Sager NP9370 / Clevo P370EM First Look and Review - WingNut Style! (LOTS OF IMAGES)

INDEX

INTRODUCTION
.. Review Unit Specs

GENERAL HARDWARE OVERVIEW
.. Overview
.. Software
.. LCD
.. Power Supply
.. Speakers and Audio
.. Storage Options
.. Keyboard

CPU and GPU
.. CPU: i7-3720QM
.. GPU: Dual SLI GTX 680m
.. Cooling System

BENCHMARK CONFIGURATION
.. Benchmark Settings
.. CPU Useage

-----> BENCHMARKS <-----
edit 9/30/2012: NOW WITH SLI OVERCLOCK BENCMARKS - GPU @ 800MHz / GPU vRAM @ 2300MHz

POWER AND HEAT
.. Power Draw
.. Peak Temperatures

BATTERY LIFE

CONCLUSION

intro INTRODUCTION AND SPECS

Clevo laptops have always been powerful, yet simply designed machines. Their lineup of laptops typically utilized a single dedicated GPU except for their desktop replacement line, like the X7200, that also used a desktop CPU. With Clevo's latest 17" laptop, the P370EM, which is offered through Sager as an NP9370, they have designed a machine with all mobile components and offered in nVidia SLI or AMD CrossfireX configurations. The NP9370 currently supports the latest GTX 680m and 7970m GPU's in a single or dual configuration.

LPC-Digital was kind enough to offer me one of their initial product samples to review and share my thoughts with you. I don't want to cheerleader LPC-Digital, but I have ordered two laptops from them so far and they have been very prompt, courteous, and offered the best pricing.

The NP9370 is designed as a game machine. It is really a competitor to Alienware's M18x considering the specs and options available. As with all my reviews, I hope to share an honest, unbiased, and objective analysis of this machine. I plan on offering plenty of hard benchmark results and leave subjective items to a minimum, although some things are hard to measure so I will do my best to put a measurable on it and at the very least, compare with my own personal Sager NP9150 (Clevo P150EM). I don't have access to an M18x for comparison, but I think there's enough information out there to make your own judgement.

specs REVIEW UNIT CONFIGURATION
17.3" 1920x1080 Matte Display
Intel i7-3720QM Quad Core CPU
Standard Thermal Paste / self added IC Diamond
DUAL (SLI) nVidia GTX 680m each with 4GB GDDR5
Intel 520 120GB SSD (added my own 256GB Crucial M4 SSD for additional storage for review)
16GB (4x4GB) Samsung DDR3 1600MHz
Blu-Ray Reader / DVDRW
Intel 6300 Wi-Fi
No Windows - I added Win 7 Pro x64
2 Year Warranty (will be available for purchase later - if I don't keep it )

At review time the cost of this unit as configured costs about $3100. A stock configured NP9370 will run you about $1700 with either a single 7970m or dual 670m's. Adding the SLI 680m will boost that cost by $900. Comparatively an NP9170 with a single 680m comparatively equipped will run you about $2400. So there is a fairly steep price premium for an SLI system, but you do get desktop GTX 680 or better performance. Not to mention a similarly spec'ed M18x will run you over $3600.

The machine can be configured with a single GPU if desired, so you can add an additional one later. Sager has stated that with a single GPU order, you will not get the second fan for the slave GPU. In question, however, is since the CPU relies partially on the slave GPU fan for cooling, what does this mean for CPU cooling without it?

What's in the box?
After your anxious wait for your laptop is over and you finally receive your dual GPU beast and unpack it, you will find a half dozen things in the box. The laptop of course (I hope) and power brick. A nice bag that barely accommodates the laptop, and will bulge out the side with the massive power brick, but hey at least it's portable right? Also in the package is a drivers DVD, owner's manual, and a micro fiber cloth.


generalhardware GENERAL HARDWARE OVERVIEW

overview Overview
For anyone familiar with Sager notebook PC's, you will also be very familiar with this machine. There are a few discerning differences however. The 17" notebooks typically came with a brushed metal lid and chassis, however the NP9370 comes with the rubberized finish found on the NP9150 laptops. But where that same rubberized wrist rest carries over to the touchpad on the NP9150, the NP9370 offers a gigantic Synaptics touchpad with a metal surface. There are no discernable buttons, however they are there and offer a satisfying click. Most users with this type of machine will use a mouse, no doubt, but I've been using the touch pad on this review unit a bit and have to say it manages general Windows manipulation without issue. One other different feature is chrome trim around the outboard GPU vents. Love it or hate it, it's definitely a new touch, personally I like it. The vents themselves area metal honeycomb mesh, and seems to allow proper airflow out the vents, at least peak temperatures are within reason.

The top lid with the LCD is plain with a matte bezel around the LCD. The hinges have good friction and seem very robust. This particular model came with no logo on the lid, making it a plain matte black. That is an option to remove it, otherwise it will come with the standard Sager logo.

The perimeter of the laptop is chock full of ports, and in the back even has nice chrome accents over the exhaust ports for the two GPU's. There's also a single USB 3.0 prot, HDMI and DisplayPort connections, as well as the power cord in the center. On the left side is the Kensington lock, ethernet, SD card and four audio ports: input, optical out, mic, headphone, and the optical drive. On the right side there's 3 USB 3.0 ports as well as a USB 3.0/eSATA port. Around to the front there's the power on, battery, wi-fi, and bluetooth indicator lights. The remainder of the indicator lights sits up on the top panel just beneath the LCD on the speaker grille across the top. When unlit these lights are rather unconspicuous, but a nice touch. They include the HDD, num lock, caps lock and scroll lock.






