8170 build

Replacing a Asus G50V and looking at Sager 8170. How does this build look? Trying not to go over $1500 as much as possible.

This one comes out to $1549 ($1502.53 with cash discount).

Will mostly be used for gaming and general use (web browsing, streaming video, etc)

Sager NP8170 / Clevo P170HM Sager NP8170 / Clevo P170HM
- FREE!! Continental (U.S. Lower 48 - UPS Ground Only) Ground Shipping on ALL Sager Laptops - Until 01/01/2012
(Enter Coupon Code: "SAGERFREESHIP" during order process)
- SAGER Sale!!! - $100 OFF When you spend $1500* or more! (*excludes non-sager parts, accessories, shipping, & taxes)
Confirmation of discount will be provided after Order Processing.
- FREE Digital Copy of Battlefield 3 w/ Any Intel 120GB SSD or Higher Hard Drive Upgrade + Sager Price Protection
+ Automatically Qualified to Win an Xbox 360!!!
- 17.3" FHD 16:9 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Glossy Screen (1920x1080) (SKU - S1R506)
- NO Professional Monitor Color Calibration
- No Spare 3D Glasses
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM, 2.0-2.8GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache) - Slight Back Order (SKU - S2R201)
- -Stock OEM Thermal Compound
- ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD6990 2048MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 $100 OFF (SKU - S3R151)
- No Video Adapter
- 8GB - DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (2 SODIMMS) (SKU - S4R365)
- Sager Branding
- Standard Finish
- 500GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache) - Default (SKU - S5R207)
- None Standard
- HDD Raid Settings - OFF
- 6X Blu-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive - Special! (SKU - S7P557)
- No Extra Optical Bay Hard Drive Caddy
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- NO External USB Optical Drive
- No Floppy Drive
- Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- No Back Up Software
- None Standard--
- Intel® Advanced-N 6230 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module + Bluetooth (SKU - S8R111)
- No Network Accessory
- Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- No TV Tuner
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Basic Black Business Case - Included
- Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
- No Car Adapter
- No Spare AC Adapter
- No Dock/Hub/Adapter
- Integrated Fingerprint Reader
- No Headset
- No External Keyboard or Mouse
- No Notebook Cooler
- No Thanks, Please do not Overclock my system (Overclocking will add 3-6 business days to build time)
- No Operating System Redline Boost
- ~Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's + Microsoft Office Starter 2010 - Included with OS Purchase
- No Office Software
- No Software Bundle
- LIFETIME Ltd Labor* 1 Year Parts Warranty Lifetime -24/7 DOMESTIC Based- Toll Free Telephone Tech Support (Labor Warranty through Xotic PC)
Includes FREE Shipping Both Ways for Warranty Repairs (SKU - X9R009)
- No Outside of US Shipping Coverage
- Standard Production Time
- No Xotic PC Gear

 

Looks good, but things to consider:

1. Upgrade to an aftermarket SSD down the road.
2. If you want to keep temperatures lower upgrade the thermal compound.
3. I recommend the Bigfoot wireless network card especially if you're a gamer.

Otherwise it's still a solid machine.

 

The I7-6230 is also on back order so check that also... And for the wireless card, unless you have a big house with poor reception or more speed than 100M, it may not be worth it to upgrade.

 

To save $50, would it be better to go with 4x 2GB DIMMs instead of 2x 4 GB DIMMs? From what I read, this is mainly for overclocking and I don't plan to do that (From what I read, I don't think you can OC on these systems anyway?)

Then I could put that money towards either the thermal compound or upgrade the CPU or wireless card?

I'm not really interested in SSDs due to the high cost and low capacity. I am just fine with mechanical drive performance.

 

how long will it be on back order?

 

not really for overclocking but for expansion later on, in case you decided you wanted 16gb of ram you'll have 2 extra slots to put in another pair where as a 4x2gb you're stuck unless you replace those.

8gb would be more than enough in the next 2-3 years for gaming unless you do a lot of memory intensive tasks (VMwares, large databases etc...)

btw you can't OC the cpu but you can OC the GPU

 

That I cannot tell you, Xotic just says back order and Sager website has no ETA last I looked. I will assume all resellers are on back order as well if sager is. I went ahead and upgraded to the 2670 to avoid delays.

 

For $50 i think you should upgrade to the 2670QM, for a base 200MHz upgrade for that price is definitely worth it.

 

I emailed Xotic about the CPU and the person that replied said they expect 2-3 weeks.

