8800 Pre Order

So if we order it through you Justin do we send it to you and then you send it to Sager or will you being doing the upgrade yourself?

 

^^ We will gladly set it all up for you and provide you the details to send it in directly to Sager. Just let us know and we will get it all set up.

 

If you're replying to me Justin, because i'm living outside U.S. i thought that the only way that i have to pay is through Wire Transfer method

 

Justin, forget my last post.
I saw now your reply to my e-mail.
Thanks!

 

Justin: thanks for looking into this.
However, since I'd be calling from Europe, I'd much rather avoid a long phone call at international rates.
I'll try to open up and look at the current machine, to see if I think I can manage myself
Can you confirm the cards and prices will remain available up till June? Since, when I upgrade, it'll probably be around April/May.

 

The cards and their special pricing will be available (Jan 15th, 2008 through June 30th 2008).

 

If you have another computer available you could always see if using something like SKYPE might be more cost efficient... just a thought.

 

According to Justin, Xoticpc puts their first emphasis on their customers but Sagernotebook sure as h@#$ does not. They kindly and bluntly answered me that they are not going to take upgrade orders before January 15th - next year!! Later this month they will start delivery of the NP9262's. So existing customers just have to wait. At least another month!

I expect Justin can do better. If it is possible to install the new motherboard and videocard without complex operations then I would very much like to receive in the mail: One new Motherboard, one 8800 and a kit with instructions. I wonder if Justin could mail those to me before the end of this month - at the same time the new customers get their new rigs

 

You may be expecting a lot from Justin. I have one of the new boxes on order from powernotebooks, and hopefully I am towards the front of the line. But they could only give me a tentative date for shipping. Keep in mind that the end of December is 31 Dec 2007; AKA New Years Eve and not a day known for lots of work getting done. In fact the whole two weeks around Christmas and New Years are often treated as holidays.

I am expecting my new box to arrive after 11 Jan 2008 for sure, and maybe before. But I am not betting the farm on that. Being that 11 Jan is not all that far from 15 Jan the plain fact of the matter is that no one may be getting a new mob and 8800 much before 15 Jan be it in a new box or an upgrade for an old one.

 

hanko panko, Installing a motherboard is complex. Sager has stated at this time that they will not be providing motherboards for customers to upgrade themselves. We will discuss their time lines further with them.

Here is some more information on the 9262 8800M GTX SLi

In order to improve SLi performance the 2 cards will now have a bridge flex cable connecting them together for direct communication, just like the desktop SLi setup. The flex cable is still in the process of being approved by nVIDIA as well as driver release schedule.

Sager is considering the following.

1. If the cable can be finalized in time before the driver release, we would ship the SLi systems, with the users understanding that SLi is not working until driver is released.
2. We may or may not ship SLi pre-orders with a single card installed at first, and once that the Flex Cable / Driver are ready, we will then ship the additional card with the cable to the customers for self install

 

That is the perfect solution for me, Justin.

Sounds like the self-install is pretty simple.

I think it is a no-brainer for people to get a single card now, dodging the mid-late january release, then popping in the second card whenever it becomes available.

I also think it is safe to assume that nobody will be pissed about the performance of a single 8800

 

Thx Justin

 

Is the flex cable an optional part for the these cards in SLI, or will it be required for these cards to function in SLI. Basically is it something sager will be using, but other resellers may not?

 

Glad I can help guys.

From what we know at this time the bridge cable will be standard for SLi configurations for all Sager branded units. (through Sager resellers or Sager themselves)

EDIT: The bridge cable is a part of nVIDIA's pre-build cards spec.

 

Excellent to hear. Ordered the 9262 SLI today and would love to start building my software images even if the SLI isn't available right away.

 

Thanx a lot Justin for all the info

I had a question -

Im not planning 2 buy a laptop till Jan/Feb Anaways, so when the new penryn come out in JAN, will the 5792 be compatabile w/ them?

 

Thanks for all the info justin. Starting to think I should have waited and ordered from Xotic.