Underneath there's a panel with all the air intake slots for the fans and general cooling. The main lower panel is held on by four screws. An additional access panel has a single screw which houses two SATA drives. The battery is in the middle. A single subwoofer speaker is also underneath. Removing the bottom cover reveals the sexy nude innards of copper heatpipes, fan shrouds, heatsinks, two RAM slots, wi-fi card, mSATA slot, and the subwoofer.

Of course here is where the dual GPUs and CPU are housed. Each GPU gets their own fan and heatsink. The CPU fan sits directly on top of the CPU but just requires removal of a few screws to repaste. For whatever reason a heatpipe from the CPU also stretches out to the adjacent GPU heatsink and fan. And the SLI ribbon cable snakes across the bottom of the laptop to connect each GPU so they can talk to each other about synchronizing frames for uber performance.

All the primary components are easily replaceable. Each GPU requires removal of four screws that secure the heatsink/heatpipe plate. The CPU heatsink must be removed in order to remove the heatsink of the GPU that shares a fan with the GPU. Not a huge deal, it just will be a little extra cleaning and pasting if you want to just access the GPU's. I was able to remove, clean, repaste and reassemble the entire machine in less than 30 minutes, and that was taking my time. I could probably knock it out in under 20 minutes if needed.





software Software
Sager laptops come with a sparse software suite, but that's usually considered a good thing so as not to completely clutter your desktop, consume disk space, and slow your computer. But there are a few nice features available. For one there is the Clevo Control center which is accessed by pressing the Fn+Esc key. It gives you quick access to some of the more commonly used features like setting a power profile, screen brightness, volume, activating/deactivating the camera or wireless, switching the display or bringing up the keyboard backlight control. That is the other convenient software feature, the keyboard backlight control, easily accessed through the Clevo menu or simply pressing the Fn+Num/ key. Sould Blaster X-Fi MB2 software is also available that helps configure and improve the overall audio quality of your laptop.

Clevo Control Center



lcd LCD Display
This review machine came with the stock 72% gamut matte display and it is actually quite nice. It's listed as a Chi Mei 173HGE, although I believe they also have an AUO panel, which is just luck of the draw which one comes with your machine. Personally, limited viewing angles are one of my biggest pet peeves with laptops, but the horizontal are actually quite good, seems like at least 80 degrees. Vertical is not quite as tight, as the colors and brightness starts to shift at about 60 degrees. Brightness, contrast, and colors are quite vivid, and while you will likely not use this beast outside, it is useable in the shade on a bright sunny day, even at 40-50% brightness set on the screen. There were no dead or stuck pixels at all either.








psu Power Supply
I have never seen such a massive power supply for a laptop. I mean this 300W beast has a footprint of 8.25 x 4.5 inches (21 x 11.5cm) and is about 2 inches (5cm) thick. It's required for dual GPU power though, although the peak power consumption measured from the wall at stock speeds was 230W. This leaves some room open for overclocking of the CPU and GPU. As far as heat output from the PSU, after churning out 200-230W consistently, I could still comfortably pick up the PSU unit in my hand and not worry about scalding myself.

In the image below, ignore the dollar bill, it was for a top down shot but didn't work because was hard to differentiate between the two PSU's. This is the 300W that comes with the P370EM vs the 180W that comes with the P150EM.




audio Speakers and Audio
There has been a lot of contention about the audio quality of the NP9130/NP9150/NP9170. The NP9370 offers the same Onkyo speaker setup, 2 speakers + 1 subwoofer, but it also includes the Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2 software suite. There is clearly a louder and more rich sound coming from the NP9370 than the my NNP9150. It's difficult to compare, but running the same music through both the NP9150 and NP9370 the difference between the two was readily apparent. The bass response is pretty poor though. Cranking up U2's "Love and Peace or Else" with the booming bass at the beginning made the subwoofer sound distorted.

There are two audio control panels that a user can utilize. The Sound Blaster X-fi and THX.



Larry from LPC offered up this YouTube video to demonstrate the audio of the machine:

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storage Storage
Like the other 17" models, the NP9370 offers two 2.5" storage bays, a mSATA slot, and an optical drive bay which can accommodate a DVD or Blu-Ray drive or another SSD or hard drive with an optional adapter. Plus there's always the eSATA/USB 3.0 combo port externally. So there are plenty of expansion options. RAID 0 or 1 is supported in the BIOS as well as something called "Recovery." From the manual this means: "Two identical drives copying data between a master and a recovery disk. This provides more control over how data is copied between the master and recovery drives, fast volume updates and the ability to view the data in Windows Explorer." I am not sure exactly what this means and didn't have the time to set up a RAID array to trial it out.

The two drive bays are physically located one on top of the other, and like everything else are easily accessible and simple to swap out if desired.

