Games vitually unplayable due to HD heat. (8662)

Would you happen to know where I could order a new bottom panel? I don't see any parts available on XoticPC or Sager's website, if I could get one I would definitely give modding it a try.

 

you just email or phone them, then you can order it.

not everything that can be sold is shown on a website.

here is my original idea for the combo: panel mod and use of a cooler
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=292702

 

Thanks for the info, I will give this a try after I do some research, hopefully someone has created a good method for doing this.

 

Hey everyone, I just picked up my NP8662 today, and I noticed a similar issue. I put HDtune on here to check out why the machine felt so warm, and I found that after installing Win7 and disabling indexing, HDD temperatures tended to idle around 57-58*C. Not the best temp I expected right out of the box...

 

Trust me I feel your pain, this worries me too. But you have one heck of a machine either way, and it's definitely worth it. But try this (quote below), it lowered my temps about 4 degrees on average, I just defraged my HD without it hitting 60, which before it was hovering at 65.

 

To you guys having high hdd temps, what brand do you have?

I have same specs as Second2Last33, but my hdd runs at 48 at idle and 52 when gaming or benchmarking..

My hdd is the Seagate momentus 7200.3

 

This is my thread about my HD temps. I have a fujitsu 250gb 5400rmp. It is idling around 55 now..but once I play COD5...it goes to 66C.

I am planning to get the western digital blue scorpio...anyone with that hard drive having issues?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=382516

 

to put your worries aside.

if your HDD ever does fail it has both Sager's warranty and the HDD's manufacturers warranty (usually 3-5 years)

 

Except if it does ever fail you can lose everything on the HDD, like what recently happened to me on my desktop. So back it up just in case!!

 

thats a given for all computers nowadays.

flash drive is the cheapest backup (for docs and pics) with reliability.

 

I just thought I would throw some cents at this thread.
My HD temps have gone up a tad, now under heavy load the the temps have gone up to 59C from 55C but the room temperature has also risen considerably... it is summer and I got no aircon....

 

in summer times notebook cooler is a must

 

I am looking into getting a Sager 8662... Have you guys resolved the heating problems, and if I'm still configuring my system, is there an option that will make it less likely that I have a heat problem? For example, choosing the 5400 over the 7200, or vice versa? Is the solid state worth the $340 difference? That seems pretty steep, though I'm not really interested in getting an external cooling pad - I don't like the idea of elevating my notebook, or the idea of having it sitting on my desk, taking up space, if my computer isn't there - it just seems inconvenient. Is it a necessity?

 

A few of us are trying some measures mentioned in the thread. Disabling indexing cuts down 1-2*C for my 320GB HDD @ 7200RPM, but nothing else shows a real drop. I may experiment with some undervolting, but I expect that only to contribute to less buildup of heat in the system overall, rather than an explicit reduction in the HDD heat.

The issue isn't so much an instant jolt of heat, going straight from 47*C to 57*C at the drop of a hat. Rather, it's a slow build from 45*C at first starting up the computer, to 50*C, to 55*C, to 58*C, to 59*C, and then so on up to a max of 65*C achieved on this machine. This is by doing no more intensive processes than opening Firefox in multiple tabs, or viewing a movie. If I were to plug Crysis into this thing, then I can see the rise more quickly, but there's more than the HDD being accessed at that point.

I'm going to avoid a hardware mod for the time being - I'd rather keep my warranty intact.

 

Hm. If the problem is unresolved, and also based on what I've been reading on other sites for a bit, I might think about taking the plunge and dropping $340 on a solid state drive. It's super-steep, but it brings my config up to $2000, which is how much I was willing to spend, and after all of the problems I've had with my Dell XPS machine's overheating, I'd rather have one less moving part in my system that won't melt after a year of use... I'll keep thinking about it!

 

My laptop is going to be here on Friday, I am going to install windows 7 on it, and then all the benchmarking applications, and then on to the games, I am going to install a ton of games and play them 24x7 and monitor the temps.

That's the glory of the warranty though.... It's a computer you can't expect things inside of it not to break... 3-5 years on the hard drive, you have nothing to worry about.

 

Instead of dropping $340 on a solid state drive, I would just go with a 5400 RPM drive, disable the recommended disk related services, make sure the entire disk is cloned or backed up onto an external media (Acronis or Drive Snapshot) and take comfort in the fact that the warranty will cover any issues.