Does anyone know if PC Microworks XR5 is just a re-branded Sager, or do they get the box from Clevo.

after writing Sales at pcmicroworks asking them about the SLI issue, they replied:

"Hi Simon:

At this time we are still planning on meeting our shipping ETA of mid-late
December for both SLI and non SLI XR5 orders.

Thank you for your business!

Sincerely,
PC MicroWorks Sales Team"

Seems they don't really know much. Starting to worry.

 

No problem. I will look into this further and report back with any information I can post.

 

That sounds fishy if SLI is not officially supported. Would they simply ship the unit anyways with two cards inside not hooked up? Doubtful... perhaps they will reveal this as a "delay in shipping due to uncontrolled circumstances" as the date draws near. Although that is also fishy in itself, business wise.

I have ordered a Sager from Xotic so I do not know much about PCMicroworks supply. I think Gophn has answered it somewhere on this board...

 

Arayantes, Here is a post with some recent information we posted about SLI in the 8800 Update Thread

 

Right, I was just questioning the fact that PC Microworks seems to be confident they will ship the systems, even though there's no final word on everything?

Unless this is specific to Sager and does not apply to PC MIcroworks's Blackhawk.

 

An email I sent to PC Microworks lastnight....

"I have an XR5 with dual 8800m's in SLI on order, and have become aware of the fact that Nvidia will not have SLI capable drivers out for the 8800m GTX until sometime in January, 08. Your XR5 is based on the Clevo 901c, and every other reseller of this notebook is stating that they will not be shipping with the 8800m in SLI until the SLI drivers are released.

If you are unable to get these GPU's to work in SLI, would you be able to send the XR5 with both cards, but without SLI enabled, so that when the drivers come out, I can just enable SLI myself? I really can't wait until Mid January, as I am making a trip back to the US, just to pick this up.

Thanks you for your time."

Their reply....

"Regardless of any needed driver modifications, we will still be shipping all dual 8800GTX XR5 units between mid and late December, so this will not affect your shipment date.

Thank You,
PC MicroWorks Support Team"

Now I am waiting to hear back about the "yet to be released flex-cable for sli"

I bet these guys are starting to hate me.....oh well. its my $4.5k

 

Thanks for response Justin. Safe, Secure and fast shipping of my NP9261 would cost me a lot of money ($400-500) and valuable time. So that's no option unless my machine were broke. It is ok with me that Sager wants to protect their product and my investment. Could you get me a copy of the upgrade instructions so that I can see for myself if this is over my head?

 

Hi, Justin so we have to wait for the bridge flex and the driver support are we able to upgrade on Jan 15th for the Sager NP9261 or its going to be on a later date?

 

fubarms, We still expect the 15th to be accurate. I will update everyone here if anything changes.

 

Justin: another small question.
After ordering, and paying by creditcarsd (Visa), how much time would it take for the card to arrive?
Is it possibble to order, say, monday, and get it by thursday in BELGIUM (EUROPE)?
Do you have an (approximate) shopping cost for Belgium (EU)?

 

Kwakkel, please email me and we can review any questions you have about delivery time and costs for shipping.

 

am i correct the s3 state is when you actually go to hibernate from vista.. and s4 is when you simply just close the lid?? if so then ill be fine with the s3 not working thanks.. also will there be any way to get the motherboard "fix" to apply myself i now this will void the warranty i have but u used ti repair circuit boards and have extensive backround in doing so along with whatever tools are needed to do that job.. would it be possible to get a sheet with the changes on it.. thanks

 

zfactor --

S3 is 'sleep' (suspend to RAM) and S4 is 'hibernate' (suspend to disk.)

The problem is known with S3, though Justin has confirmed that S4 (hibernate) is okay. (Thats a huge win for me, since I use only hibernate; close the lid to cause hibernate, open the lid the next day.)

(I really don't know why anyone would use 'sleep' except for more mobile laptops, in use all day at work or school say

Hopefully its a win for you, too!

jeff

Edit: To be precise, what happens when you close the lid is configurable so best take a look to be sure. ie: Default is sleep I think, but I have mine configured to hibernate. So best check your setup.

