XoticPC's OCZ Extreme 840 - Are you ready?

It appears as though XoticPC shipped my OCZ Extreme 840(A.K.A. OCZ Whitebook) Monday, and I will be receiving it Tuesday! Well, I can't begin to tell you how excited I am. There was a minor delay, but it was kinda my fault. I added the BluRay when finding out Robson Turbo Memory wouldn't work, delaying my order a day or two. So..that aside, I am looking forward to cracking open my next addiction tomorrow! And, I know that some benchmarks, temps, and screenshots have been requested from numerous Whitebook owners..but it seems that can be like pulling teeth sometimes. I will make my best attempt to provide a quality review of the system, a full benchmark breakdown, and anything else that would be beneficial to the NBR Forum. And for now.. all I have is this stupid UPS Tracking Screenshot..the one on the left was my Email, and to the right is the current tracking info.

Check back tomorrow for more to come!



Updated 10.30.08 - It's here..and it's been here since Tuesday afternoon! I've been busy the past couple of days, working on getting my new OCZ Extreme setup, with all my personal software, as well as tweaking and toying..and I tell ya what, this rig is amazing. That's the best way to describe it. XoticPC provided a quality rig, in a timely manor, and they kept on top of it the whole way. I delayed my own delivery by opting for Blu-Ray when OCZ announced the Turbo Memory wouldn't work as of yet. Everything came in one large box, packed with big bubbley packing material.. the box inside of that contained my new rig, and it felt like christmas morning when I got to finally open it up. I'm not a great photographer, but I did take photos of the unboxing and you can find them to view here. It's nothing special, but it does show the basics of what came with the rig.. and my pics as I assembled it. I have lots more pics, and I'll probably post a few of them later.

I know a few people have done reviews, so there's no need for me to bore anyone with another. They're all going to report the same feedback when it comes down to quality, and feel, and durability. Now, the only thing that will vary is going to be the performance. Different drivers will obviously yield different results, whether it be synthetic benchmarks or in-game performance. I haven't found the perfect driver for myself, yet..but I am the anal retentive type of person that will search til my fingertips are sore from typing in the google search bar. I posted a bit of feedback on pg. 6, and thought there may be some useful info that someone can take from it without having to dig around in this thread.

PG. 6----------
Ive not been around here much lately cause I've been busy tweakin the hell outta it and trying numerous video drivers. By the way, ATI isnt as easy as NVIDIA to find drivers On a scale of 1-10.. I give it a 9. Would probably have been a 10 if I didn't have to dig for drivers to have working sound, an updated chipset, and newer video drivers(personal choice).. Oh, and the temps are a bit high..but that's just cause of the crappy thermal pad on the Chipset side of the CPU heatsink. I've replaced it with another thermal pad last night, but I'l have to let the new stuff burn in to see how the temps change. Only dropped me about 6-7c all the way around so far. I don't ever wanna see my CPU hit 80c again..but, that is also running OC'd @ 3.3 GHz. I love tweaking new computers ;P

The pros: Beautiful vibrant screen with a minimal bleed at bottom, full size keyboard with good keytouch feel(smoothe clicks), sturdy as a rock, sexy and shiney, easy to OC CPU, good sound once you get the right drivers, tons of in/out audio & video connections, 3 color choices for backlit keyboard.. did I mention it's sexy?

The cons: fingerprint magnet, current heat issue being resolved, did not ship with sound drivers so you must download the latest RealTek HD Audio drivers & HDMI Audio driver otherwise only front right speaker produces sound, finding new compatible GPU drivers seems challenging(guess ya gotta mod them with Mobility Modder) - That's really it.

Overall: For the cost vs. the value, this is a phenomenal machine. I mean, it's fresh on the market and $1000 less than the other big names..but is competing(successfully) on the same level. Once the community begins purchasing and raving..then more support for the new technology will be readily available. And then it will be interesting to see what power and performance this machine has in reserve for us!

