than 485m? I know some peeps from another forum who have the 485m experiencing problems with the drivers. My laptop just came back from Sager today, and it came back with 580m instead of my 485

What's going on?

 

The 580m is better than the 485m. The 580m is nvidia's current generation top of the line mobile gpu, whereas the 485m is last generation's top of the line gpu.

 

What he said. Average performance improvement is in the range of 15%.

 

@xkeen - wow free upgrade? lucky bro