This review machine came with an Intel 520 120GB SSD. Here's crystalDiskMark performance results in case you're interested:




keyboard Keyboard
The keyboard is the same backlit one that is also stock on the NP9150 and NP9170. While I experienced missed keystrokes on my NP9150 I have not had any issues with this keyboard. This could be either from me becoming used to the keyboard, getting lucky with a quality one, or they actually improved it. Unfortunately it still suffers the same ghosting issues. I already offered up a brief Youtube video and description of the keyboard backlighting in my NP9150 review, so I'll just link to it here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...0em-review-lots-680m-benchmarks.html#keyboard

Like on the other EM clevo models, two of the four RAM slots are underneath the keyboard which is easily accessible by popping off a panel above the keyboard, and then removing five philips head screws and popping up the keyboard.


cpugpu CPU AND GPU

cpu1 CPU - Intel Ivy Bridge i7-3720QM
No gaming laptop would be complete without a powerful quad core CPU, and this machine delivers. Sporting an i7-3720QM, it feeds the dual GPU configuration without issue and runs reasonably cool as well. It is rated as a 2.6GHz CPU with boost speed up to 3.6GHz when a single CPU is bearing most of the burden and 3.4GHz when three or all four cores are being fed. With the other EM laptops running switchable graphics, the CPU would not boost when the dedicated GPU was active. This is definitely not the case with this laptop. All four cores would peak at 3.4GHz with multiple threaded apps, and throttle down to 3.1 to 3.3 on occasion. Intel XTU is also supported for adding a nice 400MHz boost to the machine if desired. However, this greatly increases the CPU temp. Prime95 would run 86-87C compared with 81C at stock.

CPU-Z Screenshots.



gpu1 GPU - Dual nVidia GeForce GTX 680m in SLI
Opting for the SLI version of the NP9370 with dual GTX 680m GPU's is a significant cost increase from a stock machine, but then again, the point of this laptop is to serve up monstrous framerates which comes at a cost regardless if in mobile or desktop form factor. Based on nVidia's Kepler technology, the 680m is basically an underclocked desktop 670 GPU. The reduction in GPU and video RAM silicon speeds is primarily to minimize heat and power requirements. Since this is more or less a desktop replacement, Clevo opted to eliminate switchable graphics, so no Optimus (or Enduro with the AMD Radeon option) here to contend with. Optimus is not bad per se, but it can also be somewhat problematic and one more headache when you're trying to troubleshoot as users of the AMD Radeon 7970m have found out with AMD's Enduro switchable graphics.

Users can switch between SLI or dual GPU modes with the click of a button in the nVidia control panel. But switching will require a reboot of your machine. In dual GPU mode you can use one of the GPU's as a dedicated PhysX accelerator. So far with the games and benchmarks run, there have been no crashes or issues running SLI. There were a couple apps that I had to manually set to use an SLI option (Kombustor is one), otherwise everything else ran fine. Sleeping Dogs being a new game, didn't have a profile with the stock 302.77 drivers, however a quick Google search offered a quick and easy solution with an updated SLI profile for the game.

GPU-z indicates that there is a boost speed, however, regardless of drivers used, the GPU does not exceed the stock 719MHz. That's the other thing, with the P150Em and P170EM it's possible to overclock the GPU using software, but with the NP9370, such is not the case, at least not with the stock vBIOS. However the video RAM can be successfully overclocked and was able to achieve over 1200MHz. Unfortunately faster vRAM alone doesn't help improve the gaming performance by an appreciable factor without a faster clocked GPU. edit: I have since found a way to overclock the GPU, so will provide benchmark results when complete.




cooling Cooling System
Cooling two 100W GPU's and a 45W CPU is quite a daunting task, and a 17 inch form factor is about the smallest size you could reasonably expect a system to accommodate such cooling, and the NP9370 manages it quite well. If you take a peek at the guts of the machine with the bottom panel removed you can see the snaking copper going to various heatsinks with fans blowing air over them. While the master SLI GPU gets its own fan and cooling system, a portion of the slave GPU fan is reserved for the CPU. Which is odd considering the CPU also has its own fan attached right above it. This results in a higher temperature for the slave GPU under heavy load, although so far still within reason. This also means that you will have to remove the CPU heatsink if you ever want to repaste your slave GPU. Not a huge deal, it will just require a bit more cleaning and using more paste.

All that said, the cooling could be better. For one, not all the heatsinks lined up snugly against the fan or square to the fan. But it's really hard to make a calculated judgement until you actually can modify the heatsink to sit more squarely. The stock paste job actually was not done horribly, but adding my own IC Diamond improved the temperature situation a little bit.

For a five minute run, the peak CPU temp with Prime95 did not exceed 81C, and peak Kombustor temp was 85C, which I believe was the slave GPU, where the other (Master) GPU was under 80C. Not great, but not bad considering the amount of heat it has to dissipate. Propping the back of the laptop 1/2 to 3/4 inch also helps reduce temps by 2-3C at load.

The Fn+1 full fan toggle cooling option is also supported on this laptop, which seems to be a Sager exclusive.


benchmain BENCHMARKS AND OVERCLOCKING

I've run a number of artificial and actual game benchmarks along with a few in game FPS recorded runs with SLI at stock speeds as well as a single 680m because I know some users were interested in purchasing a system with a single GPU and adding another one later. I have also included results from my P150EM run at stock and overvolted/overclocked settings. I also wanted to include overclocking results from the SLI setup, but no drivers I found could overclock the card, as already noted earlier. So hopefully in the meantime I can find a way to overclock and provide results to you at a later date.

benchsettings Benchmark Settings

Game Settings:
All games and benchmarks were run at 1080p and in most cases the maximum detail default option, except I would turn off vsync if it was on for obvious reasons. No point in comparing performance when you're capped at 60fps.