Personally: With more research, and self-education, I'll overcome the current video driver issue. I was frustrated with the Audio drivers not being included on the driver CD..it took a while to find the resolution, since one speaker DID work..thought it may have been an internal issue. If anyone has a heads up, or some insight on ATI drivers for this thing.. or even a link that is known for ATI modded performance drivers.. let me know. Right now, 14,700s is where I'm hittin 3dmark06 @ 3.3 GHz on Vista 64 Home Premium. Having an issue with Crysis not offering 1920x1200 resolution the other night, but haven't tried since updating drivers..so I'll get around to that today. Anyhow, I'll try and keep ya guys updated..
end---------------

Well, as it turns out.. the driver CD I received from Xotic didn't have the audio drivers for one reason or another. Remember how I'm anal retentive? Well, I would rather find a solution, than ask for an answer..so I never contacted Xotic for support. As a matter of fact, Justin called me on my cell immediately(within 10 minutes of me posting) when he saw my post stating that the drivers did not ship on my CD. Then sent me a PM here when I let it go to vmail.(heh, sorry..didnt recognize the number) They are aware of my situation, and had resolved this before anyone else ended up in the same predicament. It seems that for some odd reason, my CD just didn't have the audio drivers. All other drivers were present, including ATI and RAID.. Eh, it happens. Just in case someone else is looking for the drivers.. You can google for vista_R207.exe file and HDMI R203.exe, and you should have no problems finding them. And thanks to Justin and Xotic for staying on top of their game with support, even when not requested!

 

Congrats and I hope you enjoy it once it comes. I have to wait 2 weeks (from this point) pretty much for mine...even though I pre-ordered it before everyone else. LOL

 

Congrats mate. Thats a sweet config u got there. Post some pics and ofcourse some Crysis benches but most of all. Enjoy your best

 

hey, hey, hey, the party moved to over here now!
and what do you mean your still waiting on your new grown kids toy, ichime??

 

Yeah nobody's getting them 9262 anymore. Everyone moved to the OCZ laptops All thats left in Sager forums is some dude blaming his skills at the 9262 and like 1000 Np8660 threads

 

It is nice to hear that you are getting your laptop tomorrow E-Wrecked!, hope to see some benchmarks on your part once the laptop is with you.

 

rotflmao!!!

yeah, i checked that out. man, im still over there, but all the 9262 threads have taken a major dip!...not sure why, but the 9262 is still top of the heap.....till maybe the 4870's hit town...*LOL*

but waiting on my man "E" to get his machine so i can get every last test i ever wanted run...ran!..*LOL*

 

sorry for double posting....but this is to **** funny!!!!


LMAO

 

perhaps its just the crossfire vs SLi thing..

and also the OCZ has managed to fit a x9100 processor inside, something that managed to come close to the desktop processor in the 9262, and also considering that this processor MIGHT consume less power (<-- am i right on this?), it might have better battery life.

and of course, crossfire is so much cheaper than SLi, and crossfire performs too, so of course the OCZ is the one to look out for.. anyways, waiting for E-wrecked's monster to come in

 

I look forward to reading your review with pictures tomorrow.

(I also ordered with XoticPC on the 17th. They told me it will be done by this Wednesday + 1 day shipping).

 

The X9100 would be about equal to the E8400 @ 3.0 GHz in the Sager NP9262, and faster than any of the Quad Cores on non-multi-threaded or up to two threads applications.

 

yes...and if any one has any tips or tricks for my man E, now would be the time to share them now. i want him to have every possible angle covered! so he can give the lappy a serious work over.

and yeah, us 9262 owners are over here showing support! woooooohooooo! go ocz whitebook that aint' white.

 

lol..the black-whitebook, ya dig? And yea.. Ive been doin the NVIDIA thing for quite a while, and those things are easy to max out for performance.. unless SLI; which I never could jam another 9800m on the 7811FX MOBO. Anyhow, I haven't done any research on the ATI thang.. I've been trying not to get my hopes up by doing so. Also, not sure if possible, but hopin my x9100 can OC past 3.3GHz..seeing as all of these benchmarks people wanna post are with an ES model, I'm just optimistically thinking my original retail model will allow it to continue to OC past that threshhold. *hands john a crutch* Hope your rig feels better soon.

 

lol

she will be in good hands... the people at rj had me send them a video (used digital camera cam) of the screen then said we'll have ups at your spot to get your machine. i was kind of impressed with that.

 

nice service! they send you the cam too? ;P

EDIT: Not as exciting for anyone else, other than myself..but the tracking places my rig in Louisville, TN as of 12:40 AM Eastern.. That's only a 10 hour drive or so from here.. and like a 2 hour flight.

