The official P-7811FX lounge

I'll check that stuff out.

Did a F.E.A.R. Performance Test at maximum settings and native resolution, turned out pretty good. Unfortunately, the game froze up at the loading menu for some reason so I had to do a hard restart (if that's what unplugging it and ejecting the battery is called).

FPS:
Minimum: 24
Average: 55
Maximum: 122

FPS Distribution:
1% below 25 FPS
33% between 25 and 40 FPS
66% above 40 FPS

 

does anyone have cod4 that can test with all settings high at native resolution with aa off, and see what fps they get

 

This may be a pretty stupid question, but how do u pull out the piece of plastic in the express card slot?

The one for the card reader was easy, it just comes out.

 

It's spring loaded. Push it in and it should pop out.

 

oooh thanks. Wow gotta really push hard on those springs xD

 

Indeed you do. It almost feels as if you're gonna break it. Not to mention the nice "crunch" sound it makes when you push it back in.

 

Hey guys,

Got a little dilemma here i would appreciate peoples views on.

So i'm in the process of buying a new 6831FX for 1400USD which is all stock except for a T8300 installed and a 200gb 7200rpm hard drive. My question is regarding performance and future proofing. Does any one think that there will be a great difference in performance between this model and the 7811FX. Also as i can still technically get out of this deal, would purchasing the 7811FX future proof me in terms of technology and future upgrades. Or would i be fine with the 6831FX and should stop worrying about minor things. I know that i can upgrade the screen, but the screen res isn't such a big deal. I've heard that the 8800m gts and the 9800 are pretty much the same.

I would just like to hear some opinions, to help me make my decision. I live in canada by the way. So the only problem is i'd have to drive down to the US to get the 7811FX if it came to it. Would i have to pay any taxes on it if i purchased it from Washington State??

Thanks for any replys

 

I think you're paying a bit much for the 6831FX. They were selling 6860FX refurbs for $800 last week(And $700 the week before). You can get an X7800 for like $200 AND upgrade the screen for what you'll pay for the 6831. Another $100 and you can add another HD and RAID 'em.

 

Also, your BIOS has a built in memtest so you dont have to worry about downloading anything and installing, etc. Just check under advanced, I believe and there should be a test in there. Hit F2 at boot screen.

Oh, and I'm not sure if anyone is a good BIOS editor.. But I extracted a copy of the BIOS for the 7811FX and if someone would care to look at it, be my guest. I've toyed with phoenix editor before, but it isn't the right program for the job. There needs to be a sandbox type editor, and also needs to check integrity, etc. If you're daring.. www.biosmods.com has plenty of tools. Im gonna try modbin, but not gonna be the flash test dummy! I did that with the chipset compatibility, and I'll pass on this one.

PM Me if you want a copy of the 7811FX BIOS.

 

Hey guys, in addition to my earlier posts of the P-7811FX locking up..
only locks up in games, (anything that uses the GPU is my guess)
I had the rear of the laptop elevated for air circulation but it still locking up.
i elevated the whole laptop. a game box holding up the front and one holding up the back, i cant seem to get the thing to lock up now lol, or its tricking me, my best bet would be just to get a replacement to fix the issue seeming i shouldnt actually have to have my laptop proped up to stop it locking right?

Also.. whats with the Ctrl and fn keys lol. does anyone know a way to set the keyboards settings different? was thinking of poping the keys off and switching them round to fix the minor annoynce but i cant figure out if theres a way to change the keyboard layout to change it,any one have any thoughts on it, or should i just quit my whinning ? lol

 

@revenantx02
Key Tweak

Sounds like heat was causing the lockups. Keep an eye on the temps. One system can run warmer than another of the same model depending on the cooling installation and individual chips. So without knowing your ambient and operating temps can't tell if you are hotter than normal. There is a post here somewhere that would indicate these units run rather cool, relatively speaking.

 

What kind of minor annoyance are you having with the Keys...???

 

Thanks for your reply. The only problem is i live in Canada and therefore can't buy these refurb models. I've looked on ebay and there is a refurb on there but it is 1100, but it has a t5550 so by the time i've paid for another CPU i'll be approaching the price i'm paying now. Also on Tigerdirect.ca the closest i can come to the 6831FX is the P-173X FX but it is 1622CD, and it has the T7500 compared to the T8300.

If i buy this model, will the performance be about the same as the 7811FX? The person i'm buying from says he has both models and i wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the performance. Also is there better options to upgrade the CPU on the 7811FX or is the same options as the 6831FX? Also the RAM is DDR3 would i see a significant improvement?