System Settings for all tests were as follows:
- Power Plan set to "High Performance"
- LCD at 100% brightness
- Keyboard backlight on and full brightness
- Wi-fi On
- Speakers at 50% volume
- Sager provided nVidia drivers 302.77
- Stock thermal paste for dual GPU configuration, IC Diamond for single GPU

Stock config:
- CPU untouched, auto boost on its own
- GPU untouched, 719MHz core, 900MHz (1800MHz) GDDR5

Software used:
- HWMonitor for CPU and GPU temperatures
- nVidiaInspector for modifying GPU and vRAM speeds and verifying speeds
- HWInfo64 used to monitor system sensors and record CPU and GPU useage
- MSI Kombustor for GPU stress testing
- Prime95 for CPU stress testing
- FRAPS for frame rate benchmarking
- Kill-A-Watt (hardware) watt meter for measuring power consumption
- Excel for compiling and creating data
- IrfanView for managing my image needs


cpuuse CPU Useage
HWInfo64 was used to record the CPU and GPU useage during benchmarking and below is a representation of the average and peak load for each of the benchmarks. This should tell you if a game is CPU or GPU capped at all, and in all cases the i7-3720QM CPU was more than sufficient to support the dual GPU setup.

Following are the i7-3720QM CPU load results from the benchmarks. Clearly shows it is not affecting gaming performance.




bench BENCHMARKS
So as not to clutter this review with tons of in-line images, please click the links below to take you to the respective game benchmark results and information hotlinked to the specific game hotlinked in the post below.

Benchmarks include the following:
- NP9370 with GTX 680m SLI at stock speeds (GPU 719MHz, vRAM 1800MHz)
- NP9150 with GTX 680m at overclock (with overvolt) speeds (GPU 1000MHz, vRAM 2400MHz)
- NP9370 with a single 680m at stock speeds (GPU 719MHz, vRAM 1800MHz)
- NP9150 with GTX 680m at stock speeds (GPU 719MHz, vRAM 1800MHz)

I decided to run the single 680m in the NP9370 for a couple reaons. For one, since many users have indicated a desire to run a single GPU due to cost and add a second one later as finances allowed. Secondly, to see if there was some significant impact due to Optimus or without. There were a couple anomalies that I need to check out, like Max Payne 3, the benchmark in the NP9370 ran nearly twice the performance with a single 680m.

benches
GPU - GTX 680m
3DMark06
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
ArmA 2
Aliens vs. Predator
Batman Arkham City
Battlefield 3 - Caspian Border
Crysis
Crysis 2
DiRT 2 Demo Benchmark
DiRT 3
Just Cause 2
The Last Remnant
Lost Planet 2
Metro 2033
Max Payne 3
Resident Evil 5
Skyrim
Sleeping Dogs
Stalker Call of Pripyat
Unigine Heaven

CPU - i7-3720QM
Cinebench R10
Cinebench R11.5
PC Mark Vantage
x264

Benchmark Results

What does all this mean!? Well it means that dual GPU's are a pretty mean configuration. A single GTX 680m is plenty powerful enough to play most newer games at maximum detail or near max detail at 1080p. There is plenty of potential for overclocking as well. Since a single overvolted and overclocked 680m can encroach within 20% of the SLI stock speeds, we can only imagine what dual GPU's overclocked could do as well. With the GTX 680m in my NP9150, I can even run GPU at 900MHz GPU and 1200MHz vRAM (2400MHz effective) at stock voltage.


powerheat POWER AND HEAT

power Peak Power Consumption
Power draw was measured using a Kill-a-Watt device that plugs directly into an outlet or extension cord, and the laptop power cord plugs into it. All indicated power is power draw from the wall, and is also the peak power draw for that particular benchmark or game. Please realize that the actual power consumed by the laptop is about 10-15% less than the indicated power draw from the wall due to an efficiency factor of the PSU. The peak draw is well within the 300W limit that the PSU can provide. Where a gamer may come into trouble is if they overclock the GPU(s) and/or CPU, but there is nearly 100W headroom before the PSU is fully maxed out.



temp Peak Temperatures
Below are the peak temperatures of the CPU and GPU's during the benchmarks. It's not horrible, but CPU temps could definitely be better. I'm sure with some manual tuning of the heatsinks and doing mods like aluminum tape wrapping, opening air intakes for the fans, and propping the back end up a bit will help endeavors even more. I had done a repaste from the stock to IC Diamond and while I didn't do a solid analysis, temperatures were appreciably 2-3C lower at least during heavy loads.

Spoiler

battery Battery Life
This machine isn't really expected to be a mobile battery sipping machine. If you're in the market for a gaming laptop that you can also take to class and take notes then I wouldn't consider this laptop, not only for battery life, but for weight. At over 10 lbs with laptop and power supply it can make for a cumbersome trip. Not to mention battery life is somewhat dismal, but better than expected.

