Gateway FX P-7901

Just got my 7902 (Dual core 2.53 model) at my door this morning. Thought I'd answer a few questions. The Ctrl key is not in the corner, rather a Fn button sits there. And I can confirm the annoyance mentioned a few posts above regarding the Enter button, being 3 keys away from the pinky. It's rather annoying, cause at the moment I'm constantly hitting the \ key instead of the Enter key. As a matter of fact, the Shift key placement is no better either, as it seems to be one key off to the right side as well. I'm currently hitting the / key whenever I want to go uppercase. Granted, I'm beginning to adapt to the Shift key placement. The enter key is not as easy to adapt to though.

I'm going to do a few installs of some games over the course of the day/week and try to see how it performs. Anything in particular you guys want me to try out just let me know.

 

Can you take a pic of the keyboard and post it? I cant imagine what your talking about.

Also go ahead and run 3dmark06... everyone is waiting for what it will score stock
then see what you can get out of it OCed

Also download HWMoniter and post some idle temps and underload temps if you would

 

Congrats on your purchase.

I just want to comment on the whole higher resolution fiasco a few pages back. I would agree that you indeed get better FPS with the lower resolution than the higher one. However, the problem I came across is that the higher resolution screens are of much better quality than the 1400x900 ones. What I mean by this is that the view angles and the sheer cleanliness of the screen is much much better. I played around with both screens before; a started a thread about the new gateways a while back when they first came out. I happened to go to the store the day they came out . The specs of the computer are very attractive however I found the screen to be very grainy with poor viewing angles. The older models with the higher resolution screen were very nice. Some people don't care to much about this but it is very important to me. I have an Asus laptop with 1920 by 1200 resolution with one of the better LCD panels, and I love it. Than I again I do more than gaming, so this would make sense why it is important to me. After working with this resolution, I don't want to go lower. There are screens at 1680x1050 resolution that are on par with the quality of the 192Ox1200 resolution panels but they are hard to find; Asus has a few with the better LCDs. You could always buy a new LCD to drop in but that would cost you about 200 with shipping. At the manufacturer, the price would be a measly 50 bucks more which I would gladly pay. Of course these are my 2 cents, but I just want to throw in another angle.

For those with the new laptop, post some 3dmark06 scores and average FPS of common games like CoD4 and Crysis; I'm sure the scores will be higher.

Cheers,
AMC

 

Compared to the 9800M GTS, 3dmark06 won't be much higher. The Q9000 hurts as well, you'd be better off with a T9600 if you're just after 3dmark06... Vantage will undoubtedly score higher though, the 260M has potential for a 6k GPU score. At $1600 US, it's hardly a steal. The 1440 x 900 screen is just dumb, it should be at least 1680 x 1050. An NP8662 is in the same price range, has the higher res screen and quad support, Sager build quality, and a smaller 15" chassis. There's also the MSI GT729 at $1300, with the comparable 1GB 4850, plus higher res screen.

I'd like to know though if the 260M is downclocked like the one in the Asus G51, or does this have the cooling to handle stock clocks?

 

The 260GTX is a bit better than the 9800GTX so it will be an increase. Nothing earth shattering, but we're not looking at actual new nVidia GPU cores until the end of the year at newest.
Still an improvement to the GTS we've been running for years

I would really love a MXM slot this time though. Just in case cards go bad we could actually replace them, but thats mostly a pipe dream.

The q9000 is a pretty mediocre CPU, but its a quad so that means qx9300 upgradeability (which is all i'm really looking for)

Also this is so far Canada only, so we're not sure what the US price will be. Gateway has some insane price policies so this thing might come out at 1250 like all the others.

I would like a higher res moniter as well, but honestly i'm fine with 1440x900 for gaming. Again we dont know how this model will be spec'ed in the us market (again gateway is all over the place with specs in different countries)

You do bring up a good point about the possible downclocked GPU... i guess we'll ahve to wait to see what madtkboy has to say (get back online already! )

 

I'm currently in a software installing frenzy so this might be awhile for the 3dmark and game scores. I intend to run Fallout 3, TF2, COD-WAW. Post here for requests on specific games you guys want to see run. If I have them I'll try my best to do it.