I wish i lived in the US. Everything is so bloody cheap. I came to Canada from UK and all you here is how cheap everything is. BS.

 

These BSODs are becoming frequent...

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: d1
BCP1: FFFFFA6001B50F00
BCP2: 0000000000000002
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: FFFFFA6003228BCD
OS Version: 6_0_6001
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 768_1

I'm not sure how helpful that is-I've been wanting to run the memory test thing, but I'm not quick enough to hit whatever key I need to hit during start up.

I've also noticed that at least two vents at the bottom of the thing are still blocked by the table. The ones I think I have open are the ones for the GPU and Hard Drive-the left most and lower most vents, there are two on the other sides but there's really not much I can do for those unless I find a way to prop them up.

There's that one cooling system that Targus makes, but I've heard terrible, terrible things about it so I'd have to go for a different cooling mat or something.

 

Are you monitoriong your heat? BSOD messages are not all that useful, truth be told. They can give a general idea. I think they said F2. You don't have to be fast just consistent. Keep tapping the key during boot.

 

Yea, I hear ya on the US pricing. We do have it good here. As far as the comparison between the 7811 and the 6831, to be honest, no. You're not going to notice a great deal of difference. Especially with the T8300 in there. The biggest differences are the screen resolution and temps. The 7811 is going to run a bit cooler, but the 6831 is certainly no scorching demon. I have a 6860 with the hottest mobile CPU known to man overclocked and my unit keeps nice and cool as long as the vents aren't blocked. The 6831 actually has one thing on it compared to the 7811. RAID. As of right now, the 7811 does not have RAID enabled, where the 6831 does.

 

Thanks again, i've pretty much read through the whole of this thread and the 6831FX thread. As i've said i'm not entirely bothered about the screen res, i can always put a new screen in if it ever bothers me that much. One of my concerns is regarding the fact that the 7811 is updated and i wondered if the 7811 gave better options in terms of modding in the future with newer tech. For example is there better options for the CPU with 7811 as i know the 6831 can only have certain CPUs, also regarding the DDR3 ram, will i be missing much?

Oh yeah and the 7811 is missing bluetooth as well........i know big woop

 

The 7811 does operate on the new montevina platform, which later this year is supposed to be welcoming a mobile quad core as well as a few new C2D flavors. If quad core is important to you, then I'd definitely say go with the 7811. TBH, If you're already spending $1400 on a 6831, it may be in your best interest to just go ahead and pick up the 7811. I just try to give unbiased opinions on both sides.

 

Thanks, Yeah i'm in two minds. The thing is to get the 7811 i'd have to get down to the US which is a pain. Do you know if i have to pay tax for the 7811 if i was to get down to the US? Washington is the closest state

 

Yes. You'll have to pay state tax wherever you pick it up. There are a couple sales tax-free states, but I dont think Washington is one of them. Plus if you declare it on your way back in, you'll have to pay some sort of ripoff duty tax and whatnot, but there's ways around that. I believe there's a couple posts detailing how.
DISCLAIMER: I do not condone "cheating" the government.

 

ok, now im torn between the p-6860fx and the 7811fx... in terms of stability, which is better? as most people i can see around here have the 6860 plus an upgraded processor, how is it running for you guys? is it better than the 7811fx...

 

The Sales Tax Clearinghouse notes that Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon have no state sales tax. But even though the state doesn't tax retail sales, individual counties and cities are sometimes allowed to collect sales tax. In Alaska, where the state has no sales tax, the cities of Bethel, Clarks Point, and Dillingham each charge their own 5% sales tax.
http://ask.yahoo.com/20011231.html

 

Hmm. Learn something new everyday!

 

ok, so is it the p-7811fx or the p-6860fx?

 

just used to the Ctrl key being in the far left corner, taking a while to get used to from other laptops

 

Get this one:

 

glad you found the info i offered useful, that is why i/we take the time to exchange here. feel free to toss me a rep. thanks and good luck.