I ran three tests using the following settings:
(1) Web Browser: Balanced power profile, 30% screen brightness, web test (four Firefox tabs refreshing in 1-15 minute intervals), keyboard backlight ON = 2hrs 42mins
(2) Movie: Power Saver profile, 50% screen brightness, play 1.5GB ripped/compressed blu-ray movie (A-Team) looping, Keyboard backlight ON (oops) = 2hrs 20mins
(3) Idle: Power Saver profile, min brightness, Wi-Fi OFF, MS word open set to autosave every 5 minutes, Keyboard backlight ON = 3hrs 9mins




conclusion CONCLUSION

All in all I see the NP9370 as primarily a desktop replacement laptop, as I can't see lugging over 10 lbs with laptop and PSU for extended periods or on a regular basis. Not to mention with a less then 3 hours battery life, about 2.5 hours useful, doesn't make it a great on the go contender either. But that's not what this laptop is about obviously. SLI showed no apparent issues with performance in any game, except for Sleeping Dogs, which was remedied by an SLI profile update, since the driver was older and didn't have a good profile for it.

As far as gaming performance, the NP9370 is top notch. You really can't ask for much more. Performance numbers speak for themselves. This puts the machine on par or faster than a desktop 680 even. The only real competitor to this machine is the Alienware M18xh which costs considerably more money. There are no switchable graphics for either the AMD or nVidia options, which means no Enduro headaches or Optimus issues (of which there are many fewer than Enduro mind you). SLI offers a great expansion option for users down the road that can't afford dual GPU's today, they can easily add another card later to boost their performance considerably, 50% or more from a single GPU.

Minor nitpicks with other Sagers are also present here. For one, the keyboard. It still exhibits ghosting. However I have not noticed missed keystrokes like I do with my NP9150. Secondly, the audio seems improved although it still is lacking in power and the bass has a lot to be desired.

All in all though, the NP9370 is a solid and robust laptop that does what it is intended to do, and that's beat the crap out of frame rates. Users that don't want to pay the premium for the 680m can opt for dual 7970m configuration, and not have to worry about contending with Enduro issues. Granted I can't speak for CrossfireX driver performance, but I'm sure some talented users here will share their experiences with it.

If I hadn't already purchased my NP9150, I would have opted for this machine. I didn't realize the 17" screen could make that much of an impressive difference compared with the 15", but I like it. In any case, I'm sure users looking for a portable gaming machine with desktop performance will be overly satisfied with this machine.

Pros:
- GAMING PERFORMANCE! Supports the fastest mobile GPU's available on the market today... and TWO OF THEM!
- Solid and well built chassis
- Very nice stock screen
- Backlit keyboard
- Battery life (for a dual GPU machine it's actually impressive)
- Cooling System
- Easily access system components
- Option to add second GPU at a later date

Cons:
- Keyboard still has ghosting issues
- Audio still lacks volume, bass, and overall oomph

Spoiler

THIS IS IN SPOILER TAGS SINCE IT IS REPLACED BY THE FULL REVIEW!


First and foremost, a very special thanks to LPC-Digital for scoring a review sample of the Sager NP9370 sent my way to share my thoughts and benchmarks with you!

As usual, I'll start with a general first look and follow up with detailed benchmarks and review over the following days.

I made an unboxing video but half of it is the camera facing the wall because it was so difficult managing the laptop and stuff out of the packed box with one hand, so it's not real engaging or worthwhile so will not be sharing that at this time. I intend on following up with a full video review as soon as I can get enough quiet time away from my kids.

PICTURES

In any case, here's some pics of the laptop right out of the box. I'm sure you've seen lots of them, but I'll share these any how.

Around the laptop:

Spoiler

And the BIOS (still as sparse as ever):

Spoiler

This power brick is MASSIVE. It's 300W, but it's needed for feeding dual 7970m's or the dual GTX 680m's in this box.

Spoiler

Ignore the dollar bill, it was for a top down shot but didn't work because was hard to differentiate between the two PSU's. This is the 300W that comes with the P370EM vs the 180W that comes with the P150EM.

--> FIRST LOOK <--

SPECS

The Sager NP9370 that I received was issued with some pretty nice specs. The NP9370 can manage either an AMD CrossfireX or nVidia SLI dual video card setup with up to the latest most powerful mobile GPU offerings, the Radeon 7970m or GeForce GTX 680m. The specs for this review sample is well equipped and retail cost somewhere just above $3100.

Here's the details:

Sager NP9370
No Lid Branding
17" 1920x1080 Matte LCD
Intel i7-3720QM
Dual GTX 680m in SLI (no Optimus)
16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600
Intel 520 120GB SSD

First a general look around the laptop. The surface of the laptop has the rubberized finish like that on the NP9150, although the bezel around the keyboard is black brushed aluminum. Keyboard looks to be the same on the other 15" and 17" models, and is also backlit. However, the one discerning feature is the ginormous touchpad. It's a smooth metallic surface with no discernable mouse buttons, however they do offer a definitive click when you press in the lower left and right.

The perimeter of the laptop is chock full of ports, and in the back even has nice chrome accents over the exhaust ports for the two GPU's. There's also a single USB 3.0 prot, HDMI and DisplayPort connections, as well as the power cord in the center. On the left side is the Kensington lock, ethernet, SD card and four audio ports: input, optical out, mic, headphone, and the optical drive. On the right side there's 3 USB 3.0 ports as well as a USB 3.0/eSATA port. Around to the front there's only the indicator lights.