I ordered my NP8662 with a 5400 RPM 500GB HDD. A 7200 RPM would be nice but as far as I am concerned, there are already enough heat generating parts in that high spec laptop. A 5400 RPM drive will only effect how much patience you have

 

What is the point of buying a high speed machine if you are going to bottleneck yourself at disk I/O? I mean, you guys are disabling Indexing, which makes Vista annoying to use, disabling advanced options for disk performance, which downgrades speed, and then are thinking of sticking a 5400RPM drive in there to further take down disk i/o a notch. At that point, what good do a fast dual-core (or even quad) and a 260 video card do?

Hmm... was thinking about this laptop (along with a few others), but it looks like this is SSD or no go.

 

Its not like the HD are the key factor to smooth gameplay in Crysis or whatever. If I have to wait 15 seconds instead of 12 seconds to the game to load is not making me suicidal.

 

I received mine yesterday, and the temps are bad.

To those who say it isnt an issue, my results differ. For one, when my HDD got over 60 degrees, the HD became almost unresponsive for a few seconds. HD tune shows a spike to less than 6mbps on occasion. Thats crazy. This is NOT normal, and NOT acceptable.

My HD is the Hitachi 320GB 7200rpm drive. Hitachi says on their site, the max operating temp is 131 degrees Fahrenheit. I've hit 140.

I bought this laptop both for gaming and for my job. I travel weekly so all of my files are on this laptop. If the HD dies, I could lose a week or more worth of work. Thats unacceptable on a brand new 1600$+ laptop.

If the HD is operating outside of the manufacturers specs, it needs to be fixed.

I contacted xotic and asked for evidence that proves hitachi wrong, else I need another drive, and will continue replacing drives until I get one that operates within its designed limits.

I too would love an SSD, but to be forced to buy one for your machine to run right? No Way.

 

frys.com is selling a patriot 128GB SSD for $249 now. I read review and it performs very well, beating the intel 80GB in some areas and overall very close in performance.

I'll install tomorrow and see how that goes..

 

That's a good idea they are all ignoring the probleme saying that they have not heard about the issue. We should all do this.

Although for those who have high HD temp may I ask what is your room temp and if you have the black tape covering some of the back panel hole because I think it was clevo solution for HD temp.

 

My new NP8662 with the Q9000 arrived today and my hard disk temp at the moment is at 58C and I haven't been doing anything too stressful for long. My room temperature according to the thermometer on the wall is 22C. During a short CPU stress test I noticed the hard disk go up to 61C.

Even my GPU under stress at the time was at a lower temperature than this. My hard disk drive is a 5400 RPM 500GB one too. I will investigate further after I have finished installing the rest of my 60 games.

On another note, I have to say though, the Q9000 temperatures at idle are from 35 - 38C, under medium load they go up to 50C and when I ran a CPU stress test they didn't go past 70C and this was all cores stressed by WPrime. My GPU idles at around 40C and under stress didn't go passed 55C but I am sure that will change since these were just quick tests.

EDIT: During my installation of my Brothers In Arms CD while surfing online, note that my 5400 RPM hard disk drive is now at 66C. This is in Windows XP SP3. My Q9000 temps are 38-42C on all cores.

 

I really might invest in the SSD with my purchase based on what I'm hearing here - I realize that this isn't a realistic option for some buyers, but if it will prevent these crazy HD heat issues, I'll spend the extra cash. Will that prevent the problem?

 

the SSD has a max operating temp of 70 degrees C, so even if it gets as hot as these HDD's, it would be within its safe operating range.

$249 for 128gb is ok, but 128GB is a little low for my needs. A 256GB I couldnt find for less than 500 which is just crazy and brings my cost to over 2K....

 

charger71, I also have the Hitachi 320GB 7200rpm HDD and have had heat issues with it from the beginning. Please keep us posted on your results with the replacement HDDs. It would be great to hear that there was just a bad batch or something!!

 

Xoticpc gave me the same reply, that its normal and to contact Sager for evidence that its normal. Xotic said they had "very few" problems with the 8660's as regards to HDD failures. That to means indicates they do have failures. And I know Sager will say its fine, since thats how they make their money. Their "engineers" put the fastest components in a chassis, maybe run it for a day straight, and if nothing melted yet, they certify it. That means squat to me and is completely irrelevant.

I asked for some sort of credit to return the hitachi. I'll post my results with the Patriot 128GB SSD later today.

 

A lot of people have mentioned pulling out the stock HD and trying the Scorpio Blue from WD in their 8662.

Has anybody actually tried this yet though? I don't want to use that as a solution if it's untested.

This Scorpio Blue is for sale on Tigerdirect right now for $90.
Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BJKT Mobile Hard Drive - 320GB, 2.5", 7200RPM, 16MB, SATA-300, OEM

 

I'd be wary of that.. it doesnt look like a specific brand or size thats the problem, its any HDD, from 250GB 5200 on up. Even if the scorpio is slightly cooler than all other hdd's (which I doubt a 7200 is cooler than a smaller 5200, but either way) it will still heat up due to the lack of airflow around it.