 

One last question lol.
As I've said in a few previous posts my laptop tends to lock up.
So today being Sunday, I figured I'd give the laptop a bit of a thrashing on AOC at top settings/resoultion etc etc, And then change it about and try my best to get it to lock up. I took it off top of the small boxes i had it on to stop it from it from being elevated so it would be flat on my desk, after about 6 hours of gaming at ultra high graphics 16x AA @ 1920x1200
I couldn't get it to lock up once. wich has got me wondering..
Should I take it back and get a replacement tomorrow, or.. do you think it was just a bug that sorted itself out? lol
I only ask because. Im visiting a friend in the US so i thought id grab a laptop and play a few games as back home a reasonable laptop like this is atleast $2800, I;ll be going home in 2-3 weeks. wich im not sure Best Buy would have a replacement laptop for me in time. And if they have to do testing and cant find anything wrong with the laptop ill look like an @$$ and might take even longer to get a replacement or just the same one back?
wich leaves me with the delima of.. Do i chance it working fine now and hope for the best. or do i replace it and maybe luck out and not get it back intime before i leave the US?
Murphy's law says im screwed either way, any advice on what i should do ? lol

 

if you can run stress tests on the ram/cpu/gpu/hdd and pass all of them, then those lockups are probably drivers issues. in such a case replacing it might not help, have in mind its a new chipset and it will take time for drivers to stabilize, thats normal (sux but normal).

 

any tools you recommend to run a complete stress test on everything on the p-7811fx just to make sure it's all good to go?

 

ram : memtest86, better to run from a bootable media http://www.memtest86.com/ (included in ubcd) orthos can also be configured to stress ram.

cpu : 2-3 hours of orthos ( http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/385/) should be a good start, TAT is even more demanding on my sytem ( http://www.overclock.net/downloads/138139-intel-tat.html)

gpu : can either ran few hours 3dmark cycles or use specific tools like FurMark ( http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/)

hdd: basic scan disk with all options on is a start, then there are many tools on the ubcd ( http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) and take a look at this http://nu2.nu/bst/
if you can download "hiren boot cd" you will be even better off.


there are full suits that do a pc burn in tests like http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm, never used one.

always monitor your temps while stressing your machine.
probably need to put a limited liability clause here, but hey sue me

 

Crysis @ 1900x1200 & ultra-high settings. Leave the slide-show on for a night and see if you can boil some eggs with it in the morning.

 

I got 7811FX yesterday from bestbuy along with 3 year accidental plan, I've still not opened it but will be doing it tonight. I want to know if I should keep 3 years accidental plan or cancel it and save $400 for something else ? How is Gateway customer support and overall reliability of 7811FX ?

 

I would cancel it and get a warranty from SquareTrade: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=575127

A member here was singing their praises, can't remember who.

 

Gateway support is lacking. I was on hold for an hour for tier2 and then my phone died 20minutes into diagnosing.

 

I need a little help here.

This P-7811FX is my first laptop, my first time using Vista, and my first time using a 64bit OS, so I'm just about as green as they come here. I built my last 3 desktops and love to overcloock and all that jazz, so I'm not a complete idiot.

I tried to load BF2. It starts loading, but when the progress bar reaches the end, it just stops loading. I have to close the loading window down manually. I tried to uninstall but because it did not successfully install, it immediately gives me an error message when I try to uninstall.

1. Can BF2 be successfully loaded and played on this PC/Vista64?
2. If so, do I need to put the PC into some sort of compatibility mode?
3. If not, can I set up a dual boot OS with WinXP Pro 32bit and load BF2 on that partition or is that not possible due to driver issues?

Thanks for your help.

 

Think BF2 needs a patch or something.
2nd you sure you shut off UAC? Maybe thats screwing it up.

 

Ok guys.. I've been posting about this 7811FX for a hot minute.. evidentally I'm not allowed to advertise items for sale unless it's in the proper forum. So, the CPU I just added is now for sale, the x9100, and if you search the BST forum you'll find it as barely used.. Just a heads up.

 

thanks for the excellent answer royk. i really appreciate it. by the way, is it also advisable to just run this laptop with crysis running on slideshow for a couple of hours? just to make sure it doesn't mess up?

and what's a good temp monitor i could use?

 

i am thinking of running passmark because it's much less complicated than the others... what do you guys think?

 

cpuid hwmonitor is good temp monitor

 

I bought mine with my amex card... they add another year to the warranty

 

Okay, little update.

Ran Oblivion this morning along with FRAPs to monitor the FPS. I had it on MAX settings with HDR (unfortunately, that means no Anti-Aliasing, but it looks like at higher resolutions AA isn't really necessary) and resolution-it looks gorgeous and runs quite smoothly to boot. Frame rates max out at about 61 fps, usually 60 when either talking to a person or just standing still, the lowest I ever saw it get was 28 fps, when is still above normal human vision (which I hear is about 24 fps). However, I'd probably have to wait until I get to the more graphically intense parts of the game (such as Kvatch, and further down the line, the final battles) but so far it's looking pretty good.