 

sounds like it will be there by 10am today

 

not really.. the x9100 could easily be clocked to 3.3Ghz, matching the E8600 in the 9262.. so until there, everything should be even. now its down to the graphics to do their work...

the plus point for the 9262 is that there's a Q9650 that's available for it, and an additional HDD slot..

but i guess people want a change yeah? after awhile SLi gets somewhat boring and crossfire in a notebook sounds exciting

 

yeah im even trying to sell my 1730 to get one of these.. but man its tough right now

 

you currently cant oc past 3.3 because the multiplier is limited by the bios to 12.5 i think right now. Hopefully an update will arrive to let you go higher as it seems the cooling system could easily handle a few more ticks up.

 

I hope the next BIOS update would open up more multiplier levels. If Intel is going to tease us by showing us a QX9300 overclocked to 3.5ghz (no extra cooling) on this very same notebook chassis, it's the least they can do

 

remember friends.... they had a 200 to 300 dollar docking station cooler under it as well. along with it being their chip and more than likely...their bios (speculation of course)

and the ocz is the make over the np9262 should have had...but wait!.... it may very well still be that, given the idea that this system will in fact run 1 8800m gtx (speculation of course) .... now if this thing really does becomes inter changeable..(able to run dual nvidia's).then it will truly be the ultimate machine. it pretty much has everything now, plus it's on a mobile platform.....

 

from what i understand it is impossible at the moment for a laptop to be able to run CF or SLI - it has to be one or the other, but getting just one card working is a start. im thinking about replacing my 9262 with the OCZ

 

possibly just impossible at the moment...but that's why we have technology.... so who knows....

i had given it a considerable amount of thought, but elected to stay with the 9262. the bench results i was seeing weren't where i thought they should be at or maybe i was expecting to much...it performed well running 3dmark06/vantage but as far as i can tell in gaming....it was lacking...(speculation because i do not own one) i have to thank mhooper though for all his efforts in helping us to see the customer side of how this laptop runs as well as well as mark with his expert side of things on making this laptop move the way it should be and intel for showing what the facts really are, given an open platform....

side note: i notice people complain about how high the price is on the gtx vs the ati in a notebook....well it balances out in the end... because the mobile high end chip (retail) is 1k vs the desktop chip at 500. while sli is 490 to 1165 vs crossfire at 250 bucks... and without both driving a high end cpu..the results will never be high, but more along the average baseline.....(personal opinion)

 

Well.. good news! It just delivered about an hour ago.. I'm going to run a few errands..gonna buy a Btooth mouse seeing as I don't wanna use this RF-dongle anymore. Also gettin FarCry2, possibly Fallout 3, and gotta mail out an iPhone I sold.. then, comin back to build, install vista, and hopefully snap a couple pics at the same time. Should be up and running in maybe 3 hours?

 

kool man, looking forward to that

 

well alrighty there pal!! we already know what the machine looks like...lets see them benchmarks!!!! *LOL*

j/k

glad it arrived.

 

i want one of these... =*(

 

2 more days til I get mines

 

ok..so I am kinda anal when it comes to building my shi t and making sure it's done right. I just finished putting everything together, and I did take pics as I went along..otherwise it would have been much faster. But, right now Vista is installing.. and I should be able to run some benches pretty soon. Actually, I'd like to install Crysis before runnin any benches..to watch my temps as it installs. Ya know, that Crysis install may as well be the dang game itself when it comes to a resource hog. Anyhow, I'll have it going ASAP.. I promise. I won't waste time with the pics right now, can do that later. Just waitin on Vista...

 

chop chop e-wreck

 

haha everyone's waiting from numbers from you. anyways, gratz on the arrival. i'll be hanging around to see what you've gotta say bout it yeah.

 

dang.. Im slow eh? At least I managed to make it back and get something posted TODAY..my goal was by midnight. And not much of a suprise.. but, my results aren't very different from others' I've seen so far. I intend to tweak some drivers, and also look into why my CPU is running warm(in my opinion). Odd thing, you set the 12.5 multiplier in BIOS..and it locks it in Vista..it disables speed stepping. So, I haven't had a whole lot of time to toy around.. I did however download a different Catalyst Driver, and I tell ya what..those things are a pain in the @$$ to find, compared to NVIDIA drivers. So, enough rambling.. here's the first 3dmark run @ 3.3GHz w/ the x9100.



more than anything else, wanted to throw that up for johnksss.. And, I did take lots o' pics of the build..and I will be writing a thorough review in the next day.. The system is sexy though, and I'm just hoping that I can figure out how to OC the GPUs, as well as maximize it's performance of the CPU. May take me a few days, but I'll keep ya posted.

