Sager NP8651 / Clevo P650SE with GTX 970m First Look

What other parts were in the machine different like SSDs/HDDs?

The LCD will account for 30-40 minutes of the difference going by your tests.

 

Yeah LCDs are only a major source when you are looking at i5 ULV, or Atom or such processors (not that they are irrelevant but not enough to make that difference).

My guess is it is a lot of little things. You have 2 more fans, different speakers, (screen might be an extra watt), also I believe that w230ss had a 4810 which may have ended up running at a different step during the specific movie loop you used, it also probably is slightly more efficient due to the better binning.

 

W230SS has Plextor M5M 256GB, 960GB Crucial M500, 2x8GB DDR3 2133, i7-4810MQ, GTX 860m
P650EM has Crucial MX100 512GB, 2x8GB DDR3 1600, i7-4710HQ, GTX 970m

W230SS is actually almost 6 hours battery life in such scenario. In any case you're talking at least two hours or 60%-70% more battery life.

 

Is it at all possible that the battery needs a break in period and may increase in life over the next few days?

 

No. Batteries don't work that way. I will look at a couple different things. I will run a wi-fi test tonight too.

 

Thanks. We have a lot of downtime working in surgery at the start of the year. Definitely need to know the wifi life with maybe 30% brightness?

 

Hi HTWingnut,
Really appreciate your review You did an amazing job:thumbsup:. Wanted to know how different is Clevo P651SE (Schenker XMG P505) from Clevo P650 which you have? Cause NBC gave an amazing review (P651) with regards to gaming but the surface temperature seems like a buzz kill.

 

This thing runs a lot cooler than I ever expected. The performance is looking to be about 50% faster than a heavily overclocked 860m, and about 70-75% faster than a stock one. I will be sure to include some surface temperatures, but I didn't notice anything significant while gaming so far.

 

The only difference between p650sx and p651sx is one has brushed finish and the other has sandblasted finish on the aluminum. other than that they are identical.

Individual manufacturers may make other changes like type of display, HDD, SSD, WiFi, CPU, RAM, etc... but none of these are reflected in the numbering.

Clevo=Brand
p=Performance (Thanks jaybee83)
6=laptop series
5=15", 7=17"
0=brushed finish, 1=sandblasted
S=unknown
E=970m, G=980m

Edit: fixed I had written X instead of G for the 980m sorry its the gigabyte that uses X for 980m

 

that is cool! (pun intended).
this seems like to be a perfect machine, if only an IPS was given as a default .

 

If the initial power draw results are accurate, the web browsing might result in at least 4 hours battery life. 1080p video seems to draw 3-4W more over light browsing.

 

That would be correct as 1080p video playing would always be more intensive.

 

I thought the P650/1SG was for the 980M? It's X instead?

 

X is just a placeholder. SE = 970m / SG = 980m

 

When do you think you'll have the full review up by HT? Sucks the 980m variant isn't out yet, would have loved to see a comparison w/ the p35x, since right now people are deeming the cooling more proficient on the clevo though they keep forgetting its on the 970, though w/ 2 fans I don't doubt it would still meet or beat the other. Curious what mods might come out for this.

We also have information on the new P751ZM according to their fb page they might have it up for preorder later today/tomorrow so hopefully more information on that.

 

Gotta admit, actually kind of tempted to pick up the 980M version (if Sager ever releases one) and see just how far it can be pushed aka overclocked to within an inch of its life.

 

2 problems with that, last I saw Prema was having trouble getting the Bios to allow extreme OC (this could have changed by now)
and another big problem is it has a 180w power supply and the connector does not match other clevo models. Theoretically you could make your own power supply or maybe they will come out with a larger one someday, but for now 180w is max, and you really can't OC very much within that limit (probably the easy +135mhz OC, but more will be tough)

Edit: HTWingNut later in thread reports other more powerful Power supplies work!!!

 

180W power supply WUT

Same thing with the Gigabyte P35 right? Godamn that sucks bad. CPU undervolting will shave 5-7W tops, and turning down LCD brightness might be another 2W, for a grand total of maybe close to 10W if I'm extremely lucky. Ugh.

 

And realistically unless you add an HDD, lots of RAM, USB cooler etc... you will probably only hit 170w before undervolting. So you might be able to squeeze out as much as 20w leeway after undervolting and such. Definitely not enough to try anything extreme though.

 

Guys i never tried this but why not connect a 230w ac adapter from the previous models (if they have the same connection to the laptop)?

 

It uses a different connector. I asked Mythlogic if it would work with a 200-240w power supply, and they said it was a different connector than the other Clevo laptops.

Edit: HTWingNut later in thread reports other more powerful Power supplies work!!!

 

I'll wait for HTWingNut's full review and see what the power draw is like. 980M + 4710HQ at stock is already 147W, which really leaves very little headroom for the PSU.

The alternative would be the P750ZM/P770ZM but since it uses LGA 1150 anything other than 4790K will be less than awesome. :/

 

You would think if they gave the 970M a 180W PSU, they would give the 980M variant a slightly bigger PSU. SIgh. So why is the 980M version like 4mm thicker then, if it has no extra battery and the same cooling?

 

P stands for Performance / W for Work / X for Extreme and so on....basically the type of application the specific model was intended for by Clevo.

Concerning the PSU, first a question to HTWingnut: Is the connector the same barrel type thats used on the P150 models?