Underneath there's a swiss cheese panel with all the holes for the fan intakes and general cooling. The main lower panel is held on by four screws. An additional access panel has a single screw which houses two SATA drives. The battery is in the middle. A single subwoofer speaker is also underneath. Removing the bottom cover reveals the sexy nude innards of copper heatpipes, fan shrouds, heatsinks, two RAM slots, wi-fi card, mSATA slot, and the subwoofer. Whew, that's a lot of stuff.

Of course here is where the dual GPUs and CPU are also housed. Each GPU gets their own fan and heatsink. The CPU fan sits directly on top of the CPU so we will see how much fun it is to remove the required components to repaste. For whatever reason a heatpipe also stretches out to the adjacent GPU heatsink and fan. And what I can only imagine is an SLI ribbon cable snakes across the bottom of the laptop to connect each GPU so they can talk to each other about beer and sports or better yet, synchronizing your frames for uber performance goodness.

So far I have started to install Windows, drivers, and updates and everything has been moving very quickly and effortlessly, so time to get back to work and play with the machine for a while before I report back with actual benchmarking, power, temperature, and general performance details.

Stay tuned!

 

gpubenchmarks GPU BENCHMARKS - GTX 680m SLI

EDIT 9/30/2012: UPDATED BENCHMARKS WITH GPU OVERCLOCKED - GPU @ 800MHz / vRAM @ 2300MHz

Game settings are listed next to the benchmark name. Games that don't have a preset or I have modified the preset, I have indicated in the game settings post located HERE.

Settings for games are:

SLI - GPU 719MHz / vRAM 1800MHz
SLI OC - GPU 800MHz / vRAM 2300MHz
Single GPU - GPU 719MHz / vRAM 1800MHz
NP9150 results are from my NP9150 review:
NP9150 Stock - GPU 719MHz / vRAM 1800MHz
NP9150 OC - GPU 1000MHz / vRAM 2400MHz

3dmark06 3DMark06 (back to bench index)


3dmarkv 3DMark Vantage (back to bench index)


3dmark11 3DMark 11 (back to bench index)


arma2 ArmA 2 - Very High Preset (back to bench index)


avp Alien vs. Predator (back to bench index)


batmanac Batman Arkham City (back to bench index)


bf3caspian Battlefield 3 - Caspian Border Map - High Preset (back to bench index)


crysis Crysis Demo Benchmark - High Preset (back to bench index)


crysis2 Crysis 2 - Extreme Preset (back to bench index)


dirt2 DiRT 2 Demo - Ultra Preset (back to bench index)


dirt3 DiRT 3 - Ultra Preset (back to bench index)


jc2 Just Cause 2 (back to bench index)


lastrem Last Remnant - 1920x1080 Full Screen (back to bench index)


lp2 Lost Planet 2 (back to bench index)


maxpayne3 Max Payne 3 (back to bench index)


metro2033 Metro 2033 - Very High Settings (back to bench index)


re5 Resident Evil 5 (back to bench index)


skyrim Skyrim (back to bench index)


sleepingdogs Sleeping Dogs (back to bench index)


pripyat STALKER Pripyat Benchmark (back to bench index)


heaven Unigine Heaven Benchmark (back to bench index)



cpubenchmarks CPU BENCHMARKS - i7-3720QM

cinebenchr10 Cinebench R10 (back to bench index)


cinebenchr115 Cinebench R11.5 (back to bench index)


pcmarkv PC Mark Vantage (back to bench index)


x264 x264 (back to bench index)

 

gamesettings GAME SETTINGS:

Game settings are shown for those games that don't have a preset or a reasonable preset.

Batman Arkham City

Spoiler

Just Cause 2

Spoiler

Lost Planet 2

Spoiler

Max Payne 3

Spoiler

Resident Evil 5

Spoiler

Skyrim

Spoiler

Sleeping Dogs

Spoiler

STALKER Pripyat

Spoiler

Unigine Heaven

Spoiler

 

Probably going to have a lot of crap to post, so here's another.

 

Reserved for Cheer leading.

 

Sure as hell hope you look better than that dude in your avy... I prefer female cheerleaders. No offense.


http://youtu.be/IDmaJwKK_ZI

 

Looking forward to it

 

Pretty please send us an update. I am on the fence whether or not to place my order. How do you like the keyboard, the screen and the overall size of the thing, this is an uber-thick computer compared to my Retina Macbook Pro that I'm pretty sure I'm sending back for a POWERFUL laptop.

It looks like my choice is going to be this NP9370, I was looking at the MSI GT70 0NE with a single discrete 680m 4gb which is a nicer looking computer, nicer keyboard too..

AHHHH what to do?? I appreciate your responses

 

The screen is the same as the other 17" notebooks as is the keyboard, which is the same on the P150EM and P170EM. I did take some photos of the P150EM on top of and next to this thing. But just note that a dual GPU notebook will be thick and heavy, there's no way around it. I've just been messing with settings and toying with the SLI and such and getting things set up for benchmarks.

As far as GT70 0NE, to each their own. I personally don't like the looks but if it works for you, then great. I think the biggest deciding factor will be battery life and cost of course. A basic NP9370 with SLI 680m's will cost you $2500 vs $2200 for the MSI. But for 50%-80% increase in gaming performance, is it worth it to you?

 

Yes I too prefer this type of "cheerleader"

A GREAT thread!

