First Gaming rig (Sager NP7358)

This is a repost from the gaming section. Someone said it would better be suited over here.


So Tuesday I went to the local small bank and got a personal loan to get a new laptop. My first thought was to get a Y50 because it's the big thing in mid-ish tier rigs, but I read about the poor screen quality and I was really wanting an SSD for the performance boost when it comes to video editing and photo editing and such. So I found an open box MSI GS60 on Newegg for $1119 (I had a $1200 budget) and decided I was going to get it. By this time it was around midnight and I had cash on hand - no money in the bank so I assumed that it would be there in the morning. Woke up, got to the bank and put the money in, got to work where I was going to order it and it had sold out. So I was kind of pissed. I remembered reading about Sager/Clevos on reddit and I found Xotic PC.

I waited till they opened and called and talked to a sales rep and asked him about the intricacies of the various models that fell under budget for me. He told me about the NP7358 and a more expensive model. I needed an OS so I had to add that on for $80. The more expensive model with the OS came up to $1229. It had the 860m 4GB Kepler, was a 17", and I believe the processor was the i7-4810. I ended up talking to him about the differences in the heating/cooling and the Maxwell vs. Kepler structure. I decided that the Maxwell would be better for my uses and then we discussed build quality. Satisfied I decided that I would go with the NP7358, upgrade to 12GB of RAM, and get a 120GB SSD for my OS drive. It came to the $1229 of the other and had everything that I was looking for. So now I have the NP7358 with the i7-4710MQ, the 860m 2GB, 12gb DDR3 dual channel RAM, 15.6" matte screen, 1tb 7200rpm hard drive, 120gb SSD, windows 8.1 64-bit. I also got the upgraded wireless card, I can't remember the name because it was a free upgrade. Though I would have missed it unless Jeremy B (the rep on the phone) pointed it out to me. So needless to say I am pretty pumped.

TL;DR:
I didn't mean to make this thread sound like a blog post, just kind of happened. Sorry. So I have no experience with enthusiast/gaming rigs or their power/abilities. Before installing any games or even Steam what programs, hacks, tune-ups, or other things do I need to do to maximize the power, performance, and capabilities? I just want to start everything off right so I can get the best performance for my games. Also if I am traveling what is the best way to protect my laptop in like a backpack or bag?

Thanks guys.

 

hi and welcome to the world of clevo.

lots of free software in my link below for benchmarking, temperature monitors and lots more.

for gaming its best to have it set to high performance and always plugged into mains.
a decent antivirus is a must. there are lots of free ones about or paid for extra features.

the most important thing is enjoy your new beast and if you have any problems your in the right place as the community has helped thousands out over the years.

oh, and be cautious as talking about hacks is against the forum rules

enjoy.

 

Hacks as in like modified bios or something. Not like hacking someone or anything. Like DIY performance boosts. No malicious intent, didn't mean for it to sound that way.

 

1 - You may want to get very familiar with FN + 1 = max fans. It will help in anything that roasts the CPU.

2 - You will want to probably make sure you have some sort of start menu giving program like Stardock Start 8 or StartIsBack for Windows 8. You said your OS was $80 so I know you're getting Win 8. (Then I read up and realized you mentioned Win 8 too >_>)

3 - You will want to install various games and get to gaming =D.

4 - You will need to learn how to clean your fans periodically so your temps stay down.

5 - You will need to learn how to undervolt your CPU if you need to keep it a little cooler; I suggest Intel XTU or a modified BIOS from Prema that is unlocked.

6 - You will need to enjoy your system to the fullest =D.

 

So undervolting, I know the name is obviously giving away it's function but how much does it effect the performance of the machine?

 

If you do it slightly on the CPU (and maybe GPU, depending on the GPU) you can lower heat output while keeping at least stock performance and drawing a bit less power. I do it on my CPU (though my CPU is apparently hand-crafted by Jesus himself and will take 10W less power than designed to use to operate without issue at stock without ever dropping turbo clocks) and the temp drops help a bit.

I wouldn't really recommend doing it on a video card, but since you got the Maxwell chip you probably won't be considering undervolting that at all haha. That thing runs so cool it's a joke.

 

that'd what the xotic rep said and what I have read. I've read though that pushing the cpu in the 7358 causes some heat issues. Besides undervolting how can I circumvent heating issues on the cpu?

 

If you have a COPPER heatsink, you can repaste with Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra. That's pretty much the only way haha. Haswell is HOT.

 

What's the highest I can safely push it before I just need to turn it off? I'm new to decent processors and graphics cards. I've never messed with any enthusiast builds.

 

ahh no worries then.

 

It's about to kill me waiting for it. Feels like 7 - 12 business days is an eternity.

 

yup, that is the hardest part. you will be like a kid in a candy shop as soon as you see the courier pull up outside your house.

 

Shadow of Mordor will be the first game on it. I'm glad I found sager. Is it true they were the chassis the first few Alienwares used?

 

im not sure about that as they are rivals and always have been.
i know my first gaming lappy was a alienware m15x and it was the biggest pile of crap ive ever owned.
luckily got a refund and like you found clevo through this forum and i havnt looked back since.
clevo m860tu is 6 years old now and still going strong and used every day. only upgraded to this one to keep up with gaming.

 

I'm hoping this one holds out for at least 3 - 4. I'm running 3 years on a Toshiba that was $600 from best buy. It's just too slow for gaming now. Even simple games are having a hard time on it.

 

You look after it and it will last you a longggg time. Trust me on that one. Just brush up on how to give it a bit of cleaning now and then and don't let it overheat much. If temps deteriorate after a while, repaste the stuff and keep it running well and you'll be good.

 

What are the overheating values? D2 Ultima

 

this is for older clevo's but i think the values still stand.

 

I'd disagree with those exact ranges. But they are not a million miles off. The cpu can run a bit hotter, the gpu a little less.

 

as i said its for the older models and theres not been any updated posts so its the nearest i could find.

the threshold temp for cpu is right but as Meaker states the danger temps have a higher level for the newer models.

 

Yes old Alienwares were simply pimped out Clevos, and I'm sad to say this but MrDJ I think your pile of crap M15x may have actually been a retrofitted Clevo.

OP don't worry if you're new to these enthusiast grade laptops, you will learn as you go along, and Clevos are great for learning, for better or for worse.

 

The M15x was their own AFAIK, but it did have some issues. I hope the op enjoys his new machine.

 

I'm still waiting but I am excited. I'd like to see it this week but I don't know if it will make it.

 

dont think it was.

 

Yes I doubt Dell would have got the rights to the design, it was a complete break at the time.