 

thanks ill check to see how mine works

 

Most people use sleep (which is the default option) because it is much faster than hibernate. Most laptops will hibernate automatically while in sleep mode if the battery gets low. So this issue is a serious one for a laptop.

 

Well, they can add me to the list of customers who like to stay informed of their purchases, lol.

PC MicroWorks will hopefully live up to their promises, as I would rather have to wait for a driver to enable SLi rather than have to wait for a part (SLI Flex cable), or worse, a 2nd Video Card??!! Preferably as I stated in another thread, better to recieve all hardware and software support for the extra features later imho.

-Coors916

 

It doesn’t just involve the flex cable and driver. Keep in mind that the master / slave video-bios readiness and now with the flex cable, will it be true that the master / slave cards are exactly the same HW wise, with just v-bios differences? Can 2 of the exact same cards work without issues installed on the system without the correct v-bios / cable?

As of now Sager has decided that they will ship ALL orders including dual card orders, but most likely without the 2nd card if the flex cable is not ready (as we don’t know if adding in a additional master card will work when the cable / driver is ready) and ship them the cable + 2nd card when we can make sure it’s the correct slave card setup.

What is everyone’s input on this?

 

I think that this is what everybody wants.

This is of course, assuming that whatever installation needs to be done when flex cable is ready, when driver is ready, when card comes in, is easily done by the end-user.

I've never flashed a V-Bios before ( I don't even know if you can easily? )

If the two cards, master and slave, are not identical, it would be a good idea to not ship them at all until everything is confirmed.

I think that this is the solution that everybody was pushing for in the beginning.

 

Hey Justin,

Both me and my brother purchased NP5791 from XoticPC a couple months ago and we are both planning on ordering 8800s.

I'm just curious as to what the major differences between the Motherboard rework and full swap out for the NP5791 aside from the $150?

I guess what I'm asking is are we going to miss out on anything(performance, future CPU upgrades...) if we decided to go with just the rework.

 

Aryantes, thanks for your feedback. Everyone's feedback will help when the time comes and we are ready to ship.

Does anyone else have any feedback on this?

Shaner182, You will not miss out on anything if you do the rework. The main benefit of going with the new board is you get a full warranty on the new board for 1 year from the date of purchase. The rework will save you money and will perform just as a new motherboard would.

 

I for one do not want to order unless both cards and the flex cable are in place. I am willing to wait for the driver and anything else software wise for a few weeks or so.

 

This brings up a good point I didn't think about.

I assumed that it is a sure thing that SLI and the 9262 are going to happen with this current revision of the board, meaning, the versions that are shipping now with a single card ARE capable of SLI.

IF there is a chance that this is not true, I would agree, do not ship anything that involves SLI until everything is confirmed.

 

Justin.
I'm living in Italy. So, for me is hard to receive two distinct shipments (custom duties problems). I would prefer to receive NP9262 with both two cards in SLI and overall system tested. Do you think that could be a delay on shipments of SLI enabled notebooks?

 

I think, if it isn't way too much trouble, you should just leave it up to the individual orders. Those that don't want it right away can wait, and those that want it and can do the DIY portion later can get it sooner.

Perhaps you can just blast an e-mail to all the ones that ordered, unless there are that many orders it shouldn't be too big of a deal. Not sure though.

I can see both points, some want it worked when shipped, others like myself have waited too long and need it sooner rather than later so I would take it with out it funtioning if the DIY portion is just putting in a cable, or flashin a bios or a driver or whatever, as long as i can run 1 card to begin with for a short period of time its worth it too me. I need my system soon!

 

i still want to know if i can find out what the re-work is exactly , im 150% sure i can do it myself. i know it will void the warranty but i will not have to send it in and then worry about them scratching it and or it gettings any marks or damage on it as im a freak when it comes to that thing. is this at all posisble. is it said it involves soldering which i have done for 15 years, please justin let me know thanks.

 

I am sorry but due to the liability with the process Sager will not disclose the specifics of the rework or provide a "how to" guide. Not only are there different spots of custom soldering on the motherboard, it also has to be completely taken out - - which is not easy...