 

Great looking thread so far! Looking forward to some numbers.

 

Best Photoshopping... ever.

 

Haha omg I am literally crying!

BTW
Best
Thread
Ever


Also good job HTWingNut... as always!!

 

Good job? I only posted a blurb, lol, but thanks. And that is a butterface cheerleader if I ever saw one, lol.

Working on benches, and other stuff. Please be patient. I work 9 hours a day + 1 hr round trip commute + two kids = minimal free time. Trying to crank out as much as I can.

What I will be doing is stock performance first, then open her up, repaste, and determine best drivers for overclock of GPU and also bump up CPU speed as well. Trying to gather as much data as possible while I bench and then have to slice and dice it and graph it and post it. Not to mention actually offering up a written review. Wish I had a few free days to myself, I'd crank this thing out in no time.

I also started futzing around with the SLI settings and some reason can't get it back to default settings and performance has dropped in some instances. So gotta get that worked out too.

 

Thanks for your time HT, should be a great review. I know your busy, but are the temps your seeing ok? I just read that one review that said temps were pretty crazy high for the CPU at stock.

 

Temps so far aren't bad. I haven't touched thermal paste yet though. I'm seeing up into low 80's stressed, but it's not horrific.

 

hope there would be some 4Ghz CPU + 1000/2500 for GPU overclock runs (insane!). very promising piece of hardware! tuned in..)

 

The back of the machine scares me... but yet it looks so beautiful

 

Well initial testing is showing stock configuration is a bit underwhelming. But I can only imagine it will improve with better driver support and overclocking

Interesting thing is that GPU-z shows a boost speed, although it doesn't seem to activate. Then again, I can't even overclock with stock drivers, so we'll see what happens when I try the 306 drivers...



And just showing an example of the underwhelming performance that I mean (click to enlarge):



While it's a nice score, I can get upper 7000's with a single GTX 680m, overclocked at stock voltage. But if that's the case, hopefully can get similar results on each card here.

 

Take some pictures of it next to the P150EM, so can see the difference in height, width and length.

 

I did that but need to get some better lighting. Maybe this afternoon when I can get some good sunlight. With both laptops a matte black you need good light to see them.

Here's the power brick. Wow.

Ignore the dollar bill, it was for a top down shot but didn't work because was hard to differentiate between the two PSU's. This is the 300W that comes with the P370EM vs the 180W that comes with the P150EM.

 

WHAT THE ACTUAL BLOODY H***? It is massive........

And btw if you add more pictures I might get a seizure haha, good job mate! A size comparison side by side with the W110ER and P150EM would do good.

 

That power brick is the size of my....ya I wish.

Really though that's huge.

 

Here's P150EM vs P370EM size-wise:

Side by Side:


P150EM on top of P370EM. The back and right edge are actually lined up even though it doesn't look like it in the image:


And also just let me say that I did not realize that Crysis 2 was hard capped at 100FPS, lol. Now I know. Even at stock speeds the P370EM with dual 680m's will basically ride at 100FPS all the time.

 

whats the powerbrick like? can it fry eggs?!

 

It's not hot, more like very warm. I can pick up the brick no problem while it's being stressed without being uncomfortable.

 

I hope they change the keyboard in the 370EM, honestly, it should be larger or something, since there is so much wasted space at the edges, and the arrow keys are caught up in the middle of everything

 

That's the way it is with all their 17" notebooks. They use the 15" keyboard for some stupid reason. But I have to tell you so far, even though the keyboard looks the same as my P150EM, it seems to feel better an not miss keystrokes so far. I still have to test for ghosting, although I'm sure it's still there.

One thing to note though, the CPU in my NP6110 and NP9150 both throttle or are limited speeds with dedicated GPU active. This does not happen with this machine. It may be Optimus related, but not sure. It sure seems stupid that it would limit the CPU though. But thank goodness we have Throttlestop for that. I'm about ready to check XTU to see if I can clock the i7-3720QM +400MHz like we're apparently supposed to be able to do.

 

One question would be the audio? The NP9170 was/is beaten up for the low quality, how is it with the new speakers?

 

So my friend.. What is the final verdict on this computer, or at least the most up to date one How do you feel about everything? I'm thinking about returning my new retina MacBook Pro but there are many advantages to the Mac except for the raw power. Aside for your opinions about the Mac how do you really like this Sager, pro and cons? I don't have much time at all to decide whether or not to return this computer and put the 2,700 elsewhere.

Thanks

 

I'm working on a full review. Finishing up some benchmarks, battery life tests, etc. If you can wait a few more days it should be up in all its glory.

As far as audio, I haven't done any comparisons yet, but I do plan on doing that because I know it's an issue for many people what they put in the P150/151/170EM. They do use the same Onkyo speakers, but it has something called Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2. Not sure exactly what that's about, but looks like it's just a software manipulation to add effects and help make it sound better in general. I have had it on for some gaming and to be honest, I haven't noticed much of a difference. However, the speakers seem to be louder and less tinny sounding. I'll have to do a side by side though to make sure it's not placebo.

If anyone is interested in battery life, my browser test ended up with 2hrs 40mins. For comparison, I got about 3hrs 30mins with P150EM.

