Experience with Sager warranty service

So as was discussed in another thread, the CPU that shipped with my laptop was either faulty to start, or degraded somehow. I bought my laptop (specs in signature) in December, and played Fallout 4 and Dota 2 for a few months. Recently, I started playing the Division on *ALMOST* entirely maxed out settings, and because it seemed so resource intensive, I decided to install HWINFO and watch my temps while playing. That's when I spotted the issue, my cpu cores were hitting 99C and throttling. I tested further to see if it was just the Division, and turns out I was also hitting 95-97C in Dota 2 as well (throttling still). I tried to undervolt, and couldn't get stable beyond -70mv, and my Core 2 was still hitting 95C and shortly after, the other cores would rise to that point as well, which is the reason I thought it might be an internal CPU issue and not a pasting issue. So I sent it for warranty and here is what happened:

-LPC Digital provided prepaid UPS shipping label through its warranty. Laptop arrived at Sager on a Friday afternoon 4pm, and was submitted back to UPS for return shipping on the following Tuesday, 5pm. They kept to their word of holding it for repair and testing for 2 business days.

-Laptop was shipped back in static-resistant packaging, sealed well with tape. Battery percentage was about 85%.

-When I got the laptop back, they had installed: Prime95 (uninstalled before returning), CPUID HWMonitor (still installed), HeavyLoad (still installed), CPUID CPU-Z (uninstalled before returning), FurMark (uninstalled before returning), Unigine Valley Benchmark (uninstalled before returning). Can't say I have that much experience with any of these programs, maybe someone else can comment on whether or not this indicates comprehensive testing. It is possible they had other things installed but deleted all traces (maybe I can look for leftover registry keys to see).

-A screenshot was on my desktop showing HWMonitor with maximum logged CPU temps of 62-65C with Valley Benchmark open beside it. I don't know much about valley benchmark, but it's described by its website as a GPU stressing tool, so I'm not entirely sure this was a valid test of max CPU temps, but this wasn't that concerning to me since I intended to test the new CPU myself anyway. EDIT: I didn't look closely enough at the screenshot, HeavyLoad was also open in the background.

-LPC Digital had told me on Wednesday that the CPU was replaced, and I confirmed that it was (YESSSS!)

-I had expected that the laptop internals would be blown out and cleaned, and they were (laptop looked brand new), but as a bonus, the entire casing around my keyboard was replaced. This is especially nice, since there had been some non-uniformity and shininess developing in the areas that I normally rest my wrist and hand. I'm not sure what made them decide to replace the casing, but I'm definitely not complaining. Protective plastic liner was taped to the casing around the keyboard, similar to how the laptop ships brand new.

-Real world tests: One hour of Dota 2, max temp 83C. One hour of the Division immediately following Dota 2, max temp 85C. This is with all stock default settings.

-Next, I undervolted both the Core and Cache voltages by -150mv. I was expecting a hard reboot at some point and to have to adjust it to less offset, but I was surprised to still be going strong two hours into the Division. Max core temp 75C, with the other three cores being 72C, 68C, and 68C. I am wondering if this difference of 7C between lowest and highest core temp is normal, but I'm very happy that max is only 75C, so not questioning it too much.

Final step will be to overclock, see if I can stay stable at -150mv, and then report back with new temps.

Overall, very very happy with Sager warranty service through LPC Digital.

 

Yes it's normal for 2 cores to be higher than the other 2, mainly because a lot of apps and especially games are limited to using 2 cores. Typically they are the first 2 cores, but you can set an affinity or core priority if you so choose.

So far my experience with LPC and Sager are very similar to yours, they are actually just shipping me parts since I'm proficient enough with laptop usage and maintenance

 

Yes, Core 0 is 75C, Core 1 is 72C, and 3 and 4 are 68C. Makes sense. Also, good to know they will ship you parts! I would much prefer this. Next time.

 

I wouldn't attempt to overclock all cores beyond 42 with a -150mV offset. I'd try -120mV and 4.3 GHz on all cores

Right now I have all cores @ 4.4 GHz with a -60mV. super stable with max temps of 80C but that is with a delidded Silicon Lottery CPU and Liquid Ultra Thermal paste so your milage may vary.

 

Hey I am glad things worked out for you, I knew something was wrong with the CPU and it was just "oh all these CPUs heat up and throttle" this obviously proves there was definitely something wrong now that your temps are ALOT better ENJOY just relax play some games and enjoy what you have spent lots of time and money on

 

Glad to hear that you got everything resolved with that. Often times we just hear the negative about warranty experiences, but it's nice to see people's feedback when they do have a positive experience.

 

@Jakamo5, Great news! If you don't mind me saying, would you please update the original thread ("CPU hits 99C...") with these findings? It would give that thread some closure. TIA.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/cpu-hits-99c-and-throttles-when-running-division.789249/

 

I'm really glad it got sorted for you, I hope it continues to perform that way

 

This whole experience should be a poster child for why socketed cpu's (and gpus) are superior to bga. Problem with the cpu? Replace the cpu. Simple and cheap compared to the alternative.

 

being buying Sager for many years, Clevo for even more, I'm on my third Sager machine, always directly with them, nothing to complain, always a fast service when needed. Good people.

 

It would be nice if Intel brought that back on mobile processors...

 

Intel would need some competition for that kind of change however...

 

Which is basically none as of now.