 

imo not a problem to remove it at all.. but okay guess i will not be upgrading then. i just cant bring myself to send my system out to a place that says they are simply not responsible for anything done to my system while in their care, so if they dent the lid or scratch/gouge the plastic (not saying they will im sure they try to be careful but...) then it my problem?? no thanks. they should for the amount of money for the upgrade be willing to take any responsibility for damage THEY CAUSE... sorry man but i think this will be the one and only clevo / sager i buy..no offense in any way shape or form to you or xotic. if i knew for sure if anything got damaged they stated they would replace those parts and it would leave looking as a new system does then i would prob be okay with them working on it. but you have stated in many places they say they will not be responsible for any of that damage. i even called them i can not remember who i asked right now but he said the same thing if it gets marked up or scratched (which he promised me it would not but accidents happen and i said well what if its a accident...) and he still stated to me that is a risk im taking for the upgrade. no thanks

ill wait im sure the rework will show up on the net somewhere once someone takes theirs apart to see what was done.. they are out there than i can just do it myself. i dont see any "liability" because if i take it apart and i mess it up its my fault anyway.. they have nothing to worry about im sure they know which systems they have done the rework to.. i repaired robots for pete's sake.. i know what im doing.. but anyway again man no isues with you at all.. sager just made me pretty mad through this whole deal especially when before even calling you to order i spoke with them about the "upgrade" and they only made a ton of promises now they can not keep. this is what made me so mad they should not have told me anything on the phone at all then..

thanks justin

 

zfactor, I understand your frustration. One thing that needs to be pointed out is you purchased a barebone system that was NOT a Sager Branded system, meaning Sager did not build a full system for you, they only provided the shell of the machine. Sager has provided you additional benefits & discounted pricing as if you were a Sager Branded customer out of good nature, when they could have stuck to their standard policy for non branded Sager customers. I don't understand the ongoing negativity towards them?

As for the damage responsibility, Sager takes pride in their work and will do everything in their power to prevent damages, but there are some that will send in damaged systems or units that become damaged during shipping due to inadequate packaging and claim that the damage was done when it was in Sagers hands. Customers machines are always treated with the utmost respect and caring and Sager will never deviate from this when handling a customers machine.

 

Good point there Justin, thank you for pointing those details out. It is good to have someone like yourself to point out these finer details and bring some perspective back to the topic at hand.

I did not realise the magnitude of the problem, but now I am better informed, kudos to you (and a good reflection on Xotic), as my reseller is not so quick to commit to any details for obvious reasons (and in PCMW's defense also, why should they confirm details? I'd rather be told they don't know themselves rather than be given false promises), as they are getting the runaround as much as the consumers, and I am sure they are feeling the pinch just as much as we are.

I think the units should be sent only when everything is working to avoid numerous shipping bills which we as consumers will have to no doubt bear the cost as well. In this scenario, it would be preferable as resellers that the likes of PC MicroWorks, Xotic, etc. only ship the full completed units after having been tested fully with driver support. Why else send the unit out only half done? This is in relation to the SLI units especially. If there is no problems with the single 8800GTX support, well don't hold those people up, give them what they have ordered and paid for. As for the SLI owners who have "Pre-ordered" and "Pre-paid" for the privilige of being the first (myself amongst them), there should be what I call in my industry as a "service recovery".

"Service recovery", is where something falls far short of the customers expectations, whether it is out of the resellers control or not, and could be something like a free logitech cordless "MX Revolution Laser Mouse", or "Creative XF-i Express Card" etc... to say thanks for the support and patience of the valued customer. I gaurantee that little gesture will not only gaurantee continued business for the reseller from the same customer, but also as new customers see these posts and are put off perhaps buying systems like this (which I doubt imho, enthusiasts are enthusiasts, and this is one of the things that can happen and we have to accpet when we want to own the best of the best), it would be of benefit to the reseller as the potential customer sees that 'X' or 'Y' reseller at least acknowledges the delay for the customer and cares about their continued business and that of their friends and families, as the best advertising is by word of mouth. 1 person will tell at least 10 people about a bad experience, and so-on. With the internet, that number can easily be extrapulated extraordinarily; I am just generalising here, and don't mean to go off topic as such, but just painting a scenario of how a small gesture (up to the reseller of course) will go a long way to the end user.