 

Well, I placed my order. Final build

1 x Sager NP8170 / Clevo P170HM () = $1,599.00
Free Shipping FREE!! Continental (U.S. Lower 48 - UPS Ground Only) Ground Shipping on ALL Sager Laptops - Until 01/01/2012
(Enter Coupon Code: "SAGERFREESHIP" during order process)
Sager Holiday Sale SAGER Sale!!! - $100 OFF When you spend $1500* or more! (*excludes non-sager parts, accessories, shipping, & taxes)
Confirmation of discount will be provided after Order Processing.
Current Promotion FREE Digital Copy of Battlefield 3 w/ Any Intel 120GB SSD or Higher Hard Drive Upgrade + Sager Price Protection
+ Automatically Qualified to Win an Xbox 360!!!
Display 17.3" FHD 16:9 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Glossy Screen (1920x1080) (SKU - S1R506)
Monitor Calibration NO Professional Monitor Color Calibration
nVIDIA Wireless 3D Vision Glasses (For 3D Screens) No Spare 3D Glasses
Dead Pixel Warranty Standard Dead Pixel Policy
Processor 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM, 2.2-3.1GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache) (SKU - S2N224)
Thermal Compound - IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
Graphics Video Card ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD6990 2048MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11 $100 OFF (SKU - S3R151)
External Display Video Adapters No Video Adapter
Ram 8GB - DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (4 SODIMMS) (Not Supported by Intel i5 CPUs) - Special! (SKU - S4P369)
Branding Sager Branding
Exterior Finish Standard Finish
Primary Hard Drive 500GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache) - Default (SKU - S5R207)
Second Hard Drive None Standard
Raid HDD Raid Settings - OFF
Optical Drive Bay 6X Blu-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive - Special! (SKU - S7P557)
Optical Drive Bay Hard Drive Caddy No Extra Optical Bay Hard Drive Caddy
External Hard Drive (Back Up) No Back Up Hard Drive
External USB Optical Drive NO External USB Optical Drive
Floppy Drive No Floppy Drive
Memory Card Reader Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
Back Up Software No Back Up Software
Bluetooth None Standard--
Wireless Network Intel® Ultimate-N 6300 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module (SKU - S8R112)
Wireless Network Accessories No Network Accessory
Camera Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
TV Tuner No TV Tuner
Sound Card Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
Case Basic Black Business Case - Included
Battery Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
Car Adapter No Car Adapter
Spare AC Adapter No Spare AC Adapter
Port Replicator / Dock / Adapters No Dock/Hub/Adapter
Fingerprint Reader Integrated Fingerprint Reader
Headsets No Headset
Mouse / Keyboard Accessories No External Keyboard or Mouse
Notebook Cooler No Notebook Cooler
XOTIC PC Redline Boost™ Extreme Performance No Thanks, Please do not Overclock my system (Overclocking will add 3-6 business days to build time)
OS Redline Boost No Operating System Redline Boost
Operating System ~Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's + Microsoft Office Starter 2010 - Included with OS Purchase
Microsoft Office Software No Office Software
Software Bundle (Not Installed) No Software Bundle
Warranty LIFETIME Ltd Labor* 1 Year Parts Warranty Lifetime -24/7 DOMESTIC Based- Toll Free Telephone Tech Support (Labor Warranty through Xotic PC)
Includes FREE Shipping Both Ways for Warranty Repairs (SKU - X9R009)
Outside of U.S. Shipping Coverage No Outside of US Shipping Coverage
Build Time Standard Production Time
Xotic Gear No Xotic PC Gear

 

Very nice, thank you for your business Pontifex! Let us know if you have any questions.

 

Glad you went with the 2670, for such a mild up in $$$ it's quite a bump with no delay. Congrats!

 

got it today. Looks very nice. Everything works with no problems so far.

still in the process of installing apps and games.

 

Ok, got a problem but it may just be some settings?

playing streaming video, like from Hulu and the video looks like it was painted, everything from people's skin, to their clothes, etc. Very poor quality. Not too bad at the regular screen size but it seems a lot worse at full screen.

It looked fine on my old laptop. My old laptop's resolution was like 1366x768 (or something close to that). This one is 1920x1080. Maybe this is why it's like that?

Is this a problem or is there some kind of setting I can change to fix that? Everything else looks good like games, photos, etc.

I tried to mess with the Catalyst video settings but that only seemed to make it worse.

 

You could try fiddling with the hardware acceleration settings in Flash, I think I've heard that can cause/fix issues.

 

I assume it's the Flash settings as well. Did you download the newest GPU drivers as well?

 

haven't touched flash setting, but never had to on any other pc i own.

I did download the latest video drivers.

disabling the flash hw acceleration seems to have fixed it.

 

Good to hear your issue was fixed.