 

hmm what happened to the GPU sensors? or were there no GPU sensors =0

 

hey now! i see ya!

also try http://www.hwinfo.com
and download their hwinfo32 it should confirm your temps...im thinking they may be 5 to 10c's to high because of it....(speculation)

 

great question.. I wondered the exact same thing myself.. GPU-Z reports the temps, but hard to track without reviewing the log.


john, will try it man.. I think TZ00 is accurate.. I can listen to the fans spin up and down at certain trip points.. 80c on tz00 makes em spin like a jet engine.. they put off a very minor "whine"

 

gotcha. so how do you like it so far?

 

Hmm.. I'm getting used to it. I haven't had a chance to do a whole lot with it. I managed to get all my programs installed, except for games. I still have some work to do. But, overall, it's a very clean look. Everything is sleak, smoothe, and going to be covered with my paw prints. I got FarCry 2, and fallout 3..and the farcry 2 came with a free download of farcry original.. so I've got plenty of entertainment value to add to previous games. Really though, Im gonna get out of here and install the rest of my crap. I'll be on tomorrow to post pics, comments, and benchies. Just wanted to make sure I didn't disappear without doing so.. it seems this rig has a tendency of making people do that.

 

rotflmao!
man, i know you are far from going somwhere..you'll email from the cell phone to be heard!..*LOL*

side note: they picked up my laptop today and should be in their hands tomorrow or today rather. since it's now wednesday.

 

sweet deal! and yea bud..gotta do what ya gotta do to keep on top of your game! Anyhow, Im installin crysis..gonne give it a bench run for ya.

edit: maybe I needed a reboot; second run 3dmark

 

looking good!

 

Wow!
Congrats on the new rig, those are some nice scores, finally some actual competition for the NP 9262, it's great that this system actually lived up to all the hype!
Hopefully when the 4000 series ATI chips are available the won't dissapoint like the 9800 GTX's.

 

im gonna have to hold judgement on the 9800m gtx's, but ill let you know for sure when i get my rig back. but from the testing i was doing..it was noticable between the 9800m gt's and the gtx's. but seemed to fall short on 3dmark/vantage, but i think i found a work around for that...i started testing a few things but i couldn't be sure because my cards weren't working right..

 

Believe me, I'm not saying the GTX's are bad, it's just for all the extra $$$ you pay for them I wished the performance boost would have been a little more substantial.

 

i understand ikas..not saying it like that. remember...i had dual 9800m gt's first.. for about a week, then upgraded. as for performance... i averaged 24 frames in very high on crysis, with my gt's it's was more like 20 or so. i noticed a few other things as well...but that was about the time they started to act up...*LOL* so i have to wait....*tapping foot on desk* waiting for lappy to come back home.

 

crossfire still wins SLi here? (talking bout the 9800M GT SLi)

 

ummmmm, depends on how you look at things.....

it didn't win at benchmarking games. although in 3dmark06 & vantagemark. it seems to be doing nicely. but we will have some more results on that by later tonight. 17fps on very high in crysis is not kicking the gt's butt... but it is in price...gt's $490 & crossfire $250 that's a definite yes!! and when you compare what your getting for your money, makes the ati's look very nice indeed!

 

yeah.. the price is definitely there.. perhaps the next release would catch up??

after all, this is the first notebook offering crossfire(i'm correct, right?)... and SLi has been in the market for so long.. so lets give crossfire some time to warm up yeah? it has already won in the $ aspect..

 

not downing it at all...had there been more test around the net on it, i may have went that way instead of nvidia's, but there just wasn't enough people who had them yet.....

 

Yeah I was on the the fence with the whole OCZ thing at first too but in reality it was not available when I got my NP-9262 a couple of months back and I really didn't want to wait for it.I'm just glad there is another option when considering great gaming notebooks some competition is great for us consumers.

 

yep, tis is true...now nvidia will drop that crazy high azz price now...lol