I for one will sing loud and clear of any reseller or manufacturer that meets my minimum expectations (being in the service business myself) as good service is usually reserved for those wanting to pay top dollar, which all of us in this thread has of course (and pre-paid at that), especially for the likes of the Blackhawk XR5 with the SLI 8800's.

As was said before, I think shipping in seperate parts is not a good idea. What if the cable and second card go astray in the delivery process, or get damaged? It just opens up a whole lot of unknowns and assumptions. Not a good idea. And what about the person that claims they know what they are doing (we all know what I mean here) and they completely 'screw up' the installation and consequently the system dies from a non assumed action on part of the customer? (we've all heard the stories). It would be like selling a family car with only the front seats, and two sets of tires. Better to test it all together and save customer support a massive headache as well as the customers (myself included) and have the units properly tested; as they say, "better late than never" (ouch, that was really hard to admit... sorry guys , just imho, I think that scenario would suit both the reseller and the consumer best, so that way customer support is not overwhlemed with numerous reports of the same problem that could have been prevented)

Hope that helps put some perspective on the situation with the SLI 8800M GTX's.

It is just my opinion, honest, and straight to the point, considering what would be best for all parties involved; resellers and customers.

-Coors916

 

This is exactly what I am hoping for from PC Microworks. At least the option to receive the machine, with one card, and getting the other components, flex cable/2nd card when ever they are ready. Of course, only if we are sure SLI will work when once these components, and the drivers are out.

Though this is exactly what PCMW told me they would do. I am hoping that they stick to that, as I am making a trip from Mexico, to Oregon to pick this system up, and only have till the 6th of January. I have a feeling that I won't be getting my system by then, meaning I have to spend another $500-600 on air-fare just to come pick it up.

Shipping the laptop to Mexico, big no no. If it gets there at all, I will pay up the ass on duties. Sending a GPU and flex cable. No problem, because they will have no clue its worth like $700. I would just have a friend send it with a note that says "Hey dude, here is the part for your blender." You may think I am joking but that is how we were just sent two Panisonic 16gb P2 cards, worth about $1,700 each, for HD video camera.

 

Z,

Unfortunately, in this day and age, Justin has a very valid point; however, I think that you've got the right idea about all of us using the resources we have today - internet, digital cameras, and etc - to figure out what the mods are Sager's going to be making, and then putting out a how-to DIY for everyone who doesn't have the $$ to send their systems in. Perhaps this forum should consider finding one adventurous soul who is willing to open their system up before sending it in, carefully documenting the motherboard and the innards, including macro digital pix, then sending it in for Sager to mod and doing the same documentation of the modified board.

Perhaps we can set up a collection or something to help fund whomever is willing to use their system as a guinea pig and spend the time and effort to document the modifications?

 

Wow, well since Justin states that the mod is about $80 of the upgrade, I think unless you somehow can find an 8800 for like 500 or less, there is really no point in going to such extremes to mod it yourself. Kinda silly me thinks.

 

the 80$ is not my issue its waiting and wondering if my system will be retunred in the same condition it was sent in since on the phone they told me they are not responsible for any damage caused by anyone who works on it or while its in shipping... that is my problem... again nothing against you justin.. they could have went about it better on the phone and tell me themselves they will take the most care and respect with my system instead they said they are simply not responsible.. thats why im upset with this method of upgrading, i hope you can see my point more now..

 

Yes if I was told that, I wouldn't want to send it in either. Though the only statement I have seen on this matter, was from Justin I think, and it stated that they were not responsible for any paint chips, are scratches caused by the upgrade. I would assume that if they actually damaged the system, which in turn had effects on performance, or stability, that they would take responsibility, and fix/replace and damaged components. Can you please clarify this Justin?

If its aesthetics you are worried about, well then yes, it is a risk. IMO, big freaking whoop. I will never buy anything without accepting the fact that things get nicked, scratched, and dented.

I should add that I have never owned a car that costs as much as my new laptop does. Go figure. I'm a "function over form" kinda guy.