Previous 6831-FX Owner to 7811-FX: My Experience

First I apologize to the mods if this should of been placed under another current thread. Feel free to move this if so.

This is not going to be an extremely long review, but I wanted to let everyone knows what my thoughts and experiences have been going from a 6831-FX with an upgraded T9300 Proc & a 7200 RPM 160gb seagate hard drive running XP to the new 7811-FX. My benchmarks with OC'd 8800GTS were around 9780 consecutively in 3DMARK06. There was one time I hit 9901 but that was before I installed any software so something brought the score down to the 9700+ range. The laptop ran very cool, battery life was decent, and my screen was "OK." I say it was OK because it had some of the "spotting" or "bleeding" effects that people are complaining about on the 7811's.

I sold the laptop and picked up a 7811-FX and the first thing I did out of the box was remove the old thermal paste on the CPU and heatsink and replace it with AS5. After letting it cure, I removed all the bloatware in VISTA and installed the latest Forceware's that people were not experiencing issues with. This netted me a baseline of 8764 pts in 3DMark06; Not terrible, not great either. I decided to spend my entire 3 day weekend prepping to install Windows XP 32-bit on the system. The overall process was frustrating because I had to do some custom work to get the soundcard to work without having to reinstall it every time (pm me if you want details on how to make it work.)

I installed my normal apps, same Nvidia drivers that I ran in VISTA and my 3DMark06 scores instantly jumped up to 9120, which is a huge gain from just a fresh OS install IMO. I decided to go ahead burn in the laptop for a full day and make sure there were no heat or lockup issues that people have been experiencing. I played Team Fortress 2, Crysis, looped 3DMark06, and Supreme Commander for almost a 24 hr time frame and it never once locked up or even stuttered like it wanted to.

From this point I decided to OC the 9800GTS to see what it can do. Below are the results from the OCing. I started with a very simple OC, worked my way up to a mild OC, and then pushed it to what I think would be the max OC. The end results were 9628 in 3DMark06 which is only 100 pts shy of what my old 6831 was pushing with a faster processor. I have no doubt that upgrading the proc in the 7811-FX can net some amazing results with a safe OC. Temps were within normal spec and the proc never went over 38C as seen in my benchmark scores.

Pros of upgrading (IMO)

Better hardware as a starting point
Much better screen (despite some light bleed, overall looks very nice)
Potential to be a faster system
Better battery life

Cons of upgrading (IMO)

Unit puts out more heat around the palm rest
No bluetooth (yes I use bluetooth for headphones)
XP took an act of God to get everything installed and functioning
Bezel around the LCD feels real flimsy where on the 6831-FX did not

Overall Thoughts

I see a lot of "my 7811-FX is melting" "locking up" "they are junk stick with the old units" "the displays have dead pixel and ghosting problems" etc. and I am baffled because my laptop, my brother's 7811, and my friend's have not had ANY of the issues people are talking about on the forums. I am not saying bad units don't exist, but there are certainly good units shipping from Gateway. I have owned at least 6 laptops in my lifetime and the overall quality is decent to where I think the unit will last, and this is also coming from owning 2 Sagers. No you are not going to get a Sager quality laptop for the price of the 7811-FX, but you aren't getting junk either.

Should my unit start to experience issues I will let you guys know and I will post a follow up once I replace the proc in it with a P9500. Pics are a little hard to see so let me know if they need re-uploaded.

 

Also want to add people with lockup issues make *SURE* the powerbrick is either elevated or in a wide open environment to where nothing is blocking air flow to it. I have a feeling the power supplies in these units are junk just like the 6831+'s were because mine runs pretty hot.

 

your pictures are impossible
can you specify the clocks in each oc run ?

 

Not sure why the came out so terrible, guess the res of the LCD. Anyways here are the clocks and temps after the runs finished. The proc cooled off very quickly but in between the runs I saw it hover around 37-38C.

Test OC - 667/855/1542 - 9318 3DMARK06
Mild OC - 700/869/1542 - 9381 3DMARK06
Full benchmark OC - 725/949/1646 9628 3DMARK06

Temps - ACPI 35&33C, Core#0 & Core#1 - 26 & 24C, 9800M - 48C (Max was 50C), HD - 46C (max was 50C)

I put a screw driver underneath the battery to prop it up some to get more air during the OCs.

 

ty man... this posts are a real gimmeabreak from all the flaming to this babe.
rep to ya

 

these were the temp during the oc runs ?
highly suspicious, unless you room temp is -20c

10x for the oc figures, great o/c

 

in the Jpg's he uploaded it shows his gpu what looks like 75C(its hard to read ) at max temp so he must have not typed it correctly.

 

First of all, thanks for the review. You made some good comparisons there, and I'm in about the same region as you were with your p6831 only I have the 6860 and installed the t9300. So my question to you is; Do you think that it is worth it? Upgrading for a marginal increase in 3dm06 score. Did you notice Improvement over your old system playing any of those games that you mentioned. The thing about the laptop (in the specs) that I was impressed with is the screen resolution 1920 X1200. Is the screen alot better than what you had (viewing angle, color ect.) ?
Seanno

 

Temps were about 10-15 seconds after the 3dmark runs completed. Just long enough to save my results and then hit print screen.

Seanno - Viewing angle is very good on the 7811's LCD. If you can break even on your old laptop or come close I would sell it. I actually made money on mine so upgrading was a no brainer. If you cannot afford the 7811-FX WITH an upgraded processor in it at a later time, I would keep what you have. I fully intend to drop a faster proc in it so like I stated you have much more upgrade potential. This system as it sits is nearly as fast as my old unit fully modified. If you look at the new Sager laptops my benchmarks are actually better then a majority of the new models that are out with the 9800GT's in them (of course my video card is oc'd though.)

Games do take a hit in 1920x1200 vs the 1440x900 res that is on the 6831, but I have no issues playing in a lower res outside the native resolution with anti-aliasing enabled.

If you don't mind a little more heat then your previous unit I would upgrade for the screen alone rather then spending the money to upgrade your current machine. The colors are absolutely amazing and I have not had a single dead pixel or any color washout like others are reporting. There is some light bleed from the top and bottom of the bezel but not enough to warrant freaking out about it. Best way to test the LCD is to install WinAMP PRO and use the Milkdrop plugin while you listen to music to see how color reproduction is handled with your panel.

If anyone wants more temp readings let me know what to test and I will get them. Again, all benchmarks were done with the laptop propped up but I played all my games with it sitting flat. Performance in Crysis, Unreal Tournament 3, Team Fortress 3 are the same as my 6831 in the same resolution and just as comparable in 1680x1050. I did not try 1920x1200 because playing in a lower res does not bother me.

 

I just bought this lappy today and so far i like more than the sager NP5793 i had!..The only thing i notice is the screen has alittle light bleed at the bottom.

 

Gratz BMW I'd reinstall the OS fresh if you can. I too had a Sager NP5793 that I sold before I bought my 6831-FX.

 

Thanks for the follow up. That 1920 x1200 screen sounds sweet. I wish I had the money right now, but I don't. If I did buy one though, I would just take out the t9300 in my 6860 and use that. I saved the processor that came with it incase I ever have to use the warranty (the packaging sticker is still on it).
Seanno