The only issue I kind of have is the laptop practically starts breathing fire out its air vents (okay, that's an exaggeration, but I feel the air vents, particularly the side one, and it feels like I could use it to keep my room warm during the winter months). I was thinking of getting a cooling pad, but most of the ones I found haven't gotten very good reviews. Actually, what I've heard, at least about one of them is that it actually makes the heat WORSE-I can understand the logic-someone said that because most laptops have vents on the bottom of the unit, and the fans on the cooling pad are also blowing, but actually they're blowing the air BACK into the machine. However, I can't help but think maybe these guys are idiots and had the freakin' thing UPSIDE DOWN when they used it. From what I understand, one end of a fan sucks and the other blows, so maybe their problem was that they put their laptop on top of the side that's supposed to blow the air out instead of the end that sucks the air in.

Still, I would definitely like some recommendations for external cooling units-it may be difficult to find one that would go underneath a 17" 9.5 lb. laptop, though.

Also I think I'll need a USB hub, I've got some lying around in a closet someplace from my very first Gateway computer, which had Windows '98 and a whooping 13GB of hard drive space! Don't remember any of its other stats because I didn't pay attention to that kind of stuff at the time. I don't believe I was very concerned at all whatsoever about specs until I bought my current desktop. I remember a sales person telling me that most computers right off the shelf need some kind of upgrade-but what's so great about the P-7811 is that it's a powerful machine right out of the box.

One more thing, my mom found a zip-lock pouch with four screws in it today-I can only guess what they're for. Looks like I'll have to shut off my laptop in the near future, unplug it, make sure everything's cooled down and any residual power is gone (the battery's already out, makes handling BSODs a little easier), and take out the second hard drive, put in the screws, and put it back in.

Do I need to do any backing-up or take any extra precautions when I do this?

Oh, and when I've got my laptop hooked up to the TV, how do I get sound to go through the headphone jack?

It's kind of interesting, actually-iTunes seems to like to play music through the laptop speakers whereas the Zune software goes through the TV.

Ah, I think I figured it out-I need to set up the sound so that it's coming out of speakers as opposed to the HDMI.

I also see SPDIF-that would probably be the output that would allow 5.1 sound, but unfortunately I don't think the Logitech speaker set has a connection for that, so I'd still either need an external USB thing, or some kind of SPDIF converter.

 

Undervolt the CPU. That'll help with the heat issue on one of the vents.

 

That could be a good idea-although I'd need to know just what that means, what it does, and how to do it. But considering the fact that I think the CPU may be located around the upper right corner (or perhaps the right side) of the laptop, and that part is still directly against the tray table I've got the thing on top of (the GPU and hard drive vents are hanging off the edge-fortunately the weight of the thing is distributed such that it doesn't wobble around).

On the subject of the 5.1 situation, I'm still leaning toward an external USB thing, since I'm betting it would be difficult to find a SPDIF converter designed specifically to convert to the headphone-type jacks that the Logitech thing's supposed to be able to connect to. Anyone have any recommendations for a particular brand and/or model?

Still want to know about the fan thing just in case undervolting the CPU would either not be enough or would have too many adverse effects.

I did get one of my BSODs shortly after a session of playing Oblivion at the settings I mentioned before. I wonder if it has something to do with the fans slowing down too soon-however I don't believe it's consistently occurred after a gaming session, and it's still basically the same error message as well.

Here's another part of the BSOD message that might be helpful to diagnosing the issue it mentions NETw4v64.sys. Could that mean it has something to do with my wireless card drivers?

 

Here's a thread with everything you need to know about undervolting.

Found this bit of text in a forum via google search. This may or may not be of assistance to you regarding your BSOD problem.

"After some brief searching, I have found a few forums that state people having the same issue with NETw4v64.sys. Most say that it is an issue with the duration which the wireless card is ON and connected. Based on the amount of connections at any given time, a BSOD could occur."

And heres the thread.

 

The Undervolting Guide as written by flipfire

and for a laptop cooler, i highly recommend the NZXT Cryo LX or the Zalman NC-2000 personally, i have the NZXT Cryo LX and i love it, i regularly see temps down in the low 20C range for the cpu@idle, and max 50C at 100% load for 4+ hours. i do have it undervolted as well, which helped out a lot with temperature at load. i saw a 14C drop in temps.

edit: :tongue: :tongue: :tongue: @ dook

 

Stop copying my answers or I'm afraid I'm gonna have to kill you till you die from it.

 

not if i kill you dead first, which, is quite possible. you'll never see it coming.

 

Good point.

You ARE in the Army, afterall.