If thats the case then its no big issue to just use this adapter cable right here to connect the Alienware/Dell 240W PSU with the machine and go for broke@overclocking

Also, my system builder Schenker changed their stock configuration for the SE (970M) model to the 180W PSU and the SG (980M) model has a "tba" written in the PSU area. soooooo according to this theres actually hope that theyre potentially gonna upgrade the stock psu for the 980M to a Clevo 220/230W PSU model, now wouldnt that be just dandy?

 

Hey everyone, I have 980M & 180W power PSU - how would you like me to test power consumption?

I have seen that the 980M will scale back its boost clocks in the most demanding games (not all) but I'm unsure whether this is due to running out of power or simply a case of the VBIOS playing up - I recall that my Clevo P170SM with 230W PSU used to have the same behaviour before I flashed it with sl7's modded VBIOS.

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

hm did u check the temps? i remember some nvidia cards have some pretty restrictive max temp envelope with their stock vbios, thus starting to throttle from their max. boost clock from 70-75C onwards...

of course it could also be that its power target is just maxxed out...

btw, nice rig u got there buddy, enjoy! and looking forward to ur wattage results

 

It will take several days to a week because running benches, compiling data and creating charts and images, and of course actually writing the review. Will post it as soon as I can because I have to because I'm going on vacation in a couple weeks and no way I will leave without it being done!

It's a 180W PSU, and 147W is FROM THE WALL which means 10-15% efficiency difference, so 147W ~ 125-130W which leaves quite a bit of room for overclock. Granted with 980m you don't want it pushing the limits of the PSU all the time.

The connector is same barrel type 5.5mm/2.5mm and I tried it on my W230SS and it fits and charges and works, and tried my W230SS PSU on the P650SE and it works too. I also use that same connector you linked for the 230W Dell (Delta) PSU and it seems to work fine on the P650SE. So there are options. Just note that the Delta power supply is 19.5V, the stock one for the P650SE is 19V. It should be safe, but just a word of caution.

 

perfect, thanks a lot for the info wingnut in that case i can just keep my current Dell 240W and use it for my new rig

 

That would be great as I have loads of dell PSU's knocking around (150, 240 and 330w)

 

You guys are not posting fast enough in this thread, for me to read.

I'm dying to find out more about these p651/650 models with 980m in particular. I'm looking to upgrade from my current rig to either a p651/0 or p157 with 980m, just not sure to which.

 

So if the 970m model is ~1300$ how much can we expect the 980m model to be? ~1600$?

 

in my case it was a 318€ upgrade compared to the 970M, so yeah u can pretty much translate that 1:1 into dollars, basically a 300$ upgrade more or less

to make your confusion perfect: go ahead and check out the P75xZM if u ask me, its not worth it to jump onto a P150/P170 model at the moment. either u want portability/thin form factor, then go grab a P65xSx or go for the P75xZM if u want exchangeable (desktop!) CPU and MXM gpu. crazy thing is: the ZM is actually THINNER than a P150 at 36 to 43mm im seriously thinking about whether i should cancel my current order and wait for the ZM....gotta have some ETA and pricing first, though!

 

I posted this in the other review thread but I'll put it here just in case.

Great News! BF4 and Titanfall are free to play for 7 days. Great games for benchmarks.

https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/free-games/game-time

 

Browsing battery test resulted in 4hrs 38minutes

 

good to see that there was an improvement

 

If you mod the cable then yes you could use the 240W (the 330W would be a bit over kill).

 

who knows, maybe he wants to ninja his p65xSx and solder a 4940mx cpu onto the mobo

 

The thinness of the ZM scares me tbh, almost feels like they engineered the machine to be "just good enough" for stock and is leaving 0 headroom for thermals or power. 230W PSU is not going to cut it when you push that 4790K to 4.5GHz even with the 980M at stock.

 

thats why we always have the option to go for a 330w clevo psu why else are we in this community? theres always a ways *mwahahahaha*

besides, there must be a good reason why the ZM is 300g heavier than the p150 even though its slimmer. im betting on lots of extra copper for cooling

 

Nvidia BatteryBoost with FPS set at 35, balanced power profile, ran 1hr 10mins in Battlefield 4 multiplayer with high settings preset, before I got a 10% low battery warning message. Solid 35FPS throughout, and temps were 67F CPU and 54F GPU.

By the way I have been updating the first post with this info as I go as well.

 

So is there a 17" version coming soon of this laptop and anyone know when? This looks fantastic and would order today if it was available with a larger screen.

 

Scan UK have 17 version for configuration. ETA December 2014

 

Thanks. Will check it out and hopefully US sellers will have the same ETA or sooner!

update: link below if anyone interested

http://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator/17in-gaming-laptop-geforce-970m-980m

 

This is cool . Now, if only they had 8GB vRAM... option...

 

8 or 6 would be good, but i dont know, if anyone should
Bud Light

 

How would this compare to your "Serenity?"

 

At some point there are some realities with potential and regulation that have to be addressed.

BTW ... anyone remember the 1st gen XBox 360? +12VDC at a whopping 26A?

 

The configurator seems to have only one M2 drive and two 'regular' drives..I was hoping for two M2s

Also, one question mark about this model is the battery capacity. From what I see most resellers are listing a 60Wh battery, which is what the 15" model has. But this would probably translate in quite short battery runtime, I'm hoping this is a typo and the actual battery will be bigger. I even wrote Clevo asking them that, but they replied that the model is not public yet (?) so they can't give any specs.

 

afaik the 17" indeed equals the 15" in battery capacity...

 

Sorry but ressellers posted a copy paste of the 15" specifications for the 17", there are NO infos whatsoever on those version now, we just know that the 17" version exists and ETA for the 970 and 980M version is during December .

my guess, AFTER november 25th we'll have those infos.