 

Guys if an SSD drive is costing you around $300+, wouldn't it have been more economical to just get an NP5797?

 

My laptop arrives tomorrow and reading this thread has seriously made me depressed, LOL. let's see what happens...

 

Really want the 15", though. I'd like to be able to use it away from my desk, transport it easily, etc.

 

Yes, I have to admit, one of the best things about my m860tu is the size factor. Feels so easy to carry around where ever i want. Certainly something you can't get as easily from a 17 inch.

 

One more for the size factor. The 8662 is pushing it as it is for weight and size. Anything bigger would be too much of a PITA to lug around.

Deathwinger, what sort of temps are you getting on your m860tu?

 

Would I be correct in assuming that if you mod just the casing of the back panel to get a few small holes in + mesh near the HDD, this would NOT void your warranty, as it is cosmetic?

Or could you only limit mods to, say, using duct tape to cover air vents and project air flow (as mentioned in other threads)?

 

Ok, so I have vista 64 running on my SSD now. HD Tune cant read the hdd temp, but the feel is nowhere near as hot. The SSD area gets warm, but no longer hot.

As for performance, boot time, load time, etc is fantastic. multi-tasking is way better as well, and overall the system runs better.

$250 well spent I suppose.

More as I do more testing.

 

I just called SAGER to exchange my Fujitsu to Western digital. They don't carry it in their inventory. Only Seagate and Hitachi...which I know have the heating problems.

I am leaning towards getting SSD. But the price is way to high for such a small storage.

Keep us posted on the SSD in the NP8662.

 

We shouldn't have to buy an SSD just to make up for poor design or faults. We have already spent enough money without feeling the need to spend more to get something that we should have gotten straight out of the box i.e a reasonable hard disk temperature. There is no way I will buy an SSD for any other reason apart from simply wanting to.

 

why ask to get it without an HDD, then you can buy your own and put it in.

 

To everyone having heat issues, it isn't a default in design..
So far, in this thread, all the hdd problems seem to come from Hitachi drives? Does anyone with a Seagate 320 gb 7200 rpm have heat issues?
I have this drive and at boot it gets to 35c, then if the laptop is on for long it gets to 45c, and max I've been is while playing left for dead for 2hrs with the gpu at 75c, cpu at 60c and Hdd was at 53c (tops). Mine is running great, so it might be related to a specific model or driver.

 

my Seagates run quite cool.

 

I have a Seagate 320GB HDD @ 7200. It idles at 55*C for the HDD, can go up to 65*C if I let it run either a game or a movie for more than twenty minutes. It will do this over 5-10 minutes if done from a cold boot. The temperatures are drawn from an elevated position, unblocked air vents, no cooling unit below.

CPU and GPU never hit beyond 56*C unless I play games with intense graphic requirements.

Very much on the CPU/GPU temps, but very much on the HDD temps.

 

SSD update:
So far no app I've tried will show my sdd's temp. Subjectively, it doesnt feel as hot, and the ssd is safe to 70 degrees C.

The performance is great, and GTA IV at 1680x1050, all settings to high, vsync enabled, runs at 33fps (gta benchmark program)

I have to be a little more careful with my HD space since this is only 120 GB, and am at 40gb free still, so, its not bad. The performance and temp are definately worth $250.

 

320 GB 7200 RPM HD is running at 57 celcius full load.... everything default. No problem with that at all

 

Could someone please explain this to me... when I got to Xotic PC the 160GB SSD is a $600+ upgrade. Where are you getting an option to upgrade for $250.

 

I didnt buy the SSD from Xotic. I bought a new SSD outright from Frys.com and picked it up in the store (easy to return if I didnt like it).

The patriot 128GB SSD has read/write speeds of 175/100 and worked without a problem, I'm loving it and the system is cooler overall. No more delay or slowdown when the HDD hit 60 plus degrees.

 

Mine started in the 50's and slowly crept up. When you say full load, has the laptop been on for 30 minutes to an hour?

Also, 57 celsius is still over the manufacturers operating range. I agree 57 doesnt sound too bad, definately not as bad as the 60+ many people are seeing.

 

Would the HDD be a really big issue if im not able to use a laptop cooler?

how long would i be able to play very demanding games before it gets too hot?

 

No you will still be able to enjoy your notebook, it's just above average heat wise, I haven't heard any horror stories of anyone's HD frying, it's just warmer than some people including me are uncomfortable with.

 

How exactly would one install an SSd? I'm not even sure what it is.