That said, what I did do however was pull up the system information and this is the result:

NVIDIA System Information report created on: 08/20/2009 15:34:03
System name: ERIC-PC

[Display]
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8700 @ 2.53GHz (2527 MHz)
Operating System: Windows Vista (TM) Home Premium, 64-bit (Service Pack 1)
DirectX version: 10.0
GPU processor: GeForce GTX 260M
Driver version: 179.52
Stream processors: 112
Core clock: 550 MHz
Shader clock: 1350 MHz
Memory clock: 950 MHz (1900 MHz data rate)
Memory interface: 256-bit
Total available graphics memory: 2813 MB
Dedicated video memory: 1024 MB
System video memory: 0 MB
Shared system memory: 1789 MB
Video BIOS version: 62.92.87.00.0D
IRQ: 16
Bus: PCI Express x16

[Components]

nvCplUIR.dll 2.2.250.00 NVIDIA Control Panel
nvCpl.cpl 2.2.250.00 NVIDIA Control Panel Applet
nvCplUI.exe 2.2.250.00 NVIDIA Control Panel
nvViTvSR.dll 7.15.11.7952 NVIDIA Video and TV Server
nvViTvS.dll 7.15.11.7952 NVIDIA Video and TV Server
nvDispSR.dll 7.15.11.7952 NVIDIA Display Server
NVMCTRAY.DLL 7.15.11.7952 NVIDIA Media Center Library
nvDispS.dll 7.15.11.7952 NVIDIA Display Server
NVCPL.DLL 7.15.11.7952 NVIDIA Compatible Windows Vista Display driver, Version 179.52
nvGameSR.dll 7.15.11.7952 NVIDIA 3D Settings Server
nvGameS.dll 7.15.11.7952 NVIDIA 3D Settings Server


From what I gather from notebookcheck and the nvidia official website, these specs appear to be at par with what manufacturer ratings, which I'm rather happy about. The shade clock is the only thing I noticed was slightly off, being rated at 1375 on notbookcheck and 1350 on my laptop. Wondering if that will make much difference....

 

Isn't that supposed to be a core2quad q9000 in the p-7901? Oh you got the p-7902...........

 

Just got the 3DMark06 score: 9696. Running at default settings, 1280 x 800.

SM2.0 Score: 4500
HDR/SM 3.0 Score: 4819
CPU Score: 1989

*I had some background processes running and haven't checked if I have latest drivers yet, I'll double check and redo the tests. But this should be pretty close I think*

 

Can you (please) run OCCT (or Furmark) GPU test for 20min and post results (temperatures-screenshots).
Links:
http://majorgeeks.com/OCCT_d5612.html
http://majorgeeks.com/FurMark_d4183.html

 

Oh, I have the 7902H, not the 7901H.

 

Cool not a bad stock score at all. What are your temps running on the 260GTX? (Idle and stressed if you can)

 

Even better, seems you have an MXM 3.0 variant in there (950 mhz memory clock).

I wouldn't jump into OCCT or furmark so soon, just keep tabs on temps running Crysis or whatever.

 

Will do after I check my drivers are fully up to date (althought there's no reason it shouldn't)

 

LOL, one at a time! (yes we know who said that -.-")

About the MXM possibility, does this mean I can open up a back panel and find out? (getting to the graphics on the P78s seemed complicated so I'm not gonna bother)

BTW what's a good software to monitor temps?

 

NO we demand instant satisfaction on our requests

Thanks for taking the time to muddle through all of this


As to the MXM... not sure your the one with the new style computer... is it the same as the older FX models?

 

I dont even have experience with the older FX models. After I get the latest nvidia drivers and update everything I'll snap some pictures while running tests so you guys can compare. Gotta head out soon for abit to pick up gf, and since she wants to play with my new toy, this might all take abit @.@

*nm, can't install 186.03 no matter how hard I try, and noticed that nvidia says the drivers dont support any laptop released after the driver's debut date >.< Oh well, I'll run with the 179 for now.*

 

madtkboy -

Look at this t h r e a d which describes how to disassemble a 78xx unit.

Does yours have similar panels on the bottom?