 

I'm having a hard time finding drivers that will let me overclock the GPU's. So far what worked with my single 680m on my P150EM it isn't working with this machine. GPU-z even shows boost, but the GPU's don't boost. I sure hope these cards aren't hard locked at 719MHz.

 

Hey htwingnut I'm getting an eurocom Scorpius and just wanted to know the peak power consumption. I have a doubt wether to get a dual 300W PowerBrick (total 600w) . I have ordered a dual 680m and a 3820qm. I would be overclocking the cpu to the extra 400mhz and would try to overclock the gpu as well if I can.

 

So far it's looking like you'll need a modded BIOS to overclock at all. I can't get the GPU clock to budge with any drivers. So I guess I'll have to overclock just the vRAM which will help, but a boost in GPU clock would help even more.

Here's some raw data from temps I took, using stock paste, stock clocks, stock drivers (302.77)

Spoiler

I just repasted and Prime95 temps dropped from the 90C listed down to 77-78C and 5 min Kombustor is about 70C.

It also seems Intel XTU works with this machine as well. Am toying with it a little bit.

 

Seems like 370 still has a big headroom under 300w limit according to nbc's test. The most confusing thing is that I couldn't find a second power input in this computer, how is the additional power brick supposed to work with?

 

So how long do you get play with this bad boy?

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

Below is a link to a pic I posted a while back. The 2 PSU's go into the converter box then into the port on the machine...

PowerConverterBox

-----

 

Yea i was also looking at that and couldn't believe that the whole thing takes just about 255W even though the rated power for a single GPU is around 100W and the CPU is 45 W.

 

Maybe you need the dual bricks to OC these. I am pretty sure at just standard the power draw comes close to what the brick can provide cleanly without severe voltage drops. Even if those drops just show up in spikes the system may declock and not come back up until load is off the GPU's.

TBH at 1080p what game do you need to OC for? Now I do however plan to run an external IPS 2540x1600 so I can see where OC'ng the GPU could come in handy. Again though I am not even a casual gamer so for me this may not be an issue.

When you said CPU repaste, what did you repaste with? At least put that info in the review. Also maybe results of a GPU repaste as well. I am assuming you did not get an ICD pasted CPU/GPU from the retailer.

 

So far peak power draw is less than 230W, so there's plenty of head room. That's draw from the wall too, so at least another 50-60W before you're stressing your PSU too much, theoretically could likely go another 100W. If you look at my P150EM review, running stock voltage overclocks, resulted in less than 20W increased draw, so both clocking at +135W will result in max +40W. There could be an artificial limit imposed in the BIOS though unless you have two PSU's but not sure how it could really tell.

I don't really need to overclock, I just wanted to overclock to run benchmarks to show the potential of this machine. Considering most users can reach or exceed 3DMark 11 of 8000 with a single GPU, imagine two with that performance. Insane performance.

All details on power, temps, pasting, etc will be disclosed in the review.

 

It seems XTU does not work on this laptop, unless I'm doing it wrong. I set multipliers up by 4x so 40x 39x 38x 38x and no change. I tried to turn off turbo and said it couldn't... Although all the options show up. iirc when I tried it on my P150EM if it wasn't supported it wouldn't show up at all. I hope this is supported and is activated eventually on the P370EM.

Edit: NM, it does seem to work, but seems to throttle down to 34x when it hits 85C though, but that only happens with synthetic benches like wprime or prime95.

 

Nbc's test shows the graphic cards have some throttling issues during the furmark test, not sure if it's some sort of Nvidia's mechanic with those burning in software or caused by the high temp. So if you have some time for it, could you test the long time intensive game performance to see if you will encounter throttle during gaming?

 

I cant wait to read your review

 

In for graphs!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

See my previous post with temps. Highest is 77C and that was before any thermal pasting or other thermal reduction measures. Just propping up the laptop, like many other laptops, dropped temps a few deg C. It won't throttle at 77C. I played BF3 for an hour the other night and GPU temp didn't exceed 76C.

Furmark and MSI Kombustor are very intense artificial benchmarks which push the GPU's to their absolute limit. It won't throttle until it hits 90C.

 

Some users were curious about the audio quality of the P370EM. LPC-Digital did a quick YouTube example of the audio on the P370EM. Hope this helps. I am doing a side by side with the P150EM. I do have to say I can notice a discernable difference between the two though, the P370EM sounding more full. Unfortunately sound quality can't be measured properly without expensive equipment. So I guess it will just have to be a subjective comparison.

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MnY0SL3fDkA?version=3&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MnY0SL3fDkA?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width='560' height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

 

What i assume is that when you are running benchmarks, it is either cpu or gpu taxing and while running games it will not use the full potential of both. The only application that ive seen that uses the max of both cpu and gpu is a password bruteforcer. Maybe the power usage would be much higher if you check out that application.

 

Is it just me or were the backlit kb flashing/changing to the beat? "wooo piece of candy...."

 

Thank you, what I wanted with that video. I was at BB and almost plunked down for a G75 that was 1,150 on sale. Thankfully I was able to listen to it first as that became a total deal breaker for me. There was no real volume to it and the highs were just lost all together.

While I am sure an audiophile will not be happy, under normal usage this should be fine. My concern is I will have to live with this for 4 or more years. Now I know I will not be grinding my teeth the entire time................

Edit; My bank account just hates all you guys................

 

Wow, 10-15C under load after repaste? Which TIM did you use?