(?) General Questions - Origin EON17-s (Clevo P170EM / Sager NP9170)

Hey all, my first post here - one of many to come hopefully too. Been a 'lurker' for some time actually and thought I'd finally register and ask a few questions regarding a recent order of mine for the - Origin EON17-s

Link: EON17-S Custom Gaming Laptop Product Details and Features | ORIGIN PC

I won't be anticipating delivery until mid-july, due to the delay with 680m

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O.S:
Windows 7 Ultimate (64-Bit)

CPU:
Intel Core i7-3920XM Quad-Core Processor [Extreme Edition] (OC’d - 4.1GHz - 4.5GHz w/ Turbo Boost)

GPU:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M (OC’d)

RAM:
32GB DDR3 1600MHz (4x8GB)

CHIPSET:
Mobile Intel HM77 Express

STORAGE:
2x 750GB HDD (7200rpm SATA 300 - ‘RAID:0’ configured)
80GB Intel 310 Series - mSATA SSD (cached for 'mechanical drives' only)

OPTICAL DRIVE:
6X BD-R Blu-Ray Burner /8X DVD±R / 2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive (Dual-Layered)

SOUND:
Integrated HD Audio w/ THX TruStudio Pro & 7.1 Channel support

WIRELESS:
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 Wireless (~450mps)
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Q's:

1. I'm a bit concerned with my storage set-up and optical drive... Having 2x HDD, mSATA & Bluray RW as an Optical Drive even possible?? Do I need to sacrifice one of these?

2. What is the approx. refresh rate for the '1920 x 1080 17.3" LED Backlit Glossy LCD Screen'? & does this have 3D?

3. I know this will have the latest GTX 680m but is the GPU potentially user upgradeable? I am under the assumption providing it has a compatible MXM 3.0b~ pin slot, available mainboard placement, power set-up and is BIOS friendly it would be okay? (taking into acc CPU and RAM is more than enough in gaming for years)

4. I'm thinking of upgrading the HDD's to 500GB+ SSD when there is a significant price drop, would this be easily possible?

5. Would the GPU be the only potential bottleneck?

6. What type of RAM configuration does this have in terms of dual, quad channels? (I'm thinking dual)

7. Is SLI possible, or would it need a totally new mobo and chipset?

8. What future upgrades are potentially possible for this?

Much appreciated in advance

 

Any reason you want to go with Origin specifically?

 

They are quite cool, nice customization options...... and they can offer to deliver it in a wooden box.

Other wise, they have quite the premium, but it all comes down to one's personal preference, if you've got money to blow, sure thing Origin seems legit, if not, it's a huge waste of money

Now to the questions.

1. Yes it is possible, but why would you need it?
2. 60Hz, no not 3D yet
3. It is, if the future manufactures continue to produce MXM 3.0 cards that is
4. Yes insanely easy! You can do it with a Windows CD where you format the disk or inside the PC itself where you allocate it.
5. It wouldn't even be CLOSE to a bottleneck, neither would the CPU in that case.
6. It has quad channel, but dual channel is possible if you don't need the other two slots
7. No sadly not... you'll have to wait for the P370EM which will come out later this year.
8. GPU, CPU, HDD, RAM, Screen and that's it I think

have fun

 

I recently sold my XPS15z (could not become accustom to the keyboard; no numpad either - WAS A GIFT) and thought I'd upgrade - paid the residual $2,000~ for this..

I guess what ultimately made me opt for these guys though was they are now locally situated in my city and interstate here in Australia. Shipping and repair work in long term won't be as risky and costly (custom import taxes too for a laptop of these calibres.. $3-400*).

I was looking at the M18x's and the ASUS G75VW prior

 

Only x78 is quad channel so no it does not.

 

Also on very few need 32gb of ram and those people know about it, do you? 4gb is enough, 8gb is future proof. Spend that on your own ssds. Also xm without ssds is silly, 3720 is plenty ( it can still be oced a bit too)

 

Ahh, thanks for the quick response.

1. I opted for the mSATA and chose the cache option for mech drives thinking it may improve the OS performance

2. Ahh thanks that - and referring to A8, I would be able to get the screen upgraded at a later point? lol to be honest I wouldn't bother, especially for 3D.

3. Sounds promising *crosses fingers*

4. Haha thought so - will be looking forward to the noticeable performance increase

5. Great to hear, this should be a beast of a mobile desktop - for atleast 6 months eh

6. I didn't think about this one too much did I lol, quite noticeable in my specs listed.. *sigh*

7. Bummer

8. What about the chipset, or would that require a totally different compatible mainboard?

 

Yeah I agree, 32GB DDR3 1600Mhz is overkill and unnecessary - but I chose it lol

I think 12GB would have been appropriate as I do run Pro Tools 10 software regularly - which can become quite demanding at times, even with 8GB memory

 

In the Clevo FAQ threads, there are a number of Clevo dealers in Australia who are a lot cheaper than Origin, just an FYI.

Just curious why you specced your machine so high. Why do you need an Extreme CPU? Photoshop, video editing and gaming or even CAD won't utilize all of 3610M, hardware is way ahead of software right now. Why do you need 32GB of ram? And if you are only using the mSATA for cacheing, why on earth do you need 80GB? You just need 30GB for that, or less.

 

I didn't notice that, not to be too disappointed though as I spent an average out of pocket amount ($2,100*)

I did scout for a high end powerhouse mobile desktop replacement that would be formidable for the years to come - I've had an Inspiron 1720 since April 2008 for a laptop.

I'll admit, besides sound editing w/ Pro Tools 10 regularly, I don't do much; besides the occasional gaming and the odd video editing.

Edit: I have used the Dell XPS15z for the past 6 months though (for Pro Tools 10 as Windows 7 is required, 64-bit).. Sold it last week to an affiliate of mine and proceeded funds towards this

 

1. It surely will

2. You would.. but I'm pretty sure that you cant upgrade from a normal screen to a 3D one.. mobo problems and BIOS and such

3.

4. noticeable to say the least!! something you won't forget for quite a while

5. 6 months.. heh some might argue

6. You sure have equipped it to the fullest, really needed to get such a powerful machine? You won't be using all of it's power anyways.. that I am 100% sure of

7. Sadly yes

8. NO, no sorry. You can change the WLAN though... laptops aren't that customizable sorry, mobo and chipset no-go

 

Yeah, origin is a lot more expensive than just to buy locally, is what I did, I was originally looking at origin and xoticpc, but ended up opting for a local retailer.

I think that a huge bottleneck in this system are the storage drives, i would highly recommend getting an SSD or 2 as they are quite nicely priced atm also intel will enable TRIM on laptops soon enough as it is out for server desktops atm.

the LCD is not 3d and is only 60hz atm, though in about a month you will get a 120hz screen with 3d.

if future gpu's support the mxm 3.0b standard, then yes this will be user upgradeable, but this is also dependent on the mobo bios as well.

as stated above the only bottleneck on this system will be the mechanical hdds.

it has dual channel, and no SLI.

future upgrades, screen, keyboard, ram, wireless card, gpu (depending on a few variables) and storage.

i also recommending dropping the cpu down a few notches as it will be easily outdated by haswell soon enough, unless you absolutely need the processing power that will go unused anyway, unless of course your buying for bragging rights. Just saying, looking at sandy bridge the 2960xm the top of the line cpu that costed almost $1000 is now beaten out by the 3720qm pretty much one stop above the entry level ivy bridge processor.