Did your manual describe a way to change out the MXM video?

 

Same panels, yup. Now my hopes are going down again =(.

As for the manual, NCIX gave me a french manual only lol. But I dont recall seeing anything about MXM.

Looking around for driver updates to the 260m. Nothing so far. Nothing on windows update, nothing on gateway (kinda expected), nothing on nvidia since their latest version was released prior to this laptop and I for one cant get it to work anyways. So I guess they werent bluffing about it not working for newer laptops.

Neways, off to be the gf's private taxi. Update later.

 

Well, it could still be MXM.

I was just thinking a different panel setup would clearly tell us it was a different systemboard.

 

I'm still curious about the different keyboard. Seems strange that they would change the keyboard and "nothing" else on the case.

 

Yes, espcially if they didn't move the left-ctrl key.

Maybe madtkboy's pictures will help.

 

Okay, I've updated directx to the newest release and did the windows update thing (Vista 64bit standard with this laptop). No luck with new drivers for my 260m still (argh).

For those yearning for pictures, I've got these, along with a screenshot of a Futuremark test and Idle Temps:

http://img191.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=img0904kkfkmj.jpg

I'll update the gallery as I get more stuff installed, think I'll try some games first, then do some temps, and leave stuff like OCCT last.

*forgot to turn flash off, sorry*
*woops, that's furmark, not futuremark (which would be 3dmark06). My bad on that.*

 

Yep, "Enter" key is different.

 

Thanks a lot for FurMark test.
Looks like new Gateway FX doing excellent job in cooling department.

 

Sweet i like it. 74 max temps after furmark and 43 idle. I can deffinatly live with that.

If the Quad core can keep a decent temp then i'm going to have to say goodbye to my trusty 6860 and upgrade.

I've figured out the mysterious keyboard issue though. Its not an "American" standard Keyboard. Thats why it was freaking out alot of people. Once gateway ports them over here it will probably have the standard we all know and love/hate

HURRY GATEWAY... before i have to drive all the way to canada to buy a bloody laptop, thats like 30 hours away

 

You need to run the stability test maxed out for like 5-10mins to see how well the cooling is. You just ran furmark for 60 seconds! That is not gonna do much in temps.

Edit: Just ran furmark at the same settings and got a 64c...

 

Kay, I'll get around to that. Kinda new to the benchmark thing so you'll have to tell me what are "norm settings" so to speak when testing.

Anyways, I just gave crysis 1.21 a run from the beginning to slightly after the part where you find the guy dead hanging off a tree. All settings high, no AA, 1440 x 900.

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
14911 567256 13 43 26.286

Like I said, new at this benchmark thing. Tell me the settings you'd like, and if its a game, maybe a particular segment of gameplay to bench.

By the way, is there anywhere that sells the fingerprint reader by itself? Looking to install one if it's possible.

 

Has GW socketed the GPU..right.

I'm a gamer, so want it in 1400x900 to light off the advanced video settings...with highest FPS.

BD lives on my 1900x1200 52" Sony. I could care less if this ever becomes available on laptops..unless drives cost $50 and you get full HD sound.

Cant' wait till we see them at BB for $1000

 

I have a new update. Downloading the latest Nvidia drivers http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=410917 that was just released (186.42), I've seen a decent increase in the 3d Mark 06 score:

SM 2.0 Score: 4977
HDR/SM 3.0 Score: 5200
CPU Score: 2234 (no idea how the heck the nvidia drivers made that go up, maybe its the windows updates I've been doing?)
Total Score: 10675

Check the two latest pictures uploaded on the 21st for the screens:
http://img191.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=img0904kkfkmj.jpg

 

cool 1K increase for a driver is pretty good.

Have you tried overclocking the GPU any?

 

no experience ocing nvidia cards, much less a laptop one.

 

Ah ok, no worries then. Its pretty simple, just download the ntools and you can access the clocks for the card. But dont mess with it if you dont feel comfortable doing it.


Gateway really needs to get to releaseing these in the states... canada is just too far away

 

Yeah..I've done my ati desktop cards with atitraytools before but I vaguely remember they had this function where they basically auto oc it for you gradually and stop when they determine its going overboard. I haven't had to OC anything since getting my new desktop a year ago. Maybe I'll look up some info for now and do it when I'm more comfortable.

On a brighter note, Crysis is abit smoother after the update, roughly 25-30 fps majority of time, with higher frames sometimes when action calms down. This is at native res, DX10, all settings high, no AA. I'm one happy camper =)

My main game, Project Reality, should run without a hitch at this rate.

 

just one more thing... does it have bluetooth built in?? loking to order the laptop this week or the next at NCIX or DIRECTDIAL...
how much do you think I will have to wait for it if it's out of stock??

great job with the pics!!

 

boyo, all the Gateway FX laptops have BlueTooth built in. No worries. Order the laptop and put up some benchmarks for us and some youtube videos.

 

Actually not all of them have bluetooth. Just certain ones. It was a big stink a few months to a year ago, because the new models we not coming with bluetooth.

Saying that though an almost flush fitting USB dongle is all of 10 dollars, so its not a difficult or expensive upgrade. Or you can get a bluetooth PCI card and install it in the open slot the FX's generally come with... or the Express 54 port which no one has figured out a very good use for yet

 

Actually, the Gateway FX laptops (at least most of the 7800 series and the 7901) do not have BlueTooth built-in, although it can be added.

According to the specs h e r e the 7901 does not have bluetooth.

rot112 - where are you getting your information?

 

Looks like K_M and I posted almost together on that one.

 

yeah i completely ninja'ed you post that time

 

that's exactly why I asked if the 7902 has a bluetooth, because on some pages, it has, and on others it doesn't... either they didn't mention it or the first page has the wrong info... so that can be misleading... well it's not that if the laptop has a bluetooth is gonna make me change mi mind about the laptop!!!
but still, I wish Gateway pages were more reliable as far as info on products goes...
thanks!!
P.S. will do on the specs, temps, pics and the rest of the stuff as soon as i order (and test) it, but wouldn't like to get your hopes up 'cause it still might take a week or more to make that happen...

 

Ah, many of have noticed that as well, boyo1986, the Gateway specs aren't always consistent, even on the Gateway website, if I recall.

Appreciate and anticipate your info on the FX when you get to it.

 

I wonder if Bighops has any info on a US release date.

 

I allways think of the good questions after i post a few things but...
what parts of the P7902 can be replaced?? I know about the battery, HDD, and stuff like that... what i'm talking about is the CPU and the GPU...
for example, can i put in a quad core CPU to replace the P8700, in a while, year or so?? or change the GPU if (when) a new one comes along??

can I get a laptop stand (the ENERMAX eaolus CP-something) even though it (the stand) has a fan that blows air up, towards the laptop, where at the same time, there are two fans blowing air out of the underside of the laptop instead of taking air in??

what cooling solution would you recomend??
madtkboy, am i right about the fans blowing air out??

 

I believe the underside fans suck air in. There's a huge vent on the left side that blows air out. It looks like it's the gpu fan.

No bluetooth by the way. Though I believe seeing bluetooth plugins on ebay for the fx 78 series for 20 bucks, think they'll work here.

 

OK, it's a good thing that it sucks air in... great!!
now, I actually caught a lucky break that I wasn't really expecting so I will order the laptop TODAY or TOMORROW 25.8.
i need to know some info about the shipping company DirectDial, they seem pretty good as far as I've seen the website, they have a warehouse at Richmond, vancouver so the order should be in pretty soon, and they have 6 P7902 in stock...
anyway, can someone tell me if they're any good??
thanks!!

 

NCIX actually has them in stock, and is very trustworthy. Just send an email to sales, because when I bought mine off them they reported the item as not in stock even tho they had several at their warehouses and shipped one off to me real quick.

 

Where'd you get that image from? I can't read the watermark.

 

If he does... I'm sure I'm stating the obvious... But please post here.

 

Here's something interesting... Check out this link for the 7809u from B&H.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...LX_W430X_028_P_7809u_FX_Edition_Notebook.html

Look closely at the picture. It has the new logo but it seems to have the standard Enter key, not the one that was being complained about above.

 

But that one has the 9800 GTS..